Chapter 6
The boat scraped against the dock, and Evan sprang out to tie it fast. He made a point of moving confidently, making it look effortless. But in truth, every nerve in him was stretched taut as a bowstring. His eyes swept the harbor the moment his boots hit the planks—scanning faces. Seoras MacInnes’ reach was long, and his men could be anywhere.
And he had no doubt that Thomas and Murchadh would have sold him out—given away his location to anyone with the coin to pay. It’s what he would have done in the same situation.
He forced his shoulders loose, slipping his familiar swagger back into place as Ruby clambered out behind him. Still, the unease gnawed at him. Damn his cursed luck! How was he to know those fools up north worked for MacInnes? If he’d even suspected, he wouldn’t have gone near that deal. And why was MacInnes coming after him anyway? He was just one man, surely not worth MacInnes’ time? The answer was obvious. He’d crossed the warlord one too many times, and he’d had enough. It was time Evan Campbell was put in his place.
Ah, damn it all. He knew well enough what vengeance looked like in these parts. If fortune were against him, MacInnes’ agents might already be waiting here.
“Keep close,” he murmured, offering Ruby a steadying hand as she stepped onto the dock.
It had been a while since he’d visited this place, but he knew it well. It was a prosperous settlement that the locals simply called White Rock due to the color of the cliffs, and it had grown fat on sea-trade—both legal and the not-so-legal. Smoke rose from chimneys, the smell of fish and tar thick in the air. Children darted underfoot, dogs barked, men shouted greetings as they hauled in the last of the day’s catch. All the bustle of ordinary life, but Evan’s eyes never stopped moving, tracking each glance thrown their way.
“We’ll stay there tonight,” he said, nodding towards a timber-framed inn that stood taller than the rest, its sign swinging proudly above the door. “Best place in town.”
Ruby frowned, looking up dubiously at the building. “Best?”
He shrugged. “Ye get what ye pay for, lass. And I’m in no mood for flea-ridden straw.”
Inside, the air was warm with firelight and the tang of ale. A few locals sat at tables, but no one gave them more than a cursory glance. Evan strode to the counter, Ruby close behind, and leaned against it with all the ease he could muster.
Ruby elbowed him out of the way. “We’ll be needing two rooms,” she announced.
The innkeeper, a plump man with shrewd eyes, raised his brows. “Two rooms? For a married couple?” He craned his neck, peering past Evan as though looking for unseen companions. “Do ye have others in yer party?”
Ruby stiffened, color rising in her cheeks. “Married? We are most certainlynot—”
Evan swore under his breath and caught her elbow, yanking her towards the door before she could spill another word. He bundled her outside, ignoring her indignant protests, and pulled her into the shadow of the inn wall.
“Are ye daft?” he hissed, low enough that only she could hear. “Do ye want the whole town to know ye are traveling with a manwho isnae yer husband? Ye’d have half the gossips sniffing round before nightfall—and worse besides.”
Her eyes flashed, stormy in the fading light. “So your answer is to lie? Again?”
Something hot flared in him, sharp and stinging. “Aye, and it’s my lies that have kept ye alive this long,” he snapped. “Or would ye rather I’d told Alec and David yer pretty truth back at the inn—that ye are a woman alone without the wits of a bairn! See how they’d have treated ye then!”
Her lips pressed into a thin line. She looked as though she might slap him.
“I don’t want to share a room with you,” she said stiffly.
“Good,” he shot back. “Because I dinna want to share one with ye either. But unless ye’d rather sleep on the boat, there isnae much choice.”
They stood there, glaring at one another, the sounds of the settlement carrying on around them. Slowly, Ruby’s shoulders sagged, the fight in her easing into weary resignation.
“Fine,” she said at last. “One room. But don’t youdarethink this means I trust you.”
Evan exhaled through his nose, though the anger still thrummed in his chest. “Lass, trust is the last thing I’d expect from ye.”
Still, as he held the door open and let her step back inside, he couldn’t help the twist of something unfamiliar in his gut. Ruby was right not to trust him.
And yet, he found himself wanting her to.
THE ROOM WAS SMALL, low-ceilinged, and far more basic than anything Ruby had ever stayed in before. If she were being charitable, she might call it ‘rustic’. If she were beinguncharitable, she might call it ‘horrible’. A narrow bed pressedagainst one wall, a rough wool blanket folded at the end, and a single wooden chair sat beside a table scarred with knife marks. A candle sputtered in its holder, throwing long shadows across the cracked plaster.
Oh, hell.
Evan had disappeared almost the moment they’d stepped through the door, muttering something about “business.” He hadn’t asked if she minded being left here alone. Of course he hadn’t. He’d simply left her standing there, still bristling from their quarrel downstairs.
She sank onto the edge of the bed, letting out a long, shaky breath. Her hands twisted in her lap. Evan Campbell’s face floated before her mind’s eye. Why did the man get under her skin so much? He was arrogant, infuriating, and deceitful. Every word out of his mouth seemed calculated to annoy her.
