“I can only imagine how difficult this must be for you.”
“He wandered all those years thinking no one loved him, no one cared, while my father frantically searched for him.” He shook his head. “I am here only a short time and I find his trail. Why? Why couldn’t my father have found him?”
“I think it is easier to trace a man than it is to find a child. There are so many homeless children that it would be near impossible to find the one you search for. Would your father have recognized him if he had found him? He had left when his son was a mere babe and returned when he could walk. It was a difficult mission in more ways than one.”
“He blamed himself his entire life for leaving his family behind.”
“Your father attempted to find a better life for his son, and that he searched for him proved how much he loved him.”
“I won’t leave Scotland until I find Cullen,” Burke said stubbornly.
“Are you threatening me?” Storm teased. “Must I find your brother just to be rid of you?”
He raised their joined hands. “We’re stuck with each other until then.” He paused, staring at her. “Is that so bad?”
His query flustered her and she fumbled for an answer.
She finally calmed. “No, it is not so bad.”
He squeezed her hand. “Thank you for helping me. I would never have gotten this far without your help.”
“You are paying for that help,” she reminded.
“Somehow I think you would have helped me whether I paid or not. You just wouldn’t leave a man imprisoned if you could help it, though logically you can’t free them all.”
“I can try,” she said with a smile and a tilt of her head.
“A heroic gesture, but foolish.”
To his surprise, she didn’t disagree.
“So I’ve been reminded time and time again.”
“Then why do it?”
He noticed she glanced down at their joined hands, and for a moment, he thought he saw tears glistening in her eyes, but then she raised her head proudly.
“Someone has to help the helpless.”
“Are you pushing for sainthood?” He sounded petulant, but couldn’t help it. He worried about her safety, and yet each day she willingly placed her life in jeopardy. It irritated the hell out of him, though he did admire her courage.
She shrugged, her thin shoulders falling slowly down as if a heavy weight descended on her. “Don’t ask me to explain. It’s something I must do.”
“So you woke up one morning and decided to be an outlaw,” Burke said, needing her penchant for her work to make sense, needing to understand her more.
He realized he struck a nerve when she wiggled her fingers free of his, and her silence warned him that she was not about to share the truth.
Finally she stood. “I have things to see to.” And walked away.
He let her go. There was no point in stopping her. Obviously, she didn’t wish to discuss the topic, which made Burke all the more curious to find out about it. In time, though, he would.
He stretched his legs out in front of him and rolled his shoulders, easing the ache in his back. He had walked his fair share back home, but never the distance he had covered while here in Scotland. He much preferred a horse to his legs, but the terrain surrounding the camp wasn’t conducive to riding horses.
He wondered if Cullen was a horseman, or had he only his legs to depend on?
He was anxious to find his brother and get to know him. He hoped Cullen would agree to return to America with him if just for a while. Burke thought if he could get him there, Cullen just might like it and decide to stay.
Actually, with Cullen being a wanted man, there was no way he’d be able to remain in Scotland. He would always be hunted unless, of course, he could buy his way out of his crime, and he would certainly have the money to do that.
Their father had been brilliant when it came to investing, and money really was not a problem for either of them. They could live an entire life and not spend the wealth their father had accumulated, which continued to grow each day.
He wanted to make certain Cullen shared in that wealth, and he hoped to find in Cullen the brother he had missed while growing up.
But what of his brother? Was he a thief or falsely accused? Was he a good man or a troubled man? Would he welcome a brother into his life or take his share of the wealth and want nothing to do with Burke?
There was so much to learn and Burke was eager. But once Cullen was found it would mean that Burke would need Storm no more. They would part ways, never to see each other again.
The thought disturbed him, and try as he might not to think about it, she refused to leave his head. She had remained stubbornly fixed in his thoughts, and like a fool he had nourished those thoughts and allowed them to flourish. Now she was there to stay until he faced the fact that he desired the pea-sized outlaw and ached for intimacy with her.