er slid under the cold wee pads of one paw, and it let him scoop it gently into his hand and lift itfrom the ground. He held it for a moment against his chest, stroking it with one finger, tracing the silken jawline, the delicate ears. The tiny catclosed its eyes and began to purr in ecstasy, rumbling in his palm like distant thunder."Oh, so ye'll come away wi' me, will you?" Receiving no demur from the cat, he opened his shirt and tucked the tiny thinginside, where it poked and prodded for a bit before curling up against his skin, purr reduced to a silent but pleasant vibration.Gideon seemed pleased by the rest; he set off willingly enough, and within a quarter-hour, they had caught up with the others.The stallion's momentary docility evaporated, though, under the strain of the final upward climb.Not that the horse could not handle the steep trail; what he couldn't abide was following another horse. It didn't matter whetherJamie wished to lead them home or not--if Gideon had anything to do with the matter, they would be not only in the lead, butseveral furlongs ahead. At every widening of the trail, Gideon shouldered his way rudely ahead, shoving past pack-mules,sheep, and mares; he even scattered the three pigs trudging slowly behind Grannie Chisholm, who bolted into the brush in achorus of panicked oinks as Gideon bore down upon them.Jamie found himself in perfect sympathy with the horse; eager to be home and working hard to get there, irritated by anythingthat threatened to hold him back. At the moment, the main impediment to progress was Claire, who had--blast thewoman--halted her mare in front of him and slid off in order to gather yet another bit of herbage from the trailside. As thoughthe entire house was not filled from doorstep to rooftree with plants already, and her saddlebags a-bulge with more!Gideon, picking up his rider's mood with alacrity, stretched out his neck and nipped the mare's rump. The mare bucked,squealed and s...
