show, I will never know. I had no idea what to do, where to go. Doc was there. He was looking for a boy, one with small fingers who could easily slip into places a grown man couldn’t. He never found a boy, but he did find me.”
She looked down at her hands, stretching her long fingers out in front of her. “I was lucky, I suppose, when you think of who could have found me and what I could have become. Doc took me in, fed me, treated me like a daughter. And he trained me. He taught me the skills of a thief, and as I got older, he also taught me how to use my… feminine attributes to get us in and out of tricky situations. Not like that!” she said, apparently seeing his horrified expression as he thought of her using her body in such a way. “Simply… flirting, that sort of thing. Like I tried to use with you, although apparently, you are immune to my charms.”
She smiled a bit at that, and he was transfixed. She had become so vulnerable in telling her story, her face had softened, and he felt as though he could see into her soul, could start to understand her motivations, as much as he didn’t want to admit that there might be a reason behind her actions.
“Anyway. Doc is a hard man. He’s mean and he was never particularly loving, but he was there for me when no one else was. I have to do this one last thing for him, to repay him for all he did.”
He nodded slowly, understanding in a way the loyalty that she showed to Doc. If any of his family had asked him to do something similar, he would not have hesitated, would not have asked any questions of them. He loved them to a nearly unbearable extent.
“So who are ye running from?” he asked quietly.
“Excuse me?”
“You have been looking over your shoulder ever since we left the barracks. You think someone is after you, Gwen. Who — and why?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said with a bit of a forced laugh. “I’m simply used to running from the law. It will take some time to feel comfortable with the law sitting beside me.”
He eyed her, taking in the smile she had fixed to her face, and he knew she was lying.
“’Tis important, lass, if I’m to look after your safety,” he said, to which she rolled her eyes.
“I can look after myself,” she said. “It is you and your colleagues who decided that I needed a caregiver.”
“Not a caregiver,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning back in the seat, “an escort, if you will.”
She narrowed her eyes at him and returned them to looking ahead.
“Where are you from?” she asked him abruptly.
He started a bit, shocked at her interest.
“What?” she said indignantly. “If we are going to spend the next weeks together, it will be rather long if we remain in silence. I’ve spent many an hour with men I have no care for, so I am used to it,” she shrugged.
“Near Aldourie,” he finally said, satisfied she was telling the truth. “On the shores of Loch Ness, the home of the mighty Nessie. Have you heard of her?”
“I’ve heard a tale or two, in order to frighten me as a child,” she said.
“Ah, Nessie is more than a tale,” he said, his lips curling mischievously. “But she’s nothing to be frightened of. In fact, she’s rather friendly to those she likes. To others, however, one must be careful.”
He winked at her, and she laughed, seemingly surprising herself more than he. For a moment, something seemed to pass between them, something that said that perhaps they didn’t have to be enemies, that they held something in common — that they were both forced to be together against what they truly wanted. She smiled at him, sending warmth flowing between them. He cleared his throat and was about to say something when an older gentleman walking by came to a stop in front of them.
“I say,” he said, peering at Gwen with narrowed eyes. “I know you.”
“I — I am sorry, sir, but there must be a misunderstanding,” she said, giving him a small smile, and Roderick willed him to pass, not wanting him to make a scene. He had come to realize that when Gwen was threatened, she ran, and today that would not be an option.
“No, no,