Page 5 of Utterly Dauntless

"I didn't want it back. I don't want it back. Ever. I'm...I'm happier without it."

The woman snorted, then took a sip and rolled her eyes above the edge of her cup. "Happier doesnae mean happy, though, does it?"

"I'm...I'm still looking for...my place in the world. And no, before you say it, my place is not here, and it's not with Grey."

Gran huffed and lifted her hands in the air. "Then what? Obviously, ye still love the man. After Italy?—"

"He told you about Italy?" Aries' voice rose with each word until she was practically shouting. "He had no right?—"

"No right? The man was destroyed. He came here hopin’ for answers, looking for a friend who could assure him he would survive a second round of your perfidy, certain he couldn't."

"But he did."

The old woman lifted a brow. "Did he?"

"He's alive, isn't he?"

Gran scoffed. "No. No. I couldn't make that claim about either of ye today." She paused and tilted her head as if listening to something only she could hear. "Well, he's getting closer by the minute. Train, I'd say."

Aries shook her head and got to her feet. "I have to go."

"Ye don't."

"I do. I'm sorry."

"Just tell me, Aries. Explain it to me so I can explain it to him when he comes. And he will come."

"I can't."

"Then explain it to me and I'll keep yer secret."

"I can't."

"Ye mean ye won't."

Aries sucked in an impatient breath and instantly regretted it. If this was the last time she saw her beloved gran alive, she couldn't bear to leave on such terms. She grimaced and pulled the woman to her feet so she could hug her properly. And with her face hidden over the frail square shoulder, she whispered, "I can't explain what I don't understand."

The old arms squeezed her tight. "I'm sorry, mo chridhe, but that won't be reason enough to make Grey stop."

Half an hour later,Aries was on the road again with a tin of cake, an old doll she barely remembered, and one of those beloved teacups wrapped in bubble wrap—as protected as the secret torment she refused to share.

Her ability to lie was finely honed now, making it simple to deceive herself, to pretend it didn't thrill her a little to know Grey would still pursue her—if only to get his hands around her neck.

CHAPTER FOUR

The shushing of tires on wet asphalt and the occasional roar of a passing lorry were the only sounds accompanying Aries as she drove south from Oban. She didn't appreciate any of the radio stations that had been programmed into the rental, and she hadn't risked the time it might take to reset them. So she was left with her own thoughts as her only source of entertainment.

The picturesque harbor town, with its bustling shops and cheerful cafes, had offered a temporary respite, a fleeting illusion of normalcy. The new scarf was a vibrant splash of emerald green against the grey of her coat. And the lingering taste of dark chocolate dulled the edge of her constant state of vigilance.

Or at least it had...

Now, as the road wound along the Firth of Lorn, a familiar unease pricked the back of her neck. Something wasn’t right. She scanned her surroundings and triple-checked her mirrors. She shook herself physically to get her blood moving, then exhaledslowly. This was no time to let her imagination run wild. But if something was wrong, she had to know.

She had trained herself to spot patterns, to notice shifts in rhythm, disruptions in the flow of people and things in her periphery. She glanced in the rearview mirror again and caught sight of a blue van. Was it the same one that had followed her from Inverness?

She'd pulled off the road at a scenic lay-by and allowed it to pass, just in case. Then she hadn't seen it again. And she'd been watching.

Now it was back. The same large driver. The same make and model. The same rust on the bumper.

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