“Look inside my right boot.”
She arched a brow at that. “You have a dagger?”
“Aye.”
She reached for his knee and felt along his shin.
“The inside of my leg, Nora.”
She hesitated as if dreading to touch him in so personal a manner. Her face blushing, she did as he told her.
Ewan held his breath as her hand brushed against his inner calf. Her fingers felt wonderful as they carefully slid inside the leather, seeking his dagger that was hidden in a specially designed sheath.
Her touch was like silk against his skin and it raised chills all over him.
“Pull it out slowly,” he cautioned as she found it. “I’ve no wish to be maimed.”
She did and her slow, careful movements only made him harden more as desire burned through him. It was all he could do not to moan at the sensation.
What he wouldn’t give to have her soft, delicate hands on his back while he held her beneath him.
She bit her lip, making his body jerk with pleasure.
Once she had the dagger free, she cut the ropes that bound his hands.
Ewan let out a deep breath as he relaxed a degree. He took the dagger from her hand, cut the binds on his feet, then returned it to his boot. “How long have I been unconscious?”
“It’s hard to say, but it feels like quite a few hours. We’ve been traveling at a steady pace the whole time.”
“Any idea why we’ve been taken?”
She shifted uncomfortably.
His stomach drew tight. “What did you do, Nora?”
“Nothing,” she said defensively. “I can’t help being who I am anymore than you can.”
“What do you mean?”
She sighed and stared down at her hands as she wrung them in her lap. “I think they must have recognized me. They did say they had been through Aquitaine and England. ‘Tis quite possible they ran across Eleanor and?—”
His temper exploded. “Would you stop with the Eleanor nonsense? I need you to be sane for a moment.”
She stiffened and glared at him. “I beg your pardon? What makes you think I would lie about something like that?”
“Because my brother is an advisor to King Henry and if his niece was here in Scotland, Sin would have mentioned it.”
She looked even haughtier than she had before and pinned him with a disbelieving stare of her own. “Well, if your brother is so close to Henry, then why has he not heard of me?”
He was baffled by her logic. “What?”
“Mayhap your brother is not as close to Henry as he would lead you to believe. After all, what Scotsman would Henry trust near him? He has a very strong disliking for anyone born north of Hadrian’s wall.”
This was ridiculous. Why would she not see reality? He needed her sane if they were to escape.
“That’s utter nonsense,” he snapped in his brother’s defense. “I have seen Henry embrace Sin myself.”
“I don’t believe you,” she said, her eyes narrowing to sharp amber points. “I know my uncle well. He embraces no one. Not even his sons.”
