To Have A Heart (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 7)

“Look, I don’t have time to explain myself, or cajole you, or even ask your opinion about which way we should go. We must go, and we must go this way, all right? Preferably as quickly as you can?”

With a sigh, Callum was forced to resume their position beside the barn when the guard with the dog returned. Again, the guard stood in the gap between the barn and the stable block and studied the field before turning to look closely at the shadows. This time, Callum hadn’t had the chance to cover them both over with his cloak. All he could do was hope guard had poor eyesight and couldn’t see them in the darkness.

“What do we do?” Mallory hissed.

Callum sighed. Looking down on her porcelain face in the shadows of a moonlit night he wondered if this was what a romantic tryst was like. He had never stopped to consider it before, but the gentle silvery haze that hung over everything bathed the atmosphere in a sensuality that was startlingly intimate. He wanted to murmur something loving, but words failed him. He wasn’t usually a frivolous kind of man. His actions were a testimony of the kind of man he is; brief and to the point. However, tonight he wanted more, a lot more, and that alarmed him, especially now when they were in the middle of a rescue mission.

“I don’t have time for this,” he grumbled in disgust.

Mallory stared at him and wondered what she had done that had displeased him so.

“We have literally three minutes at the most to get out of here once the next guard leaves. Each time he returns we increase the risk that he will see us. Neither of us can allow that to happen,” Callum warned.

“Who are you? Why don’t you want them to see you? What have you done?” Mallory demanded in a voice that was as low as she could make it.

Callum rolled his eyes, and mentally promised himself that the next time the guard vanished he would make her leave with him.

“I haven’t done anything – yet. I don’t want them to see me because I am with you! Isn’t that enough?” He threw her a dark look but suspected she couldn’t see it.

“Did he send you?”

“Who?” Callum scowled at her.

“That man. That stranger.”

Callum knew who she was talking about but wasn’t at all surprised that Sir Hugo hadn’t given her his name.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” he replied dismissively. “Now, do you want to get out of here or not? If not then stay, but I am not going to end up as dead as you will be if you don’t hurry up. You will be on your own,” Callum warned. “The guards will come this way soon enough. If you want to live, we cannot be here when they do come back. If you want to come with me, don’t make a sound, don’t argue with me, and don’t hesitate to follow what I tell you to do. Do you think you can keep up?”

Mallory looked helplessly at him. She wanted to be able to say that she could keep up with him, but in truth she was struggling to stand upright by herself. Jerkily, she nodded anyway because she didn’t want to admit she wasn’t that strong and have him leave her.

“Good. Come on.”

This time, when Callum grabbed her wrist and tugged her, Mallory followed him.

Thank Heavens for small mercies.

Callum knew that persuading her to come with him was a huge obstacle he had cleared with relative ease. He could only hope and pray that if they were caught, she would continue to follow him.

It was concerning that he could feel shivers coursing through her. The touch of her fine bones beneath his fingers, and the frigidity of her skin, was incredibly alarming. So much so, he was compelled to urge her to walk just that little bit faster if only to get her to warm up a bit.

“We have to go the other way,” she stammered, pointing in the opposite direction to the one the stranger wanted to take.

Mallory stared at him and wished there was better light to see him more clearly. From the impression she got of him he was stern, commanding almost, with a sharp jaw and dark, probing eyes.

But maybe it is my imagination. Because it is dark my mind has conjured someone that I think I see.

What Mallory did know was that the man was just as eager to get out of the area as she was and in that they were together.

“Do you know where that way takes you?” Callum lifted his brows and waited.

He didn’t need to look down the driveway to shake his head.

“Well, no, but I have seen the guards come from that way. There has to be a town over there.”

“Don’t you think that is the first place they will look for you?”

“Which way do we go then?” Mallory snapped impatiently.