“For us all. They are knights and know better.” Heducked inside.
“When do you think you will return?”
“If all goes well,” Cailin said, retrieving his weapons, then donning his cape, “bylate tomorrow.”
“Come back to me.”
At the quiver of emotion in her voice, Cailin looked over. She had asked this of him before, when he’d doubled back in the maze. Since he was a child, no one had worried for his safety as he’d set out on a dangerous mission or into battle. But here, now, Elspet was someone who cared about him as a friend and, if he were honest, more.
As well, she made him want her as he’d never anticipated and, in truth, made him contemplate a future beyondthat of battle.
An ache built in his chest at the ramifications. He was no longer alone, or rather, no longer without someone who’d grown important to him in his life.
How had she broken through his defenses? Was it her stubborn nature that had him watching her in amazement, or her determination to defend those she loved that drew him? Nor could he forget her sweet taste, or how her body trembled beneath his touch.
For the first time in his life, he cursed the day when he would return to fight alongside the Bruce.
Cailin caressed her mouth with his thumb, then—unlike the previous kiss he’d stolen from her in the tunnel—took his time lowering hismouth to hers.
She wrapped her arms around him, and Cailin took the kiss deeper, lost himself in the way she left him strong as well as helpless, as if caught within a magical weave that tangled his every thought until ’twasnaught but her.
A wish.
A need.
A necessity as urgentas each breath.
At last he drew back, satisfied to find the pulse at her throat racing beneath his fingers, her mouth slightly parted and her eyes dark with desire.
“I…” What?I want you for more than a friend? God’s teeth, with the way he’d kissed her, a fool could tell that. If naught for his leaving, with his growing feelings for her, he’d haul Elspet to his bed.
Shaken by his thoughts, he brushed his mouth against hers one last time. “I must go.”He strode away.
Taog and Sir James were mounted and awaiting him as he approached. Cailin swung up, glanced toward the tent.
Illuminated within the firelight, Elspet stood at the entry, the soft shimmer of golden light caressing her face.
He kicked his mount into a canter, aware that from this moment, his life had changed.
* * * *
Elspet turned for the eighth time on her pallet, gave up trying to sleep, and sat up. She’d never be able to rest after that kiss and surrounded by worry while he was away.
She scanned her surroundings. Several men sat by the fires, but tonight she noticed extra guards at the perimeter of the camp.
Chills crept up her skin, and she glanced at the cloudy skies. ’Twould make traveling difficult but aid Cailin, Taog, and Sir James—and Sir Petrus, once rescued—from being seen.
Wrapping herself in a blanket, she left the tent and walked to the fire.
Several men shifted to make room for her to sit.
She smiled her thanks, then sat and held her hands out before the fire, enjoying the warm flicker of heat.
“I thought you would have been long asleep,” Odhran, an elder she’d met before, said.
Elspet gazed into the darkness for a moment, then turned back. “I canna sleep.”
“Your worry is understandable. Once Lord Dalkirk discovers a significant number of his men have deserted him to support his nephew, he will be furious.” The elder picked up a thick piece of wood, set it on the flames. Sparks shot out, curled up into the rising smoke. “Until now, though the noble had search parties out to capture his nephew and you, he believed that Sir Cailin had meager support and posedlittle threat.”
