Page 16 of Utterly Dauntless

Wallace grinned and bobbed his eyebrows. "Dinnae worry about us. Carson and I are gonna have a grand evenin'. Aren't we, laddie?"

Carson's eyes bulged but he said nothing. Still seated on the table, he looked like he didn't dare move.

"Now," Wallace continued, "what will be on the menu, do ye reckon?"

Carson darted looks at the other men, who gave him no help.

"Ch...Chinese takeaway?"

Wallace slapped him on the back. "Yer future's lookin' brighter by the minute, Mr. Campbell. Damn me if it isnae!"

Aries laughed along with the others, but she couldn't help be disappointed. It wasn't as if she would have many moments with Grey, so this missed opportunity left a hole somewhere very near her middle.

"We're headed to Peg's then?" McHenish headed for the side door and jerked his head, inviting Aries to come with him.

She told Carson she'd see him in the morning, promised him Banner Wallace didn't bite, then hurried outside. She was pretty sure the young man hadn't believed a word she'd said—probably doubted she'd come back—but she wasn't going to waste time trying to convince him. He'd believe it when she walked through the door in the morning.

She had more pressing issues at the moment. First, she had to share the plan with her gran and figure out a way to invite a Muir witch with some power to take a trip to Glasgow, and she had to get Grey alone, to convince him one last time that he should let her go.

Although, other than having McHenish as her escort, she didn't sense she was being held captive at the moment.

Grey had chased her down, but he wasn't trying to keep her?

It wasn't at all like him.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

McHenish opened the gate for Aries, but before they reached the front step, Grey emerged from Peg's house. He pulled the door closed behind him and paused only briefly when he caught sight of them, then broke eye contact.

"Headed to the shops," he said. "Be back in a while."

"Grey, wait." Aries stepped forward, but something in his stance kept her from reaching for him. "I never got to thank you. For coming after me today."

He shrugged a shoulder and gave her a fleeting smile. "I doubt he would have harmed ye in the end. He only wanted to be heard."

The words hit her like a punch to the gut. He wasn't just speaking for Carson Campbell. Had he, too, only wanted to be heard?

Before she could think of a response, he strode past her and headed for a car. When he unlocked the vehicle, the beep and flash of lights felt like a message too. But she might be blowingthings out of proportion. After all, she wasn't thinking straight at the moment.

"Well, then." Peg's voice drew her attention back to the house. Her grandmother stood holding the door open, one hand on her hip. "Are ye comin’ in? Or shall I invite the midges?"

Grey shouldn’t be driving.He could hardly see straight. He'd only started explaining the events of the day to Peg when Alan McHenish's car pulled up with Aries sitting beside him, plain as day.

"Aries can tell ye all about it," he'd said quickly, while his tongue was still working. "I'll fetch the shoppin. Steaks, maybe?" He kissed the old woman's hand, then looked in her eyes. The kind smile said she understood his desperation, and she let him run off without another word.

Even now, with miles between him and Aries once more, his heart against his ribs was a beater against a base drum.Boom, boom, boom. And he feared it might not let up until the woman was gone again.

And no mistake, there was no way to stop her.

Or was there?

Something shifted in his mind—a shadow of an idea that still needed luring out into the light. And to keep it from running off, he dared not stare directly at it. To tease it out, he ignored it and began making a mental list of the things he needed to buy, starting with a worthy set of teacups…

Peg listened to Aries'account of what had happened since she'd last crossed her ancient threshold. It was a lucky thing Carson Campbell didn't live a little closer, and she herself wasn't a wee bit younger, or Peg would have given the man what for! But it was a comfort knowing that Banner Wallace was staying close and making the devil regret his misdeeds.

The way her granddaughter kept eyein' the door started Peg to thinking, considering possibilities she'd never entertained before. And she couldn't help but stick in a sturdy spurtle and start stirring the pot...

"Grey's lookin' well," she said, offhand.

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