oatcakes from their boat before he got the horses last night. Did she want to go hungry?
He was anxious to put more distance between them and the Campbells. There had been no point in worrying her last night, but he was not as certain as he pretended that none of the Campbells would follow them.
Glynis rolled up the blankets and packed away the food while he saddled the horses.
“Traveling across other clans’ lands is dangerous with just two of us,” Alex said, as he lifted her onto Rosebud’s back. “I don’t want ye out of my sight, understand?”
Glynis fixed him with her serious gaze and nodded.
They rode steadily for hours. Though Alex saw no one behind them, twice he had to quickly pull their horses off the path to avoid meeting other travelers. Because of Glynis, he couldn’t take any risks.
To pass the time, he told her stories. Glynis liked the one about how Ian fell in love with his wife Sileas best, judging by all the questions she asked.
“Ian left her for five years after they wed?” she asked.
“Ach, he didn’t take it well, being forced to say vows with a dirk at his back,” Alex said. “And he blamed Sileas for it.”
“I’m glad their story ended happily,” Glynis said with a soft smile.
“Do ye need to stop and stretch your legs?” he asked, but she shook her head. “For a lass with a sour disposition, ye don’t complain much.”
“It’s my stepmother who says I’m sour.” Glynis heaved a sigh. “And it’s true I do complain when she expects me to sit indoors doing needlework for hours.”
“Well, ye are a fine traveling companion,” he told her. “Ye have several advantages over the ones I usually travel with.”
“I do?”
“For one thing, ye are prettier to look at than my cousins and Duncan,” he said. “And for another, ye haven’t heard all of my stories before.”
On the other hand, if he were traveling with one of them, he wouldn’t have to dive off the path like a frightened Lowlander every time a group of warriors was headed their way.
“Ye have a gift for storytelling,” Glynis said with a faint blush. “I wouldn’t mind if ye told them to me more than once.”
“You’ll regret those words,” he said, and laughed. “We have a long journey ahead of us, and I’ve only got three days of stories.” Of course, Alex had a good many more that he couldn’t tell her.
“Ye told me about Ian,” she said. “Will ye tell me about your friend Duncan next?”
Why did she want to know about Duncan?
“Duncan is a fierce warrior,” he said, after a moment. “I’ve never seen him beaten. Not once.”
“I liked him,” she said. “He seems… dependable.”
Alex stifled a groan. “Aye, Duncan is exceedingly dependable. He’s steady, never wavers. Decides what he wants and that’s that.”
All the things that Alex was not.
“There is a good deal of mystery about Duncan’s birth,” Alex said. “And some say a bit of magic.”
“Ye must tell me,” Glynis said, turning wide eyes on him.
“When Duncan’s mother was a lass of sixteen, she was stolen from the beach one day,” Alex said, settling into his story. “A year later, she was returned to the same beach with a babe in her arms. That babe was Duncan.”
“Who took her?”
“His mother never breathed a word—not about what happened, or where she’d been, or who the father of her child was.” Alex paused. “Eight years later, it all happened again.”
“And she still hasn’t told?” Glynis was leaning so far out of her saddle that he feared she might fall off her horse.
'She took her secret to the grave.”
As they rode and he told his stories, Alex scanned the green hills sprinkled with summer flowers. The Campbell men should have turned back by now, but there were plenty of other dangerous men who traveled this trail through the mountains.
“Who is it ye must meet in Edinburgh before the end of the month?”
Alex winced. He had hoped she wasn’t listening when he mentioned that to Catherine.
“Ah, I see this is a story ye don’t wish to tell me,” Glynis said, raising her eyebrows. “Of course, now it is the only one I wish to hear.”
Alex rubbed his neck. He did not want to discuss the Countess or her letter with Glynis MacNeil.
“So who would be waiting for Alex Ban MacDonald in Edinburgh?” She tapped her finger on her chin—it was a very pretty chin. “Definitely a woman.”
This lass, who was usually so serious, was teasing him. Alex might have enjoyed it for the sparkle in her eyes, if she had chosen a different subject.
“This particular woman must have something special ye want,” Glynis said, narrowing her eyes. “Not the same
