They melted into the edge of the forest but remained tense for a fight. There were more places for them to hide, aye, but just as many for their enemy to do so as well. William crouched low and motioned for her to follow, indicating they should duck behind a wide tree to their left.
He put a finger to his lips. Kinsey nodded, holding her breath, straining to listen.
Footsteps shuffled through the damp underbrush.
Her heart thundered in her chest. Surely, whoever was coming could hear it, thumping louder than their steps as they came nearer.
William reached for her hand, wrapping his warm grip around her. It was a small comfort, but it calmed her, nonetheless.
A twig snapped on the other side of the tree, followed by another scuffle of feet before the steps departed. “Nothing there.”
Kinsey wanted to fall backward and gasp with relief. Instead, she exhaled slowly and tried to rein her heartbeat back into a normal rhythm. William held up his free hand, indicating they should wait a moment longer.
His other hand remained on hers, protective.
She studied him as the forest around them settled into silence once more. His dark, intelligent eyes with more lashes than any man ought to have. The stark handsomeness of his face. The fullness of those lips and how perfect they’d felt against her own.
Everything in her was alight with the feeling of being alive. The air had never been more refreshing; the earthy scents of the forest were stronger, crisper. She’d never felt more powerful.
In that instant, she wanted William, needed him, more desperately than ever before.
She didn’t fight the impulsivity and instead rode it like a wave, letting it carry her the few inches between them to kiss him, hot and hard, on his sensual mouth. It was quick, a pressing of lips, a brushing of tongues, and then it was done.
The slam of lust was immediate. She was not alone, for his dark eyes burned with desire as he stared at her. His jaw squared with determination then, and he tightened his grip on her hand, quietly pulling her onward.
16
William didn’t look at Kinsey again until they found the predetermined location by the river. He couldn’t. As it was, it had been too damn hard not to draw her against him and finish the kiss she’d started.
Her fingers were so petite in his, the connection between them crackling like lightning. He should have dropped his hold on her when they’d reached his men, but he held her a moment longer. Too long.
Reid’s gaze fell on them, and a single brow lift was all the reaction William needed. He slowly released Kinsey’s hand. Tingles of warm pleasure lingered on his skin, a reminder of the sweetness her closeness brought.
William looked around at the faces and breathed a sigh of relief to see so many. They had lost very few, thanks be to God.
Many had even managed to escape with their horses, including Reid.
“It eases my mind to see so many of ye here,” William said to his men. “The king’s army will go to Jedwood Forest to recover. Ye may join him there if ye like, but I would like to try taking Mabrick Castle again with a different strategy than before, utilizing what we know now.” He caught Reid’s eye with a nod. “We are only two days away if we share the horses and can acquire more. The English won’t think to follow us, no’ when they’re chasing the lot who are fleeing to Jedwood.”
“Where ye go, we follow,” Duff said.
The men around him nodded in agreement.
William’s chest swelled with an appreciation for his men. “Ye’re a good lot. I’m proud of ye.”
His da might be sparing with his praise, but William never wanted his men to question his pride in them.
Kinsey stood off to his right, where she’d remained after he’d released her hand. He longed to look toward her, to reassure himself she was there, that she was safe, alive.
When she’d fought with the sword, he had feared he might lose her before he could get to her. And then she’d saved him. He bit back a smile.
“We willna need to share horses,” Alec said. “There were several tied up a ways from here. Only two guards.”
William could have crowed with delight. With horses, they could travel faster, and could sell some off for coin when it was needed. Whatever had been left back at camp was lost to them. “Will five men be enough to take them?”
Alec grinned. “Ach, aye.”
“Go on with ye then.” William jerked his head in the direction Alec had indicated.
Alec and four others rode off.
Kinsey was still nearby, the familiarity of her feminine scent teasing at his awareness. His gaze drifted toward her and caught on Reid, reminding William what needed to be done. “Reid, go on to Jedwood and inform Laird MacLeod of our intentions.”
Reid grunted in acknowledgment, and William’s attention shifted back to his army. “When the men return with the horses, we ride.”
They cheered their approval, and those with steeds prepared them for a ride that would be a couple of hours at least.
A quiet moment settled on William as the attention of others fixed elsewhere, without the need for action on his part. In that flash of a second, his stare found Kinsey’s and met her bold, ice-blue eyes.
Lust pounded through his veins like fire, leaving him hot and hard beneath the padding of his gambeson. He let his gaze drift down her body, the fitted trews, the narrow leather belt, the white leine, now dirty and stained with a spot of blood.
He needed to bathe as much as he needed to sate his lust. An image rose in his mind, awash in a curtain of steam. A tub filled with hot, scented water and Kinsey. He wanted to plunge into that tub with her—slippery, wet skin and a
