An icy shiver ran through her, and she shuddered as another vision assaulted her. This time she saw only the blond woman. She was reaching out, calling for Trey, tears streaming down her cheeks, begging him to help her.
She heard herself whimper and felt her body shudder again, but try as she might, she could not escape the vision. She was trapped, just like the woman.
Her whole body jolted, and she was yanked out of the vision so sharply that she cried out.
“I’ve got you. You’re all right,” Trey whispered in her ear as he held her snug against him.
She realized then that he lay stretched out beside her. His warmth flooded her and began to chase away the chill that seemed to run deep into her bones, and she didn’t want his arms, so hard with muscles, ever to let her go.
She was grateful he lay wrapped around her. She had never experienced a vision like that before. Never had she felt trapped in one. The visions came suddenly, and often without warning, and left just as suddenly. But never, ever had a vision trapped her.
She shivered with fear.
Trey gently stroked her back. “You’re safe. It’s all right.”
“No, it’s not,” she said, pressing her face in the crook of his neck.
“Why? Tell me what frightened you,” he urged.
She slowly eased her head back to look up at him and was grateful for the concern she saw there, but more so for the indomitable strength she forever saw in his eyes. He made her feel safe.
“Tell me,” he urged again.
“I was trapped,” she said softly.
“Where?”
“In a vision.” She shivered again, and he instantly pressed his lips to her brow.
“I pulled you out,” he said, and kissed her cheek. “You are safe, and I will see that you stay that way.”
She grasped hold of his shirt. “I have never been trapped in a vision. If you hadn’t pulled me out, I don’t know how I would have gotten out.”
“Tell me about this vision.”
She shook her head. “No, I do not want to get pulled back again.”
He pressed her cheek to hers. “It’s all right. You don’t have to say anything. And if you were to get pulled back in, I would pull you free again. So do not worry.”
“How would you know I was trapped—how did you know I was trapped?”
“I didn’t know. I thought you suffered a bad dream. But I know now, and I know what to do, grab hold of you and hold you tight.”
Bliss cuddled closer though she was already firm against him. She needed to feel his thick muscles pressed against her, feel his warmth, and share his strength, his courage. She didn’t want him to leave her side. She wanted him right there beside her all night. But how did she ask him to stay?
With courage, she said, “You’ll stay with me tonight?”
“I had no intentions of going anywhere. It is in my arms you’ll be sleeping tonight.”
She placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. “I am grateful.”
“I am here for you, wife, whenever you need me.”
Chapter 6
Trey and Bliss woke with the sunrise and were on their way. Trey would have preferred Bliss rest in his arms, but that wouldn’t have been a prudent decision. Once the two soldiers were missed, others would be sent. It was inevitable that they would run across the king’s soldiers again. And the more soldiers, the more victory favored them.
He wished they hadn’t had to rush. He liked waking up with Bliss wrapped in his arms, her head tucked in the crook of his shoulder. She seemed to belong there.
Where Leora once rested.
The thought had only now crept up on him. Unusual, since Leora had been first on his mind every morning he had wakened, since her death . . . how long now?
He shook his head. He had faithfully counted the passing days, as if hoping he would somehow reach the end of his misery. Had that been today? Had sleeping wrapped around Bliss made a difference? Had feeling connected to another woman helped heal his pain?
A sudden memory sprang up that chilled him to the bone. He recalled meeting an old woman, a seer he thought, though he learned later that she was believed a witch. She had pertinent news of Reeve’s wife, Tara. She also had predictions for him, warning him that he would suffer great injury and that when he woke from healing, he would gaze upon the face of his future wife. He had shared all the information with his brothers, feeling somewhat of a fool for rattling on about gazing upon his future bride when he woke and learned it had been Bliss. He shook his head again. The seer had been so accurate; all her predictions had come true. How was it possible for a person to peer into the future like the seer did . . . like Bliss did?
“You debate yourself?” Bliss asked.
Trey sent her a questionable glance.
She smiled. “You keep shaking your head, stop, then shake it again. You must be debating something with yourself.”
He grinned. “It’s a good debate I often have.”
“Who wins?”
He laughed and thumped his chest. “I do, every time.”
Her laughter warmed his heart, a heart that, he could not deny, was beginning to feel again. And for the first time in what seemed a very long time, he wanted it to.
“Could we stop for a few moments?” she asked.
“Your arm pains you?” he asked concerned.
“My stomach,” she said with a smile.
He nodded. “You’re hungry.”
“So are you.”
“You know that?” He shook his head again. “You heard my stomach protesting.”
She laughed. “Quite loudly though you were too deep in thought to pay heed to it.”
A matter he had to rectify. He could not keep getting lost in his thoughts and fail to pay heed to his surroundings. It had already proven dangerous; he did not want it to turn fatal.
He found a spot beneath a towering pine that had shed enough needles to provide a nice cushion for them to sit on.
They shared the last of the food, having determined that it would take perhaps three hours or less to reach their destination. Then food and shelter would be no problem. Once finished there, they could start their journey to MacAlpin keep, where he could see she was kept safe.
“What is it that so often steals your thoughts?”
Her question startled him, especially since he wasn’t prepared to answer it. But how did he avoid it?
“It does not involve the true king,” she said, staring at him strangely.
“You intrude where not invited,” he snapped, not wanting her to know his private concerns.
“My apologizes,” she said, and turned her head away from him.
A twinge of guilt struck him, not for warning her about intruding on his thoughts but for snapping so sharply at her.
“There are things that are private,” he said in way of an apology though he would not offer one. He did not want her to know his every thought, and she had to realize that.
“I understand,” she said.
He didn’t like that she kept her head turned away from him. He reached out, his hand slipping beneath her chin to gently turn her face.
She avoided his eyes, and he didn’t like it. “If you’re angry with me, have your say and be done with it.”
“I am not angry,” she said her glance finally falling on him. “But it is difficult for me to avoid your thoughts when you so easily open them to me.”
“You know all my thoughts?”
“Not all. Some come jumbled though I don’t know why, while others are clear, as if you are speaking to me. I don’t understand it myself. Usually, I sense or have a vision, or I hear a thought or two.” She shook her head. “Not so with you. I have seen and sensed more than most with you.”
“I cannot have you knowing my every thought. It cou
ld prove dangerous for you,” he said, and difficult for him. What would happen when he got the urge to kiss her? Or his thoughts turned intimate. What then? “How do we stop this?”
Her surprised, steady gaze was enough to let him know that she had heard his thoughts. And there was only one thing to do. He cupped her chin, tilted her head up, and kissed her.
His kiss was as confident as his stance and his stride. This was a man who knew what he wanted, and he wanted her. The overwhelming sensation of his desire and the rise of her passion melted away any doubts that this was wrong.
Bliss did something she rarely did—she let herself be carried away. She surrendered to her senses instead of relying on them. Soon, nothing but the kiss filled her head. It was the most freeing feeling she had ever experienced. And she didn’t want it to end; she wanted nothing more than to linger and enjoy it.
After bringing the kiss to an end, he teased her bottom lip with nibbles and in between asked, “Do you know what I’m thinking right now?”
“Befuddled,” she murmured, her mind and senses dwelling on the kiss and his tormenting nibbles.
“My kiss bewildered you?” he asked with a prideful laugh.
“It did, it has, it does,” she said, her rambling words proving truthful.
He laughed again, kissed her hard, and hugged her tight. “We have settled our dilemma.”
Her mind had yet to clear, and so she asked, “How?”
“It is simple,” he boasted. “I will kiss you whenever you sense too much about me.”
The idea startled her though she could not say she opposed it. She did, however, want to know, “But do you want to kiss me?”
He laughed again. “It has proven successful already. You have forgotten.”
She smiled. “I remember now. I sensed that you wanted to kiss me.”
“And so I did, without objection from you.”
“It was most pleasant,” she said, “and gave my mind rest.”
“Then since I wanted to kiss you, and you wished me to kiss you, we have no problem in how to settle this dilemma.”
It seemed reasonable enough though she was concerned with where it might lead. But they would not be together long. Even though his intentions were to return her home with him, she had different plans. She would go to her home and remain there with her people. They would protect her, and it would give her time to think about Trey. Nothing made sense when it came to him, not her vision, not her knowing, nothing, and she needed to make sense of it before she lost all sound reason and did something unwise.
“For now,” she said. “But time may show us otherwise.”
“What do you mean?”
“It is up to time; it is not for me to say.”
“You speak in riddles,” he said.
“It will make sense soon enough.”
He shook his head. “You confuse.”
She laughed. “It is the way I often feel.”
He stroked her cheek. “How difficult it must be for you.”
No one had ever cared how she felt. What mattered was what she could tell people. What they wanted to hear. What they needed to know. Her grandmum had told her that she would be condemned more than revered. And that life would prove difficult for her unless . . . she was lucky enough to have someone understand and love her for who she was.
She could not help but wonder if Trey could be that man.
“Sometimes more than others,” she answered. She thought he would kiss her then, he leaned in close. But a noise startled them both, and they jumped apart.
Trey’s hand went to the hilt of his sword, and he cast a cautious glance around.
“Animals at play,” she said.
“You know this?”
She pointed to two squirrels scrambling along the branch of a tree.
He shook his head and stood. “We have wasted enough time.”
Was that what he thought of their time together—wasted? She knew before the thought was finished that it was not what he meant. He was concerned for her. It showed in his eyes and his touch. He reached out and took her hand as he always did, as if by simply holding on to her, he could keep her safe.
Bliss wasn’t so sure. As much as she wanted to believe their time together would be over soon, and she could go home as planned, she didn’t see it that way. What was it that would keep them together, at least for a time? And why did she try so hard to deny it?
He stood, reached down, and grabbed her around the waist, but before he lifted her gently to her feet, he asked, “How is your arm?”
“It heals well,” she assured him. The little healing she had done on it had helped greatly.
He lifted her, settling her in front of him, his hands remaining at her waist. “We need to be on our way.”
She was growing much too accustomed to his touch. His hands were always there to help her, and she found herself relying on him. It seemed strange, yet so right.
“Aye, I agree,” she said. “A storm will break soon enough.”
“There isn’t a cloud in the sky.” He smiled, though as they took a few steps, the first gray cloud raced overhead, and others soon followed.
Bliss shivered, not from a chill but the portent of the darkening sky.
Trey kept close watch on Bliss as they made their way along a well-traveled path. He had thought to travel the woods rather than a worn path, but with the terrain rough and her wound so fresh, he felt in the end it would only slow them down.
He also wanted to reach her friend’s before the storm broke, and so the well-traveled road was a quicker route. Or perhaps it was he who needed the familiar road, feeling in unfamiliar territory with Bliss.
She was different in many ways and yet so familiar in others. When he had kissed her . . . his groin had tightened, a common enough reaction, and yet he had thought only on the kiss, nothing beyond that. It had been—he almost laughed aloud, for the kiss had been magical just like Bliss herself.
But how to deal with magic? Women could be complicated creatures on their own; add magic, and what then? There was much besides the kiss to consider, and the only way he could conceive of making sense of it was to pursue it. And he truly did look forward to the pursuit.
The weather did not favor them, rain starting to fall when they were not far from their destination. By the time they arrived at her friend’s cottage, they were nearly soaked through.
A sharp crack of thunder heralded them through the door, and they both stood silent after first glance. The cottage was empty.
Trey went to the fireplace and after examining the half-burnt log and ashes, said, “This has been cold for some time.” He grabbed kindling from the nearby basket and soon had a fire going.
Bliss moved close to the hearth, rainwater dripping from her cloak and down her face from her wet hair. She held her hands out to the heat, her eyes fixed on the leaping flames.
Trey remained silent though deep in thought. Had her friend died because of their delay? If not, where could she have gone? Bliss would surely blame herself if anything had happened to the woman.
He wanted to comfort her, and so he reached out to take her hands in his. He was stunned when she not only pulled away from him but turned and walked away. He could well understand her upset, but her rebuff disturbed him.
“Bliss, you—”
She didn’t turn around, her back remained to him, and she shook her head and, with a snap of her hand, warded off his words. He bristled at her sharp dismissal. He offered comfort and help, and she rejected both. He turned around, hunched down and stoked the fire, the flames heating his annoyance.
Damn, but he was irritated. He didn’t want her to shoulder this responsibility alone. He had had a hand in their delay. It wasn’t entirely her fault.
He almost jumped when her hand came to rest lightly on his shoulder. He l
ooked up and grew even angrier though this time with himself. She looked exhausted, her face pale, and she shivered.
“Thank you,” she said, “for remaining quiet and giving me the time I needed to sense what had happened to my friend.”
He felt like kicking himself for his foolishness. He had allowed his own misgivings to interfere when his only concern should have been for her. How many times would he need to remind himself that she was unlike other women? How long would it take for him to truly get to know his wife?
“She is well?” he asked standing and reaching out to slip her wet cloak off her shoulders.
“She was too ill to leave on her own. My people have taken her to my cottage and will look after her until my arrival.”
“Two days at least to get there,” he reminded, draping her cloak on the back of a chair near the fire.
“She is in good hands and should do well until I arrive though I feel that she will need to stay with my people or perhaps seek shelter with yours. She should not live alone any longer. Dolca needs family.”
“She is welcome in my home,” Trey assured her.
“No doubt she will be,” Bliss said with a shiver.
“You need to get warm,” he said, reaching out to rub some heat into her arms. His hands met wet wool. “And you need to get out of those wet clothes.”
“As do you,” she said, grabbing a handful of his shirt and squeezing the rainwater from it.
“We’re a good pair,” he said with a laugh. “Wet—”
“Tired.”
“And hungry,” he finished.
“Dolca should have food about, and she might have left a garment behind”—Bliss grinned—“though I daresay none that would fit you.”
“Then I will just have to go naked until my garments dry.” He quickly slipped out of his shirt, leaving his chest bare.
Bliss’s cheeks burnt red, and she hurried over to the single bed tucked in the corner of the one-room cottage. She grabbed the blanket folded at the bottom and tossed it to Trey. “That should do nicely.”
“It embarrasses you to see me naked?” he teased.
Wed to a Highland Warrior Page 5