Free Vidal's Honor by Sherry Gloag Page B

him shuffle. “We follow the river.”
    â€œSo I gather.”
    â€œYou do not understand. We follow the river by using it to cover our tracks from those you say are following us.”
    â€œYou—!” Honor remembered to lower her voice and started again. “Are you implying we are going to ride through the water?” Consuela, she noted, didn’t appear any more pleased with this plan than she did. “But it is dark, what if we slip and fall?”
    â€œWhat if those behind us catch up?” Juan snapped back, his patience dwindling. “Let us stop wasting time. We go, and hopefully evade them.” He pointed down the hill. “Or you stay here and take the consequences. It is your choice. Me? I go!” He turned to glare at Consuela. “If you are coming then don’t keep me waiting any longer.”
    With that, the Spaniard jerked on his reins and headed his mule towards the river.
    Afraid the darkness would swallow him up, Honor urged her mount forward and listened to Vidal and Consuela fall in behind her.
    The going was tough, slow and bone-deep chilling. The mules balked at the prospect of entering the water in the darkness. Considering they’d crossed several rivers of similar size, Honor couldn’t help wondering how the animals sensed this entry would be different.
    No amount of urging from Consuela convinced hers to step into the river and it took Juan’s impatient tug on the reins and the weight of his own animal to haul the reluctant beast into the water.
    â€œEnough,” he hissed at them. “If we make much more noise we will be heard on the other side of the country. Come, we’ve wasted too much time as it is.”
    With that he splashed to the front and for the next three hours, until the faint promise of dawn touched the sky, Juan led them for miles against the flow of water.
    * * * *
    Almost falling out of her saddle from fatigue, Honor continued to grapple with the problem that faded in and out of her mind. Something about time and trust? Or was it a lack of trust? Vidal’s voice impinged on her inner concentration. But whether it was real or a dream she no longer cared. The cold embraced her like a lover, enticing her into a place of no pain, no thoughts, and no problems.
    Carefree.
    She tried to remember the last time she’d felt so carefree, until with a curse, she fought the hands calling her back from the edge of blissful oblivion. Someone was shaking her and a voice, harsh and insistent, refused to let her fall back into…
    A sharp crack across her face forced her eyes open. “Stay awake, Honor,” Vidal, not Devlin, demanded. What was Vidal doing here when she’d been running to meet Devlin?
    Vidal’s face loomed over her and that of another, a female. One she thought she ought to know and couldn’t place.
    â€œTake this.” Vidal turned away from her at the sound of the voice, and Honor wanted to reach out and stop him but found her arm to heavy to raise. When he looked back she saw his lips move and tried to focus on the words.
    â€œTake a sip of this. It will make you feel better.”
    For reasons she couldn’t explain she did as he bid and choked on the fire that ran down her throat.
    â€œTake her up in front of you.”
    This time when he spoke, Honor recognised Juan’s voice.
    â€œI’ll lead her mule until she is fit enough to ride alone. But we must keep moving if we are to throw off our unwanted company.”
    Where had the darkness gone, she wondered, as a shaft of pale sunlight blinded her when Vidal lifted her onto his mule. Somewhere in the sludge of her mind, she understood something was wrong, but couldn’t work out what, and settled for the comfort of Vidal’s body-warmth against her back.
    When she tried to move she found herself held fast by his arm around her waist. The last time a man held her…
    Memories flooded back. Devlin. He’d held