Doing his best to ignore it, Craeg turned to Hazel once more. She stood a few feet back from him, her dirk now sheathed. Her eyes tracked him as he approached.
“Thank the Saints ye arrived when ye did.” Her voice caught slightly. “I thought I was done for.”
“Ye nearly were.” The urge to haul her into his arms, to crush her against him in relief, barreled into him. Instead, he took hold of her arm and steered her toward the bank that led up to a hazel thicket. He didn’t want to speak to her within earshot of anyone.
She went meekly, although the arm beneath his grip had gone rigid.
Cold washed over him, dousing the last of his anger. Was she wary of him now?
Faolan approached them both. The wolfhound’s hackles were still raised, his dark eyes wild. However, he pushed his nose into Craeg’s thigh, checking to see if he was well. Putting his hand on the hound’s head, he reassured him that he wasn’t hurt. Then, he focused on Hazel once more.
“What happened?”
Her throat worked. “Macquarie must have been watching the castle. When I left this morning, he and his men followed me.”
He stilled, his pulse spiking once more. “What were ye doing, leaving Moy?” He was aware his voice had hardened, but he couldn’t help it. Why the devil was Hazel out on the road alone?
Her chin rose, a muscle feathering in her jaw. “I was heading to Craignure … to catch a ferry to the mainland.”
Silence fell like a poleax between them. Suddenly, Craeg couldn’t draw breath. For a moment, he just stood there, stunned. “Ye were going to leave me … without even saying anything?”
She swallowed once more, a stubborn glint in her eyes now. “It was for the best.”
Heat kindled in his gut.For the best?
“Ye don’t want to marry me?” The words came out hoarsely.
She made a soft sound in the back of her throat. “Ye make everything appear so simple … but it isn’t.”
Her reply was a fist to the guts. It was simple to him. He loved her, and he’d believed she felt the same way.
She never told ye though, did she?A nasty voice whispered.She never actually said the words.
No, she hadn’t, and he’d been so caught up in his own emotions that he hadn’t thought of making sure. And now, he felt like a prize idiot.
“I’ll not be yer ruin,” she went on, her voice low, husky. “Things got out of hand between us. I agreed to things, I shouldn’t have.” Her gaze guttered then. “And now, because of me, ye have slain the Macquarie chieftain.”
“He deserved it,” Craeg ground out, surprised by his own venom. There was a reservoir of rage still there, simmering like a cauldron of boiling tar. Just moments ago, he’d been riding back to Moy with the wind in his hair and a smile on his face, thinking about the future that was waiting for him.
And now, the woman he loved was spurning him.
“I will not be the cause of any more trouble,” she replied, her own tone hardening now.
They stared at each other. Nearby, Craeg was vaguely aware of the rumble of voices as his men hauled the Macquarie warriors to their feet and bound their wrists behind them. However, it seemed far away.
“Ye can’t leave,” he said, hating how desperate he now sounded.Get a grip of yerself, man.Lord, he wished he could.
“I must.”
Heat flushed over him. “No,” he replied hoarsely. “Ye belong with me.”
Her gaze narrowed, and his skin prickled. He didn’t like the glint in her eye.
“I belong to no one but myself,” she said coldly. “I thought ye understood me enough to know that.” Silence pulsed between them before she continued, “I had another lover once … who tried to tell me what to do, tried to mold me. Hewanted a wife who was pliant and easily cowed. I’m not that woman. I willneverbe that woman.”
A sickly sensation rose then, curdling his stomach. He’d guessed when they’d lain together that he hadn’t been her first, and he hadn’t cared. However, he didn’t enjoy being compared to the man who’d clearly disappointed her. As if he were no different. As if he too was letting her down.
The silence between them drew out. Craeg didn’t break it. He didn’t trust himself not to dig an even deeper hole for himself, not to make the situation even worse.
