d bunched into a fist and she pounded the table, beating those harsh facts into her brain. Pain throbbed up her arm and dragged her back to the present.
She sucked in a deep breath and looked up. Summer dawn filtered through the high windows to reveal the astonishing truth that she was completely alone.
No Hamish Macleish. No giants. Not even the little giggling maids, Morag and Kirsty, who, she’d worked out, were Hamish’s nieces. The duke was in bed upstairs, almost certainly sleeping after his long, disturbed night.
This empty kitchen presented a chance to escape. If she ran away, no one would seek her for hours. Her heart started to gallop with nervous excitement and fear.
She didn’t have long. The servants started work early. With full day, the walls of her captivity would close around her.
Meanwhile, she stood in the nightdress she’d borrowed from Morag. She was desperate, but she wasn’t a fool—she needed clothing and supplies if she hoped to survive the mountains.
A quick search of the kitchen unearthed a basket of clean laundry and her half boots, polished and ready. Swiftly, she flung off her nightrail and tugged on one of Kate Macleish’s kirtles. It was worn and far too large, but it was warm.
Thick stockings. And a coat—Hamish’s, she suspected—hanging from a hook by the door. She plaited her heavy hair into a long braid and tied it with a scrap of rag.
A check of the pantry turned up a loaf of bread, some cheese and a few late apricots, a fruit for which the duke had a particular fondness. She filled a flask with water and tied her bounty in a cloth.
If heaven had been kind, a couple of coins would have been scattered on the bench, but thrifty Highland servants didn’t leave money lying about.
Oh, what she’d give for just one of the gorgeous baubles Soraya had amassed in her long and scandalous career. But she’d sold her jewelry when she’d left Kensington and used the money to fund her futile dreams of freedom.
Perhaps not so futile after all, she thought on a rising tide of optimism.
Her plan was shaky. She recognized this even as she let herself out of the house. The weather could turn, she could get lost, aid mightn’t materialize.
But anything was better than waiting here for her inevitable destruction.
If she succumbed to what lurked unspoken in her heart, Kylemore would leave her devastated and alone when everything between them was over. As it must inevitably one day be over. She faced less danger from the looming ranges than she did from one tall tormented man.
If she succeeded in getting away, she’d never see the duke again. This time when she left him, she’d make sure not even the recording angel could trace her.
She blinked away a rush of tears as she dashed across the grass to the shelter of the trees.
Three days ago, she’d have scoffed if anyone had suggested she’d regret leaving Kylemore. Her defenses had taken a woefully short time to crumble.
How had she come to this? She fought to awaken the anger and loathing that had sustained her from the beginning of her ordeal.
But all she found within herself was her cowering, lonely heart, a heart crammed with pain and longing.
Such weak emotions when she had to be strong. She took a deep breath, hitched up her bundle and began to walk fast down the valley in the direction of the coast.
When Kylemore awoke, the sun blazed from a clear sky. He was alone in the wreck of the bed.
Idly, he wondered where Verity was. After she’d left him last night, the new peace between them had sent him into a catatonic sleep.
The raw emotion they’d shared should have left him feeling vulnerable.
But instead he felt…safe.
He’d been too distraught to hide his shameful nighttime terrors; she’d trusted him with her sad history. The bond that united them was now indestructible.
Her habits of self-concealment were familiar. He shared them. He knew what it had cost her to reveal so much. And to someone she considered an enemy.
Someone she no longer considered an enemy.
Surely she couldn’t offer such sweet comfort to a man she hated. Surely she wouldn’t divulge her tragic past to someone she despised.
Now he wanted to know everything about her. Last night’s difficult confession had only whetted his curiosity to find out more.