anymore…but she makes me believe there could be something better. Something more. But I can’t stay here. Not if I do this.”
“Then let me do it.”
“No, I need to recover myself. I wouldn’t have hurt Anne.”
“I know.” Or at least, he’d hoped.
Deacon nodded a moment, his mind working other problems. “Robbie will be angry.” He straightened. “But it is my choice.” His gaze met Aidan’s. “Thank you for being my friend, even when I’ve been a fool.”
Aidan held out his hand and Deacon clasped it. “We’ve both had our moments. Now, listen closely, I don’t know what will happen when it explodes.”
Deacon grinned grimly, rising to this new challenge with his customary bravado. “Then you’d best be a long way off.”
“Are you sure?”
Deacon said, “Go on. We don’t have time to waste.”
Drawing a deep breath, Aidan accepted the inevitable. “Move quickly once you light the powder.”
His friend snorted. “That was your plan? Light and run?”
“Run like the hounds of hell are at your heels,” Aidan corrected ruefully.
“Well, it sounds like a good plan to me. I’ll give you a count of ten.”
“Right.”
Aidan headed for the cave entrance, but Deacon added urgently, “If something does happen, tell Cora I love her. I’ve not said it to her.”
Aidan turned to his friend. The threat of tears burned his eyes. “You can say it yourself when this is over,” he promised. “Now, don’t forget to run.”
“Aye, like the hounds of hell.”
“Maybe faster,” Aidan advised. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.” He left the cave and began running.
Behind him, Deacon started the count. “One…two…”
The clansmen had all left for safe hiding places—save Anne. She waited for him on the beach, shouting his name when she spotted him.
He swore softly. She had to be the most stubborn woman he’d ever known.
No wonder he loved her.
In the next second, the cave exploded and Aidan went flying through the air.
Chapter 18
Anne’s ears rang with the force of the explosion. The earth shook. Dirt and rocks flew through the air. She closed her eyes and fell to the beach, covering her head with her arms. Cold sea water washed the shore, covering her outstretched leg and dampening her skirts.
The explosion echoed along the cliffs, and then all went silent. Not even the ever-present gulls and terns gave a cry.
Her first thought: she was alive. Was Aidan?
Anne pushed her hair back from her face and lifted her head. The cave had collapsed and a good portion of the cliff now rested in the water.
Hindered by her wet skirt, she struggled to her feet. “Aidan!” His name reverberated in the stillness. She’d last seen him running down the cliff trail.
Now, the trail was gone…and there was no sight of Aidan.
Fang, Hugh, and the others emerged from hiding. They stared as she did at the havoc the explosion had wrought on the coastline. Fang was the first to arrive at her side. Cora, the second.
Her throat closed with the pain of grief, Anne said, “I don’t see him. I don’t see either of them.”
Tears streamed down Cora’s face. Marie reached up to capture her hand. Together they searched for Deacon.
Fang walked by them. “They are both hearty lads. They made it through.” Neither Anne nor Cora answered him.
Anne reached for Cora’s free hand, and together the women and child started to climb the rubble of what had once been the trail. Fang followed.
Then, a man standing on the cliff shouted, “I see a body.”
Anne feared her heart would stop. She scurried over the rocks in the direction the man was pointing. Hugh joined her with Fenella right behind him. He quickly outdistanced Anne and reached the spot where the man pointed.
“It’s the laird!” Hugh called over his shoulder. Anne lifted her skirts and climbed the outcropping of rocks where he stood.
Aidan was regaining consciousness by the time she reached him. Dirt covered him. His face was badly scraped, his clothes torn—and he’d never appeared better to her. She threw her arms around him. “You’re alive,” she repeated over and over.
His hand took hold of her arm to free him long enough to kiss her—right there in front of everyone. He tasted of dirt, sweat, and Aidan. Wonderful, wonderful Aidan.
He broke the kiss off, lightly brushing the side of her face with his fingers as he managed a weak smile. “I think I’ve had enough danger to keep me for a while,” he admitted in a voice hoarse from the dust.
Anne, Fang, and Hugh laughed. Fang liked the comment so much,