Forbidden Heart (Hearts of the Highlands #6) - Paula Quinn Page 0,65

life with regrets now,” he warned.

She couldn’t find anything.

“Uncle, I would like some time alone with God right now.” She knew he could not deny her and claim to be pious.

He nodded hesitantly. “Verra well.” He sounded insulted that she had just dismissed him. He walked away and entered the church, leaving her alone in the coming twilight.

It was time. She looked around. Was Galeren somewhere behind a tree or cottage, watching her?

She prayed for strength but when she tried to move her feet, she found she could not budge them. She knew that if she went inside the church, she would never see the captain again. The feeling washed over her like a wave, a certainty she could not deny. It made her feel ill. She clutched her belly and cried out softly.

“Silene!”

The captain’s voice in the indigo shadows made her blood rush through her veins and her breath pause.

“Are ye ill, lass?” He came to her as if from a dream, his eyes wide with concern.

She took a step to meet him and went straight into his arms. “Can we still get away?”

Without a word, he released her and slipped his hand to hers. He tugged and began to run.

She went with him. Holding his hand with one of her own and hoisting her robes over her ankles with the other. He led her to his horse and helped her mount. She would have to ride on her side, so she pulled her skits over her knees and waited for him.

He mounted and sat behind her, tucking her into his lap.

With a flick of his wrist, he snapped the reins and set the horse to flying through the outer gate. There was no time to go back to the castle and get her things. She was leaving Dundonald, her uncle, her vows, with nothing but the clothes on her back. Not that she had much in the first place. She didn’t care about the castle or her uncle. But leaving her vows frightened her.

They rode until the world went black and his horse needed to rest. He would get her a horse tomorrow, he promised. She didn’t mind riding with him.

They’d gone far, perhaps twenty miles. But was it far enough to rest? Was her uncle close?

They made a small fire and ate little. Galeren sat against a tree and held her in his arms when she snuggled close to him. He covered them with a fur hide he had tied to his horse when he thought they were leaving earlier and forgot about it.

She smiled and pressed her cheek to his chest. “’Tis good,” she nearly purred.

She didn’t know why she felt so peaceful. It was because all the weight of having to make such life-changing decisions was lifted. Even for a little while.

“I feel like a devil fer takin’ ye from what ye have wanted fer so long now.”

“I wanted to leave,” she promised him.

“I tempted ye,” he answered.

She shook her head. “I do not feel temptations, Galeren. I feel love.”

He lifted her cheek on a deep breath. She could hear his heart pounding. He kissed the top of her head. “I didna know havin’ these feelin’s could be like this. ’Tis both thrillin’ and terrifyin’.”

She nodded in agreement. “I am afraid John will find us. Will Invergarry not be the first place he goes?”

“Aye. That is why I must go there. I must let my kin know what is comin’.”

She felt the sting behind her lids and did everything she could to stop her tears. He would feel them on his chest. In the end, she failed.

“I do not want to be the reason your family goes into battle.”

“Lass?” The deep, purring resonance of his voice fell around her like a favored blanket, coaxing her to let him stay under the blanket with her. “My kin dinna mind fightin’. ’Tis in our blood. We are put to the field at a tender age. Taught to fight and stay alive by our fathers and our mothers.”

Their mothers? “Aye,” she remembered out loud. “May and Rowley Hetherington are your mother’s parents. Your mother was a border reiver.”

“Aye.”

“She fought men.”

“Aye,” he agreed “She is small in stature, but her speed is still spoken aboot at the table. No man I know has ever beaten her to the final blow. She doesna waste a moment of time tryin’ to fight. She flies at her opponent in the first instant—or even before. Somehow attachin’ herself on his back and cuts