Page 103 of Laird of Smoke
Or should she go on the offensive and question him?Ask him how her satchel had ended up in the hands of Lady Feiyan?Charge him to explain why he possessed a Rivenloch medallion?Demand to know what he was doing at the Darragh tournament?
The aggressive approach was frankly more appealing.Eve had done nothing wrong, after all.She didn’t need to share her secrets.It was Adam who had much to answer for.
Empowered by renewed confidence, she strode across the shore, close to the cliff’s base, heading toward the towering rock that supported the castle.
There was a secret entrance carved into the foot of the cliff.The Rivenlochs had used it to infiltrate the castle on the day of that infamous battle, climbing up the stone steps that led to the keep.It had once been used as a gaol of sorts, the entrance covered by a locked iron gate set into the rock.Eve had never seen the place.But it was the stuff of legends now.
She skirted the wall, alternately looking for the bars of the gate, casting her gaze out over the sparkling firth, and glancing back the way she’d come to see if she was being followed.
“Aillenn,” came a sound so faint, she almost thought it was only the hissing of the sea.
When she turned, Adam was just ahead.His dusky clothing had made him almost invisible until he pushed off of the dun-colored cliff wall.
At the tournament, she’d only stolen glances at him.Now her eyes could feast.On his broad shoulders.His dark hair.His piercing eyes.She’d forgotten how alluring he was.She suddenly felt like a starving beggar seated at the king’s table.
“Adam.”Her voice came out on a sigh.
She didn’t mean it to.She meant to harden her heart against him.She dared not let him melt her resolve.No matter how her will wavered, she must follow God’s path, return to the convent, be a nun.And Adam must return to his life of crime.She couldn’t fool herself into thinking it could be otherwise.
But now that they were face to face, now that she saw him—not as a faded memory, but a living, breathing, tempting human being—all her best intentions threatened to vanish as quickly as sea foam on the shore.
“Ye look…” she said.Handsome?Magnificent?Breathtaking?“Different.”
He quirked up a corner of his mouth.“Not different enough, apparently.”
A smile tugged at her lips.They’d always been able to see through each others’ disguises.
“Ye look…” he quipped with a frown, running his gaze down the length of her, “the same.”
She gave him a chiding scoff.She absolutely did not look the same.Not in this ludicrous attire with the silly feathered cap and walnut-darkened skin.
Then he grew serious and nodded at the satchel.“I believe that’s mine?”
“Oh.Aye.”She held it up like a shield between them.“Foolish me.I must have picked up the wrong one when—”
“And ’tis all there?”
She blinked.“Aye.O’ course.”Did he honestly think she would steal his things?
Apparently he did.He took the satchel from her, set it on the sand, and then hunkered down to rummage through the contents.
“’Tis all there,” she said.“I swear.”
He grunted.
She supposed she couldn’t blame him for having doubts.For a while, he’d believed she was an outlaw like him.
“’Twas a mistake,” she reiterated.“’Twas dark when… when I…”
“When ye what?”His darting glance pierced her like an arrow.“When ye abandoned me?”
She swallowed hard.He made it sound so harsh.So cruel.So personal.“’Tisn’t what ye think.”
“And what do I think?”
“That I ran away.”
“Yedidrun away.”
