Warm lips kissed the trail of wetness burning down her face. “Dinna cry,mo chridhe.I beg ye, dinna cry.” His voice rumbled into a low-throated growl, filled with emotion.
“I knew you would come.” She forced a smile and sniffed back another deluge of tears. “And thank you for saving me without killing anybody.” A quiet giggle escaped her. Even in the darkness of the wood, she made out the murderous glint in his narrowed eyes. “I know you probably wanted to kill them all, but I really appreciate the fact that you didn’t.”
He took the plaid still bunched up in her arms, shook it out, and draped it around her. “Ye have no idea how much I wished to see them all die.” He jerked the wool tighter around her shoulders, his face close enough for her to clearly see his rage. “I still wish to see them all die. This is not over yet.”
She hooded a fold of the cloth around her head and swaddled the remaining yardage around her body. “I know you do, but itisover now. All we need to concentrate on is finding Rua and getting home.”
An alarmed shout echoed up through the darkness below.
Colum frowned down the hillside. “It appears Chieftain Sutherland and his men have discovered yer absence.”
She grabbed his arm and tugged. “Then come on! If we don’t find Rua before they find us, we’ll never get away!”
He yanked her back and pulled her in the opposite direction. “Stay close to me. This border tract of MacKenna land is treacherous. Many a man has lost his life among these hills.”
More shouts rumbled up from the campsite, but they didn’t drown out the sound of her heart pounding in her ears. They had to get away from here. Now. She broke into a run, stumbling her way through bushes and tangled sedge hidden in the deep shadows of the night.
Colum pulled her along ever faster, his long stride eating up the hillside. How in the world did he move so fast? How did he know where to go? She ripped her skirts free of clinging brambles and struggled to move faster. Crashing sounds spread through the woods below them. Golden orbs of torchlight flickered and bounced through the darkness like great hulking fireflies.
She squinted hard across the horizon. Surely, they had to be rounding their way back to the road by now. Her heart lifted as she spied a lighter patch of night sky silhouetted by two large outcroppings of stone. That had to be the road up ahead. If they made it to that clearing, Rua would come running to Colum’s whistle. “Come on! The road is this way,” she shouted.
His wet hand slipped out of hers as she turned toward the clearing and he veered off in the opposite direction. The ground disappeared out from under her feet just as his roared warning echoed through the night.
A scream ripped from her throat. Sliding rocks and ice-covered branches filled with debris rained down around her, slicing into her like broken blades as she careened down the hill. Larger slabs of earth and rock bounced all around, increasing her momentum. She vainly clawed at the darkness, praying for a handhold to stop her fall. Sticks and brambles ripped through her fingers, while her wild tumbling picked up speed. Mud and shale filled her mouth when she opened it to scream again.Have mercy!She was going to die, or even worse, she was going to be buried alive.
Something hard clutched around her ankle. Sharp pain burned clear to her hip as she was suddenly yanked free of the suffocating debris and launched through the air. Her torso slammed across the exposed root system of a fallen tree and pain exploded through her. She couldn’t breathe. More rocks and mud showered down on her, and she covered her head with her arms. She was going to die. She was going to die buried beneath a ton of mud in the Highlands.
A despondent sob burst free, her heart breaking. Dammit all to hell.She was going to die and never see Colum again.
CHAPTER26
Lore, he wished he had landed face down rather than flat on his damn back. Colum forced his head to one side and squinted against the razor-sharp sleet as it pelted down harder.Damned if that wasn’t worse. He shielded his face and ear with the arm that wasn’t trapped by rock and wet earth and prayed for sunrise. He couldn’t see a thing in the inky blackness of wherever the hell he had landed. Worse yet, he had no idea what had become of Kenna.
He strained to listen for the slightest hint that she might be somewhere nearby. When the rockslide had taken her down, he had vaulted over her in a wild attempt at guiding her fall. He had accomplished that trick once before while hunting wild boar with the MacKenna, managing to keep Gray from sliding over the edge of a cliff when the hillside had given way.
But this time . . . Colum swallowed hard against the burning pain tearing across his left shoulder all the way down to his left foot. This time he had only been able to latch hold of her skirts and what he hoped was her ankle. With strength borne of desperation, he had slung her toward the dark silhouette of what he prayed was a sturdy tree; he couldn’t tell for sure in the lightening darkness of early dawn. But if he had managed to snag her into the great tree’s arms, she could still be alive.
He tensed with the unspoken fear gnawing at him. What if she hadn’t caught hold of the tree? What if his love lay somewhere at the base of the ravine, buried in tons of mud and shale?
A sharp pain tore across his chest, forcing his mind away from that gut-wrenching possibility. Lore a’mighty.It felt as though the very earth itself had sunk its teeth into him and was slowly chewing him up alive.
The bone-chilling slime of cold wet earth seeped down around the back of his head and inched across his exposed shoulder. He arched his body, then fell back onto the gritty loam as the ground rumbled with another ominous shift. A nauseating crunch sounded somewhere in the upper region of his left leg. He blinked hard against the orbs of light flashing through his vision. Nay! He refused to lose himself to the darkness. He had to get free and find Kenna.
A hollow roaring filled his ears. What the hell kind of beast made such a sound? A wailing cry pierced the deafening roar as the earth shuddered again. May the gods be with him.Demons from hell must be coming to take him away.He shook his head. Nay! They would not take him when he still had to save his lady love.
He strained away from the wet earth crawling slowly across his body, pawing away the mud and debris and scooping the sucking quagmire off his face and throat as the hillside settled over him.
Finally, the encroaching landslide stilled. He relaxed back against the wet ground, gasping for precious air. His heart pounded as though trying to break free from his chest. He had to rest. Bide his time. At sunrise, he would dig free and search for Kenna. Once he found her safe and well, he would hunt down the bastard responsible for this and leave Sutherland’s body to rot in the Highlands. The damn wolves could have him and sharpen their teeth with his bones.
CHAPTER27
Kenna pulled her right eye open, then forced the mud-encrusted lid of her left open as well. She blinked hard and rubbed her face against her shoulder. Ugh.Bad move. What the devil was jammed into her ribs? She spit out clumps of dirt and wet leaves as she slowly lifted her head. A groan escaped her as she shifted sideways in the jagged bed of broken branches holding her. Heaven help her, even her hair hurt.
“I see her!”
An excited shout rang out from somewhere on the hillside above, but she couldn’t make out the voice. She struggled to free herself of the pincushion of broken wood. She had to find Colum.
“Dinna move. Ye must keep still. Ye could harm yourself all the more. The lads and I will ease ye down. Keep still, lass.”
