Page 25 of A Rugged Beauty
She shook her head. It was silly, because she stood behind him. When he prompted, "Sparrow?" she whispered, "No."
Her nose detected only dust and sweat and the peat-like scent that meant rain was coming. For the past hours, towering clouds had rolled in, obliterating the sky. Thunder grumbled in the distance, but the air still felt too dry to mean rain.
She didn't feel much like a sparrow right now—or perhaps she did. Fear swirled inside her, beating like the wings of a bird.She wanted to shout, "Run away!" but something inside her snatched her voice.
H turned toward her. For one moment she was enveloped in his heat, safe in the protective circle of his arms. But he was only urging her back the way they'd come.
When they reached the bend, the river rolled fierce and rapid. She started to get on her hands and knees to scrabble downward. H caught her arm in his hand.
With one finger over his lips, he guided her around a narrow cut in the land she hadn't noticed before. From here, she was hidden from the deer track they'd been on, completely out of sight of whatever H had been watching.
Her nostrils twitched. The scent of smoke.
H pulled her close under his arm and spoke directly into her ear. His words felt hot against her sensitive skin and she stifled a shudder.
"I think someone's got a camp up there."
For a moment, her heart thrilled. Was someone looking for them?
But then realization dawned. H hadn't called out, hadn't approached this possible camp. Were they in danger?
"I want to get closer," he murmured. "Figure out if whoever is up there is friend or foe."
The wind flicked dust against her cheeks and into her eyes. She gripped his shirt. "Don't go up there."
He smoothed his fingers across her cheek. "I'm gonna skirt around to the higher ground on the other side of the camp. Couldn't see anyone moving, but that doesn't mean much from the vantage point we had."
This time the gust of wind brought a stronger smell of smoke. How big was the campfire? In the growing dark, she saw the worry in his eyes.
"Here." H shrugged out of his coat, his arm brushing against her in their closeness. He wrapped the garment around her.
It was so big that it swamped her. But it also brought the warmth of his body, his familiar scent—the smell she'd breathed in when she'd woken in his arms this morning, her nose pressed into his neck—enveloping her.
"Be careful," she breathed.
He pecked her lips with a brief kiss and then disappeared around the jagged rocky edge.
She glanced around. The roaring water only feet away made her tremble. She couldn't say whether it was from the present danger or a memory that wouldn't surface. All day, she'd been plagued with flashes of faces—she couldn't remember the names to go with the people—and a humming voice in her head. She guessed it was her mam.
A tree had grown up on the rocky ledge above the water's edge, and she wedged herself between it and the boulder that made up part of the rocky wall arching above her head.
It must've only been a minute or so, but she already wondered where H was. How soon before he returned?
Be careful. The words she'd said to H echoed in her mind and a memory surfaced with crystal clarity.
"Be careful." She handed a bundle of loose papers to her brother. Joseph.
A beat of relief pulsed through her. She'd remembered her brother's name.
"You'll write to me? Promise."
There was Joseph’s rogue smile. A train whistle blew and another figure approached through the crowd on the platform steps.
H.
"It's time."
In this memory, H looked younger by a few years, his face missing some of its lines. And serious. If possible, even more than the grave expression he'd worn only moments ago before he'd left her.
