Page 17 of Proven By The Highlander (Highlander Forever #15)
CHAPTER 17
F or a big man, he could move incredibly quietly. Leanne felt clumsy and loud as she followed along behind him, doing her best to keep up while also remaining as quiet as possible. They moved down toward the shoreline in the now-empty cove where she’d met Nessie, Caelan ducking low to hide from the passersby above, and she held her breath, listening intently for their voices. The question was, which direction had they been coming from?
Then something occurred to Leanne, and she felt her heart sink into her chest as she hissed a swearword under her breath. Caelan made an impatient gesture for silence, but the look on her face must have distracted him, because he mouthed a frowning enquiry at the sight of her. She gestured helplessly, wondering how she was going to Charades her way through this one right now — but before she could, they heard a shout up above them. Caelan grimaced, shutting his eyes tightly, then ducked under the overhanging rock in front of them, pulling her along. To her surprise, she realized she’d been wrong about the cove — she’d thought it was a simple inlet that came in from the Loch, but now she could see that there was actually a small stream that joined the Loch here. Why hadn’t she noticed it on the road above? Unless… her eyes widened as she followed the stream along. There were some shrubs and bushes in the way that made it seem like the cove came to an end there, but she could see that the stream was running strongly from beneath them. There was a cave beyond those overgrown bushes, she realized. A cave that was almost impossible to see unless you knew it was there…
The shout came again, this time from closer. Caelan tensed, clearly torn between not wanting to reveal his hiding place to her, and his desire to get out of sight of the men as soon as possible. Up above, she could hear them exclaiming in surprise, and she shut her eyes as she concluded that they’d found her horse. Sure enough, she could hear the familiar voice of Graeme — or was it Hamish? — confirming that it was the horse that had been taken from the Keep.
She could feel Caelan’s eyes on her, and she looked up to meet his gaze, defiant. But instead of the judgment she’d expected, she saw something like amusement dancing in his eyes… and a touch of respect. He mouthed the words ‘horse thief’ at her, and she rolled her eyes, fighting the urge to snap a retort back at him… as if in response, he reached out to put a loose arm around her shoulders and pressed his palm against her mouth. It was a practical gesture, she knew that… but a curiously intimate one. She was aware of the heat of her breath against his palm, as well as of the heat of his arm around her shoulder, the slight trembling in his body as he fought to stay still and silent… the footsteps above them were louder now, the search party clearly having decided to search the area more thoroughly, tipped off as they were by the discovery of her horse.
She felt frozen, and she could tell that Caelan was struggling with the same issue. They were sitting ducks here, hidden from above by the rocky overhang, but the minute someone came down into the cove they’d see them right away. They needed to move deeper into the cave, but the sound it would make would risk not only alerting the search party but showing them where the entrance was. They needed a distraction, she realized, her resolve crystallizing. It was a risk, but it was a risk they were going to have to take.
Slowly, carefully, she reached out with one hand, sliding her fingertips along the uneven rock behind her. She lowered herself, grimacing a little as she searched… and then she felt it, the jagged edge of a rock that had come a little loose from the softer stone surrounding it. She weighed it carefully in her hand, fighting the urge to smile… it was about the size of a baseball, though much heavier. She’d only played for a few years, back in high school, but pitching had always been her strongest skill. Praying it would serve her well, she took a deep breath, drew her arm back… and hurled the stone with all her might.
There was a long, frozen moment, and she felt Caelan’s hand tighten on her mouth, his breath catching in his throat with fear as he realized what she’d done. Trust me, she thought, hoping desperately that he’d follow her thinking, that he wouldn’t just assume she was trying to attract the search party’s attention. Trust me and be ready to make use of this… and then she heard the rock hit the water with a resounding splash, a good distance out. The sound immediately drew the attention of the men, and she heard one of them shouting directions to the others.
Behind her, she felt Caelan spring into action. While the voices were still echoing across the lake, he pulled her with him straight through the bushes, which scraped at her skin and dragged at her skirts as she yanked herself furiously through the thicket. For a few breathless moments, she was half convinced she’d been wrong about her assumption, that Caelan was just dragging her deeper into some dead-end cove to huddle miserably in the bushes until the search party found them… but then they burst clear of the bushes and into a space that made Leanne catch her breath with surprise.
Just as she’d anticipated, it was a cave… but this was no damp, drafty hole in the ground. She gazed around the comfortable little space with surprise and awe, trying to make out its full dimensions by the dim glow that lit it, the remnants of a fire in one corner. Beside the fire was a familiar-looking rucksack and a bedroll stretched out. This was hardly the unpleasant little camp she’d been imagining. Why, this place was as cozy as her room at the Keep. A dozen questions rose in her mind, most of them having to do with whether the cave was manmade or natural or some mixture of the two… but she saw Caelan raise his fingers to his lips and held her breath obediently in response.
The voices of the men were still raised out there, but she could hear frustration in their voices as they realized the splash hadn’t been caused by anything they could find. It was Nessie, she tried to tell them telepathically, willing them to come to that conclusion by themselves. It was Nessie splashing around in the water, that’s all it was… no need to search the rest of the cove, you’d better just move on… and hope flared in her chest as she realized that the men seemed to be making moves to leave. She could hear Hamish calling the men back up to the path, saying something about taking the stolen horse back to the Keep.
“Just a moment.”
Leanne froze, adrenaline lurching through her, and she felt Caelan stiffen beside her, too, imagined that his heart was pounding in his chest as hard as hers was. That had been Graeme’s voice, frighteningly close… maybe ten or fifteen yards away, maybe even less. He was still in the cove, dangerously close to the hidden opening to the cave that Caelan had clearly been hiding out in. Caelan was frozen in place, with the exception of his right hand, which was inching toward the dirk at his belt. She felt fear grip her heart at the thought of what might be about to happen. Someone shouted a question from above, their tone impatient. Leanne squeezed her eyes shut and prayed…
“Just a hunch,” Graeme called back, his voice troubled.
Was that light, shining through the thick branches that obscured the cave’s entrance? She could imagine Graeme standing there with a torch in hand, studying the back wall of the cove with a frown on his face… her heart was beating so loudly that she wouldn’t be surprised if that was what had drawn his attention in the first place, though it was impossible…
Ten seconds passed, then twenty… and then, with a sigh, she heard Graeme’s footsteps again. One frozen, interminable moment as they waited to see if the branches would be shoved aside… then relief, sharp and acute as pain, washing through her as she realized the footsteps were receding. He’d turned around to leave. They were safe. She was so giddy with the near miss that she almost forgot to stay silent — and then Caelan’s arm was around her shoulders again and she felt his palm pressed against her lips once more.
Despite how angry she’d been earlier when he’d grabbed her without her approval, somehow, she couldn’t seem to find the same rage right now. Probably all the adrenaline of hiding from the search party, she told herself firmly… but still, there was something else tingling down her spine, and for no reason at all she thought of what the men had said about why they didn’t want her joining the search party. Lovesick girl? Absolutely not.
Right?