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

“You told me not to talk, remember?” she replied.

Callum grinned. “At least you are prepared to do as you are told.”

“What am I to call you?” Mallory asked in a rather conversational tone that was completely inappropriate given her predicament.

“Callum.”

She opened her mouth to tell him her name only to realise that he knew it.

“Who told you my name?” she asked instead.

“The man in the garden.”

“You know him.” It wasn’t a question.

“I must do if he told me your name, don’t you think?”

Mallory mentally winced at the stupidity of her question. She had to concede he had a point.

“Who are you?”

“I have told you. The man’s friend.”

“Who is he?”

Callum grinned again. “Your friend.”

“No, he isn’t. He is a stranger.”

“He has facilitated your escape.”

“We aren’t free yet,” Mallory grumbled.

“I am sorry if I am not going fast enough for you,” Callum grunted with masculine disgust.

“You can put me down, you know. I can walk.”

Callum stopped.

Despite her light weight, his shoulder was aching. He winced when he lowered her to her feet only to realise that her thin shoes were no match for the wet grass in the field. Still, he needed to save some energy for any fight he might have to engage in before they reached safety.

“We have to get you some better footwear,” he muttered with a scowl at her feet.

“These are all I have.”

“Let’s just keep going for now. We cannot do anything about your boots out here.”

Even from where they were standing, now on the opposite side of the field, Callum could clearly see the patrol on their half-hourly rounds.

“What do we do now?” Mallory asked.

“Keep going. All it is going to take is for one of the guards to look up and all Hell will break loose. They have horses, we don’t. If the guards use them, or set the dogs on us, we are not going to get out of here.”

“Should we catch one of the horses?” Mallory hated the thought that something might happen to him because of her.

Callum raked her with a look. There wasn’t much he could see of her but from what he had gleaned so far, she wasn’t built for riding.

“Do you ride?” he asked sceptically.