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“Be ready to leave when I return,” he said, and his arm snagged her around the waist to pull her against him and kiss her.

Shade stood there stunned, watching him hurry off. It happened so fast that she questioned if it truly had happened at all. But it was hard to deny since her lips continued to tingle from his kiss. She wondered why he kissed her. Were his kisses meant to entice? But why here and now? Did he leave with a reminder of what could be between them? She shook her head.She had no time for this. She had Hollin to tend to, though the thought of coupling with Quint continued to linger in the back of her mind.

Habit.

He had kissed Shade out of habit as he once did with his wife whenever he left her. But he had not kissed her on that fateful day. He had been in a hurry to go and return to her. It haunted him every day that he had not taken the time to kiss her.

“You owe me extra kisses,” she had called out to him when he rode off and he had told her he would give her a lot more than kisses when he returned.

He shook the memory away. It hurt too much to recall, and he hurried after the lad.

All went well until it didn’t. The message was delivered quickly, and Walter took his leave just as quickly. He was keeping a swift pace when out of nowhere three men stepped in his path bringing him to an abrupt halt.

“He looks like a good one. With him, it would make ten lads to deliver to Lord Torrance,” one of the men said.

“Young and quick on his feet, he could gather the weapons off the dead in no time,” another man said.

“I must get home. My da needs me,” Walter said, a tremor in his voice.

“Lord Torrance needs you more,” the one who hadn’t spoken yet said. “You’ll be coming with us.”

Walter squared his scrawny shoulders. “Nay, I’m going home.”

The three laughed.

“You are a brave one, but foolish to think we’ll let you go,” one of them said.

“You will let him go,” Quint said, stepping from the depths of the forest.

Two laughed. One didn’t.

The one fellow sized Quint up in one glance. “You’ll make a good one to fight for Lord Torrance.”

“Leave him be,” the one who didn’t laugh ordered hastily.

The other two looked at him as if he was daft.

“We’ll be going,” the one said. “Leave the lad.”

“Nay. He’s one man against three,” another man said.

“I would listen to your friend if I were you, or you will not live to see another day,” Quint warned.

“We want no trouble. We’re leaving,” the one said, raising his hand briefly as if in surrender. Then he whispered something to the other two.

The two men paled.

“The lad is yours,” one said, a tremor in his voice.

“We want no trouble,” the other said, backing away.

“Release the other lads you took or each one of you will be dead by tonight,” Quint threatened.

“Aye. Aye.” The three echoed and turned and ran.

Walter stared at Quint.

Quint approached the lad, and he shrunk back away from him, unsure. “You will hold your tongue about what happened here, lad. Do you understand?”