Page 23

ONCE THE RAIN stopped, Kerr led Iver’s stallion out onto the road and mounted. He then helped Rose up after him.

The feel of his arms around her was both comforting and unnerving. This man had set a fire ablaze inside her that wouldn’t be easily cooled. She appreciated that he would let her dictate the pace between them, although that didn’t ease her hunger for him.

Trying to ignore it, she focused instead on the way the sunlight sparkled off the droplets of water covering the surrounding vegetation.

“I love the air after rain,” she admitted then. “It smells like a new beginning.”

“It does,” he rumbled in her ear. His free hand moved from his thigh then, sliding across to cup the gentle curve of her belly. The gesture was protective, rather than lustful, yet the feel of his warm palm against her stomach just made the restlessness in her womb coil tighter.

The clip-clop of their mount’s hooves on the wet road echoed through the trees, as did birdsong.

Rose sighed, relaxing against him. They would reach her aunt’s cottage soon. She wanted to make the most of the contact she had with Kerr while it lasted.

“This has been the most surprising day of my life,” Kerr admitted then, a smile in his voice.

Rose’s mouth curved. “And mine. I didn’t imagine when ye barreled into me earlier that we’d end up kissing under a tree in the rain.”

He gave a soft laugh, his breath feathering across her ear. “I’m just grateful ye didn’t slap me for taking advantage.”

“I wouldn’t,” she assured him, placing a hand over the one he’d rested on her stomach. “I welcomed it.”

Silence swelled between them before he eventually broke it. “I’ve dwelt in darkness of late, Rose,” he murmured. “But yer company today is like stepping out into the sunlight.”

She squeezed his hand. “Ye will bring those outlaws to justice.”

“Aye.” He exhaled sharply then. “I’m just frustrated the bastards have eluded us so easily. I don’t understand how. It’s as if we chase them to a certain point and then they just … disappear.”

Rose considered his words, her brow furrowing. They’d spoken of this at the Ardshiel , and something had been niggling at her ever since. “Where did ye say ye always lose them?”

“Around the Drum Crags area.”

Rose’s pulse quickened. The Drum Crags . Aye, that was it—she remembered now. The simmering awareness between her and Kerr had addled her wits, yet suddenly, the memory she’d been searching for slid into place.

Over the years, she’d heard her father speak to her brothers about that place. It was never in her presence. He’d always thought she was asleep in her alcove, yet she overheard him.

“Have ye ever considered that they might be hiding in plain sight?” she asked after a pause.

Kerr snorted. “How’s that possible?”

“My father knew of a place in the Drum Crags,” she began, careful now. “Somewhere he called ‘The Lost Valley’. My Grand Da had shown it to him, as his Da had done before him … they hid livestock there.”

Kerr tensed against her, and when he replied, his voice had tightened. “Go on.”

“It’s a narrow valley at the heart of The Crags,” she replied, digging into her memories to help him.

“I never saw it myself, but Da would brag that it was impossible to spot from a distance. Ye must ride into The Crags and make for the biggest of them … and just when ye think ye must surely start climbing, the valley will open up before ye.” She paused then.

“My Great Grand Da found it many years ago, while he was out hunting … and it’s been a family secret ever since. ”

Kerr didn’t answer, and Rose’s heart started to race as she wondered if he was angry with her. “I know Da got up to a lot of mischief,” she said hurriedly. “But I can assure ye, he had nothing to do with The Black Wolves.”

Of course, she had no proof, as such, just a gut instinct. Her father had taken a dishonest path, yet even he had a line he wouldn’t have crossed. He would never have stooped to killing merchants and raping their wives.

She’d stake her life on it.

“Don’t fret, lass,” Kerr replied. She could hear the raw excitement in his voice now. His hand on her stomach had clenched. “I don’t blame him … or ye. I just can’t believe ye may have just solved the riddle that’s had me chasing my tail for months.”

More rain was threatening when Kerr drew up Iver’s stallion in front of Kenna’s cottage. Dismounting, he then helped Rose down, enjoying the feel of her soft curves sliding against him as he did so.

Her cheeks were flushed as she lifted her gaze to meet his, her full lips parting.

Hunger kicked Kerr in the guts, as it had earlier when they’d sheltered together under that alder. How he wanted to haul her into his arms again and kiss her until they were both gasping for breath.

However, he restrained himself.

Kenna or Ailis could appear at any moment, and he didn’t want to embarrass Rose.

Instead, he untied her basket and handed it to her.

A different kind of excitement rose within Kerr then, one that hardened his stomach and sharpened his senses. Finally, he’d discovered where The Black Wolves were hiding. “Thank ye for helping me, lass,” he said, grinning as he met Rose’s eye. “It will make the outlaws much easier to hunt.”

His pulse quickened to a march. He could kiss her again, just for telling him about the lost valley that lay amongst the Drum Crags. With Captain Stewart and his soldiers’ assistance, they’d catch The Wolves this time.

“So, ye will go in search of them tomorrow?” she asked. Her pine-green eyes were shadowed. Aye, she was worried about him.

The realization made him feel like the luckiest man in Scotland.

Reaching up, he stroked Rose’s cheek with his knuckles, his grin softening to a smile. “Aye.”

“Ye’ll mind that shoulder, won’t ye? It’s still mending.”

“I will.”

Rose might think he took a careless approach to his own safety—yet there was no way he was getting stuck by a dirk tomorrow. Not with this woman waiting for him.

The rain started to patter down then, a strong wind buffeting them. Leaning in, Kerr brushed his lips lightly over hers before stepping back. “Go on, Rose. Ye’ll get drenched out here.”

“Will ye let me know the outcome of tomorrow?” she asked, clutching her basket against her as she backed toward the rickety gate that would lead her up the garden path to the cottage. “I’ll have no way of knowing how things have gone otherwise.”

“I will,” he promised. He then swung onto the stallion’s back and angled it toward the road that would take him east back toward Dun Ugadale. “As soon as I have word, I shall bring it to ye.”

Rose watched as the horse and rider disappeared over the hill—and only then did she turn and hurry inside.

The rain was hammering down now, and her clothing was soaked through.

Yet she’d been unable to stop herself from remaining there to see Kerr off.

Daft lass , she inwardly chided herself as she pushed open the wattle door and stepped into the warm, smoky interior of the cottage. What’s come over ye?

She wasn’t sure exactly, although she liked it.

That morning as she’d hawked Ailis’s furs in Ceann Locha, she’d been a little melancholy. Her life in the village had been curtailed of late, and she felt an intruder in the life Kenna and Ailis had made together. But her unexpected meeting with Kerr had turned everything on its head.

It made her face what she’d been trying to deny for a while now—that instead of loathing the man, she’d formed a connection of sorts with him.

If she’d been honest with herself in the past, she’d always found him attractive.

Tall and strong, with that wavy ice-blond hair she’d run her fingers through as they’d kissed, he was just the sort to turn many a lass’s head.

Anne, the serving lass, was clearly taken by him, and it surprised her that he wasn’t yet wed.

It was lucky for her that he wasn’t.

She didn’t know what the future would bring, or if, indeed, their paths were meant to be entwined. All she knew was that today had felt right—and she couldn’t wait to see him again.

“Ye are home early, lass,” Kenna greeted her with a relieved smile. She sat near the fire, shelling peas for supper, while Ailis wound wool onto a spindle. “We didn’t expect to see ye back for a while yet, especially with the rain.”

“Kerr Mackay brought me,” Rose replied, careful to keep her voice light as she placed the basket on the bench against one wall. “I got a good price for those furs, Ailis … enough to buy plenty of food.”

She turned back to Kenna and Ailis, pushing wet hair off her face, only to find them both watching her. Ailis wore a bemused expression, while Kenna’s mouth curved into a knowing smile.

Her aunt cocked an eyebrow. “Kerr Mackay, aye?”

Rose feigned innocence. “Aye, what of it?”

“It must have been an invigorating ride home, lass, for yer cheeks are flushed and yer eyes bright.”

“Och, stop yer teasing.” Ailis dug Kenna in the ribs with a bony elbow. “Ye’ll embarrass her.”

Rose snorted, even as her already warm cheeks started to burn. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” she replied crisply. “The weather was worsening … Kerr saw me with my heavy basket and offered his assistance.”

“Aye, and I’m glad to see ye accepted,” Kenna replied smugly. “Time was, ye would have walked home in the pouring rain just to spite the man.”