dare he be noble and attempt to protect her when she was trying to save his sorry hide. Linet stormed back. At her approach, his mouth drew into a formidable grimace. A threatening tactic her brother had tried to use on her as well.
And failed.
Irritated, she poked a finger into his muscled chest. “Your fierce looks will not work. How dare you try to manipulate me!”
Eyes bright with fever bore into her. “As you did to me back in the cell?”
Her finger wavered, then fell. Guilty, but that wasn’t the point, neither did she miss that he didn’t deny the tactic. Why did he have to go and make this all a mired mess? Her plan was simple. She’d wanted nothing more from him than his escort. Once they arrived in the Highlands, when she walked away from him, there would be no looking back, no remembering him. He meant nothing to her. Never would.
Except now he had to go and be noble.
“I am not a weak-willed maid who will be running off at the first sign of threat.”
No, Seathan agreed through the haze of pain storming his mind. On that he agreed. This lass, half English, half Scot, had a backbone many a man would admire. But he couldn’t tell her that, or allow her to remain at his side. If he passed out, he couldn’t protect her. Alone, he would hide within the woods as he had done many times throughout his life. Rest would help him heal. As for travel, somehow he would make it to his home, Lochshire Castle, to send a messenger to warn Wallace and the other rebels about Dauid.
Seathan shot her a menacing look, one that had left squires trembling in their boots. “I told you to leave.”
Lavender eyes flashed with defiance. “You did, but I am staying to help your ungrateful, stubborn hide as your mind is obviously mulled by fever.”
Stunned, he stared at this wisp of a woman. The lass was looking out for him? Lured by his status or wealth, women never cared for him without thought of personal gain. She blurred before him.
He focused, barely.
She caught his tunic.
“Wh-What are you doing?”
“I need to check your wounds.”
He had to convince her to leave before he collapsed. “I have changed my mi-mind. I will not escort you to the Highlands.”
Shock streaked across her face. “But you—”
“Lied.” An untruth, but if it would sway her to go, so be it.
Her mouth fell open. She started to shake her head, then stopped. Linet angled her chin. “I do not believe you. You are a man of your word.”
“You know naught of me.”
“I know you are on the verge of collapse. Instead of thinking only of yourself, you are honorable enough to try to persuade me to leave for my own safety.”
He opened his mouth to speak. A dizzying buzz assaulted him. Seathan closed his eyes to ward off the sensation.
Gentle hands caught his shoulders. “Seathan?”
The concern in her voice lured him to admit his tactic. Nay, she must go. He opened his eyes, focused.
A gust of wind, laden with the rich softness of spring, spiraled around her, lifting soft strands of her amber-gold hair in a wayward drift. Magical. The unearthly thought whirled in his mind as if he’d drunk too much ale. A heady feeling that numbed the pain strumming his body and made the dangers around them fade.
He inhaled deeply, as if to breathe in her scent would purify his mind, savoring the fragile innocence she wore like a mantle. He’d thought her beautiful in the cell, but with her face embraced within the golden rays, her cheeks rosy against her ivory skin, she seemed angelic. He grimaced. An illusion for sure.
“Seathan?”
The desperation of her voice forced him to focus. “Need to go.” Lord Tearlach would be in a rampage until he was recaptured. And Seathan needed to find and warn his brothers of Fulke’s search as well as Dauid’s treachery.
Emotion overwhelmed him as he thought of the bodies of his knights hacked with merciless glee. John, a man he’d introduced to his wife, whose newborn babe he’d held. And Eoin, a man he’d grown up with, a warrior he’d called friend.
“Do not pass out on me!” Linet demanded.
He glared at her. Naught would stop him from serving justice to Dauid. “A-Aye, lass, we will go.” Through grim determination, Seathan started forward. Muscles screamed with his every step. Sweat rolled down him as if a dam had broken. Images of his butchered men drove him on.
Relief poured through Linet as Seathan started forward. His stumbling gait mattered not. When he’d closed his eyes moments before, she’d thought he would keel over.
Time trudged by with aching slowness as they pressed on. With the passing hours, the sun rose to its zenith.
In the distance, the rush of water grew. Birds called out in trees green with buds that would soon unfurl to leaves, sprouts of grass dared to peek through earth ravaged by winter, and the scent of the air, rich with the tang of spring, sifted on the breeze.
The joy she normally found in the rebirth of the land was overshadowed by the threat of danger.
And her doubts that they truly would escape Fulke’s wrath.
The earl halted.
She turned toward him. “What is wrong?”
Green eyes torn with indecision watched her.
“Swear on your life what I…I am about to show you will st-stay secret.”
Her body tensed. Had he found a sanctuary where they might rest? Linet scanned the area. Within a thick stand of ash, boulders lay in a large clump. Except for a sharp drop-off to the right that plunged to a gorge below, nothing that represented an entry existed. So why was he asking for her vow?
Intrigued, she nodded. “I swear it.”
He raised his hand, pointed; it trembled. “There.”
She frowned. “The trees?”
“Look between the trees. There is a pile of large boulders. A…A cave is hidden beyond.”
“I see no entry.”
“Do you see the moss?”
Linet nodded.
“The mo-moss is woven on a blanket that drapes across the entry.”
“Brilliant.”
A grim smile touched his lips. “Effective.”
It was. The English knights would ride by the rebel hideout.
From behind, a man’s yell broke the silence.
Seathan
