Nickolas shrugged on his shirt, ignoring the pain it caused him. How could he have been so stupid? For one blessed moment, he'd thought they might be able to catch a break. He should have known he'd have no such luck.

Waking up beside Cassandra with the sun rays dancing on her skin had been like heaven. Sitting in the little house with her, eating breakfast with her, well, he'd realized he didn't want anything else from life. He'd gotten a taste of what it would be like to live a normal life, but a taste was all he'd ever get. He couldn't bring her into this.

To think, he'd been about to make love to her. How long had it been since he'd actually wanted to be intimate with a woman? With all the women he'd had to seduce for Granger, he'd learned to shut that part of himself off. Now, in the space of less than an hour, Cassandra had managed to undo years of hard work.

He wanted her. He wanted the quiet life with her. He'd wanted her so much he'd almost let himself believe that they could be together. Who was he fooling? That life wasn't for him.

"I don't understand." Cassandra clambered out of the bed, the blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders as if to keep out some kind of chill. "How did he find us?"

"I don't know." Nickolas replied shortly.

Turning, he opened the middle drawer of the dress and pulled up the false bottom, spewing junk across the floor. Opening the canvas bag within, he began to sort through the weapons he'd acquired over the years.

"You can't mean to meet with him." Cassandra seemed to realize what he was planning.

"If I don't, he'll destroy the village." Buckling on a belt, he turned to look at her. "There are good people down there, Cassandra, people I care about, and I can't let him massacre them."

"You know full well he wants more than just to talk, Nickolas. It's obviously an ambush!" She threw at him.

"Of course it is." He didn't look at her.

"I don't understand. Explain!" She grabbed his arm. "If you know it's a trap, surely, you know you can't go alone! You have to find someone to help you!"

"That's not going to happen. I have to finish this. Julian was the only person who would have been able to help me, and she's gone. Sooner or later, everyone I care about is gone, and I can't see that happen here without doing something." He pulled out of her grasp, pushing past her to the bed and shoving his feet into his boots.

"Then lure him away from here. Nickolas, please, you have to think of something else to do!" She followed him, sounding close to tears. "You'll die."

Nickolas scoffed. "Do you think I care about dying? I have nothing to lose. I can't waste this opportunity."

"You can't just do that!" Cassandra seemed close to stomping her foot in frustration. "It's not right!"

"Look, Cassandra, everything in the world is wrong. I'm wrong. I was an idiot to think anything could happen between us. After this, I'm going. I'm going to take you home, and then I'll disappear. You'll never have to worry about any of this again. It was a mistake to think I could have any of this the first place." He gestured between the two of them.

"You can't do that!" Suddenly angry, Cassandra stomped over to him, her eyes flashing fiercely.

He frowned. "Why? It's what I should have done a long time ago."

"Because!" She threw back, actually stomping her foot this time.

She must have known how childish it was, how silly she looked, but she didn't seem to care. Emotion writhed across her features like a fish out of water. What could bring this on? He'd been nothing more than a distracting plaything for her. Surely, it was like all the other men she'd played the coquette with.

"Why 'because'?" His frown deepened, and he looked at her with intense confusion.

"Because I love you!" She threw her hands out, and her voice rose in volume. "And you bloody well know it! Ever since you first danced lightly into my world, you knew exactly what you were doing. I tried to stop myself, tried to resist it, but you knew just how to disarm me." Angry tears sparkled in her eyes. "I'm in love with you," she shrugged again. "And don't you dare try to tell me differently, you lousy, hateful—"

He crossed the space between them in two steps. His hands pulled her ridiculously close, but she didn't seem to care. She didn't shrink away from his scent, even though he knew he had to smell of sweat and mildew. Neither did he. He didn't care what sort of picture they made or that there would be no happy ending for him. All that mattered right now was her lips pressed against his and the way she kissed him with everything she had.

"You know I have to go." He whispered against her lips. "I have to end this."

She looked up at him. "And when you do, you come back for me." It was a statement, but there was a question in her eyes.

"Always." He leaned his forehead against hers and breathed deeply of her scent. "But you'll need better clothes if you're to stay in the village tonight."

He let go of her and crossed the room to the dresser, opening the last drawer. The clothes in here were all from disguises he'd used from time to time. They would be wrinkled and smelly, but they were better than the lingerie she was wearing.

"What are you talking about?" She was confused.

"You're not staying up here alone. I need someone to keep an eye on you, someone I trust. There's a fisherman in the village who'll take care of you. He's a crazy old coot, but he'll see to it that you come to no harm." He paused for a moment. "And if I don't come back," he stood up, facing her. She opened her mouth to protest, but he put a finger across her lips. "If I don't come back, he'll see to it that you get safely home."

"I don't wanna go home." She sounded like a pounding child. "Not without you."

"I don't want you to have to, but we have to face the facts, Cassandra." He put the clothes in her arms. "These won't fit you, but at least they'll hide all of this," he indicated her exposed body. "from prying eyes."

"What? Are you afraid one of the fishermen might take a liking to me?" She raised a brow.

"Not with how annoying you are!" He raised a brow. "Plus, trouble follows you like a blood hound. Any man who would willingly sign up for that is a fool. I'm just trying to do those boys a favor."

She whacked him with the back of her hand. "Well, who knows, maybe I'll run away with one of them. He'd be sure to talk to me more kindly than you!" She tossed her hair over her shoulder and turned away, tossing the clothes onto the bed so she could change

"We both know I'd just come after you." Nickolas couldn't take his eyes off her.

"You're staring." She said, pulling the curtain closed.

He knew under their teasing, they were trying to cope with the idea that they might never see each other again. In these last few moments they had alone, they were silently hoping the whole Fulsmith thing was just a dream. If neither of them mentioned it, maybe it would go away.

"Besides, I think I should like being a fisherman's wife. What makes you think I'd want to go with you?" She said.

"What makes you think I'd ask?" He grinned.

She pulled back the curtain slightly, revealing a milky white shoulder. "Ass."

As if knowing what havoc her skin was making in his brain, she let the curtain drop a little more. Not enough, though. Never enough. Before he could react, she'd ducked back behind the curtain.

"Minx." He snorted. "Nah, I'd just follow you around until you decided I was the better option."

He half turned away, drawing a deep breath. He heard her footsteps, and then she'd slung her arms around his neck, pulling herself close to him.

"I'm going to wait for you, no matter how long you take, so you come back to me!" She whispered. "You come back!"

"Do you really think anything would stop me now?" He breathed.

"See that it doesn't." She grazed his lips with her own.

Groaning, he let her go. "You can't do that, woman."

"What?" She looked up at him innocently, and he realized she had no idea what effect she had on him.

Clearing his throat, he combed a hand through his hair. "Umm, let's go down to the village."

Cassandra seemed confused, but she didn't question his sudden subject change. She only lifted her baggy skirts enough to show off her bare feet. He chuckled softly.

"We'll have to buy you some shoes. I don't have any that will fit you. I could carry you down to the village if you'd like." He grinned.

She glared at him. "I already look ridiculous enough, thank you."

"Ridiculously beautiful." He muttered, turning away from her reluctantly.

"What'd you say?" She asked.

"I'm hungry." Nickolas shrugged.

They moved out the door together and strolled down the well-trodden path toward the village. Small fishing boats dotted the expanse of the loch, and smoke curled from chimneys, indicating the village people had been up and about their business for many hours now.

Nickolas felt a strange stirring in his heart at the sight of the little houses and their occupants living their lives in a normal, day-to-day fashion. He paused on the path. All these years, he'd sought to protect this place, to shelter it from men like Fulsmith and Granger, and now, his work was for nothing. If he didn't kill Fulsmith, this place would be destroyed.

He was going to ride out one more time. He going to end this and add another name to his long list of kills. He was going to die, too. There was no way he could cheat death this time, so this was his last time to look at this village, this place that had called him to the quiet life for so many years.

Cassandra was beside him, and as if understanding a piece of his pain, she reached out and took his hand. Lacing her fingers through his, she leaned against his arm, comforting him. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he kissed the top of her head. How did she always seem to know what he needed?

Sighing, he gave her a half smile, and they continued down the path. Why did all of this have to come now? He could have been happy to sit and watch England burn if Cassandra could stay with him, but he was tired of all this running. She didn't deserve that life, so he would fight to give her a better future, even if it meant it was without him.

There's always life in a fishing village. Among the smells of dirty human and fish, there's a certain thirst for life. Here, among the cottages and fishing boats, there was no concern of what was happening in the world beyond the village. Kings and queens came and went but paid little heed to inconsequential villages, so the people elected their own leaders and ignored the call of fancy city life.

Seamus O'Hara was, for all practical purposes, the mayor, the judge, nighttime smuggler, occasional pirate, and when the occasion called for it, the constable. He'd once been a London man and had seen no use to the life. On his way back to the village of his youth, he came across an injured youth, lying on the roadside waiting for death.

Seamus was an unassuming man. He paid no attention to the fact that the boy's injuries were bullet holes and knife wounds. Taking him home, he saved the youth's life and found the son he'd never have otherwise.

Taking Cassandra to meet Seamus was to Nickolas like taking her to meet his family. He knew that no matter what became of him, Seamus would look after her until he was incapable of doing so. Dirty scalawag as the old man was, there was no one else Nickolas could trust to do so well by her.

They found Seamus in his usual spot, overlooking the loch. Since he'd lost his right leg a few years before, fishing hadn't been practical for him. The water was still in him, though, and when he got too antsy, he'd row out onto the water in the middle of the night and sleep under the stars. It was almost shameful for him to go out in a boat in the middle of the day without a purpose, so he did it in secret.

"They told me you'd come back." Seamus didn't turn to look at them as they approached. "The boys could have used your help gettin' on the water this mornin'."

"Ah, they need the exercise. Besides, I was. . .otherwise occupied." Nickolas rubbed his thumb over Cassandra's hand.

"And how long wi—" Seamus looked him, turned around, and looked again. "You've come to stay for good?" The old man noted their linked hands.

"Not quite." Nickolas gave him a curt smile.

For a long moment, the old man stared at them with narrowed eyes as if trying to puzzle through what was going on. "Well, introduce me, boy, or have you forgotten your manners?"

"This is Cassandra. Cassandra, this dirty old man is Seamus." Nickolas grinned.

"Who are you calling old?" Seamus muttered. "It's a pleasure to meet you, though. The boy's been too long without the company of a woman."

Cassandra blushed, but she smiled. "The pleasure is all mine, I assure you." She took his outstretched hand.

"Come with me." Seamus said abruptly. "My wife will want to meet you."

Seamus shot Nickolas a look that told him to stay put before pulling Cassandra toward the familiar, neat cottage they'd built together so many years ago. Once they were out of earshot, Nickolas rolled his shoulders back and stretched painfully. Maybe he should have let Cassandra finish taking care of him before coming down here, but then again, he knew where that would have led.

"All right, tell me what's happening." Seamus's familiar grating footsteps met his ears.

"We don't have enough time for all of it, I'm afraid." Nickolas sighed.

"We'll see. Start with her. Who is she? She's not from these parts, and she's no common girl, either. What have you gotten yourself in to?" Seamus was methodical as ever.

"She's Lady Cassandra Antrucha."

The old man cursed. "She comes from a good family. Don't tell me you've got your heartstrings all tangled up in her. They'll never let you have her."

"Things didn't exactly go according to plan." Nickolas raised his brows. "I was supposed to be dead. Granger thought I was. I was going to undermine everything and bring it toppling down around his ears, and I was going to do quickly without getting too involved. She wasn't supposed to be in the picture at all."

"She's in love with you." Seamus said matter-of-factly.

"That wasn't supposed to happen, either." Nickolas whet his lips. "I need you to look after her."

Seamus blew a breath out of his nose. "Where are you off to now?"

"There's someone chasing us—one of Granger's minions. If I don't go talk with him, he's going to destroy the village."

"It's a trap?"

"Most definitely." Nickolas sighed. "Look, don't tell her this, but I don't expect to make it out of this one, Seamus. If I'm not back in two days, I'm dead or as good as. Someone has to look after her and make sure she gets back home safely, and I can't ask anyone besides you."

"I wish I could lend you a hand, boy, but most the men in the village aren't worth their weight in sand. They'd be more likely to get you killed than to help save you. If I were a decade younger, I'd be running after you without question, but I'm not what I was when I picked you up off the side of the road." It was true, Seamus was thinner and more worn than the last time Nickolas had seen him.

"I'm not asking for you to come. I just want you to take care of her. Take her to Fergus Manor; she's got family there."

Seamus nodded, rubbing his silver-white beard. "If I've read her right, she's not going to believe you're dead. She's going to keep waiting for you for the rest of her life."

Nickolas turned to look at the little house where Cassandra was now conversing happily with Seamus's wife. Would she really wait for him? There was so much life in her. She had a bright future that could be more full of happiness than he could imagine right now. Could she really spend the rest of her life mourning a man who had caused so much trouble for her?

He knew the answer before the question had fully formed in his mind. There was a constancy about her, a stubbornness that had first drawn him to her. Yes, she would wait.

Determination welled within him suddenly. It didn't matter how long it took or how impossible it was, he had to come back. He had to fight for not just his own life, but hers as well. He was going to try to live for her and for the future they could make together.

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Well, there we have it. Don't worry too much. It's not like I'd kill off Nickolas within the last five chapters of the book. . . .right????? I'm not too sure if I like the flow of this chapter. . .It's still a bit of a work in progress, I guess.

We're closing in on the finish. Any expectations for the next few chapters? I feel like they're going to be a bit of a surprise. Hopefully, a good one! Anyway, I guess this is it from me for now. I'm working on the next update. Who knows, maybe Saturday will see the next chapter posted??