“Nothing about this is fair! You think it was fair to disappear without a word? To let me think you’d left because you didn’t want me?”
Her voice cracked a little and the sound twisted Evan up inside. The last thing he’d ever wanted was to cause her pain. He reached out. “Ruby, I’m sorry.”
“No.” She backed off. “Listen to me. I burned the map.”
“What? What map?”
“The one Charlie drew for me. The one that led to the portal. I burned it.”
He wasn’t following. “Portal?”
She met his gaze. “The portal that would take me home.”
Evan blinked as her words registered. Wait. Did that mean—?
“I decided to stay,” she continued. “Before you ran.”
The air left his lungs in a whoosh. “Ye what?”
“I was going to tell you on our ride. That I wanted to build a life here. With you.”
Evan struggled to form words. “Ye...ye were?”
She lifted her chin and glared at him defiantly. “I’m staying. With you. This ismychoice,” she said fiercely. “You don’t get to make it for me. And you arenotrunning anymore.”
She was beautiful when she was angry with him. Lord help him, she was beautiful no matter her expression. How could he bear to leave her? But how could he bear to stay when it would put her in so much danger? He shook his head, trying to order his ragged thoughts.
“How did ye find me?” he asked.
“Niall guessed the route you’d take. He’s waiting further down the hill.” She hesitated. “With Bryce.”
Evan’s gaze snapped to hers. “Bryce? As in my brother, Bryce?”
“Unless you know anyone else with that name.”
“What the hell ishedoing here?”
“He rode with us. He knows some things about MacInnes.”
Evan barked a humorless laugh. “Oh, I’m sure he does.”
“Bryce thinks you might have some important information.”
“I dinna care what Bryce thinks!” He had never trusted his older brother—not after the fracture in their family, not after the decisions Bryce had made in the name of title and legacy. “AndI willnae subject myself to his scorn and judgment! I’ve had enough of that to last a lifetime.”
“I don’t think that’s why he came,” Ruby said. “He’s been after MacInnes for a long time. I think...I think he might be able to help.”
Evan snorted. “Help? Bryce Campbell, the vaunted Earl of Newborough, helps nobody but himself!”
Ruby glared at him. Wind had tugged her hair loose and there was dirt on her cheek from the fall. “Do you always have to be so stubborn? Maybe Bryce knows something that can help. Maybe he doesn’t. But if there’s even a chance he can stop MacInnes, a tiny chance that he could help us be together, wouldn’t you want to take it?”
He searched her face and saw both fear and determination in her eyes. He closed the remaining distance between them and his hands came up to frame her face gently.
“Of course I would,” he said softly. “But I need ye to be safe. I couldnae carry on breathing if anything happened to ye.”
“I know,” she whispered. “But I don’t want safe if it means being without you.”
He closed his eyes. It was her choice to risk herself for him. But how could he let her do that? She didn’t understand what she was asking. MacInnes would use her. Threaten her.
