Page 129 of Highland Spy

He hadn’t found her yet.

But he’d abandoned his people once before. He could not do so again.

And he was so, so damn tired.

“Where’s Ariana?” he asked on an exhale.

“The lass ye came in with?” Anise shifted his weight, and only then did he realize he was drooping toward the ground. “Dinna worry, laird. We have her too.”

• • •

After asking the girl from the tavern, Anise, if she’d seen Connor, Ariana was led to a room behind the inn. She’d been given food and drink and the promise of Connor’s safe return, but it was not enough.

Anxiety rippled through her. She jerked away from the small table and paced the room while keeping her gaze fixed on the only door to the room, and the two men who stood near it.

The door still had not opened.

Connor had not been found.

Anise could have lied. But then, Ariana had been too desperate to care.

Now though, Ariana studied the two men who stood on opposite sides of the door. For her protection, Anise had said.

They were both large. Taller than Connor and thickened with fat over muscle, lending them a bulky show of more strength than they likely possessed. They both wore their dark hair unbound over their shoulders and matching indifferent expressions.

Right now, it felt more like they were there to ensure she didn’t leave. Like their presence was meant to intimidate rather than reassure. The whitewashed walls around her seemed to press in.

She’d left her lockpick hair pin back at Urquhart. She could have kicked herself for the oversight. The men would be difficult to take given their size, but she could have done it. The solid oak door however, which Anise had locked when she left, would be difficult to open without the proper tool.

She’d been so close to freedom.

She never should have returned.

And yet…

Connor.

Her gaze crept unbidden toward the door.

This time it opened.

Her heart leapt into a staggered beat. Anise shuffled in, and Ariana’s “protectors” rushed forward to pull Connor from where he stood slumped against her. He pushed stubbornly away from the men and lifted his head, eyes squinting in her direction.

“Ye’re here,” he said in a slurred voice.

Shame made her cheeks hot. “I came back.”

His face relaxed into a smile, the kind that might have melted her heart had she let herself be susceptible.

She went to him, but kept herself from reaching out to comfort—either him or herself.

“Why are you not sleeping?” she asked.

He squinted at his palm and held up an empty vial held between his thumb and forefinger. “Percy gave me this to use if I ever found myself poisoned. It’s slow working, but it kept me awake.”

“Why did you leave the room?” she asked.

He looked at her with piercing honesty. “To find ye.”