Page 21 of Surrendering to her Highland Captor
“Please, dinnae take me to the English. The Baron is a brutal man. He will kill me if ye take me to him.”
James’ jaw clenched. A vein popped out along the sharp bone, pulsing with barely contained fury.
“Please James. I ken that I have let everyone down by leaving, but surely ye dinnae wish for me to die.”
He grunted but said nothing. Busying himself with the oatcakes instead, he slid the food off the hot rock and onto a worn handkerchief. She couldn’t tell between the dancing firelight and the frayed, brown color of the linen, but it looked eerily similar to the same one she had given him as a Christmas gift the year she left.
“Here. Eat. Wash it down with that.”
Before she could argue, James shoved the wrapped oatcake into her lap and tossed his canteen at her feet. The water sloshed noisily against her boots, but Taryn made no move to do either. She didn’t even bother pointing out that she had no way of following his orders with her hands still tied painfully behind her back.
“I will nae eat until ye tell me where ye are taking me. I deserve to ken what ye plan to do with me, at the verra least.”
She balled her hands into fists and stared back at him, her expression full of defiance. But when he turned to glower at her, her false bravado trembled, as did her lower lip.
“Ye dinnae deserve anything,” he spat. “Especially nae from me. Ye want to be stubborn? Fine, dinnae eat. I dinnae care.”
Without giving her the chance to respond, he ripped the food and water back, putting them out of sight by his side. She sputtered and he kept moving.
“Ye were always a spoiled, ungrateful brat. Never kent when to keep yer mouth shut. Never thought about other people and what they might need. One way or another, Taryn, ye are going to have to learn yer lesson, and I have nay problem being the one to teach ye.”
He stamped out the fire with his boots, taking his anger out on the smoldering embers until they were a faint red.
“We leave at first light. I suggest ye try to sleep before then.”
Taking his own advice, James spread out across the blankets he had laid down beside the fire and closed his eyes. Taryn knew he wasn’t asleep yet, just as she knew he wasn’t going to say another word to her for the rest of the night.
She let out a deep sigh of resignation. It was a tricky thing to ease herself to the ground with her arms still tied behind her. Ultimately, she settled for leaning against the tree and sliding down it until she made it to the cold forest floor. She was too faraway from the fire to feel any of its residual warmth. It wasn’t long before she was shivering, willing the sun to rise soon.
The longer she laid there, the faster her thoughts moved and the colder her fingers grew. It seemed implausible that James would have turned into such a man. He had always been someone she admired greatly, someone she had trusted—at times even more than herself. And now, he was her captor, leaving her to freeze at night, wrists bound and bleeding, stomach aching with hunger.
Her chest nearly cleaved in two as she wrestled to come to terms with it all. She grimaced, thinking of how Laura and Isobel might have reacted to seeing James turn into this kind of man. Worst of all, she hated knowing that she was going to have to find a way to escape the one man she had spent her entire life thinking was safe.
“So much for that,” she whispered bitterly.
Taryn let her eyes drift shut as she willed warmth to her fingertips. While escaping was her only way out, she knew she would have to bide her time. James might have changed in the last three years, but he was just as clever and insightful as he had always been. Though she had changed too, it seemed as though he had retained his ability to read her mind. So she would have to wait. And if there was one thing Taryn was good at, it was waiting for the right moment to strike.
