The Hawk (Highland Guard #2)(48)

Ellie caught sight of the massive arched rock formation at the edge of the cliffside and turned to him excitedly. “Is that where we are going?”

“Aye.” He smiled at her enthusiasm. Not only was the arch magnificent to look upon, but it also provided a perfect vantage of the sea-lanes to the south and west where he could scout the English position. It was near this point that the English galley had anchored a few days ago.

“Can I climb on top?” she asked.

She must have been having an effect on him, because he was only half-tempted to quip back with a wicked response. “If you think you are up to it. It’s more dangerous than it looks from here.”

She gave him a scornful look and practically ran to the edge of the cliff. His heart almost stopped a few times, but she scrambled to the top with surprising ease.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, turning to him with a look of pure elation on her face.

Then his heart did stop.

She looked beautiful. Radiant. The features hadn’t changed, but something was different. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time. All of her. Not just the sum of her features or the size of her br**sts, but something else entirely. Something real and important.

Ellie might be bossy, demanding, and far too serious, but she was also a smart, sensitive, generous young lass who’d been snatched from her home with nary a fare-thee-well. Who’d weathered the difficult circumstances with surprising resilience. Who didn’t cry and complain, but accepted her situation with quiet resolve and determination. And who seemed to have no problem taking him to task as if he were a naughty schoolboy.

Hell, as much as she exasperated him, he admired her.

Uncomfortable with the direction of his thoughts, he said, “I gather you’ve done this more than once?”

She smiled. “A long time ago.”

Not so very long ago, he’d wager. He could still see a glimpse of the girl she’d been in her flushed cheeks and bright eyes.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “You’ll laugh, but as a girl my single greatest ambition was to visit every isle between Ireland and Norway.”

He gave her a long look. “I don’t think it’s funny at all.” He understood the impulse completely. Too completely. They were more alike than he wanted to know. She had an adventurer’s spirit. He, too, knew the excitement of exploring new places, of seeing new things, of widening the narrow world in which he lived. Of standing on a rock like this, feeling as if he were on the edge of the world, and wondering at the men who had come before him.

He had to turn away, not liking the odd stirrings inside him.

They stood high atop the natural arch, gazing out at the wide stretch of blue beyond.

“It’s so quiet,” she said in a hushed voice. The wind picked up a strand of her hair and carried it across her face, before she tucked it back behind her ear.

She was right: the seaways were surprisingly clear except for a few small fishing skiffs. He wondered whether the English had finally given up.

A moment later his question was answered, when the white dot of a sail appeared in the distance to the south. They were still there. Not lying in wait the way they normally did, but actively hunting. He must have angered them more than he realized.

Ellie hadn’t noticed; her gaze was fixed to the west.

She pointed in the distance. “Is that …?” He could hear the sudden swell of emotion in her voice.

He looked at her and nodded. “Aye, that’s the Antrim coast.”

Ireland. Her home.

“So close,” she said longingly.

He shouldn’t have looked at her. A look of such intense sadness came over her tiny, heart-shaped face that he immediately wanted to take her in his arms and do anything to make it go away.

“You miss your family?” he found himself asking.

“They think I’m dead,” she said, her chin quivering. His chest felt as though it was burning. “They’ve been through so much already.”

“Your mother?”

She nodded, blinking back tears. “And my eldest brother.”

Damn, he hadn’t realized.

Erik made a decision. He could do nothing to change their circumstances—at least not until the attack was launched—but he could alleviate some of her sadness and worry. He had to go back to Dunaverty tonight anyway. There would be no harm. “What if I could get a message to them that you are safe?”

She gasped and turned to him incredulously with wide, searching eyes. “You’re serious?”

He nodded solemnly. “On one condition.”

Her gaze turned wary, and he wondered what was going through her mind. “What kind of condition?”

“That you try to enjoy yourself for the remainder of our time on the island.”

She looked aghast. “I couldn’t.”

He didn’t say anything except to raise his brow.

Her brows came together in a delicate V. “Why does it matter to you?” she asked.

Erik didn’t know, except that it did. He wanted to see her smile. He wanted to see her happy. “It’s for your good, not mine. So, do we have a deal?”

Her head tilted; she was studying him with such intensity that it felt as if she could see right through him. He resisted the inexplicable urge to squirm. He wasn’t used to people looking at him like that—beyond the superficial. But she must have liked what she’d seen, because a broad smile lit her face. “When can you send it?”