“This very night, Jamie?” Elizabeth worried her teeth over her lip and shook her head. “‘Tis so soon.”
“If you have any hesitation, any reason you do not wish to come away with me and be my wife, say it now. I have spent my whole life living for my family’s plans and will not continue it now if you will be mine.” He smiled then, a slight lift of the corners of his mouth that made it a sad one. “Aye, it must be this night.”
She was torn. Torn between accepting his love and forswearing it. Torn between being bold and courageous and being unable to claim the love, and life, he offered. Torn between always being the one to follow the rules and mores and the one to challenge them. Ciara would know what to do. Ciara would...
Instead of answering him with words, she took hold of his shoulders, drew him nearer and kissed him. She knew the moment he understood for that kiss changed to become one of claiming and accepting and a promise. Jamie’s strong arms surrounded her and she melded against his body, opening herself to his mouth and his hands. When his palm covered her breast, she moaned against his mouth and shivered in anticipation. He turned his mouth, slanting his lips and taking hers.
Her body remembered the excitement and thrill of passion and blossomed under his touch. Elizabeth arched against him. Sliding her arms around him, she clutched at the back of his jacket and pressed herself tighter to him. His body roared to life at their embrace and she felt the proof of his arousal against her belly. Heat pooled between her legs and her breathing labored as desire for him burned in her blood. When his thumb flicked over the tightened tip of her breast, she wanted to sink to the ground and pull him on top of her.
“Elizabeth,” he whispered against her mouth. He kissed her lips and cheeks and then her forehead. Tangling his hands in her hair, he smiled at her as he leaned in to taste her one last time before stepping back and releasing her. “I will make all the arrangements. Go about your day as you planned.”
“When will we leave?” she asked, gathering the loosened hair back into a braid. Her body ached for more of him, but this was not the time.
“After the meal in the keep. It will be short and simple fare since there are preparations for the morrow underway.” A shadow of guilt flitted across his gaze and was gone in a moment. “Pack only what you will need for a few days and meet me here.”
“Ciara has asked me to stay with her this night,” she whispered, trying to keep the guilt that assuaged her own heart from showing. Or from stopping their plans.
Jamie smiled at her. “I am certain you can come up with some explanation.” He lifted her hand to his mouth. “Now, we must go about our duties for the rest of the day.”
Then he said the words that sealed their plan in her heart.
“You have made me the happiest of men, Elizabeth. Your love gives me the courage to claim you as my own.”
His lips touched hers in a gentle kiss, one over much too soon and too tame for her taste in this invigorating moment. Jamie stepped away and waited for her to leave first. Her first paces were the hardest, but then the thrill of their plans and the hope for a future together lightened her feet and she found herself racing through the woods. Arms outstretched, she touched the branches and leaves as she passed them, laughing aloud with each step.
Soon, she reached her parents’ cottage and Elizabeth paused for a moment. She needed to gather some clothing and supplies and hide them outside. She needed to get back to the keep and attend to Ciara.
Ciara.
And she must deceive her best friend in order to steal Ciara’s betrothed....
It was going to be the longest day of her life.
Chapter Three
The moonlight lit the unfamiliar path as James led the horse along it. He had walked this way several times since arriving here in Lairig Dubh, never dreaming that it would be his escape route. Though he understood all the dangers and the repercussions of the actions they took now, each step grew lighter and more decisive.
Glancing ahead and behind to make certain no one followed or knew of his plan, he made his way to the place they’d met before and held his breath. Staring into the shadows of the copse of trees, he watched as a slim figure moved and became visible to him.
“Elizabeth,” he whispered, as she drew closer. Her smaller hand slipped into his and he squeezed it. “I hoped... I hoped.”
At first glance, it appeared that she wore sensible garments, but as his gaze moved down to her legs now encased in a man’s trews, his body tightened in response. Had she any idea of the man he became around her? Or the effect she had on his ability to think logically? He was throwing aside his heritage, his name and possibly his life to have her and none of it worried him now that she was in his grasp.
“What now?” she whispered back.
“We must be on our way. With the full moon above and clear weather for once, we can be miles away before morning.”
He secured the bag she held to the saddle and then mounted. Holding his hand down to her, he helped her mount behind him. Once she had settled, and as he tried to ignore her legs against his, he urged the horse on with his knees.
James had studied maps of the area owned by Connor and drawn his own, planning a journey that would follow part of the same path they’d taken from the south. Once nearer to the coast, they would go east along the borders to reach the lands of a distant cousin, where they could stay while making plans. He had coin to buy what they needed along the way.
The silence of the night surrounded them as they rode farther and farther away from Lairig Dubh. Only the sound of the horse’s hooves along the beaten dirt path or the occasional night bird or owl broke the quiet. Each minute moved them further from their old life and toward their new one.
When the road changed pitch or angle, Elizabeth’s hands tightened around his waist, sometimes her fingers would grab hold of the fabric of his cloak. She shifted once or twice, bringing her more in contact with him, so close that he could feel her heart pounding against his back. Or mayhap that was his own? After riding for some time, James knew he needed to give Elizabeth a break.
He eased them to a slower pace and then let the horse walk a distance to cool down. Once he drew to a halt, he slid off and reached up to help Elizabeth down. His hands spanned her waist with ease, but the contact of her legs sliding down his made his grasp a tenuous one. When her face was level to his, he leaned in and kissed her. Her reaction surprised him, for she wrapped her arms and legs around him and opened to him. All manner of images filled his brain even as blood raced through his body, readying it to claim her.
This was not his intention when he stopped their journey, but, hell, she was his and she was in his arms. He slid his arms around her, holding her tightly against him while he savored the feel of her lovely curves. She was his and his alone. He tasted her deeply and took in the soft moan of pleasure that echoed in the silence around them. With each touch of their mouths, her hold on him and his on her tightened and their bodies melded in an imitation of how they would join their flesh. When a cold wind rustled the trees around them and reminded James of both the lateness and the miles yet ahead of them, he lifted his head and smiled at her.
