The tree shuddered.
Marie stumbled forward. “Help!”
Colyne caught her and hauled her against his chest.
“I am fine,” she hurried out, the roar of water rushing past.
“Are you sure?” he asked, sounding far from convinced.
“Oui.”But she wasn’t. Her pulse still raced at how close she’d come to being swept away.
A horse’s whinny echoed from across the stream.
On a gasp she turned, caught the outline of the guards making their rounds in the darkening night.Mon Dieu!“They are coming back!”
He tugged her with him as he headed toward the dense branches.
“Do you think they saw me?”
“Nay.” The current shoved her against his side as he waded deeper into the tangle of leaves. “If they had, they would have called to alert the others.” After settling them behind a thick bough, he grimaced. “We must remain here until they pass.”
She nodded. Cold, Marie pressed closer. If they remained in the icy water much longer, they were both going to freeze.
“Put your arms around my neck and lean against me. It will allow you to rest.” At her hesitation, subtle humor flashed in his gaze as he lifted her arms to his bidding. “Lass, why are you always so stubborn?”
“You need to rest as well, more so with your injuries.” But she couldn’t deny the refuge found within his powerful embrace.
Tenderness warmed his expression. “I am a seasoned warrior. I will rest when time allows. Nae until.”
Mayhap, but he was still a man, and an injured one at that. With a sigh, she leaned against his solid strength and waited.
After a long while, the men on the opposite bank rode past them into the forest.
Once they’d disappeared from sight, Colyne lifted her in his arms and started forward.
“What are you doing, carrying me? Put me down.”
Water sloshed around them as he trudged toward shore. “Nae until we are nearer to dry land.”
With an exasperated sigh, she glared at him. “And you call me stubborn?” Without the water supporting her weight, the pain in his shoulder had to be excruciating. “I can walk from here.”
Colyne hesitated and then complied. Together, they splashed up the bank.
With each step, her legs rebelled. Determined to hold her own, she slogged forward.
Once they’d pushed their way through the shield of brush, Colyne halted. “Wait here.” He returned to the shoreline and filled their tracks in the softened earth. Then he grabbed a branch and erased the last signs of their passage. Weary eyes studied her as he walked back. “Are you able to travel?”
“Oui.”Even if she wasn’t, for him she’d try.
He tossed the limb aside.
Taking her hand, they walked in silence. Naught but the muffled crunch of their steps upon soaked leaves and twigs betrayed their presence, their movements shielded from the river by a dense wall of brambles and the night.
With the storm having passed, the air held the rich scent of cleansed earth. Except for errant splatters tossed to the ground as gusts continued to shake the canopy overhead, the wind no longer assaulted the woods.
“The sky is beginning to clear,” Colyne said.
She scanned the angry clouds racing past, leaving the heavens unblemished in their wake.
