Page 76 of Healing the Highland Sinner
“I cannae trust ye,” she said.
“Ye’re goin’ tae have tae,” he replied. “Have I ever let harm come tae ye before?”
He hadn’t—a point Ciar had made to her several times. She had no reason to think he would let harm come to her now.
“Ye told me ye’ve got a duty tae yer laird. Tae yer mission,” she said.
“And ye told me I’ve got a decision tae make. I can dae me duty tae me laird or I can keep me word tae ye,” he countered. “I’ve made me decision, Rosalind. I choose ye.”
His words hit her like a bolt of lightning, searing her veins and igniting a firestorm inside of her. Hearing him say he chose her made her heart swell so large, she thought it might burst straight out of her chest. It was what she’d longed to hear for so long. Something she had always wanted—a man who put her before anything else.
But she choked back the wave of emotion that threatened to overwhelm her. It hadn’t always been so. He’d put his duty ahead of her. That was how they’d ended up where they were. He hadn’t chosen her. Not in the beginning. And knowing that helped to temper her emotions. Kept her from getting carried away. Choosing her when it was hard—when he hadn’t—was what truly counted.
“’Tis a little late fer that, isnae it?” she asked.
“Better late than never.”
She put an expression of annoyed indignation back on her face and folded her arms over her chest. The truth of the matter was, there was part of Rosalind glad to have him with her, but she would not show him that.
“Fine. Since I cannae keep ye from followin’ me, the best thing I can dae is be able tae keep a bleedin’ eye on ye so ye dinnae get me killed,” she huffed.
A flicker of a smile touched his lips, and she scowled at him. He immediately covered his mouth with his hand and turned away.
“Nay smilin’ at me,” she ordered.
“Of course. As ye command.”
“Then help me saddle me horse.”
“Already done,” he said.
He opened the pen, and she found two horses—his and hers—saddled and ready to ride. She sighed and shook her head.
“Of course, ye did,” she muttered. “Fine. Let’s go.”
“As ye wish.”
They got mounted and headed out of the stable. The night was dark with a waning moon casting the world around them in a pale, cold light. They rode in silence, cutting through the forest and along trails Rosalind still knew like the back of her hand, though she had not traveled them in quite some time.
“Ye ken where this stronghold is?” he asked, breaking the silence between them.
“Nay, I just thought we’d ride around in circles for a while,” she snapped.
She turned and cast a dark glare at Ellair as he chuckled to himself. Rosalind was desperately trying to cling to her anger.She did not want to let go of it, lest she lose herself in him as she’d done before. She knew she could not bear to let him back in only to suffer another betrayal. Her heart was broken enough as it was.
The ride through the hills and trees of the forest was long and arduous and as they approached the cave she was looking for, she signaled for him to dismount. They climbed off their horses and tied them to a nearby tree and motioned to the darkened mouth of the cave that was partially obscured, from where they stood, by a thick screen of bushes.
“We need tae approach the cave quietly,” she whispered. “Sinclair may have men inside standin’ watch fer all we ken.”
“What’s in the cave he’d need tae guard?”
She rolled her eyes. “Need ye ask so many bleedin’ questions?”
“’Tis only one question,” he replied. “And I’d like tae ken what we’re walkin’ intae before we actually walk intae it.”
Rosalind sighed. “After the laird who built this compound died without an heir, it fell intae disrepair. ‘Twas a popular place fer smugglers tae hide their goods. ‘Twas a neutral ground of sorts. Nay sort of fightin’ or thievin’ was tolerated. ‘Twas open tae all,” she said. “Over the years, before even the smugglers abandoned it, they built a series of tunnels that led under the curtain wall and intae the compound.”
“Escape tunnels.”
