Chapter 14 #2
Had she really been so desperate to be loved?
Without a word, she turned and started collecting her scant belongings into the pack she had brought with her.
She took her spare dress but left all the others that had been fancy gifts from Eamon and other admirers.
Her spare walking shoes came, but the delicate ladies’ slippers were left behind.
The jewelry she took, but only with the intention of redistributing it to the village to help them through. She had no need for such things now.
Eamon watched her, and she could feel him getting more and more annoyed the longer she did not acknowledge him. Eventually, he spoke again. “Have ye heard the good news?”
“Of yer engagement, ye mean?” she asked, not even looking at him. “Aye, I heard.”
“It must have broken yer heart,” he said in a voice tinged with amusement. “But she is a wonderful woman. Daughter of a very rich man. Dedicated tae our cause.”
She did look up at him then. She felt no heartbreak, none at all, but a new kind of clarity as she stared at this pathetic man who hid behind his wealth and power.
“And ye’ve told her ye love her, I suppose?
Whispered the same sweet nothin’s in her ear as ye did mine?
Made her believe ye value her for more than what’s in her father’s pockets and between her legs?
” Her voice was measured, no anger in it.
He barked a laugh. “Ye reveal yerself as a common wench when ye speak in such a vulgar way. I ken ye’re bitter. But I never lied tae ye, Ella. I wanted ye. I coveted ye. But ye must ken it was always gonnae be this way. I never promised ye anythin’.”
She breathed out a laugh of her own, but didn’t reply.
Annoyed now, Eamon stepped toward her. “Is my love worth so little tae ye that a small thing like me marriage tae a woman of me own station would intervene? Nay, I dinnae love her, but what has love tae do with it? Ye could still have a place at me side.”
Elin scoffed, barely able to believe what she was hearing. “At yer side? Ye wish for me tae stand behind a family who betrayed the MacKenzies and sent two innocent boys intae exile? Ye wish for me tae support ye while ye lie tae the people as ye have done yer whole life?”
Eamon’s eyes narrowed. “Dinnae speak of things ye cannae possibly understand. These matters are far above yer station.” He closed the gap between them and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up at her.
“Listen closely. Here’s what will happen.
Ye will return tae wherever ye’ve been hidin’, and ye will fetch me horse.
Ye will return him tae me, and then I will take ye, right here in this cottage, tae remind ye where ye belong.
” He released her chin and stroked a finger down her cheek.
“Then I’ll take ye tae me castle, where we’ll install ye in a room in the servants’ wing.
Ye’ll be the lady’s maid tae me new bride, and ye’ll be me mistress, always in me favor. How does that sound?”
She met his eyes, then laughed. “Ye’re mad,” she said. “Mad. And so was I, tae ever entertain the likes of ye.” She pulled away from him and turned her back. “Dinnae try tae stop me. We’re done.”
He didn’t follow as she stormed out of the cottage, her pack slung over her back, but his voice echoed as he shouted after her. “Ye’ll regret treatin’ me like this, ye whore! I’ll remind ye who ye belong tae before ye ken it!”
Elin ignored him, lost in a mixture of determination and elation.
Her hands shook as she strode through the small village, stopping only to drop off the small, wrapped package of her jewellery through the broken window of the old store.
She dusted off her hands, then headed back toward Aberholme, hurrying as she went, her excitement growing by the minute.
She had made a choice. And that choice was waiting.
“Ye ken,” Keir said, laughing, “I could teach ye how tae track better if ye stopped embracin’ me and kissin’ me every time I try tae speak.”
“Would ye like me tae stop?” Elin teased, her good mood bubbling in every word she said. Keir hadn’t asked what had happened in her little village, and she hadn’t told him. Instead, she’d marched right up to him, kissed him, and asked him to take her home.
He grabbed her suddenly enough to make her yelp, then pressed her against a tree. The wood scratched against her back as he kissed her deeply, only stopping when she was gasping for air. Then he pulled back. “Nay. But ye asked me tae teach ye.”
Elin giggled. Behind them, the ever-patient horse waited.
They had started the journey home on horseback, but when they reached the forest, she’d asked Keir to teach her skills in tracking to go along with her skills in stealth.
He’d agreed, and he’d tried to show her the things to look out for; he’d explained how to keep an eye out for footprints, broken twigs, misplaced leaves, and anything out of place.
She’d listened and really tried to follow, but every time she looked into his face, she was overwhelmed by giddiness. She couldn’t help but hold him, kiss him, and, yes, allow herself to love him, no matter how distracting it might be.
“Perhaps in this I am unteachable,” she teased. She looked down at the examples he’d tried to lay out for her but soon lost interest. “It seems that, should we ever be separated, ye will need tae be the one doin’ the findin’.”
He grinned. “Nae fear there,” he told her. “I’ll always find ye. Nae matter what, I’ll always bring ye home.”