Page 80 of Highland Ruse

She stepped closer to him and the basket bounced against her long white hair.

“Ye know me too well, Rhona.” He gave a hollow, mirthless chuckle.

The salty scent of roasting meat caught his attention and reminded him supper would be soon. He’d barely touched his midday meal and found he had no appetite. Claire would need to eat, though.

The girl hadn’t moved from where she lay, wrapped in one of Delilah’s shawls she’d left behind.

Rhona followed Kaid’s gaze without any expression before looking back toward him. “The lady is where she needs to be.” Her voice was lowered out of respect for the sleeping child, but her gaze sharpened. “With the man to whom she belongs.”

Kaid’s skin prickled at her words. He wanted to slam his fist into the wall and declare Delilah belonged to him, not MacKenzie.

But Rhona was old, and kind, and knew nothing of the swap between Delilah and Elizabeth. “I only hope it will be enough to placate MacKenzie.” The man’s name left an awful taste in Kaid’s mouth.

“Perhaps he’s far more of a rational man than ye think,” she offered.

Kaid stared hard at her for a moment, at a loss for words. Was the old woman mad?

“I’m sure it was that rationality which led him to slaughter helpless men, women, and children in the village.” Kaid couldn’t help the gruffness in his voice when he spoke.

Claire shifted in the chair.

Rhona’s crooked back straightened a little more at his words and her cheeks went pink. “Aye, well, I canna speak to that. But I ken ye most likely have need of more of yer sleeping draught. I hadna given ye more than a few days’ worth, and ye havena asked me for more.”

Kaid’s mouth went dry.

Valerian root.

He wished he could admit to having not let it intrude on his thoughts. But he had. It’d been on his mind while he lay awake at night in a bed still smelling of Delilah, and while trudging through the torment of eternally long days

Thinking of the reprieve the valerian root offered was an escape from what he would think of otherwise—the constant worry over Delilah’s safety, and the fear he might not ever see her again.

Sometime yesterday he’d finally allowed himself to consider the possibility that Delilah could die. MacKenzie’s wrath would be great if he found out he’d been lied to.

Coming to terms with the thought had not brought Kaid any peace. No, it’d made the idea circle in his head like a predator.

Rhona gave her kind smile and handed him a slim vial. “Here ye go. I’ve more if ye have need of it.”

Kaid accepted the vial. For being so small, it lay heavy in his palm. Cool and slick and tempting.

“Get some sleep, lad.” She patted his cheek the way his grandmother had done when he was a boy. The grassy scent of herbs followed the touch of her dry palm.

Without another word, she walked from the room and let the door click closed behind her.

But it wasn’t the actual effects of the valerian root he thought of when he stared down at the stoppered glass. It was Delilah, and how she’d pleaded with him not to take it, and the crackling hiss the emptied contents had made when they hit the flames.

He pulled the stopper out, strode to the fire, and let the clear liquid stream out. The glowing red logs flickered for a second before all trace of the sleeping draught was gone.

He let the container and stopper roll from his fingers, where they landed in the hot ash gathered around the embers.

Claire shifted behind him and gave him a bleary-eyed look. “Elizabeth?”

Kaid rubbed a hand over her tousled blonde hair. Her skin was warm from sleep beneath the silky strands. “Nay, lass. But I believe supper is ready. Go get yerself some food, and I’ll see ye in the morning, aye?”

She nodded slowly and unfolded herself from the chair while wrapping Delilah’s shawl more tightly around her shoulders. Her shoes clopped against the hard floor, but she stopped before she exited the room and turned back to him.

“Do ye think MacKenzie will be kind to her?” Claire asked, her face pinched with worry.

Kaid forced a smooth expression on his face. “Aye, of course he will.”