on his horse, his kilt lifting a little and giving her a view of a muscled thigh. “Oh, for crying out loud.”
“Did ye say something, lass?”
Kenzie kicked her mount on. “No, nothing. Lead on.”
They rode for a time in silence, and Kenzie assumed it was because Ben wanted to listen for the men, no matter that he’d said they were gone. And Kenzie was happy for the silence. She needed to compose herself. This attraction she had to the man was beyond annoying and truly illogical. She would be going back to her own time shortly, and she couldn’t forget there was the pesky problem of Ben disappearing or being killed by a never-known source.
As they climbed upward, the forest thinned, until the trees were sporadic and the ferns were replaced with small shrubs and heather.
At the top, Kenzie looked out over the ocean, its blue depths never changing, no matter the era. Rocks that she’d sat on in her time were in their rightful places. How wonderful that the earth could be so similar even after all the years.
“Have ye ever been up here before, lass? I know this is ye home in the future, but ye’re looking at the sea as if you’ve never seen such beauty.”
“I grew up in England, and only moved back to Scotland a couple of years ago, after my father died. I come up here often to read and relax. The view is as spectacular as it always has been.”
At a thumping sound, Kenzie turned in her seat and looked behind them, only to see the men from earlier riding hard toward them, swords drawn and raised.
“Ben, we have company.”
Before the words had left her lips, the ting of metal being drawn sounded beside her as Ben pulled a second long and deadly blade from his hip. “Stay on ye horse, and stay behind me for as long as ye can. And when I say so, ride hard for the trees. Head home and sound the alarm to Braxton.”
“I will.” Fear curled about her, and her horse shifted, stomping its feet the closer the four riders came. Kenzie pulled out a knife she’d hidden in her boot; it was pathetically small, but she only needed to stab a hand or something. Not that she wanted to get close enough to these men who, the closer they came, the angrier they looked.
On the cliff edge, Kenzie and Ben had nowhere to go, and the men slowed just before reaching them, menacing glee written across their faces.
“Ah, Black Ben, ’tis good to finally find ye. We’ve been looking for quite some weeks.”
Ben didn’t reply, but Kenzie noted his hand flexed on his sword handle.
“So ye’ve been hiding out on Macleod lands, hey? Didn’t think a Ross would be so cowardly.”
“What do ye want?” Ben asked, his back rigid, ready to defend her.
“Nothing that ye need to concern yourself about as ye will be dead within a few minutes.”
“Who sent ye?” Ben asked, his voice a lot calmer than Kenzie’s would’ve been had she been speaking.
“That also dinna concern ye, but know that once you’re dead, we’ll be claiming a good deal of blunt for our trouble.”
With Ben’s death guaranteed only a few months away, Kenzie couldn’t help but think this was a lead up to the eventual raid at Castle Ross. Kenzie clasped her reins, ready to go as soon as Ben told her. These men meant trouble, and she and Ben were not getting away without a fight.
The only solace was that Ben’s date of death was not today, so at least one of them was getting out of here alive. With that thought came another. Since she had traveled back in time, perhaps she’d already altered history and today was the day Ben would meet his fate?
A cold shiver ran through her blood, and she sent a silent prayer up to God that it wasn’t so. It was too soon for him. It would always be too soon.
Ben kept his gaze locked on the man in the middle of the little pack, the one who seemed to be in control of the rabble. They all looked small enough for him to deal with, but with men who no longer followed clan rules, it was anyone’s guess as to how they would react, or what they were willing to do. And he had Kenzie to keep safe.
“What are ye doing on Macleod land? The laird will not be pleased to find ye’re here without