She smiled, smoothing back a stray strand of hair. “I’m not alone. I’m in the company of an extremely powerful and annoying ghost.”
He cupped her chin, raising her face to his. “Shawna, not even powerful ghosts can be everywhere. You’ve?—”
“You seem to have a knack for being everywhere.”
“Well, my lady, I do try—but I fear that not being among the truly dead, I am not infallible. Shawna, you are not to ride alone.”
“But David?—”
“You are not to ride alone!” His touch upon her tightened. She gritted her teeth, ready to argue. But he released her chin, stroking her cheek with his knuckle, and he repeated himself softly. “You are not to ride alone!”
“I had to get away from the tavern, from the others,” she said.
He shook his head. “Never alone, Shawna, and never with just one member of your family.”
“David—”
“Please.”
She sighed.
“There is an answer, and I will find it. Bit by bit, the secrets that have been kept by people here will begin to unravel.”
“What have you discovered?”
He hesitated. “Let’s say for the moment that I’ve discovered new ideas regarding where to search,” he told her.
“Where?” Shawna demanded.
“When I’ve a better idea of exactly what I’m up to, I’ll tell you.”
“Really?”
“I promise to keep you advised. If you promise not to be alone.”
“As you wish, Laird Douglas,” she told him, not trusting herself to say more. She lowered her lashes, lightly biting into her lower lip. She looked at him again. “But, David?”
“Aye?”
“I have ridden here now, and there are remnants of daylight about us. And it is really beautiful here, David, isn’t it? The rocks strewn about the valley, the crystal stream, the color of the coming night. It’s something of why we’ve always fought to be Highlanders, fought for Craig Rock itself and her people, isn’t it?” she asked wistfully.
He smiled. Leaning toward her, he again touched her face, this time, his palm cradling her cheek. His face was very close to her own. Within the copse of trees, it felt as if they were alone at the ends of the earth, the shift of the breeze and the bubbling of the brook a melodic song about them. His mouth touched hers…so gently at first and then his tongue caressed her so deeply, awakening a delicious ache within her.
He suddenly drew away from her. “Horses,” he said.
“What?”
“The others are coming from the tavern. I can hear the horses. There, that way, get your horse, and join them.”
She hadn’t heard a thing, but as she turned in the direction he had pointed, she heard the sounds of laughter and voices in casual conversation. She turned back to David.
But he was gone.
The brook continued to bubble. The breeze rose and whispered.
Her ghost had vanished along with the last golden streaks of daylight.
CHAPTER 12