The Viper (Highland Guard #4)(66)

Bella clenched her fists. She didn’t appreciate being treated as if she were unbalanced, or a delicate piece of porcelain that could shatter at any moment. Humored. Patronized. Didn’t he understand how important this was to her? It was all she’d thought of for two years in prison. She couldn’t come this close and take a chance. “But what if it is?” she insisted, not caring if she sounded stubborn. “We need to find out.”

An angry spark appeared in Lachlan’s eye. “We aren’t finding out anything. You are staying right here. I’ll go.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re going in the castle now?”

His gaze intensified. “How else did you think I would get a message to your daughter? I may as well go now, while there is a crowd. The sooner we can get the hell out of here.” He said the last under his breath.

Bella bit her lip, feeling a prickle of unease. All of a sudden, the thought of him getting close to the castle didn’t sit well with her. She didn’t like the idea of Lachlan putting himself in danger for her.

I don’t want anything to happen to him. The realization didn’t take her aback as much as it should. Without the anger and blame she’d used to block out her feelings for him, it was harder and harder to muster indifference.

“How will you get past the guards?” she asked.

“Let me worry about that.” He was already giving instructions to the other two men while removing the arsenal of weapons he carried. He unstrapped the two baldrics that held the two swords he wore across his back, his bow, and the short-handled axe at his waist, which left him with only a pike.

“But …” Her voice dropped off. She couldn’t turn her gaze from the formidable castle.

The motherly instinct to ensure her daughter was safe warred with another part of her. A part she couldn’t identify but that proved surprisingly strong. A part that didn’t want to let him go. That didn’t want him to do something that might put him at risk. And there was no doubt that going into that castle would be extremely risky.

He seemed to sense her unease. “Trust me, Bella. I know what I’m doing. Just do as I say and don’t move from this place until I get back.”

He spoke with such authority, she felt herself nodding like one of his men.

“Do you have the letter?” he asked.

God, how could she have forgotten? She’d spent a large part of the previous day while they waited to leave composing it. She still wasn’t sure she had it right. But she’d been careful to avoid any mention of her release from captivity. Lachlan didn’t want to take any chances in case the letter fell into the wrong hands. Bella’s safety and her daughter’s depended on no one knowing she wasn’t in that convent.

She removed the short missive from the leather bag at her waist—the lad’s garments were proving surprisingly comfortable and convenient—and handed it to him.

He took it, and their eyes held for one long moment. Like her, he seemed to want to say something but didn’t know what.

She took a step toward him before she stopped herself. She had no right or cause to touch him, but the impulse was still there. The memory of his mouth on hers burned.

But then he turned, snapping the connection.

Trust me. The words echoed in her ears as she watched him scramble down the hill and disappear into the trees.

She’d done that before, and he’d left her daughter behind. As before, she felt the inexplicable urge to put her faith in him. Then it had proved a mistake. What was it about this man that made her want to trust him, when every indication was that she shouldn’t?

Lachlan threaded his way through the crowd of villagers, doing his best to look like a common man-at-arms. He wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary; he’d blended in like this thousands of times. There was no reason to think anyone would notice him. But still he felt uneasy. Exposed. More so than ever before. The hair at the back of his neck was standing on end, for Christ’s sake.

He didn’t understand this strange apprehensiveness. He’d been in plenty of hair-raising situations with the Highland Guard over the last few years. Dangerous, seemingly impossible tasks under extreme conditions were exactly the type of missions for which the Highland Guard had been formed. They were the best of the best. Stronger, faster, better trained, and more experienced warriors who did the things that others feared. Hell, he never even thought about the danger. But the past two days he’d felt …

Realization dawned. Hell, he was bloody nervous.

It was an entirely new and unwelcome feeling. He was one of the most elite warriors in Christendom, and he was acting as jittery as a wet-behind-the-ears squire in his first battle.

His jaw tightened, knowing the cause. Bella. Her presence was the difference. She made him feel—blast it!—vulnerable.

He was letting her get to him. Letting her get too close. He never should have given in to her. He was angry at himself, but it was too late to do anything about it.

What was it about Bella MacDuff that made him lose his resolve? That made him want to do anything to make her happy?

Damn it, this mission wasn’t going at all as he’d anticipated. Freeing her from prison was supposed to get her out of his system. For two years he’d been telling himself that when he got her out he’d stop thinking about her, stop driving himself half-crazed with the memories of kissing her. He’d told himself he’d only imagined the strange connection between them.