“I have little coin. Do you?”
“No, but-”
“Then we find what’s thrown away or we go hungry. Your choice.”
He started walking again. Had she offended him? It was hard to tell. Apart from that flicker of a smile on the beach, he looked furious all the time, as if he was angry with the whole world.
She couldn’t blame him, not really. She’d be pretty cross if she’d been accused of a murder she didn’t commit. She tried to think how she’d feel if her mom was locked in prison for trying to defend her.
The emotion made her neck hurt from tensing her jaw so much. She realized her fists had clenched and had to force them to loosen. If he wanted to look cross, she understood where he was coming from.
Not for much longer though. They would get to MacIntyre Castle, as long as her feet survived the journey. Then she would get the stone. He could go back to his life and she could go back to hers. Tell mom where he hid the locket, sell it, make a fortune, and finally do up the house.
She dreamed of carving the banisters, using her whittling skills to create little statues and Celtic symbols, make the place seem like home.
“Haud up,” Tavish said, raising his arm, fist clenched.
Lindsey froze, expecting to dive into the bushes yet again.
“Wait there,” Tavish said, darting off the road and into a copse of trees. She looked but saw nothing. Then a twig snapped and a moment later a straggly looking horse burst out into the open.
It galloped straight at her but saw her at the last minute, pulling up short and stopping dead. “Whoah,” Tavish said behind it, moving slowly toward it, arms outstretched. “Whoah there, lass.”
He moved until he was in front of the horse and then began whispering something to it, talking so quietly Lindsey couldn’t make out more than a word or two. He was speaking a language she didn’t understand but the horse did.
The beast stamped its feet and whinnied loudly but then its ears went up as it listened. Another stamp of its foot but this one less aggressive and accompanied by a slight flick of its tail.
He continued talking to it and, as he did so, it lowered its head, allowing him to scratch it behind the ears. “That’s it, lass,” he said quietly. “Good girl.” He glanced across at Lindsey. “You can climb on.”
“You’re not serious?”
“She willnae hurt you. Not now.”
Lindsey wasn’t so confident. She took a step forward and the horse’s head jerked in her direction, its nostrils flaring. Another few words from Tavish and it calmed once more, this time looking at her placidly.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she said as she climbed onto a tree stump. “No saddle or anything. You know I’ve only ridden a horse once, don’t you?”
“Wild horses like wild women.”
“Are you saying I’m a wild woman?”
He looked up at her, his expression inscrutable. “Was that a joke?” she asked. “Did you actually make a joke?”
There it was, that flicker of a smile again. She couldn’t help reciprocating. “I didn’t think you were capable of joking.”
This close, the horse smelt strongly, Lindsey’s nose wrinkling as she climbed onto its back.
It didn’t move a muscle. She tensed her legs, expecting the animal to throw her at any moment.
It felt utterly surreal when, a second later, Tavish began walking again. The horse followed meekly behind like a pet dog, carrying Lindsey on its back without the slightest complaint.
Once she had gotten over her fear of being thrown, she began to enjoy the ride. Her aching feet were glad of the break from walking. “Thank you,” she said when Tavish stopped to let the horse drink from a stream beside the road.
“What for? Helping you doon?”
“For this. For letting me ride her.”
He shrugged. “It wasnae any bother.”
