Uncertain, she shook her head. "Your cousin might not want me or my problems there."
"He would want to help you. He's a goodhearted chief, and he trusts my decisions."
Well, she certainly did need the help until she reached her brothers. "How far would we have to travel?"
"We would take a ship to Inverness. Dunmoris is easy to get to from there by galley."
"How would I then get to Rornoch?" she asked.
"I could send a missive to your brothers and have them bring a large guard to take you to Rornoch, or I could escort you there myself, with the help of a Grant garrison. Either way, you need several men protecting you should Alec and his men show up."
She saw no other option at the moment. She couldn't hide in a cellar for the rest of her life. "Whatever you think best. I trust you, Darack, but I hate to put you to so much trouble and impose on the Grants."
"You wouldn't be imposing. Just promise me something."
"What?" She held her breath.
"That you won't willingly go back with Alec, no matter what."
"Of course, I won't. I never want to see him again. I don't know why I was so drawn to him in the first place. Mayhap his handsomeness blinded me."
Darack snorted. "In truth? You put that much stock in looks?"
Her face felt flushed with heat. "Now, I know 'twas shallow and immature of me. But I've learned my lesson."
"Next time, you'll be drawn to the ugliest man in the room." His teasing tone gave her a renewed tingle.
She smiled. "I wouldn't say that at all." Nay, indeed. Darack was just as handsome as Alec, if not more so, just in a different way—Darak's hair and eyes were dark as midnight, whereas Alec was blond with blue eyes.
Being in such close quarters with Darack, she continued to experience a powerful animal attraction to him. Something she hadn't even realized existed. Was this normal? Was this magnetism what she was supposed to be looking for in a husband? She had no inkling. Most ladies looked for wealth and social station. Those things were important, but she now knew they would not make her happy. 'Twas all so confusing.
"You're thinking so hard, I hear the wheels turning in your head," Darack murmured.
"Humph. You're mad," she said, but because he'd been right, heat rushed over her. She wished he wasn't so perceptive.
He chuckled.
The sudden scraping sound of the trunk being dragged aside, outside the door, startled her.
Saints! Had Alec found them?
