Chapter 11
The next morning dawned bright and crisp.
Sun spilled across the heather, and the air held that softness that promised a fine day ahead. The horses seemed to feel it too—they snorted and tossed their heads as the caravan pulled onto the road, and the low hum of conversation filled the air. There had been no sign of danger during the night. No riders watching from ridges. No ominous quiet in the trees.
Evan almost allowed himself to believe they were safe.
As the company got moving, he automatically gravitated towards the wagon where Ruby sat with Isla. Isla had recovered remarkably—her face was still pale and her movements cautious-but she had flatly refused to rest in the back of the wagon and insisted on driving it herself. After a heated argument, her father had given in, and now, from his place towards the front of the train, Duncan kept glancing back at her with the fierce protectiveness of a man who’d nearly lost the most important thing in his world.
“Evan!” Isla called in a teasing voice. “Ye are brooding again. It’s bad for the complexion.”
He shot her a flat look. “My complexion is just fine, thank ye very much.”
Isla grinned. “The sun’s out, the bandits are likely running in the opposite direction, and the road is blessedly dry. Surely ye can spare one smile?”
He glanced at Ruby, caught her watching him. Her eyes were warm, curious, faintly amused. He quirked his lips in something that might pass as a smile if you didn’t get too close.
“There!” Isla declared triumphantly. “The man’s capable of joy after all. Ruby, quick, make a note of the date. This could be historic.”
Ruby laughed—a soft, bright sound that twisted something inside him. “Be nice,” she said to Isla. “He saved your life.”
“Why do ye think I’m in such high spirits today? It isnae everyday ye get given a second chance at life. I intend to enjoy it.” Her gaze flicked to Evan with wicked delight. “Perhaps teasing him will make him reveal some scandalous detail about himself. Come on, Evan, I’m desperate for gossip. Ruby refuses to share anything interesting.”
“Nothing scandalous about me,” Evan said smoothly, giving her the cocky grin he’d perfected so well. “Just an honest trader, that’s all.”
Isla leaned forward, smirking. “An ‘honest’ trader? That’s the most suspicious thing ye’ve said all morning.”
Ruby laughed. Evan rolled his eyes skyward, but his lips twitched despite himself. He opened his mouth to retort, but something at the roadside suddenly caught his eye and he froze. It was a stunted, wind-blown tree. Nothing special about that, except that this tree had something carved into its trunk. Two slashes. One circle.
Evan’s blood turned to ice. His heart kicked hard against his ribs, and, letting Ruby and Isla’s wagon move past him, he drifted closer to the tree. The shapes were unmistakable. Evan had seen these symbols before, many times.
They were thieves’ marks. A message for anyone who knew how to read it. A handful of criminal groups in Scotland used them.
Seoras MacInnes was one of them.
Up ahead, Ruby leaned over the wagon’s edge and called back. “Evan? Everything all right?”
“Aye,” he ground out. “Fine.”
Isla kept talking—a tale from a previous caravan trip, involving a priest and a barrel of cider—but Evan barely heard the words. His gaze swept the tree line, searching for movement. He saw nothing, but that didn’t reassure him.
Ruby’s eyes followed him, and, as he caught up with the wagon, she jumped down lightly and walked along beside him.
“I know that look,” she said. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he answered quickly. Too quickly.
MacInnes’ mark on that tree was fresh, and he knew instinctively what it meant. It was a warning. They’d been tracking him. And now they’d found him.
Ruby watched him for a long moment, but didn’t press. They walked together in silence, but Evan’s stomach churned.
He’d promised to see Ruby safely to Edinburgh. But what if he couldn’t keep that promise?
THE SUN WAS BEGINNINGto dip in the late afternoon when Ruby found herself dozing on her seat next to Isla. It was only when the wagon jolted over a rock that she was startled awake. She looked around quickly and realized that Evan had gone again. Scouting.
It had been like this all day as the wagon rocked over rough tracks and uneven ground. All day, ever since he’d reacted strangely to that tree this morning, he’d come and gone without warning. In the brief moments when he returned, she noticed the tension etched into his face slowly growing, his jaw clenching as if he was holding back something he didn’t want her to know.
She shifted uncomfortably, her backside aching from the hard wagon seat. She didn’t like Evan’s long absences, anddespite his protestation to the contrary, she knew something was bothering him. Was it what he’d told her about his family? It wasn’t much, but she guessed admitting he had an estranged family in Edinburgh was a big thing for him.
