“Get down.” He said gruffly, and even though Lauren didn’t want to get down, she knew that she had to.
He came back with a pair of tights for her. She groaned, but she went into the tent to put them on under her dress and hiked it up so that she could have something similar to a riding skirt as she mounted the horse once more. Lauren started to get an idea as they rode along, looking at Dugal as she did.
People seemed to have a mixed look every time that they looked at her, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was that she had a horse, and they weren’t holding onto it. As they got back on an open road, she decided to take a chance like she normally wouldn’t. With that, she broke free, galloping alongside of her.
I can’t believe I’m doing this. Lauren thought to herself before she started to hear the shouting. She knew that they were shouting at her, and she knew that the galloping of hooves behind her was them chasing, but she didn’t dare to turn back. She tried to push the horse further, but it didn’t want to seem to go nearly as fast as she wanted.
It’ll have to be fast enough. She thought to herself as the wind whipped in her hair, and she was thankful for one thing. The way that Dugal had made her put on the tights was the only reason that she was able to do this in the first place. It was like freedom was calling her name. She had never found the hillside so beautiful or as dangerous as when she was galloping through it. She knew that she had already gotten further than they had hoped. She groaned as she heard people catching up. The shouting had become quiet, and Lauren dared to look back.
She saw Dugal Ansley coming after her. He had a determined and quite fearful look on his face that made her heart pound. He caught her gaze, and for a second she almost stopped the horse, but she pushed onward. She knew that there was no turning back. She didn’t dare, but soon enough he caught up with her. He forced her horse to halt, and she was nearly thrown off in the process.
Dugal jumped down to calm her horse. His own stayed where he had left it, perfectly trained and not daring to do anything else. As Dugal calmed her horse down, her heart started to drop. She knew that she had been caught, and she wasn’t sure if that was worse than being alone in a foreign land. She could feel the anger radiating from him as his strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her off.
“You’re a very stupid lass.” He whispered in her ear, making her shudder.
“What do you think would have happened to a girl like you out here? Do you think I’m the worse thing for you?” He said, and she groaned a little, trying not to think too much about what he was saying. Lauren knew that she had messed up. She wasn’t sure if getting away was the answer, but she knew that she had to try, so that’s exactly what she did.
“I’ll go back.” She said, sighing as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. His arm didn’t let her go as he held her to his chest.
“You could have gotten hurt. You embarrassed me.” He told her, and the last part was a growl. Dugal seemed to let it go as his grip on her relaxed. She went to mount the horse again, but he stopped her.
“Do you think I’m letting you get on that beast again? You couldn’t even get him to run properly, and you could run again.” Dugal said. His voice said it all. He no longer trusted her, and before she could manage to retort, he was already dragging her over to his horse and grabbing the reigns on hers. She was put up on it first before he saddled behind her and started back towards the rest of them. His anger was still easily felt in his tense muscles. He didn’t waste any time getting back to the group. They looked at her with disgust, and some of the women were shaking their heads. That’s when Lauren noticed that there were only two women in the group, and they rode separate from the men. The other were all men, leering at her. She shrunk back against Dugal who seemed to reassure her some.
“We won’t be having any more problems.” Was all that Dugal said before he turned the horses and started down the path again.
“We’ll make it back by nightfall. We won’t have time for a break yet.” He told the rest of them without having to turn around.
His voice seemed to carry, and she tried not to look back at the scary, surely hateful stares that she was getting. All of them wanted to get back to wherever they had come from by the nightfall, and she was sure that they were not happy with the set back. She still didn’t quite understand why he had not raised a hand against her when his anger was so clear. Her mind was spinning, but Lauren tried to push the thoughts aside. She didn’t want to look back. The day from that point onward was relatively quiet. They traveled quickly, and her muscles ached from the galloping of the horse, and even the trotting seemed to make her want to lay down in a soft bed. She worried that they’d be camping on the hard ground once more, but Lauren didn’t need to worry for long. Instead, she soon saw that they were coming up on a town. Houses were in the distance, and some of the men seemed to be happier. Even Dugal seemed to relax some. As they got onto the cobblestone streets, a young boy rushed out to meet them. She stiffened immediately. She didn’t know why, but seeing the child shocked her out of her state of shock and internal thought.