Piper staredat her reflection in the water. The woman looking back at her seemed like a stranger—hair tangled, face smudged with dirt, eyes wide with lingering fear and confusion. Just days ago, she'd been returning home with her wages, dreaming of escape. Now...
Now what?Was she truly free? Or was this just another trap, more elaborate than the last?
She looked backat Elijah again. He'd sat down beneath a tree, giving the horse a rest, his eyes scanning the forest around them—alert, watchful, but not focused on her. He could have grabbed her a dozen times by now. Could have done... anything. But he hadn't.
"We should move on soon,"Elijah said after a few more minutes, rising to his feet. "We've still got a fair distance to cover before nightfall."
Piper stood as well,brushing off her skirts. As he helped her back onto the horse—and this time she accepted his hand—a plan began forming in her mind.
She would test him.Truly test him.
They'd been ridingfor another hour in tense silence when Piper finally spoke.
"Stop the horse."
Elijah kept his expression neutral,even as Piper's words sent a jolt of alarm through his chest. “What?”
“Ye heard me.”Piper’s voice was sharp, challenging. “Ye said I could leave whenever I wanted. Well, I want to leave. Now. So stop the horse and let me off.”
Stubborn,contrary lass.
Elijah pulled on the reins,bringing the horse to a halt. They were in the middle of open countryside—rolling hills dotted with purple heather, a few scraggly trees in the distance, and nothing that looked like shelter or safety.
“Here?”he asked. “Ye want me to let ye off here?”
“Aye, here.”She twisted to look at him, her gray eyes defiant. “Unless ye were lyin’ about lettin’ me go. Were ye lyin’, Laird McMahon?”
]
Aye.
]
“Nay, I wasnae lyin’.”Elijah swung his leg over the horse’s back and dismounted, then reached up to help Piper down. “Come on then, lass.”
She staredat his outstretched hands, as if they might bite her. Then, slowly, she leaned forward and let him grasp her waist. He lifted her down easily—too easily, really.
She weighed almostnothing despite being full bodied, and that bothered him more than he wanted to admit.
How long were they starvin’her?
The momenther feet touched the ground, Piper stepped back, putting distance between them. Her chin lifted, and despite the fear he could see flickering in her eyes, she met his gaze without flinching.
“There.Ye’ve let me go. I’m free.”
“Aye, ye are.”Elijah crossed his arms over his chest. “And now ye’re standin’ in the middle of nowhere with nay food, nay water, nay supplies, and nay idea which direction to go.”
“I’ll manage.”
“Will ye?”He nodded toward the horizon. “That way leads to the McCulloch lands. Beautiful countryside, but there are bandits in those hills who’d sell ye right back to men like Lewis. Maybe worse.” He turned, pointing in another direction. “That way takes ye toward the coast. Three days’ walk, if ye daenae get lost. Longer if ye do.”
Piper’s jaw tightened.“I daenae need yer help.”
“And that way—”Elijah ignored her, gesturing toward the third direction, “—leads back toward where we came from. Right into the arms of anyone who might be lookin’ for escaped prisoners from that hunt.”
“I can manage,and I can run,” Piper said.
“Just ken,Lewis and his men are neither dead nor in chains.” Elijah let that sink in. “And even if he is dead, there are others involved in that operation. Men who paid money and dinnae get what they wanted. Men who might be very interested in findin’ stray lasses wanderin’ the countryside alone.”
