Free Emerald (Jewel Trilogy, Book 2) by Lauren Royal Page A

pocket. Strange woman.
    It hit him then. As in Pontefract, there must have been no horses available here in Doncaster. She was only biding her time until the coach was ready to leave.
    Damnation. He would have to follow the coach after all, until Emerald managed to find herself a horse. And thereby risk Gothard getting to London ahead of him, potentially endangering other people there and along the way.
    Setting the empty tankard atop a gravestone, he groaned aloud at the thought. But he had no choice.
    Or did he?

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    Tilted, mossy stone markers were spaced unevenly on the grass. Caithren strolled the crooked rows, touching one here and there. The same names appeared over and over through the centuries. Mowbray, Southwell, Hodgkinson.
    She shivered as she touched the rough headstone of two Southwell bairns. They'd been dead more than two hundred years, one at the age of four, the other listed simply as "Infant Daughter." Cait's throat tightened at the thought of losing family. The recent loss of Da still hurt.
    "Boarding!"
    Startled, she glanced around the kirk toward the Greyfriars Inn. She'd enjoyed her solitude till the last possible moment, but now the coach had pulled up before the rounded corner of the red-brick building, fresh horses in place, and the first passengers were climbing aboard, that old bawface Mrs. Dochart among them. With a sigh, she kissed her fingertips and touched them to the sisters' gravestone, then turned to make her way back to the inn.
    The sun disappeared behind a cloud. Suddenly the cemetery seemed eerie and forbidding. A soft wheezy sound set her heart to pounding. Was she hearing muffled footsteps?
    Spooked, she froze in her tracks.
    It's the wind, she told herself. The wind whistling through the old kirk. Cameron always said she had too active an imagination. But her fingers flew to her amulet as her body tensed, ready to run.
    A louder footstep sounded behind her, and a hand clamped on her shoulder. Whirling, she shrieked.
    "Whoa, there." Beneath his wide-brimmed hat, the man looked puzzled and apologetic. "You look like you saw a ghost."
    The face registered, and Caithren's jaw dropped open. Her hands went to her heaving chest. It took a moment to find her tongue, but when she did, she let loose.
    "You!" The Englishman had said he felt responsible, but she hadn't figured he was insane enough to follow her. "You scared me half to death."
    "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you, only—"
    "What the devil are you doing here?" Still trembling, she leaned on a gravestone. "Did you follow me? I told you I don't want your help."
    He shrugged in answer as he gazed around the cemetery. "You're shaking. I suppose you believe in ghosts?"
    "I've yet to meet a Scot who doesn't," she said shortly.
    His lips curved as though he found that amusing. He motioned his head toward the gray stone kirk. "Why didn't you go inside?"
    She glanced from him to the building, then back. "You were watching me?"
    The thought was disturbing. She'd wanted to explore the elaborate medieval kirk, not to mention pray there for the stamina to put up with Mrs. Dochart for eight and a half more days. Lord knew she needed some help. But she'd been afraid the coach would leave without her, so she'd stayed outdoors instead.
    And he'd been watching her. A vague sense of unease stole over her. Her hand went into her pocket, feeling for the familiar comfort of Adam's portrait she'd put there to remind her of her goal.
    "I-I must go. Please, just leave me alone."
    "It's a beautiful building." He gestured at the bell tower, where no less than sixteen pinnacles crowned the battlement. "You really should have a look inside."
    The sun came back out, dispelling her nervousness. He was only a man, albeit a misguided one. "I don't have time to go inside. The coach is leaving."
    He nodded. "I'll walk you through."
    "There's a door on the other side?" She frowned but followed him, dimly wondering why she was cooperating with an