Trusted By The Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance by Rebecca Preston

Author:Rebecca Preston [Preston, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

In the end, they didn't go on their ride until the following day. Melanie was all for it, but the weather in the afternoon turned and came over rainy and miserable, and the two of them decided against leaving the castle grounds. Still, they managed to get Aelfred up onto the chestnut's back, and despite his initial worry that the horse would behave like the wild beasts he was familiar with from back home, Melanie watched as he quickly became more confident on the horse's back. Before long, he was putting the gelding through its paces, impressing her as he guided the horse around the courtyard, changing pace and direction on a dime, the two of them seeming to work together as one. It made her own plodding circuits of the courtyard look amateurish and pathetic, and she realized that there was a great deal more to riding than she had originally thought. When she rode, she felt like a sack of potatoes. When she watched Aelfred ride… well, he looked like an extension of the horse itself, and she understood fully for the first time where the myths and legends of centaurs had come from.

Then again, she thought with a grimace, it was entirely likely that centaurs were real, wasn't it?

With the rain coming down in sheets now, they spent the afternoon inside the stables, taking care of the gelding before dinner. The horse was thoroughly worn out by the afternoon's exertions, and they made sure to give him a thorough rub down and grooming. By the time they'd put him away in his stall with a fresh pail of oats for his trouble, his coat was gleaming like freshly polished bronze, and the two of them smiled as they admired their handiwork, side by side.

"It feels good to be riding again," Aelfred said softly. "Even with those silly leather bits."

"It doesn't look like you need them," Melanie said, gesturing to the saddle and bridle that they'd carefully put away. "You seem to guide the horse with your mind, not your hands."

"That's a good way of putting it," he said thoughtfully, glancing down at her with a smile. "I like the way you think, Melanie."

She blushed to the roots of her hair. What was it about his compliments that did that to her so effortlessly?

They dined separately, in the end — Aelfred had an agreement to eat with Brendan and Galen that night, and Melanie wanted to catch up with the women and let them know that she'd successfully learned to ride a horse. And in the morning, Aelfred came to her with a proposition, his silver eyes gleaming.

"Now that we're both well again," he said over breakfast, "I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me on a ride a little further afield? I think I mentioned that Donal told me of a woman named Leah, a Changeling like me I ought to visit. She may have some insight into my situation, some advice —"

Melanie nodded, swallowing

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