Showing Tess and the Highlander by May McGoldrick

EXCERPT from TESS AND THE HIGHLANDER by May McGoldrick



Added to the shivering that had taken control of Tess's limbs, her teeth were now chattering and she could not stop it. Her clothes were soaked through from her efforts to get the man out of the tidal pool. Her skin was clammy, and she was feeling chilled to the bone. The leather cloak offered some protection against the bitter wind-driven rain, but her body seemed unable to produce any warmth as she lay flat on her stomach on the rocks to the west of the priory.

Tess's eyes narrowed as the Highlander finally came out of her house.

She had hoped to go inside and get a blanket or two and some food before fleeing to the caves on the western side of the island. In fact, it was much more than a hope, she corrected. She had to get some supplies before retreating there. Who knew how long the storm surges would require her to stay hidden or how many days it would be before the Highlander's people would return?

Night was quickly dropping its dark cloak over the island. The storm, though, seemed to have shaken off its leash. It was now hammering the island with ten times the fury it had before. A freezing rain had been falling in fits and spurts. It was not a night to be out.

He was making a fire. She saw him walk back toward her house a couple of times. Each time he came back carrying armfuls of dry seaweed and driftwood she had diligently gathered, she felt herself growing angrier. And if this wasn't enough, he was building his fire within the area protected by the priory walls.

A standing stone wall served as a windbreak. The location kept away the rain. There he was, safe and warm. But there was also no chance of any passing ship seeing his fire.

And what was worse, he was building it where she could not possibly get inside her house without being seen by him.

She should have left him to swallow more seawater.