Kiwi Bride Series: Highland Kiss (11 page)

“
Oh dear,” Mrs. McKenzie
said.

Alec hurried to the barn,
found the Land Rover, jumped in it, and started the
engine.

That little fool! What is
she thinking? Running into the woods when the storm is
coming?

Ruby was cold and shivering from head to toe. She hugged herself to
keep warm as she staggered, dragging her weary body forward, to
where? She didn’t know. She was lost. The woods were so dense with
no clear path that could lead her to somewhere safe.

The rain was getting
heavier, and now and again, the clouds grumbled loudly as the
lightning flashed its anger over her head. She felt
afraid.

What if the lightning struck her? What if it struck one of
those big trees, causing the tree to fall on her?
The thought was too horrible to
contemplate.

She kept wandering like a
lost toddler, wide-eyed and frightened, and soon lost track of
time. The only things that occupied her mind were the thunderous
beating of her heart against her quivering chest, her fear that
she’d never get out of this horrible maze, and worst of all,
knowing she’d probably die here. The blasted storm didn’t seem like
it would abate anytime soon.

It was raining harder now,
soaking her to the bone. The boots didn’t help either because they
were too big for her small feet. They pained her heels something
fierce.

She stopped her wandering,
staring with fully dilated pupils at her surroundings. She had been
here before. She was sure that it was only a moment ago. Could it
really have been only a moment ago? Suddenly, she wanted to break
down and cry.

Where was that blasted kidnapper when she needed
him?
Didn’t he realize by now
she had escaped? Shouldn’t he be coming after her like before? What
if she died here? What would happen to her family back home? They’d
be devastated.

No, Ruby, think straight. You’re an intelligent
girl.
Think, for God’s sake,
think!

Okay. Calm down.
She
took a deep breath and bit her shivering, purple lips. She had to
survive this.

She knew she was getting
nowhere, and had to seek shelter until the rain stopped. Then she
could find her way out of this jungle of woods.

Her mind made up, she
looked around, trying to locate a spot to use as a shelter from the
storm. Being without her glasses didn’t help either, making
everything a blur.

Suddenly, her heart soared
with happiness. She saw a spot under a big tree where dead, thick
branches of leaves hung lower to the ground, acting like a roof. It
would shelter her nicely.

A wave of relief to be
safe and not soaked to death overcame her. She took two steps and a
sudden sharp pain shot from her right foot straight through to her
heart. She screamed—her voice echoing in the woods as she fell.
Tears filled her eyes as she sobbed.

She lay there in a heap of
rain-soaked, dead leaves and tall grasses, biting her lip as her
shaky hands moved down her leg to her throbbing ankle.

Through teary eyes, she
saw her right leg was trapped between a tangle of vines and roots
that camouflaged the sharp end of a dead log, which pierced into
her flesh.

She tried not to cry out,
but the pain was truly unbearable. Closing her eyes, she prayed for
God to help her. The pain increased as she tried to move her leg
and more blood rushed out faster, soaking the trousers’ material.
She cringed, biting her lip as tears rolled down her pale
cheeks.

Trying very hard to ignore
the pain that was steadily eating away at her body, she managed to
sit up and bend her leg enough to move the log. She bit her lip and
commanded herself not to faint.

With all her might, using
cold-numbed fingers, she tried to push the log away. The pain,
however, was excruciating and she felt very tired. She gave up and
rested her forehead on her knees as tears kept flowing down her
cheeks. She sat there dejectedly and sobbed quietly, knowing in her
heart that she would no doubt die here, all alone, in this
godforsaken place.

Suddenly, the intense pain
vanished. She felt strong, masculine hands touching her leg. Ruby
opened her eyes to see Alec slowly moving the big log away. She
stifled her scream as the sharp end of the log was slowly extracted
from her flesh.

He touched her ankle and
turned to look at her, his eyes the color of the stormy sky above
them. His face, however, was a mask of composure.

Checking out her ankle, he slowly pulled her leg out from
the tenacious vines and roots. Ruby screamed in alarm, looking at
her sprained ankle.

Once her leg was free, he
rubbed the injured area tenderly and gazed into her misty brown
eyes. He didn’t say anything, but savagely clutched her in his
arms.

Ruby wrapped her arms
around his thick, muscular neck and cried her heart out.

He lifted her up and
strode carefully back to where he left the Land Rover. All the way,
he kept glancing at her to make sure she was all right.

Ruby, on the other hand,
couldn’t look at him. She hid her face against his neck, sobbing
ever so gently as her body shivered uncontrollably.

Fifteen minutes later,
they entered the clearing. Alec ran with her in his arms to the
Land Rover and quickly put her inside the warm vehicle. He knew she
was shivering from cold.

“
You all right?” he
shouted over the incessant rain. Ruby managed to nod back at him in
the affirmative. Alec hastily got into the driver’s seat and
started the engine.

Not long afterward, the
Land Rover came to a halt in front of the manor. Mr. and Mrs.
McKenzie were already at the door, waiting impatiently for them.
McKenzie rushed out with the big, black umbrella. He came around to
Alec, who was getting Ruby out of the car. McKenzie followed them
as Alec took Ruby into the manor.

“
Come this way,” Mrs.
McKenzie said at the door, leading them into the drawing room. It
was toasty warm from the glowing fire in the huge hearth. Lizzie
was there with a big, white towel ready in her hands.

Alec took Ruby to the sofa
near the hearth.

“
Mrs. McKenzie, get the
first aid kit,” Alec commanded.

The housekeeper nodded and
rushed out the door. She met Mr. McKenzie at the hallway, and told
him to find the first aid kit while she prepared something hot for
Ruby to eat.

Back in the drawing room,
Alec took Ruby’s boots off—extra carefully and so gently that he
wouldn’t hurt her injured leg anymore. Afterwards, he moved up to
undo her shirt.

She drew back.

“
Ma’am, you will get sick
if you don’t take that wet shirt off,” he said with a no-nonsense
tone of voice.

She bit her shivering lip
and nodded. He unbuttoned the shirt and helped her out of it. She
hugged herself to cover her nakedness. Alec tried not to look at
her naked body. He had more important things to attend
to.

Lizzie wrapped the big
towel around Ruby. “Lemme git a robe fer ya,” she said when she saw
that the big towel was not much help at warding off the cold for
Ruby.

“
Come on, let’s take your
pants off,” Alec said.

Ruby reluctantly nodded
and stood up. She arranged the towel in such a way, with her
still-shaking hands, to cover herself while she slid her pants
off.

She could only manage with
his help. Ruby was about to sit down when Lizzie came back with the
robe. The maid helped Ruby into it before assisting her back onto
the seat.

“
Start the fire in my
room,” Alec said to the maid. Lizzie nodded and left to do his
bidding.

McKenzie strode in with
the first aid kit as Lizzie rushed out the door.

Alec glanced at Ruby’s
leg, and looked up at her. “This is going to sting a bit,” he
said.

She nodded, biting her
lip.

Alec dipped a cotton bud
into the alcohol and touched it against her open wound. Ruby
gritted her teeth and grabbed onto the cushion beside her. She
tried not to scream at the hot, intensely sharp pain.

Alec cleaned her wound thoroughly, and once all the debris
was removed, he applied antibiotic ointment on it before wrapping
her lower leg with bandages. When he was finished, he sat beside
her and hugged her.

“
Are you warm?” he
asked.

Ruby nodded, looking up at
him, wondering why this captor of hers was so caring. She wanted to
weep—for what reason? She didn’t know. She just wanted to
weep.

“
It’s okay to cry,” he
said, stroking her hair.

“
I was so scared,” she
sobbed. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

“
It’s all over and you’re
safe now,” he said.

She nodded, then closed
her eyes, resting her head against his warm chest.

They sat like that in front of the fire, and Alec stroked
her long hair to comfort her. As for Ruby, she felt safe now, and
finally allowed herself to relax, letting her mind wind down. She
fell asleep in his arms.

* * *

“
Poor lassie,” Mrs.
McKenzie said, looking at Ruby asleep on the sofa. “Musta been very
upset ‘bout somethin’.” She jabbed the fire a couple of times with
the iron poker and stood up. Looking at Ruby more closely, she
tucked the plaid about the girl properly.

Alec entered the room, still half wet. Since arriving three
hours ago, he had not yet changed his wet clothing.

He watched as Mrs.
McKenzie mumbled something like “poor wee lassie, shouldna run inta
tha’ storm” as she touched Ruby’s forehead. She glanced up at him
just then.

“
Poor lassie,” she said.
“’Er ‘ead is rather ‘ot. Must be that rain an’ all.”

“
She’ll be fine, Mrs.
McKenzie,” Alec replied, although his expression said
otherwise.

The housekeeper nodded
unconvincingly and left. Alec came over to sit on the sofa and
gazed down at Ruby. He thought she looked so peaceful, but awfully
young when she was sleeping. Suddenly, he felt something deeply
touching his heart.

He supposed he shouldn’t have blamed her for trying to
escape
again
. He never gave
her a straight answer as to why he kidnapped her. But what could he
tell her? That he was an overprotective brother who loved his
sister so much he’d even kidnap a young woman on the chance she
could threaten the relationship between his sister and the man she
loved?

Ridiculous!

But he knew he’d better come up with an answer fast, and
find a way to stop her next attempt to escape. He knew she’d try
again
very
soon
.

He touched the back of his
hand against her forehead. She was warm, too warm for his liking.
He hoped her immune system was strong and she wouldn’t get a
life-threatening fever from the bone-chilling storm.

It was getting dark, and she had been asleep for three
hours now. He supposed he had better take her up to the bedroom.
She also needed a shower.

Scooping her up in his
arms, he carried her out the door. As he was heading toward the
grand stairs, he heard a soft voice, barely above a whisper,
saying, “Where are you taking me?”

He glanced down and saw Ruby looking up at him, her eyes
sleepy, but bright, and her face flushing red.
Shit!
She
looked sick all right. His gut did an Olympic champion
somersault.

“
A warm bed,” he replied, trying to conceal his sincere
concern.

They came up to the first
floor, and Ruby vaguely—in her hazy state of delirium—wondered why
he didn’t go directly toward the stairs that would lead them to the
second floor where he kept her isolated before. Instead, he carried
her to the far side of the corridor, before entering a
bedroom.

It was huge—much bigger
and grander than the room she occupied previously. This one had a
king-sized bed with a dark gold duvet cover. The bed was not an
antique. It was a modern type that probably cost the earth to
obtain. There was also an en suite, which Ruby saw through the
slightly ajar door at the far corner of the room. She caught a
glimpse of a huge bathtub.

Alec put her on the bed
and tucked her under the duvet. “You’ll be warm here,” he assured
her before going into the wardrobe on the other side of the
room.

Ruby eyed him with
interest as he opened the door of the wardrobe. She blinked twice,
realizing that the array of expensive clothing was his, and she was
in his bedroom. It was in her nature to ask silly questions, and
often she couldn’t stop herself, so she inquired, “Why am I in your
bedroom? Why don’t you put me in my own room?”

Alec glanced over his
muscular shoulder, and his eyebrows rose. “Because, ma’am, your
bedroom window has been destroyed. It will be very cold at night;
and, ma’am, I certainly do not want you to get a chill.”

Ruby blushed.
He
knew! Darn him!
He knew she
destroyed the window in order to escape. Of course! He would’ve
seen it anyway before noticing that she escaped. And that was how
he found her—drenched wet and lying there on the ground with her
foot caught between vines and roots.