“So where do ye think—”
“Adam!”She interrupted him with a gasp of feigned surprise.“Maybe those weren’t pilgrims I heard in the woods.”
“They weren’t?”He had to admit, she was a convincing liar.He almost believed her naivete, even though he knew better.
“What iftheywere the royal retinue?”she asked, her eyes wide.
Damn the lass.She was foiling him at every turn.
He nodded sagely.“Ye may be right.”
He did plan to return to the encampment.But he didn’t want Eve with him.He wanted her safely behind Darragh’s strong castle walls.
Still, he knew once she got an idea in her head, she would not be talked out of it.That was how they’d ended up in bed together.While he admired her fortitude and perseverance, in this instance, it was inconvenient.
If he refused to go with her, she’d only find a way to go around him, even if it meant escaping from Darragh and making her way back to the king alone.
He couldn’t let her do that.The king’s men had already pursued her twice.What was to stop them from catching and assaulting her the way they had Fonia?
The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Eve was strong and capable.Clever and independent.Wise and quick-witted.
But she was not a Rivenloch.
She might speak and dress and act like a warrior.But she grew faint at the sight of blood.
She had no idea how hazardous it was to tangle with royals.To get embroiled in a clan war.To be a woman alone among soldiers full of fever and bloodlust.
The idea shook him to the core.
Nay, the only way to keep her out of peril was to stay by her side, to accompany her on whatever thorny mission she was on.
Then, when the time came to shield her from real danger, he’d have to waylay her.It would require deceit.Betrayal of her trust.
In the end, it would be worth it to keep her safe.But would their love be strong enough to endure such betrayal?
He wondered.
Her eyes lit up.“We’ll go back then?And search for the king?”
“On one condition,” he told her.“If by some miracle, we find him, and we’re granted an audience…”
“Aye?”
“We’ll ask him to marry us.”
This time Eve’s gasp of shock sounded genuine.She blinked, baffled.“Ye mean it?”
He nodded.
“But…ye don’t e’en know who I am.”
He gave her a tender smile.“I know who ye are,” he said, reaching out to place his fingertips over her heart, “in here.”
Eve’s throat thickened as she returned a trembling smile.
Did he mean that?Did he truly not care who she was?Or was Adam such a loyal vassal to the king that Malcolm would allow him to wed whomever he willed?
