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Only it wasn’t a game. She and Caleb had played games before in these hills. Wild, passionate games that had seemed to have no beginning and no end. This was something entirely different and she wasn’t sure that she could make Caleb understand that the rules were different now.
Because God knows she didn’t want to live without him.
***
Next Day
2:15P.M.
Jane ran through the medieval cemetery, barely glancing at the long-faded markers. Normally she could spend hours at a place like this, photographing the ancient headstones and imagining the amazing lives of the people buried just a few feet below. Now, however, she had only one purpose, running from Caleb, and it was a task both challenging and exhausting. She stopped as she was about to leave the cemetery to catch her breath and glance over the terrain. No sign of him yet. Their game had begun earlier in the morning with a chase along the Fife Coastal Path, and Caleb almost caught up to her when she’d tried to take a brief rest in a docked fishing boat. At that point he’d been less than forty minutes behind her. Then shortly before noon, she’d thought she’d given him the slip by hitching a ride with a motorcycle-riding delivery person only to realize that Caleb had anticipated her move and was watching a NorthLink ferry terminal for her arrival. Another close call…
He was fast as a panther and silently relentless. She had never been stalked by Caleb before. At first, it had been a challenge that was almost enjoyable. Pure cat and mouse with no consequences. But as time passed, she could appreciate the panic Caleb must engender when that challenge was a case of life or death. Relentless, indeed.
She’d seen how Caleb could track anyone, anywhere with ease. And he often said that the better he knew his mark, the easier it was for him.
And no one knew her better than Caleb.
But she couldn’t let him find her. Because there could be consequences this time. Their relationship had already cost too many lives. She wouldn’t let herself be the bait that would again bring Bohdan down on him.
Cat and mouse, Caleb.She started to run again.
She entered a dense forest near Rannoch Moor, an area she’d visited on her first trip to Scotland. This was Cira country, near the place where she and her husband, Antonio, had founded the first MacDuff family castle. Caleb was familiar with it, too. She’d shown it to him during one of their trips up to these Highlands last year. She knew he’d been everywhere, and he seemed to remember everyplace he’d been with incredible clarity. That was okay. Today she was counting on it.
She jumped over a rotting log and glanced behind her. She wasn’t just running from Caleb, she realized. She was still trying to escape the horror she had witnessed at MacDuff’s Run. She couldn’t shake the image of those workers bleeding on the ground in front of her, and every time a strong wind blew through the trees, she swore she heard another one of those awful drones.
Stop it, she told herself.
Move forward, not back.
There was a clearing up ahead. If she remembered correctly, she would soon—
Yes. Exactly as she recalled.
Jane crouched and moved toward the clearing. Here she would be able to see for miles, and if Caleb was as close as she suspected, she’d soon know it.
Damn. There he was less than ten minutes behind. Knapsack slung over his shoulder, walking with that long, powerful stride. She knew he’d be able to track her, but it still amazed her to see him in action. He was already through the cemetery. He paused at the clump of trees she’d just entered, looking one way, then another. After a moment, he forged ahead into the woods.
Shit.
She was in love with a damn bloodhound.
***
Caleb pushed through the overgrown path. He was positive that Jane was nearby. The bent branches and freshly stepped-upon grass told him thatsomeonehad come through here in the last few minutes, and the farmer who had identified Jane from his phone photo indicated that she had walked in this general direction less than half an hour before. He was closer to her than he had been since he’d begun tracking her.
One thing he hadn’t quite worked out: What would he say to Jane once he found her?
She refused to believe she wasn’t somehow responsible for the attack on the Run. Of course, there were enough guilty feelings on that count to go around. He still had no idea how he’d ever make it up to MacDuff. Worry about that later. One crisis at a time…
Caleb followed the path up to the ridge that overlooked Kinsey Loch, a long body of water that twisted and turned for miles.
Damn. No sign of Jane. Maybe he’d been wrong about the direction she’d—
Wait!
There she was, walking along the loch’s northern side. If her goal was to remain inconspicuous, her bright blue Burberry rain slicker made that impossible.
Caleb left the path and ran down the slope’s side, working his way toward her. But as he drew closer, something didn’t seem quite right; her walk was different than usual, and Jane never swung her arms so broadly.
