Felix motioned them toward the small compartment. Darack crawled in first. It contained only one tiny stool. "Quickly, m'lady," Felix said.
"'Tis only large enough for one person," she protested.
"You're a wee thing," Darack said. "Come, now. We'll both fit."
She crawled inside and Darack helped her stand.
Felix quietly closed the door and all light disappeared. The sound of him sliding the heavy trunk back into place followed.
"Oh, saints," she breathed. "There is not one pinprick of light in here."
"Why does the darkness frighten you so much?" Gently, Darack stroked firm and sure hands along her upper arms as if trying to warm her. The chills covering her had naught to do with cold and everything to do with a mixture of apprehension and excitement.
Facing her, he stood so close the heat of him warmed her and sent tingles throughout her body. His friendly, intimate tone compelled her to answer his question. Mayhap it would take her mind off the darkness.
She closed her eyes and tried to relax. "When I was a lass of only eight summers, I had been playing with my cousin in the castle's hidden passages. I got lost alone and… locked in for a whole night. There was no light to be seen anywhere. I heard all sorts of noises in the darkness. Rats and mice, no doubt… or maybe a ghost or two. No matter how much I screamed, no one came to my rescue. They couldn't hear me. I felt my way along the damp, slimy walls for hours, endlessly, and I could find no doors."
"That must have been horrifying for one so young." His hands lightly squeezed her shoulders, sending comfort and excitement through her. His concerned tone made her feel he truly did want to learn more about her.
"Aye. I never entered those blasted passages again."
"I'm sure they were searching. Why did your cousin not tell the adults where you were?"
"He'd left the castle with his da before I went back in. You see, before we had gone into the passages to begin with, he had told me a story about the tunnels leading to the magical land of the fairies, so beautiful and filled with light and color. The very idea captured my imagination. He said that his younger brother who had passed was living there now. My mother had passed a few months before and I thought I might find her spirit there. When we came out of the tunnel, he went home but I wanted to find the magical land and my mother. That was when I reentered the passages and got lost."
"I see. Were you not afraid of the dark?"
"I had a lantern, but it soon burned out… long before I could find the magical land. I kept calling for my ma, but no one answered."
"Saints," he hissed, sitting on the stool and pulling her onto his lap. "Let's sit for a while."
Though she knew she should protest, she didn't. She absorbed the heat and comfort of him. If only he'd been with her when she was a child, she wouldn't have been afraid. Of course, he would've been a child then, as well, not many years older than she was. Regardless of how young he might have been, she imagined he had probably been brave and unafraid of anything, as he was now.
Darack's touch, his hard body pressing into hers, felt so right… so good, she forgot about the fear of darkness. The wee room almost seemed… cozy now. Deliciously snug and intimate. Shivers of excitement covered her. With her rational mind, she knew she shouldn't be drawn to Darack so quickly after leaving Alec, but she had no control over her body or her emotions. Maybe it was because Darack was the only rock she could cling to in the midst of this gale storm her life had become. 'Twas as if some deep part of her took over her body and dragged her mind and emotions along a path she could not have imagined. One she hadn't chosen. Somehow fate had chosen this situation with Darack for her.
"You're shaking," he said, pulling her closer. "Are you cold… or reliving being lost in the dark passages?"
"I'm not certain." She suspected her body shook because of him, but she couldn't tell him that. It didn't even make sense.
"You're safe here with me." He stroked a hand over her back. "I'll not let any ghosties or goblins get you. Nor any wee beasties." Now he was teasing her, blast him.
"My hero," she said drily.
He chuckled, a brief, warm breath in her ear, which only disturbed her more. What was this strange, compelling feeling? Arousal? It was the most thrilling, exciting sensation she'd ever felt. Why had Alec never affected her in such a way? Was it simply a physical response? Some animal side of herself that responded to Darack alone? She could not judge whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, but 'twas certainly intense. It made her heart pound harder and her breath come quicker.
"Relax," he whispered. "I feel your heart pounding. Surely you're not afraid with me here."
Mortified that he was completely aware of her erratic physical responses to him, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm herself. "Nay, I'm well."
"I've been thinking," Darack said. "Alec knows you're heading for Rornoch, aye?"
"He does."
"We'll have to go someplace else."
His words startled her, although they made perfect sense. She simply hadn't considerednotgoing home. "Where?"
"As I mentioned, my cousin is Chief Ewan Grant of Glenmoriston. Some of the MacGregors secretly joined his garrison in exchange for protection, and some are crofters, tilling his land. 'Tis where my mother lives and I stay there often. You would be safe hiding at Dunmoris Castle for a short time. The castle has thick walls and Ewan has a large garrison."
