Page 21 of Hold Fast

He took a long drink from the flask, his eyes closed in frustration, and leaned his head back against Calman’s warm side. The whisky was spicy on the back of his tongue and burned a delightfully warm trail down his throat. He corked the flask and sighed.

“I willnae touch you,” he said.

Another disbelieving snort.

He choked on the insult. Because he knew he didn’t have any right to feel insulted. It wasn’thimshe was talking about, after all, but a specter of Cameron. The bastard.

“I am nae Cameron,” he said through his teeth. “I cannae imagine a worse insult than to be lumped into the same batch as him.”

When she didn’t answer, he said, “Try to get some sleep. We’ll leave at first light.”

Ewan pulled his side of the plaid up to his chin, scooting down and leaning fully back against Calman, feeling the comforting tattoo of the horse’s steady heartbeat behind his back.

She took in a shaky breath. “I was handfast to Laird Cameron.”

His eyes flew open, but he didn’t move a muscle otherwise.

“You were?” he asked, forcing his voice to remain low and calm.

“Aye,” she whispered. “For a year. I was freed from my indenture to him yesterday.”

He heard her swallow.

His hands were balled into fists in his lap. “And I take it… it didnae go well?”

In a thick voice, she answered, “Nay.”

Ewan stared into the darkness for a long time. Eventually, he felt Una’s body relax against his, her breathing becoming deep and steady. At some point, she listed to the side and her head landed on his shoulder with a soft thud.

Sleep eluded him for a long time, even though he couldn’t remember ever being so tired. But he couldn’t seem to settle his mind long enough to drift off, replaying the day in his mind. Una’s anger. Her fear. Her sickness. The distance.

But it wasn’t his business. None of it.

CHAPTER8

Una drifted into consciousness with the slow, ruffling manner of a leaf tumbling to the ground from a high branch. The air was cold against her face, but beneath the plaid, she felt as warm as a kitten. Warmer, in fact, with a solid wall of heat at her back.The horse, she drowsily thought, remembering how warm his side had been to lean against the night before.

In front of her, Greer’s body twitched in sleep, her legs kicking as she chased something in her dreams. Una reached out to stroke the dog’s velvet ears.

Still half asleep, she shifted her body and burrowed her nose deeper into the warm wool. It smelled like horse and soap and heather, almost as if its owner had spread it on the ground and let it soak up the smell of flowers and sunshine before the weather had turned cold. The plaid had a comforting weight to it, pressing down on her torso.

She could easily go back to sleep. It was so nice to be warm, to rest. Una wiggled again, trying to make herself more comfortable on the hard stone of the cave floor. She felt a warm gust of air against her neck.

“Have mercy on me, Una,” a strained voice groaned in her ear. “You cannae wriggle about like that.”

Una’s eyes flew open wide and she froze, her body breaking into a cold sweat as she realized that the solid heat behind her was not the horse butEwan,and that the weight slung carelessly over her waist was not a heavy plaid, or not entirely that, but hisarm. Una hurled herself clumsily away, elbowing Ewan in the face and nearly kicking him in the groin.

“Bloody hell, Una,” Ewan groaned, holding his nose and curling in on himself.

She saw drops of blood seeping through his closed fingers before dripping onto the ground.

“Whatthe helldo you think you were doing?” she seethed.

“Nae freezing to death,” he grumbled, sitting up and leaning against Calman’s side with his head tilted back, pinching it with bloody fingers.

Greer licked her hand, scooting closer to rest her head on Una’s leg.

“Was there nae other way to prevent freezing to death?”