Chapter Three

Lady Elizabeth put her hands on her hips, and Kaid knew he was in for a tongue-lashing.

“You expect us to go into the woods,” she said. “Alone.”

He didn’t budge. “Aye.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off before she could start.

“Or I could let the two of ye go together while I join ye both to ensure no one leaves.” He shrugged.

Her mouth opened wider, this time in obvious outrage. “How dare you?”

“Then maybe ye should do as he says,” Donnan said with his customary good-natured smile. “One of ye stays while the other goes.”

Elizabeth let her gaze slide over to Donnan and then back to Kaid. He could see the indecision warring on her face.

She heaved a great sigh. “Very well. Leasa, you go first.”

Leasa cast an anxious look toward Kaid.

“Ye’ll be fine,” Kaid offered reassuringly.

Still the frightened maid hesitated.

“Ach, ye’ll be fine, lass. I give ye my word.” Donnan flashed her his ready grin.

As always, his effortless charm worked its magic and Leasa’s shoulders relaxed. This would indeed be a long trek if Donnan was to repeat everything Kaid said.

“Thank you.” Leasa gave a short nod and made her way off the path at a pace somewhere between a walk and a restrained run.

The conversation ceased with her disappearance, so only Lady Elizabeth’s glare filled the space between them. Donnan muttered something about checking the horses and disappeared around the coach.

“Who are you, anyway?” Elizabeth asked.

Kaid looked toward the woods where the maid had disappeared. The lass made enough sound crashing through the brush he didn’t have to guess her location. Based on the volume of her screams earlier, he’d know well enough if she required rescuing. “Dinna ye worry about who I am.”

“Yes, we’ve already had this conversation.” There was a note of frustration in her voice. “What are we to call you?”

“Ye dinna need to call me anyth—”

“Kaid, where did ye want to set up camp tonight?” Donnan peeked his head around the corner. “I think we’re near—” His words dropped, and only then did Kaid realize he was glowering at Donnan.

A triumphant grin showed on Elizabeth’s face. “Kaid.” She nodded toward Donnan. “And who are you?”

Donnan’s uncertainty melted away in an instant, and he bowed low like some damn courtier. “Donnan MacLeod at yer service, my lady.”

With a growl, Kaid snapped forward and hauled Donnan against the cart. “We’ve abducted these women,” he reminded his friend in Gaelic. “Ye need to have a care what we tell them. They now know who we are, and ye almost told them exactly where we are. Ye need to speak to me in Gaelic from now on and give them only what they need to know, aye?”

Donnan’s face hardened into a look Kaid had only seen perhaps twice in their entire lives. “I guess I’m no’ used to kidnapping lasses.”

The slight hit its mark. He released Donnan’s leine, though he didn’t remember having grabbed it in the first place. “I dinna want to do this either,” Kaid said, though he knew it didn’t matter.

Lady Elizabeth frowned and strode toward them with such clipped steps, her skirts kicked out in front of her. “What are you saying?”

Irritation drew tight across Kaid’s shoulders, and he had to collect the scraps of his patience before answering, “Things we obviously dinna want ye to hear.”

Her hand was in the pocket of her large skirts, shifting under the heavy layer of fabric. As if she were seeking something.

He’d never thought to ask them if they were armed. After all, what noblewoman carried weapons on her person? But then, this spitfire might.

He let his gaze wander over her stiff gown. “Do ye have any weapons?”

Her brows lifted. “Of course I do not. And you’ve still not answer—”

“No needles?” he pressed. “Sewing scissors?” He’d never kidnapped a woman. In fact, he’d never been in a situation where he would need to pursue a woman in this regard. Still, he didn’t want to underestimate his foe, no matter how unassuming she seemed.

The hand in her pocket had not moved again.

Her head tilted a fraction of an inch higher, and her gaze remained steady. “I have no sewing items on my person.”

She’d been disciplined like all the other girls of the English court to keep her emotions bottled beneath an expressionless exterior. And while she was indeed far calmer than her high-pitched maid, he detected a hint of breathlessness in her words.

The lass hid her fear well.

He stepped toward her, and his foot squished into the thick mud. He would draw out the truth.

Her haughtiness slipped for a moment and gave way to a flash of vulnerability that left her mouth soft and the delicate muscles of her neck standing taut against her creamy flesh.

“Do ye have nothing in yer pocket then?” he asked and stepped closer.

This time she did not respond, which was answer enough.

She pulled her hand from her pocket.

He stalked toward her until he was close enough to feel the brush of her heavy skirt against his shin. A delicate floral scent caught his attention, which he recognized from their close quarters inside the coach. Doubtless her perfume, and doubtless expensive.

“What’s in yer pocket?” he demanded.

His intent was to intimidate. His closeness, the harshness of his words, his unbreaking stare. And it worked as far as he could tell. Her eyes were wide, as if she wanted to turn away.

But she did not. “You stand too close,” she said in a snide tone. “Move away, Kaid.”

Her disparaging demeanor caught at his nerves, and his name on her lips left his muscles tight. “I think ye have something.” He reached toward her heavy brocade skirt. “Here.”

Her hand shot out like a striking snake and connected with his cheek in a ringing slap. His cheek stung where her palm had made contact. Some men he knew would have struck her back. Tempting though it might be, he would never be one of those men.

“Dinna ever hit me again.” He let the warning come out low and composed. A threat calmly delivered held more promise than one bellowed in rage.

A thin, high-pitched scream came from the woods. They both turned in time to see Leasa break through the tree line in a wild thrash while pealing out her earsplitting cries.

“Leave her,” she shrieked and rushed in their direction.

Her hasty steps were clumsy on the muddy path, and she slipped once. At first she caught herself, but then stepped on her dress and pitched forward into a tangle of skinny legs and flailing arms.

Kaid shared a shocked look with Donnan from his place by the horses.

It was Elizabeth who ran forward to help her maid. She knelt into a thick patch of mud at the girl’s side to better aid her to her feet.

Leasa was weeping again. The snuffling, wailing sound carried with it an endless stream of apologies. Elizabeth’s voice murmured beneath the sobs, not with chastisement at her clumsy servant, but in soothing tones.

Thick mud caked the front of Elizabeth’s skirt, but she did not appear to notice. She asked the maid something, and Leasa offered a shy smile to Elizabeth, who beamed back in return.

Kaid couldn’t help but watch the exchange. This was not the entitled noblewoman who challenged him at every turn and had only recently slapped him. This woman in muddy clothes was patient and compassionate.

Her action had been immediate, the kind one does not realize they are doing until it is being done. The kind borne of instinct and displaying a person’s true heart.

Guilt squeezed at Kaid’s chest like a vise.

Despite the man she’d been sent to marry and the entitlement of her upbringing, she was a good person.

And he was the monster who would see her exploited.

• • •

Delilah waited for the crash outside.

It was her first tactic of many to prolong their arrival at Edirdovar Castle—or wherever it was Kaid sought to take them.

She sat in the jostling coach, awaiting a hearty bang to interrupt the cheerful pitch of Donnan’s whistling coming from the driver’s seat. Poor Leasa had finally quieted at her side, though she continued to offer stricken apologies periodically regardless of how often Delilah tried to tell her they were unnecessary.

Leasa had a large heart and a brave soul. She’d thought Kaid had meant Delilah harm and sought to intervene, to save Delilah. Her actions had been so heartbreakingly selfless. And if Kaid truly had meant to cause Delilah harm, it would doubtless have been Leasa who would have been injured.

The Highlander was gazing out the window once more. Delilah appreciated that he seemed to be affording them a modicum of privacy.

Her foot jiggled beneath the concealment of her skirts in anticipation. She’d loosened the luggage ties on the coach prior to climbing back in, but she’d had only a moment to complete the task.

Had she loosened them enough?

A horrifying thought struck her.

What if the luggage had come loose and fallen silently onto the trail? She hadn’t intended for their items to be lost, only for a diversion to be created, one where she could insist they search for the scattered items to buy at least an hour of time.

After all, several occurrences of stolen hours would add up to a considerable sum.

But if they lost their bags, they lost everything. Aside from just the fine clothing Lord Seymour had provided her with to resemble Elizabeth, she would also have no more of the tonics or specialized gear Percy had crafted.

Percy was one of other women in Sylvi’s employ, but she didn’t go out on missions like Delilah. Her role was actually more important as she created tools for them to use—poisons, healing teas, tools to open locks and conceal weapons.

Losing her inventions would make accomplishing the assignment difficult. Not impossible, of course, but with Delilah’s first solo mission at stake, she did not want difficult.

Leasa turned to Delilah with a slight frown on her lips. “I’m so sorry for—”

A great shudder jolted the coach and something clattered behind them. Donnan’s whistled tune cut off abruptly.

Delilah’s foot stilled and her heartbeat came a little faster with her victory.

The coach drew to a hard stop which jerked both her and Leasa forward. The maid gave a cry of surprise and grasped Delilah in an iron grip.

But Kaid didn’t notice them. He already had his blade unsheathed, his brilliant blue gaze sharp on the forest outside the small window. He leapt from his seat and burst through the door with an agility he hadn’t appeared capable of. But he didn’t leave the front of the partially open coach door. He stood there like a sentry.

He might be a man who kidnapped women, but he was obviously trying to ensure they were protected.

Donnan appeared at his side. “It’s no’ an attack. The ties came loose and the lot of their bags scattered all over the trail.”

“That’s fine,” Kaid said with a shrug. “We’ll reload and continue on our way.”

“I dinna think it’ll be as easy as all that,” Donnan said, switching to Gaelic, a language Delilah knew well from her training at Kindrochit Castle.

Donnan nodded to the foliage lining the trail. “I think some of them fell into the stream.”

Delilah cast a discreet glance to the other side of the window where the road dropped off into a downhill slope and ended in a rushing stream.

Her excitement waned. She’d wanted a distraction, yes, but she hadn’t wanted to see her items destroyed.

This needed to be handled, and quickly.

She knocked on the partially open door, letting the obnoxious rapping continue until Kaid slid his gaze toward her with poorly concealed annoyance. “What is going on?” she asked. “What did he say about our bags?”

His chest swelled and relaxed with a sigh before he replied, “It would appear they werena well secured and came loose.”

Delilah gave him a shocked frown. “Are they lost?”

He shook his head. “Donnan is gathering them now.”

“No.” Delilah shoved up from her seat with all the indignation of a noblewoman whose modesty was to be preserved. “I’ll not have a man handling my undergarments if any contents were loosed.”

Leasa started to rise, but Delilah shook her head. “You’ve taken a bad tumble, Leasa. Stay here. I can gather my own things.”

A shocked expression filled Leasa’s face. “My lady, that isn’t necessary, I—”

Delilah shook her head to still her maid and pulled open the door. Kaid filled the exit with his large frame, blocking her exit. “Sit down.”

She ignored the request and pushed forward, an awkward attempt with him so thoroughly in the way. “I assure you, it is entirely necessary.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, and she did likewise.

His eyes narrowed, and she narrowed hers as well.

It was like playing a mirror game with one of her younger siblings back home.

She lifted her chin as high as she dared in the hopes it might give her more height and tried to stretch her back, as if she could make herself taller by sheer will alone.

“Ye’re pretty stubborn to be an English woman.” He spoke in a wry tone. “Are ye sure ye’re no’ a Scot?”

“Maybe if I start to kidnap women I would be,” she countered. But instead of more verbal parrying, Kaid smirked and stepped back.

He uncrossed his arms and called for Donnan before returning his attention back to her. “Fine, help yerself to a walk through all the mud. I’ll have Donnan stay with Leasa so I can ensure ye dinna run away.”

Delilah was about to protest, to insist the more affable Scotsman be her guard. But now was not the time to feign an escape attempt. She glanced behind her to where Leasa sat in the coach, watching them. Leasa would be better off with Donnan’s carefree company.

Donnan appeared, and Kaid issued a rapid set of orders in Gaelic for him to remain with Leasa at all costs.

With that, Delilah and Kaid set off in stark silence to gather the belongings that Donnan had not yet been able to locate.

When the remaining bags were found, Delilah’s fears were realized. The bags had indeed ruptured upon impact with the ground and propelled their contents across the trail and into the running stream.

The refreshing breeze swept against Delilah’s skin and made her realize just how stuffy the coach was becoming. It’d already been a compact space with her and Leasa, but Kaid’s massive body seemed to leave no room to even breathe properly.

Of course the lack of proper breathing might be due to the incredibly tight corset she’d been laced into.

Rather than wheeze out her air, she held her breath and bent to flick her sark from the forest floor. Kaid had assisted with gathering outer garments and various other items, but had left anything appearing to be an undergarment for her. It was a kindness she could not help but appreciate.

Granted, she hadn’t been abducted before, but she would imagine most men in Kaid’s position would not be so accommodating.

When they’d collected most of the items from the muddy trail, they made their way down the sloping hill to the rushing stream where countless items had been strewn, some in the mud, some in the water.

Directly beside the stream, Delilah found her steel-boned corset. She lifted the heavy garment with great relief. Save several leaves plastered to the pale brocade silk, the fabric was not wet, which meant the steel had remained dry and would not rust.

While it was heavy, the strategic placement of steel boning on the inside rendered her torso slash-proof. A discomfort she was willing to endure. If only the blasted corset she wore now served any purpose for the extent of its squeezing torture.

Something white caught her eye in the stream, and her heart went heavy. There, almost entirely submerged in the deepest part of the water, was the bag containing their extra food.