Roderick's Purpose - Ellie St. Clair Page 0,36

sure, but she tried her best to brush it aside. Anything she felt for Roderick, she told herself, was either physical attraction or an attempt to hold onto something familiar. Nothing further.

“The closest station is Inverness, but to be honest, I’d prefer not to spend any more time away from my family, and I don’t think it’s safe for you to be on your own,” he said, though when she shot him a look he added, “I realize you are capable of protecting yourself, but you don’t know how many men there are behind us. Besides, we’ve not enough provisions to take us that far, and — before you suggest it — I’m not stealing any from anyone along the way and I don’t have anything to hunt with. We’ll go home, rest a day or so, and then I’ll take you wherever you want to go. It will also keep you safe for the moment. Is that settled?”

She thought on his words, realizing that, for the moment, she didn’t have much of a choice. If she was back in familiar territory, perhaps, she would be able to set out on her own and survive, but as it was, she had no map, no compass, and no way of knowing which way was Inverness.

“As you wish,” she agreed, and he seemed pleased with her acceptance.

“Now, lass,” he said, “we’d best camp here for the night. The sky is darkening and we are near a stream and campsite. We’ve been moving fast and I know the land well.”

They dismounted and Roderick led them around a small outcropping to find a well-hidden clearing. Gwen looked around in amazement.

“I would have never known this was here,” she said, to which Roderick smiled. “That’s exactly the point,” he said.

While they set up camp, she realized they worked rather well together. Roderick made up a fire while she dug through his bag that she’d grabbed on the way out of the cottage and withdrew two plaids. These she set up on opposite sides of the fire he’d made, grateful they would have warmth to sleep with. She thought the fire was a risk, but he was confident in the speed they had traveled as well as how concealed their campsite was. She pulled a remaining couple of oatcakes from the bag as well, grateful that, at the very least, they had still been in Roderick’s bag.

When she sat on the plaid next to the dancing flames that shot sparks into the air, Roderick surprised her by coming and sitting down beside her.

“Lass,” he said, accepting the oatcake from her outstretched hand, “it’s time ye tell me what happened back there. Who were those men, and what did they want from you?”

Gwen felt her stomach drop and her heart begin an odd pattering in her chest. He deserved an answer, true, but how much could she tell him without him wanting to be rid of her, or thinking so much less of her than he already did?

“They were old members of Doc’s gang,” she finally admitted. “Doc and I separated from them some time ago. ’Tis why I robbed the Bay myself — we left the others, and Doc was too sick to come with me. They had been on our tail, and I thought we had lost them on the prairies, but they must have heard of Doc’s capture, and my own as well. I suppose they followed us here after evading the law themselves.”

“The man who attacked me on the ship — was he part of this group?” Roderick asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

“He was,” she said, looking into the flames.

“Ye didn’t think that perhaps that was something you should have shared?”

Gwen shrugged. “I probably should have, I realize now.”

“Did you not tell McLaren about these men?” he asked, his eyes narrowed a bit, and she bristled slightly at his distrust.

“I did,” she responded. “I don’t know what happened. I told him of seven of them — perhaps some of them managed to evade capture.”

Roderick nodded. She knew he had been there, had seen the drawings.

“And what are they after?” he asked, his expression not changing, though he put his elbows on his thighs and leaned toward her, clearly deducing that the gang was after her for a reason.

“I — I’m not sure,” she lied. “Perhaps they think I managed to keep the money I stole in the last robbery? Perhaps they want revenge over the fact we cut them out? I only