Page 15 of Highland Ruse

Delilah gave him a shocked frown. “Are they lost?”

He shook his head. “Donnan is gathering them now.”

“No.” Delilah shoved up from her seat with all the indignation of a noblewoman whose modesty was to be preserved. “I’ll not have a man handling my undergarments if any contents were loosed.”

Leasa started to rise, but Delilah shook her head. “You’ve taken a bad tumble, Leasa. Stay here. I can gather my own things.”

A shocked expression filled Leasa’s face. “My lady, that isn’t necessary, I—”

Delilah shook her head to still her maid and pulled open the door. Kaid filled the exit with his large frame, blocking her exit. “Sit down.”

She ignored the request and pushed forward, an awkward attempt with him so thoroughly in the way. “I assure you, it is entirely necessary.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, and she did likewise.

His eyes narrowed, and she narrowed hers as well.

It was like playing a mirror game with one of her younger siblings back home.

She lifted her chin as high as she dared in the hopes it might give her more height and tried to stretch her back, as if she could make herself taller by sheer will alone.

“Ye’re pretty stubborn to be an English woman.” He spoke in a wry tone. “Are ye sure ye’re no’ a Scot?”

“Maybe if I start to kidnap women I would be,” she countered. But instead of more verbal parrying, Kaid smirked and stepped back.

He uncrossed his arms and called for Donnan before returning his attention back to her. “Fine, help yerself to a walk through all the mud. I’ll have Donnan stay with Leasa so I can ensure ye dinna run away.”

Delilah was about to protest, to insist the more affable Scotsman be her guard. But now was not the time to feign an escape attempt. She glanced behind her to where Leasa sat in the coach, watching them. Leasa would be better off with Donnan’s carefree company.

Donnan appeared, and Kaid issued a rapid set of orders in Gaelic for him to remain with Leasa at all costs.

With that, Delilah and Kaid set off in stark silence to gather the belongings that Donnan had not yet been able to locate.

When the remaining bags were found, Delilah’s fears were realized. The bags had indeed ruptured upon impact with the ground and propelled their contents across the trail and into the running stream.

The refreshing breeze swept against Delilah’s skin and made her realize just how stuffy the coach was becoming. It’d already been a compact space with her and Leasa, but Kaid’s massive body seemed to leave no room to even breathe properly.

Of course the lack of proper breathing might be due to the incredibly tight corset she’d been laced into.

Rather than wheeze out her air, she held her breath and bent to flick her sark from the forest floor. Kaid had assisted with gathering outer garments and various other items, but had left anything appearing to be an undergarment for her. It was a kindness she could not help but appreciate.

Granted, she hadn’t been abducted before, but she would imagine most men in Kaid’s position would not be so accommodating.

When they’d collected most of the items from the muddy trail, they made their way down the sloping hill to the rushing stream where countless items had been strewn, some in the mud, some in the water.

Directly beside the stream, Delilah found her steel-boned corset. She lifted the heavy garment with great relief. Save several leaves plastered to the pale brocade silk, the fabric was not wet, which meant the steel had remained dry and would not rust.

While it was heavy, the strategic placement of steel boning on the inside rendered her torso slash-proof. A discomfort she was willing to endure. If only the blasted corset she wore now served any purpose for the extent of its squeezing torture.

Something white caught her eye in the stream, and her heart went heavy. There, almost entirely submerged in the deepest part of the water, was the bag containing their extra food.

Chapter Four

Night was the most dangerous.

Kaid glanced outside where the trees had grown shadowed and the gray light of dusk dampened the summer sky. They would need to stop soon.

While he knew the women would prefer they stop at a village to restore their food supply and have a comfortable place to sleep, Kaid could not risk the exposure.