When he landed on his feet, he crouched low to the ground, his sword still in his hand. His chest pumped hard as he tried tocatch his breath. Chloe released Evie’s hand and charged toward him, launching herself at him, relieved he had made it through the light.
When she landed against him, he grunted and fell to the ground. She perched on top of him, gazing down at those delicious sea-green eyes.
“Thank God you made it!”
Then she pressed her face against his neck and inhaled his scent. The scent of leather and musk and horse and sweat. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. But his hand grazed her wounded shoulder and she winced. When he drew his hand away, his fingers were smeared with blood.
“Och, lass, yer injured.”
“I’m fine,” she said, ignoring the pain that flared through her. “Are you?”
“I dinnae ken what happened, but I’m glad yer all right.”
“You came for me,” she whispered.
“Was there any doubt?”
The shame of doubt pounded through her. Of course, he and Callum had come for them. She flushed, her cheeks warming. “I—”
“I will always come for ye. I will always protect ye with my body and sword. Until my dying breath.”
“I will never doubt you again.”
She breathed the words against his lips and then she kissed him. It was a fierce kiss. A deep kiss. A kiss of passion and need and want and desire. A kiss that conveyed all the emotions pounding through her.
When he pulled away, he said, “It’s best ye stop that now, lass, or I cannae be held responsible for my actions.”
Then he glanced down and saw the blood smudged on his tunic. She tried to hide her cut hand, but he grabbed her wrist and turned over her palm.
“Yer hand, too,” he said. “And yer wrists. God’s teeth, lass, what did ye do to yerself?”
She flushed hot. Her wrists were red and raw from her determination to get out of her bonds. She tried to pull away, but he held onto her with a gentle tug as he examined the wounds.
“It was the only way to get back to Dundale,” she said. “It was the only way to save you.” Then she thought of Jamie and bit her lower lip, the guilt slashing through her. “We couldn’t save Jamie, though.”
Worry flickered through his eyes. “The keep was on fire.”
Another slash of guilt. The fire was her fault. If Jamie died in that fire, she would never forgive herself.
“Maybe he got out.” It was her dearest hope.
But Jamie was in enemy hands. She didn’t know how he would find his way out.
“We shouldn’t have left him.” Her voice wobbled with emotion as she clutched his tunic.
“It’s all right, lass. Dinnae flash yerself about it. Jamie is resourceful. I’ve no doubt he will find his way home, but we can send men to look for him. Let’s get ye bandaged.”
But his face was pinched with concern. He shifted her off him as he got to his feet, helping her to hers, too. Evie huddled next to Callum. When they got to their feet, Evie broke from him and rushed toward her.
“Your shoulder—” she started.
“I’ll be all right,” Chloe said through gritted teeth.
“But you were hit with an arrow.”
“An arrow?” Malcolm asked, giving her a pointed look.
Chloe shot her a look that begged her to be quiet.
