The Rogue by Allison Butler

Author:Allison Butler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises, Australia Pty Ltd

Chapter 13

Dair settled for the night with his back against the cart’s wheel and his sword and a polishing cloth in hand. The position gave him an unobstructed view of his surroundings and granted him the best possible chance of protecting the women sleeping within the outcropping of rocks behind him. The natural formation was both a shelter and a barrier on one side, while he and the cart were the same on the other. He expected the night to prove a long one. Not due to his not sleeping, but because the moment he sat, every unanswered question that had filled his mind since they’d reached Mortlach tormented him and only led to another.

What or who had prevented Euan from purchasing Keila’s ale, and why had the innkeeper not given them a room and then offered one to Dair? Why had no one bought their goods or stopped to talk with Keila and Moira at market? He’d witnessed it all from his vantage point within the trees above the well, and all the while he’d wanted to stride down and lift every man and woman and deposit them before Keila and Moira and their cart of goods. Watching them being ignored had been like suffering an open, festering wound in his chest. He’d wanted to fix the problem. He’d wanted his unfamiliar feelings of helplessness to end.

He’d had his horse and his sword, but this problem was different from any he’d encountered in the Borders and his usual methods of dealing with problems wouldn’t suffice here.

And then Leith of Drummin Castle had slid into view and Dair’s dislike of the man had him rethinking whether he could indeed use his usual methods in this particular instance.

The place deep down in his gut that had saved his neck more than once told him that Leith was involved, but Dair didn’t know exactly how. Though the why could be easily answered now he knew Keila had refused Leith’s suit. And if Leith of Drummin was as greedy and as ruthless as Moira purported him to be, Dair didn’t believe all the protection money in the whole of Scotland would be enough to appease Keila’s rejection.

A small noise from within the makeshift shelter alerted him that one of the women was awake.

‘May I join you?’

Dair recognised the lilting tones of Keila’s voice and welcomed the sudden jolt of pleasure that tempered the growing chill at his recent thoughts. ‘Aye. You’ll need to crawl beneath the cart to reach here.’

He placed his weapon close by and crouched beside the wheel, waiting until Keila’s darkened form emerged from under the timber tray of the cart. ‘Here, take my hand.’

She fumbled in the dark for a moment while her fingers searched and then latched onto his. Her hand was so small captured within his, but she’d proven size had naught to do with her strength of will. He’d seen for himself that her aim was true, and her decision not to give in without a fight proved her courage immense.

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