“I know what it’s like to lose the person you love most in the world. I lost mine twice, first when her father made her marry someone else, then again when she died. I know it doesn’t seem like it’s possible, but time does heal wounds. Go to Florida, and give this town time to calm down. Let yourself gain some peace. Alex, you need to let people know that you’re innocent.”
Now, Alex glanced up at the roof. He could get another two hours of sleep before they needed to leave. As yet, he wasn’t sure what he should do with the girl, but a plan was beginning to form in his head. All he had to do was keep her safe until they reached the place where he was to meet James Grady. If Alex could get her safely there, he could leave her with T.C.’s friends. She could wait there for a few weeks, then pay someone to escort her home. Her story would be that the murderer—he drew in his breath at the thought—had kidnapped her, but she’d managed to escape him.
As Alex lay down on the straw beside her, he withdrew his big knife from the sheath hidden under his torn, dirty shirt, and put it beside him. There was a pistol and a rifle on his horse, but Alex well knew how firearms could jam, that powder could get wet. For right now, a knife was his best defense.
Cay awoke slowly, and for several long seconds she didn’t know where she was. Her eyelashes were matted together and there was something lumpy in her back. Blinking and rubbing her eyes, she turned her head. When she saw him beside her, she had to work to keep from gasping. His hair-covered face was inches from hers, and the stench of him was nearly overwhelming.
Her only thought was how to get away from him. Now that there’d been some time since the escape, surely she and Uncle T.C. could figure out a way to prove her innocence. Since he looked to be soundly asleep, she thought of rolling away and tiptoeing out, but since the big cloak was entangled around them, to move more than her arms would wake him.
As her eyes adjusted to the dull light in the barn, she saw the knife by his side. If she could reach it, she could hold it at his throat and force him to . . . to release her. Yes, that was it.
As she stretched her bare right arm over his face, she watched him to see any signs of his waking, but he didn’t move. She was so sure he was asleep that when he spoke, she gasped.
“Lass, what are you up to?” he asked softly, his eyes still closed.
Cay’s thoughts spun as she imagined rolling away from him and running. Could she reach the barn door before he did? Would whoever owned the barn help her get away?
With his eyes still closed, Alex reached for the knife beside him, and offered it to her, handle first. “Is this what you’re after?”
In one swift movement, Cay took the knife and held it to his throat. “Release me
or I’ll take your life,” she said in her most threatening tone.
“Lass,” he said patiently, “if you need to get away from a man, you can’t give him warning.”
She pressed the knife deeper on his throat. “Out of respect for my godfather I won’t kill you. All I want is to get away from you.”
Alex still hadn’t opened his eyes but lay there quietly, the knife against his neck. “You’re free to go, but I warn you that there hasn’t been enough time. If they can’t find me to hang, they might decide to stretch your wee neck.”
“But I’m innocent.”
Opening his eyes, Alex looked at her. Their faces were just inches apart. “Helping a condemned man to escape is innocent?”
“I was helping my godfather, not you!”
“Ah, then they can hang him beside you.”
She put the knife closer on his throat. “If I had any sense, I’d kill you now and let people see—”
She broke off because Alex brushed the knife away with his arm, and quickly rolled to his feet. “Someone is out there,” he whispered as he pulled Cay to stand up, but her feet got entangled in the bottom of the voluminous cloak and she fell against him.
“Ah ne’er saw a lassie as useless as ye,” he muttered as he pushed her away.
Cay nearly fell against the barn wall, but she got herself untangled and stood upright to see the man run to the door and look out a crack. In the next instant he was beside her. “Old man Yates is coming and he has someone with him. We must go.”
Cay had just seen the food on the table and her stomach rumbled in response.
“No time to eat now, lass,” Alex said as he pushed her toward the back of the barn. When she nearly tripped again, Alex grabbed the piece of bread and shoved it inside his dirty shirt. In the next second he was in front of her and he set the wall boards to one side. Someone started pounding on the big double doors. Sounding angry and sleepy, Alex called out, “Whit dae ye want?”
“Say it in English,” Cay hissed at him. She was already outside, and it occurred to her to run to the front of the barn and give herself up, but she thought of the Scotsman’s words of a double, or triple, hanging, and she hesitated.
“What do you want?” Alex shouted as he slipped through the open place in the wall. But the seam of his trousers got caught and he couldn’t pull free.
It was only then that Cay realized she was still holding his knife in her hand. She raised it and for a moment Alex’s eyes met hers—and Cay knew he thought she was going to stab him.
Swiftly, she brought the knife down by his side, cut the seam to his trousers, and released him. The look of thanks in his eyes almost made her blush.
“The horses are under the oak tree. It’s just a short distance down the road, but we can’t go that way. We need to go through the fields and quickly. Can you run, lass?”