Leading her horse into the dense trees beside the road, she waited. When the men came into view, she was glad she’d had the sense to conceal herself. There were four of them, all dirty, and from the way they sat their horses, they didn’t look fully sober.
“They’ve been drinking all night,” said a voice in her ear. Cay couldn’t help but gasp when she saw the Scotsman beside her.
“What was that?” one of the half-drunk men said as he jerked on the reins, halted his horse, and got down.
“Nothin’,” one of the other men said. “Let’s go home.”
“I tell you, I heard somethin’.”
The first man moved closer to the trees and stared into the dense shade.
Alex put his arm around Cay’s shoulders, threw the hood of the cloak over her head, and pulled her down to the ground beside him.
“Yates said—”
“That ol’ liar? You believed that he had two murderers in his barn last night?”
“Why not? That killer from Charleston escaped with his lady friend, so why not hide in Yates’s barn?”
“Because a match would burn it down. If they’re murderers, why didn’t they kill Yates? I know I’ve wanted to many a time.”
“He had those coins, so where did he get them?”
“I’ve always thought he has money. He’s just too cheap to buy his own beer. Come on, let’s go home. You probably heard a cat.”
Alex and Cay watched as the first man reluctantly turned away, mounted his horse, and they all left.
When Alex moved away from Cay, she rolled on to her back, and looked up at him.
“You are free to go,” he said, anger in his voice. “I’m no jailer and I won’t be thought of as one. You may leave whenever you want, but if you stay with me, you have to—” He broke off and looked as though he was trying to figure out how to arrange his words. “At least listen to what I say and give it some consideration.”
Cay wanted to be defiant and tell him she was going to leave, but the words of the men rang in her ears. That the news of the Scotsman’s escape had spread this far south was frightening. Even worse was that she was still being considered as his accomplice.
“You must not have sisters or you’d know not to tell them to ‘obey’ you.” She was still lying on the ground and looking up at him.
He shook his head. “No sisters nor brothers. I am my father’s only child.”
“And your mother?”
“Died when I was nine.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. He was looking down at her, his blue eyes with no humor in them, and waiting for her answer.
Cay didn’t want to give it. She didn’t want to plight her course with this man. She wanted to go home, to be with her family, to take a hot bath and put on clean clothes. She just wanted all of this to be over with!
Alex’s eyes softened as he sat down beside her, his legs drawn up and his arms around them. “Lass, I know how you feel. I didn’t ask for any of this either. One minute I was racing my horses and winning money from those lazy, rich boys in Charleston, I was to marry the most beautiful woman alive, and the next thing I knew, I was in a filthy prison and about to be hanged.” His voice lowered. “And the woman I loved was dead.”
His face was in profile and she could see the sadness—no, the grief—in his eyes. She hadn’t really had time to think of the situation from his point of view.
When she said nothing, Alex went to his horse and tightened the cinch. “I’ll take you back,” he said. “You don’t deserve to be part of this.”
Getting up, she went to stand beside him. “You mean to Virginia?”
“Aye, to Virginia, or to wherever you want to go.”
“But what about the danger to my family?”
“Better that than you have to stay with a murderer.” He untied his horse and was about to get into the saddle, but Cay blocked him.