“Why are ye lingering?”
“Ye dinnae ken what lies ahead.”
“Aye, I do. Trees. A path. They lead to something. I dinnae ken what yet, but I will soon if we keep moving.”
“Ye need to hold back,” he ground out. “Let me take a look around to make sure ’tis safe.”
Moira scoffed. “Surely ye jest? We have been riding for hours and have no’ come across another soul.”
“Well, mayhap they are all waiting at the destination?” Errol snapped. He couldn’t help it. Moira Hart got under his skin. And not in a good way. She was like a splinter. The more you tried to pluck it out, the deeper it burrowed itself into your skin until it festered and bothered you enough that you wanted to do naught more than dig it out with your knife.
“Dinnae be silly. We would have heard something if that were the case.”
“No’ if they are stealthy. Trained. A man could wait in silence, undetected for hours, until his target came into view.”
“Highly unlikely.”
“Scouts do it all the time. Archers do it.”
“Aye, to guard the keep,” she said, exasperation lacing her voice. “Clearly no one has been here in a verra long time. And there is naught to guard.”
He raised his brows. “If there is naught to guard then why are we here?”
She blew out a breath. “Stop twisting my words. Ye are just as annoying as my brothers.” Stopping her horse, she crossed her arms and shot him a kenning look. “Go on.” She waved in the direction of the path. “Check whate’er ’tis that is waiting to strike us down,” sarcasm dripping from her words.
He dismounted and stalked up to her horse. “Ye think I am just like yer brothers? Well, ye are just like my sister, except with her, I can give in to whate’er she wants. I’ve no such obligation to ye, Lady Hart.”
Errol had said the words with more vitriol than he intended, but lord above if the lass didn’t niggle at his nerves.
He unsheathed his sword and started toward the path. “Stay where ye are until I clear the area.”
It wasn’t twenty seconds later when he felt a presence at his back and spun, sword out and ready to strike.
Moira gasped, putting her hands up. “’Tis just me.”
He clenched his jaw as he quietly counted to ten in his head, hoping for patience. “I told ye to wait,” he ground out.
“Aye, but as I said, why? There is no one here.”
“We dinnae ken that yet.”
“Ye are insufferable.”
“Ye are intolerable.”
She smiled at that, as if it was the biggest compliment he could offer her.
“Will ye please just wait a few minutes so I can do a cursory look?”
“Nay. I’m no’ letting ye get to the clue first,” she said stubbornly.
“Christ, woman. That is the last thing I am concerned with.”
She shrugged, an irritated look on her face. “Hurry up, then. Ye yerself said ye wanted to ensure we are able to find a place to sleep indoors this night. The longer ye dally around, the longer ’twill take us to seek shelter.”
“I dinnae dally.”
Her laughter was loud enough to warn anyone of their approach—that is if their fighting back and forth hadn’t alerted them already.
