Chapter 5
Free at last! Allia had escaped for a much needed few moments alone outside of the keep, where she was quickly beginning to feel like a prisoner of sorts within the thick stone walls.
Rising early and foregoing the hassle of obtaining a horse to ride, she slipped out of the back gate and walked swiftly away from the castle.
The only people around were a couple of kitchen maids and a few stable lads, none of whom would dare stop her, even if they cared to.
She kept to the edge of the wood as she made for the hills beyond, glancing over her shoulder now and then, afraid that at any moment someone might find her and drag her back.
Two days, and already she felt like a bird in a gilded cage.
She couldn’t stay here like this for the rest of her life, there was just no way she’d survive.
She moved faster, scrambling over the rocks in a very unladylike fashion.
Her uncle would no doubt be horrified. He was probably already regretting his decision to send her away all those years ago, thinking she had been ruined by the way she had grown up.
Well, it was too late now. Unlike most women of this time, she knew what freedom and choice felt like, and she wasn’t likely to give them up anytime soon.
As she had looked out her bedroom window this morning, she had remembered, with an odd sense of déjà vu, looking out the same window as a little girl, daydreaming, wondering what lay beyond the green hills in the distance.
Never would she have guessed the way things had turned out thus far.
Things had seemed so much simpler back then, when she knew where she belonged…
what was expected of her, what she wanted.
Now she wondered if those same things had become completely irreconcilable.
As she stared out at the hills, she remembered a little path she used to follow, pretending to be on some adventure or another.
Even then, she had not had much of the makings of a proper lady, as much as her mother had fretted and tried to school her.
She followed that little path now, just as she had years ago.
It went right past the entrance to a cave, if she was remembering right.
Once, she had even gathered enough courage to go into the cave, but not too far.
It had been dark and she’d gotten scared, imagining that a troll or maybe even a sleeping dragon was inside.
She had run all the way back to the keep and into the kitchens to find Maud, the woman who minded her most days.
Maud had told her there were no longer any dragons in Scotia, and had given her a biscuit.
Allia smiled at the memory, and wondered if the cave was still there, or if her young mind had somehow imagined it all.
Understandably, things had been quite confused in her head for a long time after she’d left.
Now she felt as if she had a foot in two worlds.
There was this one that she had been born into, and the new one she had come of age in, where she had started a life of her own, and had been content, if not exactly happy.
Could she ever be happy again here at Lochain?
She honestly didn’t know. It seemed there was nothing for her here anymore…
even her mother was gone. She felt strange and alone, especially since no one else here could really understand the burden she carried.
At least it was peaceful here, Allia thought as she hiked along the little path, glad it was right where she remembered it.
And… what else? There was no pollution. The air was crisp and clean and there was no constant background noise of cars and planes.
And she had family here, of course, an uncle and probably a few cousins (she hadn’t had an opportunity yet to ask about other relatives).
And apparently Leon meant for her to have a purpose of some sort; she just didn’t know what that was yet.
She only hoped that when someone finally got around to telling her what that purpose was exactly, she wasn’t going to wish she had never known.
She walked through thick mounds of heather, her unsettled thoughts racing between happiness at revisiting a childhood haunt and near panic at the sudden turn her life had taken and back again, until she came to a very familiar pile of rocks.
Smiling in spite of herself, she ran forward and knelt at the opening to the cave.
It was much smaller than she remembered, but she felt inexplicably relieved that it was actually here.
She had had a life here once, innocent of all that was to come.
Her roots were here, as were some fond memories of childhood.
Until her mother had died, and she had been sent, still mourning, to a new world.
If she gave it time, would everything be all right again?
After all, it had only been a couple of days…
Allia heard a sound like the scuff of a boot from somewhere behind her, and she froze.
Oh, god, had the guards found her already?
Couldn’t she have even an hour alone? With a resigned sigh, she looked back over her shoulder, expecting to see a couple of burly highland men sent to drag her back to the castle, or even Leon himself, looking regal in his dress tartan, frowning down on her in disapproval.
She froze again at what she saw, only this time her heart stopped completely before kicking to a sudden start again and pounding heavily and erratically in her chest.
It was him. A giddy, tingling feeling of anticipation washed over her whole body before she could stop it, and she quickly checked her rising excitement.
Oh no, no Allia, stop that right now! You do not need trouble like him right now.
They don’t call them heartbreakers for nothing.
You have more than enough on your plate already without adding that kind of mayhem to the rest of it… Damn voice of reason!
He casually walked the rest of the distance to where she still knelt by the cave entrance, the weight of his gaze practically holding her captive.
He smiled at her, and she almost smiled back.
She just couldn’t help it. He was very good at the whole charisma and charm thing, and he hadn’t even spoken yet.
No doubt if she were a whole lot more na?ve, she’d be falling at his feet right about now like the rest of the women she had seen.
He moved toward her with a sensual, animal grace that held her rapt attention despite her best intentions otherwise.
As he drew closer, she slowly stood up and faced him, reaching down nonchalantly to brush the bits of grass and heather from her skirt.
He came to a stop just a little too close, and she would have automatically backed up if there weren’t a boulder directly behind her.
She raised an eyebrow at him in challenge to his invasion of her space. He ignored it.
“Och lass”, he said in a voice that felt like warm honey over her skin. “What are ye doing up here all alone?”
She bristled at that. She did not need constant guarding, for god’s sake! She’d been living completely on her own for more than two years now. “What I do is certainly no business of yours”, she said, irritated by more than just his question.
He seemed briefly taken aback by her tone, but his seductive smile didn’t falter.
And as luck would have it, as she noticed his perfect smile, she also noticed his broad, masculine mouth, twin dimples, and very kissable looking lips.
This close, he was nearly irresistible. Damn, she would have definitely kissed him, if only she could have whatever she wanted, with no undesirable consequences… Life was just not fair.
He motioned behind her with his chin. “Is that the entrance to a cave there? I’m looking for one that’s supposed to be near the top of this hill.”
Allia shrugged, not bothering to look at the cave she of course knew was there.
“Looks like one to me.” Oh God, was it possible for someone’s heart to beat right out of their chest?
The electricity that seemed to be jumping between them was…
damned unnerving. You’ve just never been so close to a man who’s that good looking before… she told herself.
“I… I collect stones”, he went on, with a gesture towards the rocks scattered around them on the hillside. “To study them, ye ken. I was told there are some rare ones in that cave, that I doona have yet. In my collection.”
Allia regarded him with doubt. A rock collector?
That somehow just didn’t fit. Not with those muscles.
A rock lifter, maybe. More likely a swordsman.
Or perhaps a warrior. One just didn’t get that kind of physique collecting rocks.
Of course, it would be only a hobby. Or a pick up line, she thought.
Though certainly not a very good one unless perhaps one was at a geology convention.
“So you’re going into this cave?” she asked, gesturing towards the narrow black opening. She hoped she had just called his bluff.
“Aye.”
Or maybe not. “Well, you’ll need a light. It’s very dark in there.” His closeness was making her so nervous. It was a little hard to breathe when she could feel the heat of his body so close to hers.
Still holding her gaze, he swung a pack down from his shoulder, dropping it to the ground in front of him, and making her notice his chiseled, muscular legs between the hem of his kilt and the tops of his high leather boots. Damn again.
“I brought a light”, he told her, looking up to catch her gaze again.
When he looked at her like that, she felt like she was the only person on earth.
Of course, so did a lot of other women, no doubt.
“Essential for entering dark caves, of course.” He knelt on the ground and pulled out a torch and a tinder box, which he opened to take out a flint and steel.
He didn’t light the torch though. Instead he looked up at her with a provocative little smile.
“Come in with me, lass. It will be an adventure, much more fun than going alone.”
She shook her head. “No. Uh uh. I’m not going anywhere with you, especially not into a small, dark cave.
I… I don’t even know you.” But in her mind she pictured the two of them together in the cramped space of the cave, their bodies pressed close because there wasn’t enough room, and then his mouth lowering to hers, because no one would see and neither of them could resist…
Stop! That’s what you get for reading all those romance novels.
Real life isn’t like that… and this man is a womanizer, not some hero to sweep you off your feet.
Though she could certainly use a hero right about now…
“Come with me”, he pressed. “Dinna be afraid. It will be fun, and I can show ye the umm… stones.”
Allia sighed and looked down at her feet, wavering with indecision.
She had always wanted to see what was inside that cave, and he was calling her out on being afraid.
She didn’t like being called out. It tended to bring out the worst in her, and the most reckless.
What could it really hurt to spend just a little time with him?
“All right, I’ll go with you, but only because I’m actually curious to see what’s in there, and I didn’t bring a torch of my own. And you’re not allowed to touch me in any way”, she added.
He smiled again, and this time she could have sworn his smile was far more self-satisfied, if not downright predatory.
There was a dark, heady lust in that gaze, that spoke of wicked pleasures she had only ever read about, in said romance novels.
It was the look of a man who knew exactly what he wanted, and a part of her was outright flattered that such a gorgeous man would look at her that way at all.
But it did not mean she would give in, as much as she might be tempted.
No entanglements. She had more than enough to deal with already, she just had to keep reminding herself of that.
“Aye. I swear, no touching. Unless ye ask. What’s yer name, lass?” He struck the flint to light the torch. It didn’t catch.
“Why?”
He shrugged easily. “So I ken what to call ye. I’m Eian.”
“Allia.”
“Allia”, he repeated, looking up at her from under his dark lashes and the wavy locks of hair that had fallen over his face. His lips curled up at the corners as he went back to the flint and steel.
He struck another spark, and this time the torch flared to life. He picked it up off the ground quickly before it could start the heather on fire, then held it up and rose to his feet with that same animal grace. She bet he’d be a wonderful dancer…
“Shall we?”