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8: I DARE

THEY SET OFF briskly, cantering along the dirt road under the dappled shade of alder and hornbeam, the tattoo of their horses’ hooves echoing through the shimmering heat of the late morning.

Riding directly behind Mackay, Davina tried to quash the uneasy sensation that had twisted her belly in knots.

I shouldn’t have asked him to intercede .

Aye, things had been about to get bloody, yet she’d been surprised when the captain stepped in to stop the fighting.

She hadn’t thought he’d heed her.

Afterward, upon learning the men they’d chased off were Stewarts, and the warrior whose life she’d saved was a wanted man, she’d started to feel a little queasy.

Da would be furious with us for helping him.

Indeed, Colin Campbell was doggedly loyal to King James the Second.

He’d made his dislike of the Douglases clear too.

‘Traitors to the crown’, he called them.

Davina’s heart started to thud against her breastbone.

Her gaze settled once more upon the tense line of Lennox Mackay’s shoulders.

No doubt, he regretted intervening.

Like her, he’d be worried about the repercussions.

Davina started to sweat then.

God’s blood, this journey was supposed to be an easy one, yet so far, it had been far from straightforward.

Thank goodness they were only half a day’s ride out from Oban now and would reach the port before dusk.

After that, all that would remain was a boat ride to Iona.

Finally then, she couldn’t cause any more trouble.

They picked up the pace, making up for lost time, before taking their noon meal later than planned.

The road had left the woodland now and led across undulating hills.

To the west, Davina could see the blue slash of the sea against the horizon.

Resting by the roadside, she found a stump to sit on while Thistle nipped at grass, and unwrapped a pork pie the cooks at the last inn had provided them with.

She’d been looking forward to it, pleased that her appetite had improved.

However, the incident earlier in the morning had put her on edge.

It had destroyed all their peace.

Mackay hadn’t stopped frowning ever since, and his men had gone quiet.

Davina nibbled at her pie, watching Mackay’s men talking quietly together amongst themselves a few yards off.

As always, their captain stood apart, eating his noon meal with the horses.

Brogan Douglas also kept to himself.

The man sat under an oak tree a few yards distant.

Catching Davina’s eye, he flashed her a smile, pushed himself up off the ground, and approached her.

“It seems yer companions think I’m a leper,” he rumbled, still smiling, “but would ye mind if I sat with ye, instead, my lady?”

His request was polite; it seemed churlish to refuse it.

“Of course not,” she murmured.

Douglas sat down. Unlike Davina and her escort, he didn’t have anything to eat.

Instead, he stared at the pork pie she was eating.

His gaze was intent, like a starved dog eyeing a banquet.

Davina noted that the scratch beneath his eye had crusted; fortunately for him, it appeared to be a shallow wound.

The moments stretched out, and eventually Davina couldn’t bear it any longer.

She withdrew another pie from the parcel on her lap and held it out to him.

“Here … ye look like it’s been a while since yer last decent meal.”

The man reeked, and underneath his wild hair and unshaven chin, she noted that his cheeks were hollowed.

Life as a hunted man wasn’t easy.

Douglas flashed her a grateful smile and took the pie she offered.

“My thanks … once again.”

Davina didn’t reply, instead watching as he wolfed the pie down in just a few bites.

A few yards away, Lennox Mackay turned, his gaze narrowing when it settled on Davina and her companion.

He then swallowed the last of his meal and headed toward the tree stump.

Meanwhile, Douglas brushed the crumbs off his filthy braies and glanced Davina’s way.

“What takes ye to Oban, my lady?”

Davina frowned.

Brogan Douglas was far too inquisitive for her liking.

As if sensing her distrust, he flashed her a contrite smile.

“Apologies, if ye find my questions intrusive, my lady,” he rumbled.

“But I’m only making conversation.”

Davina’s cheeks warmed.

Now, he thought her rude.

“I will see if I can earn my passage to one of the isles from Oban,” Douglas volunteered before his gaze shadowed.

“It’s a terrible thing … to see yer clan persecuted … hunted like vermin. I’ve had enough of it. I only want to find somewhere I can live in peace.”

Davina took this in, pity stirring within her.

She then sighed before answering, “I’m taking a birlinn to Iona from Oban.”

His dark gaze widened.

“Ye are taking the veil?”

“Aye.”

Douglas inclined his head.

His lips parted, as if to say something else, but Mackay’s arrival forestalled him.

The captain’s shadow fell over them.

“We need to get going,” he said curtly, his sharp gaze spearing the outlaw.

“Douglas, ye are riding with Keith again.”

A relieved smile tugged at Davina’s lips when, eventually, Oban hove into sight.

They’d been following the coast for a while, as the shadows lengthened—and there it was, a jumble of tall stone buildings pressed around a busy quay on the horse-shoe-shaped Firth of Lorne.

They rode along the seafront, past where fishing boats and birlinns bobbed on the tide, before Davina waited while Captain Mackay strode off to see about getting them passage to Iona the following morning.

Meanwhile, Brogan Douglas slid down from where he’d been riding behind Keith and stretched out his stiff back.

“What will ye do now?” Davina asked him.

Now that they’d reached their destination and would part ways, she felt safe to ask him such a question.

He flashed her a tired smile.

“I suppose I shall see about finding work on a boat,” he replied, “so I can earn my passage.”

“Well, ye’d better get moving,” Hamish grunted.

“For it grows late in the day.”

Douglas huffed a deep sigh, his gaze never leaving Davina’s face.

“I don’t suppose a weary traveler could call upon yer generosity once more, my lady?” he murmured.

“I’d be forever grateful if ye would grant me lodgings for the night.”

Davina tensed at the bold request, while Hamish muttered a curse under his breath.

“Ye go too far, Douglas,” he growled.

“Now, why don’t ye move off before I make ye.”

The outlaw ignored him.

Instead, he favored Davina with a beseeching look.

“Please, Lady Davina. I’ve been hunted and persecuted for months now and don’t deserve the price on my head. King James has a cruel temper and a hatred for my clan … am I to be punished for that?”

Davina’s breathing grew shallow.

The man was making her feel like only a beast would refuse him.

“No,” she said softly.

“Just a bed for the night,” he rasped.

“That’s all I ask.”

The desperation in his dark eyes was almost unbearable to look upon, and Davina sighed before relenting.

“Very well.”

“Lady Davina,” Hamish muttered under his breath.

“I don’t think—”

However, Davina cut the warrior a quelling look, and his complaint choked off.

“What the devil is wrong with ye?”

“Excuse me?”

“Ye heard me, Davina. It’s bad enough that we stuck our noses into the conflict between the Stewarts and the Douglases earlier … but befriending an outlaw is taking things too far.”

Lady Davina stared back at Lennox, her gaze widening at his bluntness.

“The man is desperate,” she replied, her tone sharpening.

“Ye are overreacting, Mackay. I’m only giving him a room for the night … not my dowry.”

Lennox scowled.

He’d returned from finding a captain willing to take them to Iona the following morning, only to discover that Davina had agreed to pay for Douglas’s meal and lodgings.

The outlaw had even managed to wrangle a bath out of her.

Not wanting to create a scene in front of his men, who’d all worn sour expressions, Lennox waited until they’d found an inn on the seafront, and had stabled their horses, before cornering the lady he was escorting in the hallway outside her chamber.

“The man can’t be trusted,” Lennox ground out.

He was being aggressive and half-expected her to shrink back against the door and lower her gaze.

But he should have known better.

That wasn’t Davina’s way.

No, instead, her slender jaw locked, and her finely-arched black eyebrows snapped together.

“Brogan Douglas is no danger to me … or ye,” she replied coldly.

“I don’t see what the problem is.”

“The man has been named an enemy of the King of Scotland,” Lennox shot back.

“That means that by spending time with him … and not turning him over to the local bailiff … we are committing treason.”

Her cheeks flushed.

“That’s ridiculous!”

“No, it’s the truth.”

Her throat bobbed, betraying her sudden nervousness.

“But no one here knows who he is.”

“And thank Christ for that.” Lennox took a step closer to her.

They were only a couple of feet apart now, and Davina had to tilt her chin upward to hold his gaze.

Yet she did. “Yer father charged me with yer safety, my lady … but ye don’t make my task an easy one when ye let a scoundrel browbeat ye.”

Her lips parted, an outraged gasp escaping.

And Lennox couldn’t help it; his gaze traveled to her mouth.

It was small yet lush, cherry-red, and bow-shaped.

He wondered then if it would taste as sweet as it looked.

Satan’s cods, man. Concentrate!

Lennox’s attention snapped back to her angry gaze, his own temper spiking once more.

That was better. He needed to keep focused.

“How dare ye speak to me thus?” she croaked, taking a step back.

Her spine was now pressed up against the door; there wasn’t anywhere to go but through it.

Without second-guessing himself, Lennox moved forward, following her.

Suddenly, they were so close he could smell lilac and the sweet scent of her skin; he noted the flecks of grey and blue in her wide eyes.

“I dare .”

Their gazes fused, and it occurred to Lennox then that if anyone—his men or Douglas included—climbed the stairs right now to the second floor, where their party was lodged, they’d find the Captain of the Kilchurn Guard and Lady Campbell in what appeared to be a compromising position.

Lennox wasn’t done arguing with her, yet he didn’t want to compromise her either.

As such, he reached out, his fingers curling around the door handle.

Stepping closer still, so close their bodies almost brushed, he pushed the door open behind them.

Davina staggered back through it, and he followed her.