She fell asleep with the gleam of adventure in her eyes and the pair of linen braies nestled against her cheek.
Chapter 13
Aillenn had been taken.That was the only logical conclusion Adam could come to.
His heart clanged against his ribs like the harsh strike of a broken bell.
Someone had stolen his satchel.Perhaps Aillenn had awakened and caught the outlaw in the act.Perhaps he’d decided to steal the lady as well.
How could Adam have dozed through it all?
Riddled with guilt, he raced to the stable.
Both horses were there.If Aillenn had fled of her own accord, she would have taken one of them.
There was no other conclusion to be drawn.She’d been abducted.
Adam felt sick.
He saddled up his horse with trembling fingers and slung Aillenn’s satchel over the saddle, leaving the second animal as payment for the lodging.
Mounting up, he headed for the road, uncertain which direction to go.
Adam had one purpose.He was a protector.He protected those he loved and those who were too weak to protect themselves.
But this time he’d failed.
Worse, he’d failed the person he was beginning to think might be, as his romantic cousin Isabel liked to say, The One.
The idea had begun whispering in his ear long before they consummated their affection.Even before that first kiss, he’d had the sense that Aillenn was special.Unique.Exceptional.
He was fascinated by her quicksilver wit and her undaunted spirit.By the way she danced through life, skipping from identity to identity with the ease and grace of an elusive butterfly.He admired her generous soul and her fierce determination.Her easy laughter and her sensitive heart.He even relished her complexity, knowing with Lady Aillenn he would never be bored.
How then could he have let The One be taken from him?
Clenching his jaw and steeling his gaze, he reined the horse onto the main road.
Which direction?
They’d been headed south toward Glasgow.If someone had marked them for theft, it would have been from the north as they passed by.It made sense that the fox would return to his den.
Making up his mind, Adam turned the horse northward and urged it to a clip.
Hours later, he’d found no sign of her.The travelers he questioned along the way had glimpsed no beautiful noblewoman.Nor had anyone at the alehouse where he stopped midday to rest the horse and fill his belly.
Halfway through devouring mutton pottage by the fire, he suddenly remembered he might not have the wherewithal to pay the alewife.His possessions were gone.
Shite.
He carried his entire life in his satchel.His costumes, his tools, his coin.How would he manage without them?He hadn’t yet sifted through what was in Aillenn’s satchel, but he imagined the contents would be fairly useless.Which meant he’d need to waste more time, paying for his supper with his labor.
With a sigh, he retrieved the satchel slouching beside the hearth and opened the top.
There was a missive scribbled with char on a piece of torn parchment.
Prithee do not follow me ~ Lady Aillenn
His mind reeled as he studied the words.What did they mean?
