by Donna Grant
With curses mumbled beneath his breath, he jerked off his pants and walked to the water, calling himself ten kinds of fool for not taking a peek at Adrianna when he’d been able. It was likely the only glimpse he would ever get, and he had let it slip through his fingers.
Not even the continued pain of his wound could drag his mind away from Adrianna and her elegant beauty. He tried to clear his mind as he dunked his head. The cool rushing water rejuvenated him and cooled his lust, but the need didn’t go away.
Grayson surfaced, sat near the edge of the river, and raised his face to the sun as the water rushed around him. Memories of his mother flooded his mind. As young as he’d been when she was taken, he didn’t know if his memories were true or had been distorted over the years.
The thought of possibly finding her, of seeing her again, would be worth his death. How he regretted not being older and able to defend her against the men who had dared to rip her out of his arms.
Which was why he had trained with the finest knights in England. He knew if he ever went after those men, he would need to be one of the best. Drogan had seen to that. Grayson wouldn’t be where he was if it hadn’t been for Drogan.
Many times he’d wanted to confide his secrets to his friend, but Drogan had his own demons to deal with. And those demons had followed him to Wolfglynn.
Drogan had assured him all would be fine, but now Grayson wondered if he shouldn’t have stayed. Yet, if the evil tracked him as Adrianna said, it took the danger away from Drogan and Serena. For a while anyway.
He wiped the water from his face as he smoothed back his hair and reached for the knife to begin shaving.
* * * * *
Adrianna wrung out her hair and began to comb it when she realized she had forgotten the soap. She whirled around to retrace her steps and nearly ran into Yoska.
“What’s your hurry, Drina?” he asked with a brow raised.
She tried to move past him, but he blocked her. “I forgot the soap.”
“I think your warrior can return it once he’s finished.”
Her lips parted as her mind pictured Grayson swimming the same water she had just left. Maybe she should have taken longer.
Don’t be a fool!
She couldn’t let herself be tempted by him, no matter what her body said.
“I didn’t realize Grayson had gone to bathe,” she said and leaned against the cart. She continued to comb out her tangles, hoping Yoska would leave well enough alone. She should have known better.
“Are you sure you didn’t know?”
She met the tall Romanian’s gaze. “I saw no one when I left the river.”
Yoska grunted and folded his arms over his chest. “Did he see you?”
A thrill shot through her at the thought of Grayson watching her. The mere idea of it sent her blood pumping wildly through her, and a deep, soulful throb went through her sex.
“I wouldn’t know,” she finally answered.
Yoska gave another grunt before he turned and walked away, but Adrianna didn’t pay him any heed. Her mind was on Grayson and the river.
A small smile played about her lips. She couldn’t help but wonder if Grayson liked what he had seen. Her very next thought was why hadn’t he joined her in the water? Adrianna closed her eyes and said a prayer of thanks that he hadn’t. She was hurting Milosh enough already.
But once you leave? Will you be able to resist the temptation Grayson offers? Do you even want to?
God knew she didn’t want to resist him, but she must. Her desire was nothing compared to keeping him alive to face the evil. If only there wasn’t the curse, then she could give in to her desire. She still needed to know more of the future, to look further and see what Grayson needed to do in order to win.
If he wins.
She inwardly winced and finished combing her hair. Grayson losing against the evil wasn’t something she wanted to think about, or know for that matter. But would not seeing the future hurt Grayson? If she looked, she might be able to prepare him. She wasn’t sure how Grayson would feel about it, but he didn’t have to know. Adrianna wasn’t naïve enough to believe her people would continue. She was one of the last of the bana‐bhuidseach, and she intended to make use of the gifts she’d been given.
Her gaze shifted to Grayson as he returned from the river, his hair wet and his tunic in his hands. His skin, darkened to a golden hue, glistened with water droplets. She licked her lips as her gaze slid down his wide shoulders, chiseled stomach to his narrow waist.
Desire. Need. Hunger.
The words echoed in her mind, weakening her will to stay away from him. It would be so easy to give in, to listen to her body. But she had experienced firsthand what it was like to lose everything.
Adrianna inhaled deeply and turned her mind to the evil. There was so much wrong Grayson could set right. She had no choice but to use the gifts given her. She’d just have to make sure the evil didn’t find her first.
Chapter Eight
The tune his mother hummed was soft, soothing as they returned from the fields. She laughed as he ran in front chasing the pheasants.
“Grayson, be careful,” she warned when he got too far ahead.
But he wanted to surprise her. He hurriedly picked a handful of the wild flowers and rushed back to her. As soon as she saw him and his outstretched hand, she fell to her knees and opened her arms for him.
She held him tightly a moment before pulling back and giving him a kiss. “Are those for me, or did some girl catch your fancy?”
“They’re for you,” he said and held them out in front of her face.
“They’re lovely. Thank you.”
His chest puffed up, and he took his mother’s hand as she rose and started toward the castle. The day had been glorious. The sun bright, the breeze cool, and he’d had his mother all to himself.
But no sooner had they walked through the gates of the castle than thunder rumbled in the distance.
He looked to the sky. “Is a storm coming?”
“Nay, love. Something much worse,” she said calmly, but her steps quickened.
“Mum?” he asked as he nearly tripped and she jerked him.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Not now, Grayson. Hurry, love. You must hide for me.”
“I don’t want to hide.”
She slid to a halt and turned toward the gates, her face void of color. Her gaze then slid to him. “Grayson, listen closely. You must hide. Don’t come out, no matter what you hear.”
He knew something was wrong by the seriousness of her dark eyes. She held his arms tightly, but he didn’t complain. He was too frightened to do more than stand there. Unable to help himself, he hugged her.
What he thought was thunder was an army of men who came barreling into the bailey, dust billowing around them as horses snorted and jerked their heads up and down. Grayson squeezed his eyes shut when the horses surrounded them. He could feel his mother shaking, knew she was terrified.
“Remember. Run, Grayson,” she whispered in his ear just before someone jerked her out of his arms.
“Mum,” he yelled and tried to reach for her.
A man laughed and backhanded him. Grayson’s cheek exploded with pain as he landed on his back a few feet away, but he never took his eyes off his mother. Tears threatened, but he refused to let the men see. It took three of them to hold his mother as she reached for him, tears streaming down her face.
Grayson began to rise, to go to her. Then a man’s bearded face filled his vision, halting him. Eyes so pale they held no color glared at him.
“Well, well, well,” he murmured. “What have we got here?”
Grayson’s eyes flew open. He lay still, listening to his own ragged breathing as he recalled the nightmare, so vivid he had thought he was that young lad once again. Sweat trickled down his brow, and he could still feel the horse’s breath on the back of his neck, feel the malevolence in the colorless gaze.
“Grayson?”
Adri
anna’s hand touched his hand. He threaded his fingers with hers, needing her warmth. It had been so many years since he’d suffered from that nightmare, not since he was a lad actually. To have it again, now, was like a kick in the teeth.
He tried to rise, but she pushed on his shoulder to keep him down as she sat on the side of the bed. “Nightmare?”
“Aye,” he croaked out.
He needed to get up, to move around. Anything to get the images from his mind. Once more he tried to rise and, when she put her hands on his shoulders, he easily dodged them. Maybe it was because he needed her soft touch. Maybe it was because he hungered for her body but, instead of walking from the cart, he dragged her to his chest and wrapped his arms around her.
“Your heart is beating wildly,” she whispered, her hands rubbing up and down his back.
Did she know how she soothed him, that her touch was exactly what he needed? His hands plunged into her hair to keep them from shaking as he buried his head in her neck. She smelled of lavender and sunshine and magic.
“You’re frightening me. Please. Talk to me,” she pleaded.
He inhaled a shaky breath and raised his head to look at her. “You’re making a mistake coming with me. Don’t make me regret taking you, Adrianna. Please, stay here where it’s safe.”
“But it isn’t safe. Those men will come. If I’m here, it will only bring about death to my friends. I know too much about you. I have no choice but to go with you.”
He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers. “I saw him, Adrianna. I saw the man who took my mother.”
Her hands halted on his back. “What did he look like?”
“He looked...normal,” he said and shrugged as he straightened. “I used to have that nightmare nearly every night after my mother was taken. I rarely slept during that time. Then one day, they just stopped.”
“Only to resurface tonight. Was there anything about the man you can remember?”
Grayson chuckled. “Oh, aye. His eyes. They were almost colorless and had a vacant, evil look to them.”
“He should be easy to spot then. You need to try to rest.”
But that was the last thing he could do, not after such a nightmare, and not after having her breasts against his chest. Already his desire replaced the panic of the nightmare.
He lifted a strand of her hair in his fingers. It looked like spun gold and was as soft as ermine. How he longed to run his fingers through it as he claimed her mouth in a kiss that would leave them both breathless and hungry for more.
She said not a word as she rose from the bed to lie on the pallet she had made on the floor. She had told him she had a place to sleep, or he would never have taken her bed again.
Grayson rose from the bed and reached for his tunic as he walked to the cart’s entrance.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“I’m well enough to sleep elsewhere. Take your bed,” he ground out as he hurried from the cart.
He walked to the fire and nodded to one of the gypsies who stood guard. He wouldn’t get much sleep now, but at least he had Adrianna’s soft curves and heady scent to think about rather than the nightmare.
* * * * *
Adrianna woke well before dawn. After Grayson’s departure, she’d been unable to sleep. Her body’s instant reaction to him had scared her more than the fact he had seen who had taken his mother.
She liked being in his embrace entirely too much. Her loneliness was something she easily managed, or so she had thought. Each time Grayson was near, all she wanted was for him to touch her, to pull her against him and hold her.
Adrianna dressed in a simple gown of light blue. It was her favorite and one of her best. The wide, trailing sleeves and hem were patterned with small flowers in a darker blue. She wrapped the girdle twice around her waist before tying it in front and letting it trail nearly to her feet before she braided her hair.
When she finished, she left the cart to break her fast and spotted Grayson smiling at Nadya. Nadya was an exquisite beauty with her dark skin, exotic eyes and hair as black as midnight. Adrianna didn’t like the jealousy that surged within her as she watched the easy way in which Grayson flirted with Nadya.
He isn’t mine.
Yet, no matter how many times she told herself that, it didn’t stop the resentment. This was a side of Grayson she hadn’t seen, the charming, roguish side that could make even the sternest of women melt.
Adrianna forced herself to look away, but even then she could hear him as he chuckled at something Nadya said. When Adrianna glanced up after getting her food, she found Yoska watching her.
She gave him a smile and went back to her cart to eat before they got on their way. Adrianna checked her herbs as she ate to make sure she wasn’t low on anything. When her stomach was full, she readied to face the day. The rest of the camp had woken and begun moving about. When she left her wagon, several gypsies had already hooked their cows to the carts.
Adrianna dusted off her hands and started for her cows when she glimpsed Grayson walking toward her leading the animals.
“Good morn,” he said as he passed her.
Adrianna had no choice but to follow him. “I can get the animals myself,” she told him once she caught up with him.
“I’m sure you can.”
“I can even get them hooked up.”
He glanced at her and smiled. “I’ve no doubt.”
Adrianna shrugged her shoulders in defeat. Together, she and Grayson got the cows secured. She was so used to doing it herself, she was surprised at how well they worked together, almost as if they had known what the other was thinking.
She shrugged it off, refusing to think more about it than what it was. Instead, she grabbed her skirts and began to climb to the seat when his hands gripped her waist to steady her.
The movement was so unexpected that she nearly lost her balance and fell. She glanced over her shoulder at him, which was a mistake as she became lost in his silver gaze that had darkened with desire. White-hot longing shot through her, urging her, begging her to give in to the hunger.
“I’m just helping,” he said softly.
Adrianna didn’t bother to respond since she couldn’t form a coherent word. She managed a nod, at least she hoped she did, before she finished her climb and took her seat. As she reached for the reins, Grayson’s hands were quicker and snatched them from her grasp.
“I’m not helpless,” she ground out.
He threw her a grin. “I never said you were. I’m also not used to having nothing to do.”
She bit back her next retort. He was a warrior, used to aiding and defending those too weak to do so themselves. She should have known he needed to do something.
They sat in a comfortable silence as the gypsies pulled out and continued down the road. She noticed this time, however, her cart didn’t bring up the rear. Yoska maneuvered his wagon behind hers.
“Did you know they were going to do that?”
Grayson shook his head. “But it’s a smart move. They’re protecting you.”
“How is your wound?”
He flexed his shoulder. “It barely pulls, but I will need to work the muscles. If I had my sword.”
“We’ll find you another.”
“Let’s hope it’s before we encounter any trouble,” he murmured.
She happened to agree with him. The gypsies did have a few weapons to defend themselves, but nothing that could stop the men after Grayson.
“When will we leave?”
“Soon,” he answered. “I don’t like putting these people at risk any more than I have to. I’d leave today if I were able.”
“You mean if you had your sword.”
He looked at her. “If I had my sword and my horse, aye, I’d already be gone.”
“And what about your armor?”
“It’s added protection, but I’ve seen these men fight. I’m better off without it so I can move quicker.”
She gathered the lon
g length of her sleeve between her fingers. “I always assumed knights never fought without their armor.”
“Ah. Then there is much you don’t know of knights.”
She chuckled. “Apparently. I’ve some coin saved. It may be enough to buy you a horse, though it won’t be what you’re used to.”
“I won’t take your coin, ” he said as his gaze slid back to the road. “Though I thank you for offering.”
“Then how are you going to get a horse and sword?”
He grinned. “I’ll find a way.”
Chapter Nine
Grayson didn’t mind riding in the cart quite so much as he had thought he would. It gave him an opportunity to learn more about Adrianna. And he greatly enjoyed being near her, even if it made him have a constant cockstand because he could do nothing about it.
“How long have you been with the gypsies?”
She played with her sleeve as she surveyed the land around them. “Almost three years now. As a child I remembered them coming through our village a few times. With their bright clothing and laughter, it seemed like such a grand adventure.”
He could understand that. “What made you decide to join them?”
“I’m not sure,” she confessed with a small smile. “They rode through the village in need of a healer. I did what I could, but the woman was old and wasn’t able to fight the fever. She died and, when they were going to leave her cart behind, I asked if I could have it.”
Grayson lifted his brows. “This was hers?”
“Aye. The gypsies normally don’t welcome strangers into their family, but my skills with healing proved I could be useful.”
“Do they know of your magic?”
She licked her lips. “Milosh and Yoska do, and I think others suspect. I told Milosh and Yoska because I felt they had the right to know since it was their decision whether I could join or not.”