AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Once inside, Marcus moved away from the doors. “Ye go ahead. I’ll wait here.” The lass certainly dinnae need him looking over her shoulder. She was nervous enough.
After she grabbed a small basket and disappeared down an aisle, he glanced around the store at the food items. Mayhap ’twould be a good idea to pick up a few things, himself. ’Twouldnae be wise to take Tait to a restaurant. After those two men showed her picture all over town this morning, she’d be easily recognizable.
But she’d be hungry. Neither of them had eaten today. He wondered, with those men chasing her, how long since she had.
He grabbed a basket of his own and headed to the display of fresh fruit, picked up apples and bananas and hurried on to the meat section. He was reaching for a fat loaf of bread when he saw Tait coming down the aisle.
“You’ve been busy,” she commented, looking at his basket.
“Aye,” he agreed, peering inside hers. “But ye havnae. Is that all ye wanted?” A box, toothbrush and paste, and a pair of scissors were all she had.
Despite her nod he dinnae quite believe her. “Are ye sure? Get whatever ye might need, lass. We may no’ have another chance right away.”
“This is fine,” she replied, a slight quiver in her voice. “It’s difficult to know what I’ll need when…” Blinking rapidly, she looked away, hiding her face within the hood on her sweatshirt.
Marcus moved her items to his basket. “I’ll only be a minute. Do ye want tae wait for me by the door? Or I can walk ye out tae the taxi and come back for this.”
“I’d rather wait. I can keep my back turned.”
Marcus hurried through checkout, keeping an eye on Tait as she waited just beyond the shopping carts. He knew next to nothing about the lass, but it dinnae take much to see she was at a breaking point. Who could blame her? She’d been through a lot today, and who knew what she must have experienced prior to very literally bumping into him this morning?
Finally, out of the store and safely back in the taxi, Marcus took Tait’s hand in his and gave it a light squeeze. She tried to smile in return but couldn’t quite manage it over the quiver in her chin.
“Straight tae the One Horse,” he said to the driver. “Pull inside when we get there, please.”
Two blocks later, the driver eased through a crush of cars and people at the park across the street from the U-shaped motel. “Antique Car Show,” Marcus groaned, reading from the posted sign. “Just our luck. Whatever ’tis, it seems tae be drawin’ a crowd. Pull yer hood further ontae yer face if ye can, lass,” he urged. “And turn away from the window.”
Bringing Tait here was a bigger risk than he’d first imagined, but he dinnae have anywhere else to take her tonight. This would have to do until they could devise another plan.
She was silent when the taxi stopped inside the motel’s courtyard and Marcus gathered their purchases. He couldnae ken what she thought as she exited the vehicle behind him and waited in the shadows while he paid the driver his fee and dangled another hundred in the open window. “This bill is magic. It wipes away any recollection of us, or this trip today. Interested?”
The driver grinned and reached for the money. “What trip? I’ve been in Boseman all day.”
Joining Tait, he waited until the taxi left before turning to her. “I already had a room here. Number Eight.” He nodded toward a green door with the bold brass number. “I dinnae ken where else tae take ye until we can talk more and make some plans. Then I’ll escort ye wherever ye wish tae go. But for now, if ye’ll wait inside, I’ll go see if I can get a separate room for ye. I’m sure ye’ll want some privacy.”
“Actually,” she caught his arm as he turned away, “if you don’t mind, I’d rather…”
There it was again. That unnerving quiver in her chin. He smoothed it with his thumb before raising her face to his. “What is it lass? Ye can be honest wi’ me. If ye’ve somewhere else in mind, or ye just dinnae want tae be here, ’tisnae a problem. I’m no’ holdin’ ye hostage.”
“I know, it’s just…”
He raised a brow and waited. Was she afraid to be here? Afraid of him, too?
“…that I don’t want to be alone.” Her shoulders slumped, as if her admission had drained her strength from her.
“Then ye willnae be.” Shifting the groceries into one hand, he cupped Tait’s elbow with the other and steered her toward room Number Eight.
Chapter 5
Closing the door behind them, Marcus noted how Tait avoided looking at the single king-sized bed. Instead, she reached for the grocery sack and fished out her purchases.
“Is it okay if I use the…” she jerked her head toward the bathroom. “I’ll be awhile, so if you want to—uh—use the facilities first, I can wait.”
“Nae,” he smiled. “ ’Tis all yers.”
After hearing the click of the lock on the bathroom door, Marcus released a quiet chuckle as he set some things inside the small under-counter fridge. He couldnae help noting the difference between sharing a room wi’ a lass and sharin’ space wi’ any of The 79.
Instead of offering to let him use ‘the facilities’ first, there’d have been a scuffle, rife wi’ shoving and cursing to see who could outdo the other and get there first. And there’d be no modest shutting of the door. The more suffering—odorous and otherwise—they could inflict on one another, the better.
