He directed Star in a different direction and he, as well as Dru, remained quiet and alert, watching for unexpected company.
The cave was small,little more than a hollow carved into the hillside, but it gave them shelter from the chilled wind and the fading light. By the time they discovered it, dusk had slipped its fingers across the sky, painting it in soft grays and quiet golds.
Knox knelt to build a fire, his hands steady even as his mind churned. Each spark that caught on the kindling seemed too loud in the hush between them.
Dru sat close, her back against the earthen wall, arms wrapped around her knees. She hadn’t said much since they had left the dead man behind.
Knox glanced over. Her eyes were distant. Haunted.
“You warm enough?” he asked, his voice low.
She nodded without looking at him. “Aye.”
He studied her for a moment longer, then stripped off his cloak and gently draped it around her shoulders.
She didn’t protest. Her fingers clutched the fabric like it anchored her, but it was his familiar woodsy scent that calmed her. It was as if she was wrapped snug in his arms.
“I keep thinking about what he said,” Dru said when he dropped down beside her. “That they’re hunting me because of something my mother did. Because of her choices.”
Knox did what he’d been aching to do and what he knew his wife needed. He eased her into the crook of his arm, hugging her close. His hand massaged along her arm to ease the tension he felt there. “I cannot imagine what your mother could have done that would spur such vengeance on her daughter.”
“I thought the same myself.” Her voice cracked. “Why didn’t she tell me? Warn me?”
He reached for her hand—cold, tense—and laced his fingers with hers.
“With so many years past, maybe she thought it was done and no longer needed to be concerned about it. After all, she worried enough with what plans your father would have for you.”
She looked up at him. “There is also that to worry us.”
He lifted her hand to his lips to kiss it. “Not tonight. Tonight, there is only you and me and our love.”
“I like that—just you and me.” She smiled. “Though there may be one more.”
He looked puzzled, his brow wrinkling, then it spread wide as did his smile that suddenly appeared. “The chance you may be with child.”
“Aye. I hadn’t thought of it since you last mentioned it and I completely forgot to ask Mave for something that would prevent me from getting with child. Though if I were already in that way, I would not want to take anything that might cause me to lose your bairn.”
“It struck me at that moment that I might not only be losing you and the thought ripped at my heart. I could not fathom the thought of our bairn never taking a breath. I would do anything to keep you both safe.”
“I may not be with child,” she said, feeling a twinge of disappointment. Bairns had been the furthest thing from her mind but then so had marriage and here she was now happy to be married and disappointed that she might not be with child. How life had changed since meeting Knox.
He leaned his head down to nuzzle her neck, then whisper, “We can make sure of that, if you’d like?”
She smiled eager to do so, but sound reason hit her like cold water in the face.
“Without knowing what the future holds for us, it would be selfish of us to endanger a child.”
Knox heard the disappointment in her voice, felt it himself, and agreed with her. “True enough. It would be selfish of us and yet we still couple, still take the chance of you getting with child. So then, we must somehow believe, deep inside, that we have a chance at a good life together.”
“Mave said we did.”
“I believe we are destined to,” Knox said, feeling it strongly.
She slipped her arm over his waist and hugged it tight. “I only wish we knew how to achieve that.”
“By taking it one day at a time,” Knox confirmed. “Trusting each other. Keeping our love strong and making loving every chance we get.”
She grinned at him. “Like now?”