Only With A Highlander

When Matt had first mentioned his plan to camp in the cave so he could get a better feel for the mountain, Winter had become alarmed. She’d talked to Tom about the two swordsmen he’d seen in the meadow, worried that Matt might run into them.

Tom had reminded her Matt had a pistol and that a bullet beat a sword any day of the week.

Her boyfriend appeared more than capable of looking out for himself, Tom had assured Winter. And telling Matt there had been two men dressed in kilts, fighting with swords in his meadow in the light of a full moon, would only make him think his artist in residence might be crazy.

So Winter had taken her petition to Gesader, explaining her worry and asking her pet to please keep an eye on Matt for her. She wasn’t sure if the panther had understood her request, much less cared what happened to Matt, but Gesader hadn’t been home for the last five nights. Winter could only hope it was because he was lurking around Bear Mountain, watching for Tom’s elusive swordsmen.

Matt had flown back to New York City several times in the last two weeks, and each time before he left he would stop at Winter’s gallery and ask her to go with him. Each time she would tell him no, and each time Matt took her refusal with the graciousness of a gentleman.

Not that he kissed like a gentleman. Nay, Matt’s kisses had grown increasingly more…well, more heated as Winter had grown more comfortable with him—which is exactly why she refused to go to New York City. The night on the mountain when they’d taken Daar home, when she’d all but thrown herself at Matt, had made Winter realize how close she’d come to nearly blowing it.

She liked Matt. He was everything she could want in a man: intelligent, successful, attentive, charming, utterly gorgeous, and sexy as all get out. The only flaw that she could find was that he was too honorable.

Winter could no longer deny that she wanted Matt Gregor so badly her heart actually ached.

That first night they’d kissed had definitely been too soon for anything more, but dang it, how much longer was he going to drive her crazy with only kisses? The chemistry was right—she knew it was right.

And she knew Matt also felt what she felt. So what in curses was he waiting for? For her to finally go to New York with him? Was he seeing her refusal as a sign she wasn’t ready to take the next step?

Surely he realized she needed that monumental step to be right here in Pine Creek where she felt safe, didn’t he?

Winter led Snowball out of the barn as she thought about the predicament she was in. How was she supposed to let Matt know she wanted him, but that their first time had to be on her turf? And then how was she going to explain being twenty-four years old and still a virgin without looking like a silly child?

She wasn’t a prude; she was just fussy, was all. She simply had never met a man who made her insides hum with desire—not until Matheson Gregor had walked into her gallery. So how could she take the next step without coming across as a sex-starved hussy, and without having to go to New York City?

She couldn’t ask her mama, Winter decided with a frown as she stepped onto the mounting block and swung into the saddle. She couldn’t quite see herself explaining how badly she wanted to make love to Matt, much less asking Grace to please give her some pointers on how to go about it. Aye, she thought with a snort, that would be quite a conversation between mother and daughter.

Her mama seemed to have bigger worries right now, other than her daughter’s sex life. Winter’s last two weeks of happiness were marred only by the fact that she still couldn’t discover what was bugging her parents. Their moods seemed to be getting worse as time passed, not better. Her papa rode daily with Robbie up TarStone Mountain to Father Daar’s, and Winter knew the three men were still trying to find out what had happened to the pine tree.

And her mama was up there with them today, which was why Winter was heading up TarStone herself. Matt had flown to his factory in Utah last night after di

Instead of taking the tote road, Winter urged Snowball into a canter straight up the ski slope.

She would go almost to the summit and approach Daar’s cabin from an unlikely direction. She’d leave Snowball a good distance away, sneak up on the cabin, and listen to what was going on inside.

She had Megan’s wholehearted approval, both girls deciding they were being caring daughters, not spies. Winter preferred to think she was helping Megan, since constant fretting on top of a broken heart was slowly turning Megan into a basket case. That was why Winter had talked her sister into watching the gallery this morning while she followed their parents.

Winter pulled up the collar on her jacket to ward off the chill October breeze as she eyed the bank of clouds moving in from the southeast. A storm was moving up the New England coast, and it was predicted to dump Atlantic moisture ahead of it across the entire state of Maine. For the coast that meant rain; for the mountains, six-to-ten inches of wet snow. It was still early yet for accumulating snow, despite the unusually cold and stormy fall, but even if a foot of snow fell, it wouldn’t likely stick around more than a week.

Winter pulled Snowball back to a walk as she guided him off the ski slope and onto a narrow trail that wove through the woods. They hadn’t gone twenty yards when Gesader stepped into view and sat down right in the middle of the path. Snowball stopped, tugged on his bit to loosen his reins, and nuzzled the panther’s head. Gesader returned Snowball’s greeting with a throaty growl and a rough lick to the horse’s nose.

“Well, good morning,” Winter said, leaning forward in the saddle to look down at her pet.

“How come you didn’t come home last night? Matt’s gone.”

Gesader snarled in greeting, turned, and padded up the path ahead of them. Snowball automatically started following him, and Winter chuckled to herself.

Either Gesader could read her mind or he knew this path ended at Father Daar’s cabin, because her pet continued to take up the lead for the next twenty minutes. He suddenly stopped in a thick stand of trees about two hundred yards above the cabin’s clearing, sat down, and simply stared up at her.

“Yes,” she whispered, dismounting and tying Snowball’s reins to a bush. “You can help me spy.”

As if he understood exactly what she wanted, Gesader led the way to the clearing on the south side of Daar’s cabin. Winter saw only two horses tied up out front, her papa’s warhorse and old Butterball, which meant Robbie wasn’t there. She nudged Gesader with her knee, signaling him to work his way around the perimeter of the clearing toward the front. “Ye keep a watch out for Robbie,” she whispered as she started working her way around the clearing, using the trees for cover.

She watched and listened for a good five minutes, then finally tiptoed across the open space and up to the back wall of the cabin. Keeping her back against the weathered logs, she inched her way toward the window and slowly straightened to peer inside.

Daar was sitting at the table opposite her papa, Daar softly talking and her papa listening. Her mama was standing at the wood-fired cookstove, poking bacon in the large iron skillet with a wooden spoon. Grace suddenly stopped, turned to the men with a frown, and waved her spoon at them.

“I don’t know what makes you think Winter can find him if none of us have been able to,”

Grace said angrily. “Even Mary hasn’t been able to discover anything. And that puny staff you made for Winter can’t even light a candle.”