“Ye cannae outrun me,lass! I’ve got ye now!”
Piper pushed harder,her breath coming in ragged gasps. The trees were right there. If she could just reach them, maybe she could hide, maybe?—
The hoofbeats wereright behind her.
At the last second,Piper dove sideways, rolling into a thicket of bushes. Thorns tore at her dress, scratched her skin, but she bit down on her scream. The horse thundered past, the laird cursing.
“Where’d ye go?Come out, come out, little mouse!”
Piper pressedherself against the ground, trying to make herself as small as possible. Her heart hammered so hard she was sure he could hear it. Through the branches, she could see the laird circling his horse, searching.
Please daenae find me.Please.
“I ken ye’re here,”the laird sing-songed. His voice made her skin crawl. “I can smell yer fear. Smell yer sweat. Ye’re a plump little thing, arenae ye? I like that. More to hold onto when I claim ye.”
Piper clampeda hand over her mouth to keep from whimpering. He was so close. Just a few feet away. If he looked down, if he saw any movement?—
“There ye are!”
A hand shotinto the thicket, grabbing for her.
Piper saw it coming—sawthe dirt under his fingernails, the calluses on his palm—and acted on pure instinct.
She bit down.Hard.
The laird howled,jerking his hand back. “Ye little bitch! Ye bit me!”
Piper scrambledout the other side of the thicket and ran. Ran deeper into the forest, branches whipping her face, roots trying to trip her. Behind her, the laird was shouting, his horse crashing through the undergrowth.
“Ye’ll pay for that!When I catch ye, and Iwillcatch ye, ye’ll pay for it. This is goin’ to be fun.”
Piper wasn’t listening.She focused on running, on putting distance between them. The forest grew thicker here, harder for a horse to navigate. Maybe she had a chance. Maybe?—
She burstout of a dense patch of trees and ran straight into something solid.
Strong arms caughther before she could fall. Piper looked up, ready to fight, ready to bite and scratch and kick.
And froze.
The man holdingher was tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark-haired. His green eyes stared down at her with an intensity that stole her breath. He wasn’t like the other laird—there was no cruelty in his face, no sick hunger. But there was something else. Something dangerous.
“Got ye,”he growled, his voice low and rough.
Behind her,Piper heard the other laird breaking through the trees.
She was caught.After everything, after all her desperate running, she was caught.
And the manholding her showed no sign of letting go.
3
“Got ye.”
The words leftElijah’s mouth before his mind fully caught up with what had happened.
One moment,he’d been tracking through the forest, disgusted by this entire sick spectacle that Hector, his ally and Laird of the lands where this hunt was taking place, had asked him to help destroy. The next, the most beautiful lass he’d ever seen had run straight into his arms.
She was breathing hard,her gray eyes wide with terror. Blonde hair tumbled around her face in wild disarray. And her body—soft, curved,perfect—pressed against his chest as she struggled to catch her breath.
