Page 59 of Abducted By the Highlander
She gripped her fingers together. She’d been worried about that. “Ye’d be traveling in the general direction though. I must get home.” There was a thread of desperation in her voice, but she couldn’t help it. Innis was, quite literally, her last hope.
Innis squeezed her hand, a quick, unexpected gesture, before she tugged her shawl more securely around her shoulders. “We’re avoiding Oban. There are too many Campbells who use that port. But there are other ports along the way, and I’m certain we can divert to one of them for ye. Don’t worry about that. The bigger problem is Darragh, but we’ll deal with him in the morning.”
Roisin released a relieved breath. “Thank ye, Innis, truly. And if there is anything I can ever do for ye in the future, send word to the Small Isles, and I’ll do all I can.”
Innis smiled, but it was a sad smile, and deep in her heart Roisin knew that once they parted ways, she would never hear from the other woman again.
She turned and made her way to the small cave, but just as she ducked her head to enter it, Hugh appeared by her side and grasped her wrist. She gasped and spun about, trying to pull free. With obvious reluctance, he released her.
If he thought, for even one moment, she was going to invite him inside to stay the night with her, he was even more deluded than she was a fool.
“What were ye discussing with Innis?”
It took a full heartbeat before his question penetrated her turbulent thoughts, and it was so far from anything she had imagined him saying, she covered her confusion by glaring at him. “What business is that of yers?”
He released a jagged sigh.Damn the man.Why couldn’t he be rude and obnoxious so she could feel justified in telling him she had no intention of ever speaking with him again? But no, he had to gaze at her with those cursed eyes of his and make her feel as though she was the one in the wrong.
Well, I’m not.She folded her arms and pressed her lips together before she did something unforgivable. Such as pulling him close and kissing him until this bottomless ache in her soul eased.
Finally, he broke the silence. “It’s my business because I pledged to keep ye safe, and I don’t break my pledges.”
She managed to make a scoffing sound, even though it broke her heart a little more. “What a noble sentiment. Will it help if I release ye from this pledge, Hugh Campbell, so ye might once more go on yer way unburdened by such a troublesome promise?”
His gaze raked over her face in a far too intimate manner, and her cheeks heated in reaction. And then he spoke. “No.”
She blinked, momentarily unsure what he was talking about. “Oh, well that is unfortunate, indeed, since I’m not only releasing ye from this pledge ye made without even consulting me, but Grear, Ecne and I shall be leaving with Innis in the morning and returning to Eigg.”
With that, she marched into the cave since her eyes stung, and she would rather die than let a single tear fall in front of him. But she didn’t even have time to draw a breath before he followed her inside, and she sucked in an indignant gasp at his presumption.
“Ye can’t leave with Innis.” His voice was low and filled with urgency. Despite herself, she was intrigued. What on earth did he imagine he could say that would induce her to change her mind?
“I think ye’ll find I can. ’Tis already arranged.”
Hugh still appeared staggered that she had taken matters into her own hands. Had he honestly expected her to continue to do nothing, now she knew he’d never had any intention of taking her to Creagdoun?
“Roisin, ye can’t. The earl and his men are expecting ye.”
“What?” Theearl?
“One of his manors is but half a day’s ride from here. I received word from him in the town today, and I’m taking ye there tomorrow.”
Distress twisted deep inside her chest at how silver-tongued lies fell so easily from Hugh’s lips. Did he truly think her so gullible that she’d still believe anything he told her? Then again, why wouldn’t he? She’d believed him when he had said he was working with a mysterious contact, hadn’t she?
“How convenient. So ye’ve been happily exchanging correspondence with the earl the whole time, have ye? And it didn’t occur to ye to tell me before now?”
Of course, it hadn’t occurred to him. Because until now, she hadn’t threatened to leave him, so he hadn’t needed to fabricate such aridiculous tale.
“I couldn’t tell ye. ’Tis complicated, Roisin, but ye must believe me. I told ye I was in contact with someone to return ye to yer kin, didn’t I? This is what I was doing. Communicating with the earl to find a safe place to deliver ye.”
Deliverher? She wasn’t sure why that remark stung so badly, considering everything else she’d discovered about Hugh this day, but it did. “Well, ye can deliver yerself to the earl, Hugh Campbell, because I’m still leaving with Innis in the morning.”
Incredulity crawled across his face, as though her refusal to fall in with his farcical plans genuinely stunned him. “Is there nothing I can say to make ye change yer mind?”
“Not a thing.” And even if he did tell her everything she had so wanted to hear him say for the last eighteen months, it wasn’t as though she would believe him. Not now when she knew Hugh would say anything to get his way.
He expelled a harsh breath. “In that case, I shall join ye and see ye safely aboard a ship bound for Eigg.”
“Ye’ll do no such thing. I’m perfectly capable of boarding a ship by myself.”
