Redeeming Vows by Catherine Bybee Page A

you will.”
    Well good, at least he knew where he stood.
    “Why didn’t you protest when Duncan suggested a watch in here?” he asked.
    “I’m stubborn, not stupid.” Liz glanced up at his shadow. His face angled toward hers.
    “No one could accuse you of stupidity.”
    It was as close to a compliment as Fin had come in a long time. A pool of warmth spread over her as if he’d just praised her. Perhaps talking with him in the night wasn’t such a wise decision. Everyone in the tent slept and the two of them sat under hushed whispers like two lovers engaging in a little pillow talk before sleep could claim them. Not that she’d had much experience with pillow talk. The lovers she’d taken over the years never amounted to that many and with a son to raise, he didn’t afford her the time to spend long nights and easy mornings.
    “What has captured your attention?” Fin’s soothing voice asked as if he truly wanted to know.
    There was no way in hell she was going to reveal her true thoughts. Slipping Fin into the image of a man in her bed came to easily lately. Having him discover that wouldn’t bode well for his inflated ego, or her resolve to keep her distance from him.
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    Liz didn’t answer his question, instead she asked her own. “Do you think Grainna will come back?”
    For a moment, Liz thought she saw Fin smile in the dark before his head turned toward the small bed holding Briac. “We have to assume she didn’t get what she came for. She will be back.”
    “That’s what I thought you’d say.”
    “We need to be prepared for her return.”
    “How can we be?”
    “We’ve been honing our skills.”
    Liz nodded toward her son. “And discovering new ones.”
    “And we’ve learned her strategies or some of them anyway.”
    “Which ones?” She hadn’t thought they’d learned much in the way of Grainna’s tactics.
    “She uses the weakest link to draw us in. She kidnapped Simon and attempted something tonight with Briac.”
    “Which means she might try with Amber or Cian.” She hadn’t thought of that.
    “Or any of you women. Don’t forget about Tara’s abduction.”
    “You’re right.” Liz would love to counter him, but couldn’t. She realized her shoulder had nestled up against his during their conversation. Pulling away would make her look foolish. And in truth, she didn’t want to. Not yet anyway.
    “Does it hurt to say that?”
    “To say what?”
    “That I’m right?” he chuckled.
    Quiet laughter shook her frame and the terror Grainna had placed in her earlier that evening finally started to drift away. “It pains me deeply.
    And if you go around telling anyone I said that, I’ll deny it to my death,” she joked.
    “I’m sure you will.”
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    Their laugher ebbed and silence followed, not an awkward quiet, but a peaceful one.
    Fin reached up and drew her head to his shoulder. Once there, Liz felt her eyes start to drift closed. She should move back to her bed, but couldn’t find the strength.
    Liz felt the pad of his thumb stroke her cheek.
    “Sleep,” he whispered. “I’ll watch over you.”
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Chapter Nine
    “My ass is so sore from sitting on this horse I could scream. Somewhere in my sick, twisted mind, I looked forward to getting away from the keep. Now at least I’ll know what I’m talking about when someone suggests a visit to the coast.” Tara’s complaints matched Liz’s thoughts exactly. They’d been riding for four days, four long, tiring days. It didn’t help that sleep didn’t come easy with the threat of Grainna hanging in the air. She hadn’t come back, but everyone knew it was only a matter of time before she did.
    “I could use a bath,” Liz added her own complaints.
    “Duncan thinks we’ll be camping by a river tonight. We can bathe there.”
    The thought of clean water, even cold, frigid water brought a smile to her face. “Maybe Duncan could stand upstream and heat the