A fierce protectiveness rose within her, almost primal in its intensity. She had to keep Sammy safe until help arrived, not just because it was the right thing to do, but because . . . she loved him. The emotion had crept up on her during the last few weeks and burst upon her consciousness with blinding clarity. She would do anything for that wee bairn.

They hiked in a westerly fashion, passing numerous burns tumbling down the hillside toward one of the small lochans dotting the forest.

Sammy’s steps slowed, and he stopped gathering stray feathers. When they reached a stand of dead trees, Elise halted. Northward, through leafless branches, she spotted the ridge whose caves would hide their fires from spying eyes.

“Time for a break.”

Sammy flopped on the ground without removing the quiver. His eyes had dulled, and purple bruising colored the goose egg on his forehead.

She slipped her arms free of the bow and rucksack while she scanned the dead brush and trees around them. If she located fresh water nearby, they could set up camp.

“I’m going to look for a burn,” Elise announced.

“A what?” Sammy lifted his head.

“A stream. We need water.”

“Are we going to camp here?” Sammy eyed the dead trees with little enthusiasm.

“There isn’t enough vegetation here to hide our shelter, but we can drag these dead branches to a better site and build one. I can snap them into the sizes I need without using an axe.”

“Can’t we sleep under the stars? Gran read me a book about Indians. They slept under the stars when they were on the warpath.”

“Unfortunately, the weather’s too volatile in Scotland for that. See those clouds above us through the branches?”

Sammy focused on the leaden clouds overhead and nodded.

“We’ll most likely have rain before dawn.”

“Nuts. I wanted to tell Gran I slept like an Indian.”

Elise knelt on the moss covering the forest floor. “Do you think you can guard our belongings while I scout out a burn for our campsite?”

“You want me to protect all this stuff?”

“Aye.”

Sammy sat up a little straighter and nodded solemnly.

“Excellent. I shouldn’t be more than five minutes.”

Elise pivoted, heading for the closest thicket of trees. No matter how soon Gilmont located their vehicle in the Hermitage lot, the man had no idea which one of the six parks they had entered. Time was on their side for now—or so she told herself. When it came to Anders Gilmont, one should expect the unexpected.

Shadows deepened as the sun sank lower through the trees. Soon it would set altogether and leave them in twilight—tricky light in which to construct a shelter. Ignoring the pressure in her hips, she picked up her pace, her ears straining for the rush of a burn beyond the trickle of rivulets around her.