Highland Song (33 page)

Slade smiled and pulled Lainie into his arms in an easy motion. He stared at the boulder for a few long seconds. The path was completely blocked.

"I had just about given up hope of ever getting rid of them."

"You think they're gone?"

"Not for ever. They'll go the long way around, and it will take days for them to catch up with us if they ever do. I'm hoping for the latter." The silence seemed to linger in the fading light of the day. Suddenly above the silence, the sound of the horses’ hooves beating a rapid staccato on the rocks below floated toward them.

"Were safe?" she asked as if she couldn't really belief they would have some kind of respite.

"For now," Slade said, agreeing with her.

Lainie grimaced and sighed.

"Let's find a spot to make camp. I think there is a small stream that flows through here.

~ * ~

Two hours after the sun descended, they rode into a thicket of trees that surrounded a nearby creek.

"We can camp here for the night," Slade said. He dismounted then helped Lainie off her horse.

She groaned. Every part of her body ached.

"Don't move," he told her after he set her on the ground and laid out her bedroll to sit on. "I'm going to take a look around. Try and get some sleep."

"I don't want to move," she murmured.

Lainie watched Slade's back as he walked away one more time. Then she snuggled down into the covers. Footsteps startled Lainie awake. She woke in a rush, sitting up so quickly that blankets scattered. "Slade?" she asked.

"Easy, little fox. It's me. There is nothing to be afraid of."

Blinking, Lainie looked around. "How long did I sleep?" she asked.

"Almost an entire day." Slade looked up from the fire.

"I don't remember falling asleep. One second you were telling me you were going to have a look around and the next--well the next is right now."

"I remember," he said with a soft smile and green eyes twinkling with humor then deep desire.

She'd seen that look before, but it seemed like an eternity ago. They'd been through so much danger.

"What do you remember?" She pushed her hair from her eyes then tied it in a knot behind her head to keep it out of her face.

"I remember that I came in and tried to pull the blankets over your shoulder. You kissed my hand then snuggled deeper into your bedroll."

"I kissed your hand?" she asked.

He nodded. "I was so touched by your gesture and so damned
tired,
I almost slid in beside you."

She felt heat sweep up her body to land on her cheeks. She touched her palms there to make sure, wishing she could hide from her own desire.

"Did you find anyone?" she asked, needing to change the subject.

"No, are you hungry?"

"Famished."

They ate their meal in a companionable silence that didn't need conversation. She had never felt so at ease with anyone before. When they were finished, he rose and held out his hand for her to take.

"I have something I want to show you."

"So you did find something? But not our enemies?" Her curiosity had always been too intense. Now, her inquisitiveness coupled with the need to feel fresh air on her face had gotten her into trouble.

"You'll have to be patient." He pushed a strand of hair from her face, letting it rest behind her ear.

"I'm not a patient person," she said.

"Come on."

She followed Slade on a trail that paralleled the tiny stream that was no wider than a log. But as they walked, the stream widened. Small pools appeared. Some were tiny and some were almost wide enough to wade in. The water was cool and clean. It ran quickly down the slopes. The sound of falling water came from somewhere ahead. Lainie froze and looked at Slade who wore a wicked grin. She had never heard anything so beautiful as the rush of water and the promise of a cooling swim on a hot day.

Moments later a large pool of crystal clear water shimmered in front of them. High above water tumbled from the rocks. The sound the water made was musical and calming. Despite the fear and the intense turmoil her life had been in, she felt laughter bubble up inside.

Lainie turned to Slade and smiled. His eyes danced with amusement. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?" she asked.

"Nothing would have woken you from your sleep. You were exhausted."

Lainie watched the sunlight shimmer and dance off the water. Slade skipped a stone across the pool, making the water dance in rippling circles. The few tracks Slade left on the previous day were the only sign that any living creature had been this way for a long time.

"Can you swim?" Slade asked again.

This time Lainie answered. "Aye."

"Your brothers taught you?

She nodded.

Slade slipped out of his shirt and let it fall on the ground. "I promise I won't look if you want to take your clothes off to swim."

"Incorrigible Englishman," Lainie said. She didn't mean to take anything off until she was completely submerged.

Hand in hand, Lainie and Slade walked into the pool. When they were waist deep, Slade let go of her hand and dove into the water, swimming underwater until Lainie began to wonder if he would surface. When he did, he shook water from his hair, droplets catching the sunlight and shimmering like rainbows.

With sure clean strokes, Slade swam back to her. He stood and put his hands on her shoulders. She looked into dark green eyes that were hungry with desire. He slowly bent and brushed her lips with his own. It was quick and evocative and it left Lainie with a deep need for something more.

Then he waded from the pool and turned. "I'm going to move our camp. I'll be back in a little while. Yell, it you need anything."

She watched him vanish in the trees then she turned back to the water. She didn't dare take all her clothes off, but she slipped out of the pants she wore and tossed them to shore. Then she slipped underwater, letting the coolness wash over her. She swam for a few feet before she came up then she dove again. When she surfaced, she turned over and floated on her back, watching the sky. Fluffy clouds drifted by, forming and reforming into different shapes.

From time to time, she turned over and swam or ducked beneath the surface of the water. Lainie knew she needed to get out of the water and find the camp. Slade would be close by, and she supposed he might even be watching her.

Lainie wasn't ready to face the smoldering green of Slade's eyes as he watched her with a hunger that always startled her. And she wondered what Slade saw in her own eyes when he would turn suddenly and discover her watching him. She feared he saw his own hunger echoing from her eyes. She wanted him with an intensity she didn't understand, while she knew, he offered none of the things she wanted. In the end, it would be foolish for her to give herself to him. He would leave her and she held no illusions that she might be able to convince him to stay with her. Yet she wanted to know again the surprising sweet fire that came when he held her close.

But she was afraid of that closeness too. She had known only pain. And she was afraid that when he knew for sure she wasn't innocent, he would turn from her in disgust. Sweet jesu, but she wanted so much from him. She wanted his trust and his respect and his children. She wanted him to teach her how to overcome her fears, but he'd have to know that Bertram had raped her in order to do that.

She wanted everything from him that she knew her brothers shared with their wives: happiness and sorrow hope and despair, passion and tranquility, all of life ahead of them.

More than anything else, she wanted Slade's love.

He wanted her body, nothing more.

Lainie wiped away a tear of sorrow. Yet no matter how much she tried to think of something else besides the longing she had for a dashing yet incorrigible Englishman, she could not. And she knew the only way to change his mind about her was to tell him a truth she could not find the words to speak.

If she gave herself to him without telling him, his own vision of her would become the absolute truth because he wanted honesty, not lies.

If I tell him the truth, will he believe me? Will he believe that my innocence was brutally torn from me without my consent? If he believes me, will he want more from me than just the use of my body?
   

She could find no answer to that question except to make a new bargain with him and if she did, would she really be making a bargain with the devil? A chill coursed through Lainie at the immensity of the risk she would be taking.

What if he does believe me and tells my brothers the truth? They would move heaven and earth for revenge. If something happened to her brothers because of her, she would not be able to live with herself.

There in lie the danger, the risk and the probable outcome. In the year since she left home, she'd learned to survive whatever life threw her way. But this truth involved the life of another person.