He laughed with relief, and without thought, he leaned down and pressed urgent kisses to her forehead, nose, and cheeks. “Ada, are ye all right?”
“I will be when ye get off me, ye big Scot,” she said through her coughing. “Ye’re crushing me!”
Laughing more, he scooted off her, but as he did, he heard the distinct sound of a voice calling his name. He jumped up, moving his hand to where he sheathed his sword, only to remember he had thrown it down to go after Ada. “Get behind me,” he ordered, reaching out to clasp her arm and yank her up. “I’ll die before I let MacKinney touch—”
“Ye think I did nae take care of MacKinney?” Grant interrupted, emerging from between two rocks in a slash of moonlight. “I’d be offended if I was nae so weary.”
“He’s dead?” William asked, feeling Ada sagging against him. He pulled her near. She was so cold and she trembled so intensely that he wrapped his arms around her, half expecting her to protest, but she buried her head against his chest and let out a sigh.
“Aye, he’s dead. Shall I hold this?” Grant asked, indicating William’s sword, which he must have gone to reclaim for William.
As much as he did not want to loosen his grip on Ada, he needed to have his sword in hand. “Nay.” He reached out and took the sword as Ada looked up at him, then to Grant.
“Who are ye?” Ada asked, the suspicion in her tone making William smile.
“Grant Macaulay,” Grant replied.
“He helped me track ye here,” William explained.
Suddenly, Ada tensed. “Connor’s other men?”
“Dead,” William and Grant answered at the same time.
Ada sucked in a breath, shuddering against William. The need to protect her had been constant since he had met her, but a new feeling sprang up—the wish to comfort her. That was a desire he absolutely should not allow, and once he was certain she was recovered from her fall, he’d stop the comforting and the holding. Though holding her, so soft, did feel good.
Ada set her palm against William’s chest and tilted her head back to look up at him. He could just barely make out her worried expression in the moonlight. “Esther and Maximilian?”
“They are being escorted to the safety of the Kinntoch holding by Lannrick Kinntoch, son of the Kinntoch laird.”
“How—”
“Lannrick was awaiting me in a cave near yer home,” he replied, thinking he knew what she had been about to ask. “As was Thomas, before I was forced to retrieve him to prove myself to Brothwell, and Grant here.”
Ada’s nose wrinkled with what appeared to be confusion, but then she asked, “What of Thomas?” The concern in her voice was clear.
“Safely away,” William replied. “He should be at the MacLeod holding by now to seek aid in taking down the Steward and his sons.”
Ada nodded. “Hella and Freya?”
William shook his head, his gut tightening with worry. “Freya came back to us, but we had to ride and could nae go slower for them.”
Ada nodded. “They will find us. They are incredible trackers.”
Relief washed over William, making him scowl. Why in God’s name did he care so very much that the dogs would find them?
“MacLean was like a man possessed to reach ye,” Grant said, filling the silence.
“Aye,” she said dryly, “of course he was. He dunnae wish to lose me because of my gift.”
He wanted to dispute her, but he clamped his jaw shut. Her gift had nothing to do with why he had come after her, but it was best for them both that she thought it did. She stiffened in his arms, and he knew he’d likely hurt her, but if he was to keep a barrier between them, then he needed to maintain his silence in such matters.
“Ye may be interested to ken,” she said, extracting herself from his embrace and stepping away from him, “that I believe my so-called gift is nae working properly. So, ye scurrilous beast—” They were back to that, were they? She poked him hard in the chest. “I dunnae ken how much good I will be to ye. What think ye of that?” she demanded. “Ye may have just risked yer life to save me and I’m nae worth it.”
Her words infuriated him. He cupped her face, ignoring the fact that they were not alone. “Ye have worth far greater than the gift,” he told her, shaking with his struggle to hold back from saying more. “Hear me now—” her eyes had gone very wide, but she nodded “—I kenned when I came after ye that yer gift dunnae yet have the power it was intended to, and that it likely will nae ever have it.”
“What?” she said, her voice filled with an odd mix of confusion and wonder.
He’d honestly not meant to tell her. Grant already knew. He’d told him after Grant had caught up with him and Marjorie—
