The Woman on the Lake Ch. 07

NOTE TO MY SWEET READERS: This chapter is a little light on the action. I promise, this is the last "plot heavy" chapter before we go balls to the wall on the actual sex. There is a lot of sex coming, I promise.

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Leda stoked the fire in her oven. She had finally peeled off the shift, and was wearing an old ranger's uniform. She had taken it in to mend a year ago, but man it belonged to died before he could pick it up. It was warm but it fit her poorly. Her hips strained the fabric while her waist swam in an expanse of space, and both the pants and the shirt had to be rolled up considerably. She looked absolutely undesirable, but perhaps that was right for the time being.

Rob came in to the kitchen, laden with salted pork belly, onions and potatoes from storage. To Leda's surprise he found a knife for himself and began to chop the onions without prompting.

She got up and grabbed a knife for herself and they worked alongside each other silently. It was comforting, Leda thought, to have help cooking. The only disruption to their quiet hum of activity was when Rob asked where to find various herbs, or more fuel for the stove, but it was not enough to break the peaceful nature of their work.

When they sat down to eat, Rob didn't wait a moment before he shovelled the hot food into his mouth. It only occurred to Leda then that he's been on the run for days, perhaps weeks, without much to sustain him. She took one more bite of her own food before pushing her plate towards him.

"Have the rest," she said.

"No, that's alright. My stomach is smaller than it was before the mines," he said. "And besides, you've worked up quite an appetite this morning, I'm sure."

He winked at her, and Leda felt her cheeks burn. She took the food back and tried to eat.

"Not really," she said. "You did most of the work, didn't you?"

"I did," he said with a smile. "But what about the other man? You know, in the barn?"

Leda coughed hoarsely as a potato became lodged in her throat. Rob waited for her to get a hold of herself.

"You thought I didn't notice you running away from me as soon as you woke up? Last night you told me the rangers wanted to kill you, but I'm pretty sure the man you were rolling about in the hay with was a ranger."

Well, obviously she couldn't deny it now, but Rob's reaction was confusing. He was joking with her. She had heard that men from the highlands were permissive about women and their bodies, but it felt hard to believe that she could escape what she did today without a beating.

"Well, not every ranger wants to kill me," she said.

"I could tell," Rob said. "I'm surprised though, you seemed to like him quite a bit, why didn't you let him touch you more, make you come?"

Leda felt her heart pounding as the blood rushed to her cheeks.

"Why are you still here?" she asked.

"I'm just teasing you, girl. I don't care what you did with that man, I'm the one who got to taste you."

"No, I'm serious, Rob," she said. "What are you doing in my home, why are you sneaking around my property? Why did you do what you did to me, by the lake?"

Rob's face became grim. How quickly this woman could change from a sweet, passionate lover to a hardened, suspicious bitch.

"I'm still here because I don't know where else I can go. I was sneaking around because I wanted to steal a horse from the barn. I know, that would be a sorry way to thank you for what you did for me last night, but there you have it," Rob flexed his fists on the table. "And I did what I did to you, at the lake, because I wanted to."

Leda listened to him and tried to put the timeline of his morning together. She left the cellar, found Brandon, took the horse back to the barn where.. well. Rob must have gone back to the cottage on foot. He had to know where he was going. He would have had to run...

"Rob?"

"Yes?"

"Last night, how many men were here with you?"

Rob was quiet for a moment, and Leda assumed he was deciding whether or not to lie to her. And she knew that if he did lie to her, she would have to accept this, and protect herself.

"Why do you suppose there were others?"

"Because Brandon killed one of your companions. But how many more men were there?"

"Brandon?" Rob moved his clenched fists under the table. "Is that the ranger you were with?"

"Yes," she said. "Now answer my question."

She met his eyes, daring him to change the subject. To lie to her, obstruct. So Rob met her eyes and told her the truth.

"About a week ago, me and two other highlanders escaped from the chain gangs at the mines. We ran and hid for a while, and by the time your people noticed we were missing we'd stolen a boat to take us across the lake. It wasn't until we came to this shore that we realised rangers on this side of the territory were on our trail, so we decided to split up. Henry went north, his son Jacob went south, and I was going to hide in your cottage until I had to opportunity to steal horses and provisions. Is that enough truth for you?"

"If I had caught you, would you have killed me?"

"Yes, I would have. If I didn't find you, would you have sent that wolf after me?"

"If that what your people call Brendan?

"He has a reputation for hunting people down in the woods and then tearing them apart."

Yes he does. He is relentless in finding people, but he's not impatient. He'll wait for the right moment before he springs his trap.

Leda's heart froze.

It had been a wet night. She and Rob might have run, but they left messy, but deep footprints in the forest.

Once again, she put together a timeline. Rob found the highlander, they killed him. They return to Cliffhouse, where they found Alec. Alec lied to him. He let Alec go, Alec ran away, thinking he was safe. Then, if he really cared about her the way he said he did, there was only one thing he would do. He had tracked her. He would have followed her tracks from the house, into the woods, he would be able to tell exactly where Alec attacked her. They had broken branches as they struggled, she had drawn blood when she hit his nose. But that would only worry Brandon more. He would have kept following her.

Leda looked up to Rob.

"I think Brandon knows you're here."

Rob was quiet for moment, then he shook his head.

"That's impossible."

"It's not. It's the only answer that makes sense. We would have been easy to track, it was a wet night and we were both fumbling over everything."

"So he tracks us. Why didn't he deal with me when he found me?"

Leda considered it silently. Perhaps he heard that she was safe and and decided instead to track down the third man. Perhaps he heard that she was with another man and was angry, and decided to leave her to her own devices while he cooled off. Perhaps he was waiting to punish them both later.

The last thought entered her like a knife. Before she could compose herself, tears came to her eyes, and she turned away from Rob.

Rob leaned over the table and took her hand.

"Leda."

"I'm sorry, I just," Leda turned back to Rob and tried to smile. She was mortified that this highlander might see her cry, but he seemed totally unbothered as he squeezed her hand in his. "I'm just very confused."

She hid her eyes from him as another wave of emotion hit her. Rob got up from his chair and came over to her. He kneeled in front of her and stroked her shoulders and arms. It was an unfamiliar feeling, comfort, and for a fleeting second, Leda felt safe. She wiped the tears away.

"This morning Brandon accused me of being afraid of him," Leda said slowly. "I think he might be right."

"Then stop seeing him," Rob touched her hair. "You can take care of yourself. And if you need help, I have no where else to go."

"It's not that simple," Leda sighed. "I don't just need him, I like him. He understands me. He's been... I won't say a friend, we're both too serious for that, but he's been an ally. Knowing that he trusts me and thinks well of me has made me better - a better worker, a better farmer, a better trader. I like the way he looks at me. Can't stand the idea of letting him down."

Rob considered this for a moment. "Have you ever told him this?"

Leda snorted. "Of course not."

"Why not? If a woman told me I made her better, I'd burst with pride."

"Brandon has enough pride," Leda smiled. "And besides, I don't want him to think I'm weak."

"That's a strange relationship you have."

"Maybe."

"But one thing is clear," Rob stood up, and smiled wryly at Leda. "You shouldn't be afraid of him. He wouldn't hurt you."

"How do you know?" Leda asked.

"Because I heard him with you in the barn. He's about to risk everything for you."

"What do you mean?"

"He's about to take a one of his own men to the mines for you," Rob said. "They'll take highlanders or any other enemy without asking questions, but a man from the outer lands has to have a trial before he gets sent to the mines."

Leda didn't know why this was the first time she had considered it, but suddenly she realised the weight of what Brandon had offered to do for her.

"Brandon's going to have to tell the generals about me." She felt sick to her stomach.

"And I expect they are going to have a lot of questions about why a woman is doing trade, and why a man like Brendan is so interested in protecting her from rapists." Rob looked down to where Leda was now kneeling by her stove. "He's probably got a bigger plan, I imagine the generals would rather work out some sort of arrangement with him than lose their best ranger."

"They might, or they might just kill him for letting me break the law." She looked up at Rob. "You don't know what it's like here. People die so often in the war or in the mines, it's so easy to solve problems by just killing the people involved and forcing woman to make a new one. He knows that. Why did he go?"

"He loves you."

"Be serious,"

"People still love each other. Even here."

He loves me. Leda played with these foreign words. What does love mean outside of books? What does love mean when it's between a man like Brandon and a woman like her?

"If... that's true. Why did he leave me here on my own with you?"

"He heard us in the cellar, he could probably tell I wasn't hurting you or raping you. Maybe he trusted me."

"No," The fog lifted from Leda's mind. "He trusted me."

She looked at Rob and bit her lip. She thought of how she had, just minutes after kissing Brandon, touching his face, taking in every part of him before she said goodbye, she had gone into the arms of this other man. This man she didn't know. This man who was pleasant and familiar and warm, who made her feel young and unburdened, but who had thought nothing of killing her just last night, compared to the man who was about to give up everything just so Leda - a woman he had protect for years, might think of him a little more fondly. A wave of guilt and sadness and anger washed over her, but she understood what she had to do.

"I have to stop him."