Her legs wobbled, but she managed to stay on her feet. “Thank you.” He nodded curtly and started to turn away. She grabbed his arm, the leather of his jerkin cold and stiff under her fingertips. “Wait.”
His gaze met hers. He didn't bother to mask his impatience.
Her heart throbbed, not understanding his coldness. “Where are we?”
“East of Menteith.”
Her brows drew together. “So far north? Shouldn't we be heading south?” Though it was possible to reach Dunoon over land by winding along the fingerlike coast, it was days faster to take abirlinnfrom Dumbarton across the Clyde. And this late in autumn, there was always weather to consider. They were fortunate thus far to have avoided rain, but the heaviness of the mist descending upon them did not bode well. Her cheeks were already numb from the cold.
“Aye. We'll turn south near Loch Lomond.”
Loch Lomond. A veritable oasis. “Is that where we will stop for the night?”
He shook his head. “We won't be stopping.”
She offered her protest with a groan.
Finally showing some sign of sympathy for her exhaustion, he explained, “I know you are tired, but as you well know, the roads can be dangerous.”
A shiver ran through her. She remembered all too well.
His voice softened. “You are well protected, Lizzie. But it's best if we keep moving. Besides, your cousin is expecting you.” He hardened his jaw. “If that is all, I need to see to the horses.”
Dismissed. Lizzie suddenly felt her pulse spike with anger. She didn't know what was wrong, but whatever it was, she didn't deserve to be treated like this. “That is not all,” she snapped. “I want to know why are you acting like this.”
His eyes sparked with warning. “Leave it be, Lizzie.”
She lifted her chin. “No, I will not leave it be. What have I done to earn your displeasure? I apologize for leaving the castle alone, but I honestly did not see the harm.” He didn't say anything, just stared at her with that hard, implacable look in his emerald gaze. She took a step toward him and gazed up at him beseechingly, wanting to penetrate this mysterious barrier he'd erected between them. “I know you don't want to go to Dunoon, but if it means that much to you, I will go with you right now—wherever you want. It doesn't matter where we marry—”
He swore, cutting her off. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he shook her, his face tortured by conflicting emotions she couldn't even begin to comprehend. “Damn it, Lizzie! Don't you understand? There will be no marriage.”
She recoiled as if he'd slapped her. A bolt of searing white-hot pain shot through her, cutting off her breath. If he'd turned around and shot her with a musket, she couldn't have been more surprised.
Her heart rejected his words even as her eyes confirmed them. One look at him left no doubt. Her eyes burned with dry tears of disbelief as she gazed up into the fierce, handsome face of the man to whom she'd given her heart, the man who now thought to crush it under his heel with all the significance of a bug.
She didn't beg, didn't plead, didn't burst into tears— though she wanted to. Instead, she drew up her shoulders and swallowed the thick ball of hurt, too outraged to let her emotions reign. She wasn't insignificant, and she deserved to be treated better than this. “Am I to be told the reason for this decision, or did you think to just drop me at my cousin's gate and leave with no explanation?”
The expression on his face made her step back in horror.
“My God,” she breathed, gazing up at him as if she'd never seen him before. “That's exactly what you intend to do.” Her throat was so hot and tight, she could barely get the words out. “Do I mean so little to you? I thought you …”
Her heart caught, the burning in her chest excruciating.Cared for me—maybe even loved me.
His eyes bored into her with brutal intensity. She thought she saw a flicker of regret before it was quickly shrouded behind the steely veil.
Once she'd admired his control; now she hated it.
“Circumstances have changed, making a marriage between us impossible.”
“Circumstances?” she repeated. Her voice was be ginning to rise, and the other men were glaring in their direction uneasily, but Lizzie didn't care. How could he stand there so calmly—with all the emotion of a rock— when her heart was breaking apart? His coldness infuriated her, making her lash out with haughty sarcasm. “Could you perhaps be any more specific?”
She saw the flash of anger in his gaze. “No, I can't. I told you before that there are things about me—”
“I'm tired of your secrets,” she exploded, her voice shaking with outrage. “Whatever it is, just tell me. Don't I deserve the truth?” She gave him a look full of scorn. “Or do you often seduce women with promises of marriage and discard them when they no longer have use to you?”
“That's not the way it happened,” he clipped, reminding her that she'd been the one foolish enough to seduce him. His eyes blared with something she'd never seen before— recklessness. He started to say something, but his words were cut off. If he'd meant to tell her his secret, she wouldn't hear it now.
“Chie—Captain.”
