Page 27 of Highland Ruse

His heart raced, and something warm and hungry tingled at the base of his neck.

He swallowed.

Not now.

He must wait until the evening. After what had transpired the previous night, and after everything the women had already gone through, he would not allow himself to sleep in front of them lest he frighten them by having another night terror.

The desire for the vial permeated his thoughts. How he longed to feel the slick glass against his fingertips, to hear the gentle pop of its stopper. He even ached for the bitter taste on his tongue, for what it brought was beautiful and calming and eased him into the velvet nothing of sleep.

He might have nightmares while under the blanket of slumber, but he did not remember them in the morning. For those few hours, he was numb of mind and body. Blissfully, perfectly numb.

“Can I help with anything?” Elizabeth was speaking again.

Kaid clenched his jaw against the consuming weakness of his own desire and shook his head.

She sat forward and took his hand in hers. Her fingers were smooth and delicate, her skin a comforting warmth. “You can talk to me.”

Her gaze was soft, her bonny face open and honest, and for one brief moment, he wished he could speak to her. To share the horror of everything he’d witnessed and see if somehow she could pull him from the hell of his own mind.

He nodded his appreciation, and she sat back with a pensive expression lining her brow.

He glanced down, and his gaze found the blood smear.

The vial.

He wanted it. He needed it.

So much so, he did not notice the coach roll to a stop and hardly acknowledged the women leaving the cabin.

It was not until he heard voices outside that his attention finally caught.

“I’m worried about Kaid.” Elizabeth spoke quietly, as if she did not want him to hear. “Did something happen to him during the fight?”

“No’ this one,” Donnan answered quietly in return. “He wasna injured.”

Silence, and then Elizabeth said, “On another attack, then?”

“Aye,” Donnan said. “Our village was invaded no’ long ago. Many were slain.”

Kaid’s breathing had become hard and ragged and seemed to pulse around him from all sides of the coach.

“He’d tried to help them,” Donnan said. “But he was hit in the head. When he finally woke, everyone was—”

“Enough!” The word exploded from Kaid, and he jumped to his feet. The coach rocked with the sudden movement, and the voices abruptly stopped.

He yanked open the door with such rage, it almost tore from its paltry hinges. His muscles burned, and he leapt to the ground.

Both Elizabeth and Donnan regarded him with shocked expressions.

“Go with yer maid,” he told Elizabeth. “And heaven help ye if ye decide today is when ye run off.”

Elizabeth hesitated, as if she intended to say something, then thought better of it and turned toward the forest.

Kaid grabbed Donnan by the shirt and hauled him up against the coach. “Have ye lost yer damn mind?”

Donnan broke Kaid’s hold and shoved him back. “Have ye?” Donnan’s usually carefree expression was hard. “Isna it bad enough we’ve taken these women? Then we exposed them to violence no lass should bear witness to, and now ye act like a man possessed when she asks after ye because she’s worried?” Donnan dragged a hand through his hair, as he’d done the few times Kaid had seen him vexed. “Hell, Kaid, I’m worried about ye.”

Kaid glanced toward the tree line to confirm the women had not yet returned. “Ye needn’t worry about me.”