“Ye look…” he quipped with a frown, running his gaze down the length of her, “the same.”
She gave him a chiding scoff.She absolutely did not look the same.Not in this ludicrous attire with the silly feathered cap and walnut-darkened skin.
Then he grew serious and nodded at the satchel.“I believe that’s mine?”
“Oh.Aye.”She held it up like a shield between them.“Foolish me.I must have picked up the wrong one when—”
“And ’tis all there?”
She blinked.“Aye.O’ course.”Did he honestly think she would steal his things?
Apparently he did.He took the satchel from her, set it on the sand, and then hunkered down to rummage through the contents.
“’Tis all there,” she said.“I swear.”
He grunted.
She supposed she couldn’t blame him for having doubts.For a while, he’d believed she was an outlaw like him.
“’Twas a mistake,” she reiterated.“’Twas dark when… when I…”
“When ye what?”His darting glance pierced her like an arrow.“When ye abandoned me?”
She swallowed hard.He made it sound so harsh.So cruel.So personal.“’Tisn’t what ye think.”
“And what do I think?”
“That I ran away.”
“Yedidrun away.”
“Not from ye,” she told him.
He barked out a grim laugh.“Aye, ye did.Ye even left me a note.Ye told me not to follow.”
“But not because…” she said.“Not because…”
She couldn’t find the right words for her reasons or the memories that swept through her head.Memories of his soul-searing kiss.His eyes glazed with passion.His limbs entwined with hers.His groans of ecstasy shivering in her ear as his flesh rubbed in delicious bliss against hers.
“Not because o’ ye,” she said.It was only half a lie.
“Shite,” he said under his breath.He stopped rummaging through the satchel.His shoulders dropped as he stared at the ground, shaking his head.“See, that’s just it.I keep askin’ myself, ‘Why?Why did ye leave?’”His voice was roughened by the weeks of torment she’d caused him.“Was it because ye wanted the spoils all to yourself?”
“Nay,” she said, horrified at the thought.
“Nay,” he agreed.“After all, ye left your coin behind.So then I thought maybe ye were after this.”He held up the Rivenloch medallion.
“Nay.”
“Nay,” he echoed, “because I see ye’ve returned it.”He tossed it back in the satchel.
“As should ye,” she murmured as an aside.“’Tis a dangerous piece to be carryin’ around.Ye don’t want to tangle with that clan.”
He gave her a brief, bleak smile as he slowly rose to his feet.Then his eyes grew shadowed and full of hurt.“So all I can think is ye left because ye don’t care for me.Ye regret what we did.And ye ne’er want to see me again.”
“Nay.”The word came out like a sob.“I mean… Aye.I mean…” Never want to see him again?That wasn’t true at all.She wanted to see him every day for the rest of her life.And the last thing she wanted to do was to wound him.“Ye don’t understand.Yecan’tunderstand.”
“I understand,” he said sadly.“I thought we were kindred spirits.I thought ye cared for me.”
