Chapter 24
Hannah and Lachlan were there to greet Brice and Eleanor when they rode through the portcullis. Hannah immediately swooped Eleanor up and, with a friendly arm around her shoulder, guided her into the castle.
Brice tossed the reins to a waiting groom and said to Lachlan, “Meet me in the lists,” before striding off.
He was so filled with fury that he couldn’t speak.
He’d never been this angry, and he knew the only way to burn some of it off was to hit someone, hard, with something sharp.
Lachlan was the poor fool who happened to be there at the wrong time.
But the exercise didn’t work. Both he and Lachlan were drenched in sweat, their arms hurting. Brice’s shoulder ached like the devil, and he was fairly certain that the wound was bleeding, but he cared not. He bent over, placed his hands on his knees, and breathed deep.
“Can I ask what that was all about?” Lachlan said between breaths. “No’ that I mind the extra practice.”
Brice straightened and walked to the fence where he’d tossed his shirt. He wiped his face and looked toward the sea that battered the back of the castle. “I know ye do no’ like her,” he said.
Lachlan held up a hand. “I’ll admit that to be the truth at the beginning.
And it wasn’t that I didn’t like her. It was that I didn’t trust her.
She’s English. But when I saw her take charge of everyone in that great hall when ye were brought in with yer injury, my mind was changed.
She was magnificent, Brice. She saved yer life, and for that I will forever be grateful to her. ”
Brice looked at his friend in a new light. Lachlan held strong convictions; Brice had heard Lachlan admit he was wrong only a few times. This was a monumental moment. “She was magnificent?” he asked with a smile.
Lachlan nodded. “Very.”
He shook his head and looked at the ground. “Ye have no idea what they did to her,” he whispered before looking at the sky and blinking rapidly to clear his vision. “It’s a wonder she was alive when we found her.”
Lachlan shifted. “I had a suspicion. Cecilia told Hannah about the scars and cuts.”
“ ’Tis barbaric.” He slammed his fist into his palm. “If we encounter Blackwood, I will kill him, make no doubt about it, Lachlan. That is my vow.”
“Brice—”
“Ye will no’ talk me out of this. I will avenge her.”
“Think, caraid dhomh. I know ye’re angry now, but what ye’re saying—”
“I know well what I’m saying.” Brice glared at his longtime friend and the only man he’d have at his back.
“So ye’ll bring the wrath of the English down on yer head and jeopardize everyone’s life?”
Brice pressed his lips together and looked away. “The man needs to pay.”
“He will. But ye can’t go tearing off in a fury to kill him.”
“I didn’t say I would.”
Lachlan raised a brow in disbelief. “So ye have feelings for the lass?”
“Aye.” He had feelings. He loved her with all his heart, and it hurt so damn much to admit it, knowing they only had two weeks together.
Lachlan slapped him on his injured shoulder and smiled. “Felicitations, then.”
Brice grimaced. “She’s leaving.”
The smile slipped from Lachlan’s face and coldness entered his eyes. “Where to?”
“Not London, if that’s what ye’re thinking.” He paused. “Canada.”
Both of Lachlan’s brows rose. “Canada? What for?”
“Because that bastard Blackwood is searching for her, and he’s persistent.
If I could kill him…” He waved away Lachlan’s protest. He knew he couldn’t outright kill the limey bastard.
Too many lives were at stake. He just wished that for once things would go his way.
But there was no way he could think of to keep Eleanor and continue with his clandestine activities. Not without risking one or the other.
“He must want her powerfully bad.”
“That’s what’s confusing,” Brice said thoughtfully. “Does a man really go to the lengths Blackwood has gone to in order to claim her?”
If Blackwood were to wed her, he would be well connected in London, and their marriage would probably open many doors for him, but Eleanor had to agree to wed him, and he certainly had not gone about that the right way. Imprisoning your intended would not endear her to you.
Brice could not help but think there was more to it. It had to do with Charles Hirst’s death, but for the life of him, he couldn’t put his finger on it.
—
Hannah sat Eleanor down in the great hall and ordered a servant to bring her something to eat. “Something warm and comforting,” Hannah instructed.
But Eleanor had no stomach for food. Telling Brice about Blackwood had made her sick with dread and loathing, and the thought of leaving him in two weeks made things even worse.
Hannah looked at Eleanor with a slight, knowing smile. “So ye and the Sutherland had to spend a long night together hiding out from the storm,” she said.
“Yes,” Eleanor said dully.
Hannah touched her hand, bringing Eleanor out of her thoughts. “I take it the night was not as ye expected?”
“Oh, no.” Eleanor flushed. Though she’d had plenty of acquaintances in London, she never would have been comfortable discussing such things with them.
Even now she was uncomfortable with the twinkle in Hannah’s eyes.
She looked around, but the hall was empty save for two of Brice’s men, clear on the other side and deep in conversation.
“It was nothing as I had expected, in that I didn’t know such a thing…I mean…I wasn’t aware it could be like that.” She looked away, mortified, but also pleased that she had someone she could talk to.
Hannah sat back. “It wasn’t that way with your husband, then, was it?”
“Definitely not.”
Hannah laughed. “Highland men can be a lusty lot. It’s quite…invigorating.”
Eleanor dipped her head and smiled, remembering what they had done together the night before. In the light of day it seemed so scandalous, and at the same time her body heated and yearned for more.
“So why the long face on both of ye when ye rode in?” Hannah asked.
Eleanor sighed. “Oh, Hannah. I love him so much.” She’d not been able to tell him that because she’d not wanted to burden him with her feelings when nothing could come of them. But it felt good to unburden herself to Hannah.
Hannah smiled wide. “That’s a good thing, is it no’?”
“No, it’s not. Nothing can come of it.”
“And why no’? Because ye’re English? Well, let me tell you, Eleanor, Brice’s wife was Scottish, and she caused him no small amount of problems. I’d rather ye be English and treat him right than Scottish and break his heart.”
“Yes, it’s because I’m English, but it’s not what you’re thinking.
Oh, Hannah…” Suddenly it seemed too much.
Eleanor put her head in her hands and let loose the tears that she’d been holding back since last night.
She’d cried while telling Brice of her imprisonment, but those had been tears of fear and sadness.
These were tears of grief for Brice and what they could never have.
Hannah rounded the table to sit next to Eleanor and put her arm around her. “It can’t be all that bad. Nothing is insurmountable.”
“This is,” she said behind her hands.
“Tell me, then.”
Eleanor lifted her head and sniffed. “I’ll not go into the details, but I can’t stay here and put all of you in danger.”
Hannah waved her hand in the air. “There’s nothing—”
“I know of the Staran, Hannah.”
Hannah’s mouth rounded in an O. “But that does no’ mean ye’ll be a danger to us just because yer English.”
“I’m wanted by the English soldiers. They’re searching for me even now. The one who came a few days ago? He was looking for me.”
Hannah blinked. “I see,” she said after a moment.
“And now you know why I can’t possibly stay here. I can’t put Brice and the rest of you in danger.”
Hannah pressed her lips together, and Eleanor could see in her friend’s eyes that she knew what Eleanor had said was the truth.
“I’m leaving on the next ship,” Eleanor said, the enormity of her predicament hitting her square in the stomach and making her want to double over with the pain of it.
Hannah gasped. “No. Ye canno’ do that.”
“What else am I to do?”
Hannah blinked and her eyes shone with tears. “Oh, Eleanor. I am so very sorry.”
Brice and Lachlan walked through the front door. Brice stopped to look at Eleanor, and every feeling of despair that she was feeling was reflected in his eyes.
Hannah slipped off the bench and went to her husband to kiss him on the cheek and wrinkle her nose. “Ye need a bath,” she said. “Come, husband, I’ll wash yer back.” She winked at him and Lachlan dutifully followed her out of the hall, watching her backside the entire way.
Brice sat down next to Eleanor and indicated the plate of uneaten food. “Are ye going to eat?”
She shook her head and pushed the plate toward him. He pushed it back toward her. “Ye canno’ go without food for the next two weeks.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Eleanor—”
“We have two weeks, Brice. I don’t want to waste them by being sad.”
He looked deep into her eyes before nodding. “Very well. What would ye like to do with them, then?”
“You’ll not like it,” she said, inserting a teasing tone to her voice.
His blue eyes darkened in desire. “I’ll no’ know unless ye tell me.”
She swatted his arm and smiled. “It’s nothing like that.” Although her legs were a bit weak from the sultry look he’d just given her. She decided that maybe she would like spending part of their two weeks doing things like they’d done last night.
“What is it, then?” he asked with a smile that did nothing to quell the trembling in her thighs.
“I want to go on more night runs with you.”
The smile vanished immediately. “Absolutely no’.”
“But why? I went the other night and did fine.”
“Ye were a distraction.”
“I want to go, Brice. I want to help, and I promise not to be a distraction.”
“Ye can help by staying safely tucked away in the castle.”
“That’s not helping. That’s you keeping me out of the way.”
“Aye. It is.” He folded his arms and glared at her.
She glared back. “I’ll sneak out anyway.”
“No’ if I lock ye in yer rooms.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Wouldn’t I?”
“You need help. I heard you tell Colin that.”
“Good Lord, Eleanor. What else did ye learn in yer eavesdropping?”
“That Colin is a smuggler.”
Brice looked around the hall, but the two men who had been on the other side were gone. They were alone. “Woman,” he growled, “ye are something, indeed.”
She smiled. “Is that a good something or a bad something?”
He leaned forward, and right before he kissed her, she glimpsed the flash of his smile.