Chapter Eleven

Kaid wanted Elizabeth with more longing than he’d ever possessed.

The desire ate at him and left him circling the same thoughts over and over. Did he want her solely for herself, for her beauty and the kindness that shone through her initial haughty display—or did he simply want his enemy’s betrothed?

He tried not to let the rocking coach lull him toward the sleep that had eluded him the previous night. But it had not been the horrors at Ardvreck which had kept him awake—it had been the force of his desire.

He had not slept. Instead he had sketched.

Elizabeth stared at him again. He could feel the touch of her gaze as surely as he’d felt the stroke of her tongue on his the prior evening. He balled his hands into fists to hide the blackened evidence of charcoal smudged across his fingertips. The remnants had been impossible to wash off.

The same was true for his memories. For everything in his life had been recorded through his drawings, a direct connection from his heart to his hand, as his mother had always said. It had been she who had first encouraged the drawings. For all the years he’d been so silent as a lad, for all the thoughts she knew to be swirling within regardless. She had first placed the charcoal in his fingers and watched his world bloom on the pages before them.

Her death had been difficult for him. He’d been only ten, somewhere between lad and man. The child she bore had died along with her. But the gift she’d seen in him, that she’d encouraged, had thrived within him and kept her alive in his heart.

Leasa sat beside Elizabeth with her sewing hanging limp in her hand and her head laying awkwardly against the wooden wall in slumber.

She hadn’t noted the tension between him and Elizabeth, for surely she would have commented on it.

Kaid lifted his gaze and met Elizabeth’s. She did not flinch away.

No, she stared back at him, and in her eyes he saw the same desire he felt. It lingered for only a moment before she flicked her gaze from his, like a fire ember singeing bare skin before snuffing out.

He should say something. Apologize. Again. “I shouldna have—”

She put up a hand to stop him from speaking. He wanted to take the slender hand and press his lips to the warmth of her palm.

But she was right.

This did not need to be spoken of, especially not where Leasa might hear.

Thick forest crowded the trail on which they rode and pulled Kaid’s thoughts from Elizabeth.

They ought to be past the heavier forest by now. He’d anticipated more of the hilly landscape dotted with scruffy trees and patches of forest and rock. But then they’d lost considerable time while they recovered from being ill.

“How long was I ill?” Kaid asked.

The tension of Elizabeth’s shoulders seemed to ease. “I believe it was three days.”

“Three?” he repeated with incredulity.

She nodded.

His heart thumped hard against his ribs. “And how long were the rest of ye ill?”

She shook her head with a regretful frown. “I’m not entirely sure. Most likely an entire day.”

They’d lost four days to being ill. At least.

That was a lot of time lost, a lot of distance they could have covered.

If Elizabeth delayed for too long, MacKenzie might begin to worry after her and send a party. He and Donnan were strong fighters, but not enough to fend off an army.

“We’re going to need to get rid of the coach.” He spoke as the idea came to him.

Elizabeth’s lips parted in surprise. “How would we travel?”

“We’ll use the horses,” he said. “We can cover more ground that way.”

“There are only two—you can’t expect us to ride with you both,” she protested. “All my clothes, my jewels…”

“They dinna matter.”

“Not to you, but they matter to me.” She made the statement without any emotion, but the words struck him regardless.

His decision was selfish. The entire situation they were in was selfish. He was saving his people at her expense.

Elizabeth seemed to sense his resolve. “Please don’t do this,” she pleaded. Her gaze flicked to Leasa, whose mouth now gaped open in sleep. Elizabeth leaned closer to him, and the delicate scent of her perfume carried with it more memories than he could shut out.

She spoke in a quiet whisper. “If you care for me at all—”

“I canna care for ye.” The statement came out in a harsh whisper. “Ye belong to another man—my enemy.”

She straightened and gave him a brittle smile. “You’re right. How foolish of me to forget.”

He studied her erect posture and tensed muscles of her neck while she stared out the window. Away from him.

Even in this moment, where he understood her anger as well as his inability to do anything other than his mission, he could not help but admire her beauty and the quiet, confident strength she exuded.

Rather than argue the matter further, Kaid rapped upon the top of the coach. It would be best to handle this now before an argument could rise. He held his hands out in anticipation and caught Leasa’s sleeping form before she could smack her face into the seat beside him.

“What?” She looked up, her gaze bleary. “Who? Where—” Her brows lifted. “Where are we?”

Elizabeth put a protective arm over the other woman. “We’re to change from our coach to the horses.”

Leasa’s gaze focused and her frown deepened. “Why?”

“Because it’s been decided by forces beyond our power.”

Kaid did not have to look at Elizabeth to see her hard glare. He felt it, like the pointed edge of a blade poking at his neck.

Before he could listen to any additional arguments, he stepped out of the coach and nodded at Donnan’s confused face. “Separate the horses,” he said. “It’s time.”

Donnan winked and disappeared around the front of the coach to do as he was bid. The cheery tune of his whistling joined the clinking of iron hooks and links.

Kaid regarded the rear of the coach where several trunks were strapped atop one another. One had been broken in the fall, and a length of rough rope secured it together. There were also several bags made from thick tapestry. Those would serve better in their travel.

The trunks would have to stay.

And he dreaded telling Elizabeth as much.

She appeared at his side and crossed her arms over her chest. “I take it I can’t bring the trunks.”

Without waiting for a reply, she stepped forward and loosened the first tie holding the pile of luggage in place. Kaid rushed forward and caught the mass before it could topple onto her head.

Elizabeth’s cheeks were red and her brown gaze smoldered. He’d have to be daft to not see she was angry.

“I hope you anticipate allowing me time to sort through my belongings to determine what of my life is worth keeping and what should be cast aside like rubbish.” She settled onto the rough trail beside a fallen bag. “And to think I’d already pared my entire life down to these few trunks as it is.”

Perhaps he ought to try to explain things from his perspective, but he held his tongue. Best not to encourage her disposition.

The horses would help them travel with more haste. Soon they would be at Ardvreck Castle, and then it would be better if she did not like him, perhaps even easier if she hated him.

Even if, he knew, in the depths of his heart, he could never hate her.

• • •

Finery piled around Delilah in stacks of pricey rubbish.

All the beautiful items she’d ever wanted, all finally within her grasp as she played a woman far above her station, and all being taken from her.

She’d whittled down her belongings to the necessities—the steel-laced bodice, false-bottomed shoes, lock picks for her hair, a jeweled ring with a secret compartment, and all the other wonderful inventions Percy had sent her with.

It was a shame to leave so many beautiful gowns, all tailored specifically for Delilah. All the lush velvets and brilliant silks. They’d made her feel, for at least a moment, like someone better than herself.

Someone who mattered.

She turned from the clothing, which Leasa packed back into the trunks with great care. A futile effort.

Delilah would never see those gowns again.

She took her two meager bags and dropped them at the men’s feet. “I refuse to take less than these.”

Kaid met her stare head-on. “Ye know why we’re doing this.”

Donnan hefted the bags with a grunt and gave her a carefree smile despite the weight. “I see ye made good use of the space ye had.”

All too soon, the bags were strapped to the horses and Leasa and Delilah sat in front of Donnan and Kaid.

Delilah made a point to not look at the coach where it lay nestled against a cluster of trees. This became harder as they rode away, and all her worldly dreams that had finally been hers disappeared from view.

Likewise, she tried not to notice how Kaid’s body swayed against hers, how his legs cradled her own over the horse’s large body, how his arm encircled her waist.

Try though she might, the awareness of it left a splash of heat spreading over her cheeks and down her chest. She tried to shift forward, but it only resulted in her wriggling her bottom against him and his arm squeezing her tighter.

They rode thus in silence every day with only Leasa and Donnan’s quiet conversation humming in the background along with the thud of the horses’ hooves on the ground. Of course they traveled much faster—too fast.

Eventually, the thick forest gave way to rolling green hills dotted with large boulders and small patches of brush. It was beautiful, and it meant they were further north than she had anticipated.

They’d been on the road with Kaid for approximately two weeks, including the time they’d been sick, which put their entire journey at a total time of two months.

Delilah would have to stall for another two weeks to allow Elizabeth time to arrive safely before she could expose Kaid and Donnan.

Her burden had grown heavier with each passing day. It nipped at her patience until her nerves were frayed, and she was so lost in the chasm of her thoughts, she no longer heard Donnan and Leasa’s chatter.

Kaid was doing what he had to do.

And she would do likewise.

• • •

One more day of travel and they would arrive at Ardvreck Castle.

Kaid nodded toward the cluster of trees in the valley of several large mountains. It would be decent cover for the night.

“Here,” he said to Donnan.

He slid from the horse and tried once more to help Elizabeth from its back. As always, she refused.

They’d all fallen into a routine these last few days. Elizabeth set up camp with him, or rather watched while he did, while Leasa and Donnan gathered the firewood.

The weather was colder—an embrace of home. Kaid’s mind was sharp, his heart thumping with all the familiarity of being where he truly belonged. Sleeplessness did not hold as tight a grip on him as it once had. The images still surfaced in his mind, the horror, but there were moments he was able to sleep more than before the valerian root. Apparently his nightmares had ceased, as the women had issued no complaints of them.

All since he’d stopped taking the valerian.

The very thought of the small vial left his jaw clenching with want of it. Even still after he knew the benefits of stopping it. Even now when he was so much more clearheaded. He pushed it from his thoughts and untied the sleeping blankets from the back of the horse.

Elizabeth stood beside the horse, her gaze fixed on the magnificence of the mountain beneath a clear sky.

“Do ye like it?” he asked.

She didn’t turn to him. He hadn’t expected her to. She’d been cold to him ever since they’d abandoned her items, but he sensed her silence was something far more than anger at her lost items.

“This is my home,” he offered.

He should be glad for her indifference.

It was for the best.

“What will you do with us?” she asked, her voice hard. “Lock us in the dungeon while you wait to hear from Laird MacKenzie?”

“Ye’ll be guests in my home,” he said. The room had been set for her arrival before he’d even departed.

“Regardless of the politeness you’ve extended, it’s quite obvious we are not guests but prisoners.” She lifted her chin in the pretentious manner he despised so much.

He frowned at her. “I’ve tried to explain—”

“That changes nothing.” She spun toward him, facing him as if he were an attacker. Her body was tense, her gaze bright with passion, and her cheeks blazing.

Perhaps it was those things, or how the sun spilled over her and turned her hair into curls of gold, but she was more beautiful than he’d ever seen her.

“Elizabeth, I—”

“It’s unfair.” Tears shone bright in her eyes and twisted at his heart. He’d never seen her cry before. Even that night in the woods, when he’d known she’d probably cried, he hadn’t seen her. He knew now how very painful it was to behold.

Especially when he was the culprit.

“All of this is so unfair.” The tiny freckle next to her cheek stood out to him as it always had: not as an imperfection, but as the final note of beauty on an already exquisite face.

He stepped closer and opened his arms to her.

She shrugged him off.

“Elizabeth.”

“Don’t.”

But he couldn’t stop himself. He stepped forward again, toward her.

This time her hand flew toward his face, but he caught her wrist. “Dinna hit me,” he warned.

“Let me go,” she gritted out through her teeth.

Her other hand came at his face, but he caught that one too. He held her for a moment, her arms pinned.

And then he kissed her.