by Aliyah Burke
Colin couldn’t keep his eyes off the bird he held. Najja watched the myriad of emotions race through his gaze while he continued to stare at Indrani.
“Her name,” he whispered. “What does it mean?”
“Goddess of the sky.”
He reached out and stroked the feathered chest. “An apt name for sure. It fits her.”
They stood in silence while he pet the bird. Indrani cocked her head and immediately powerful wings beat the air.
“What is going on?”
Alert she uttered, “Lower your arm and launch her up.” All instincts screamed and she wanted to know why. Colin did, albeit a bit awkwardly, but Indrani made up for his lack of ability. The falcon took to the air with grace and power. The cry which filtered down filled Najja with concern. It was Indrani’s alarm cry.
“Something approaches.” She didn’t know if it was human or animal.
Colin didn’t ask. “Follow me.”
He led them up the stream until they were safely ensconced by the trees. The leather had been removed and as they halted near one another she was all too aware of his overwhelming presence. Two men on horses came into view and she checked Colin to see if he recognized them. It didn’t appear so. Neither did she but she did recognize one of the horses. The man who had shot Lord Adrys had been on that horse. Despite the dark she knew the chance of two horses having that same white triangle on its left shoulder was slim. She calmed her horse with a touch.
“Do you know them?” she asked even though she was pretty sure he didn’t.
“No. Do you?”
“At least one shot Lord Adrys.”
“I thought you said they wore masks.”
“I recognize the horse.”
He sighed. “We have to be careful. All I have is a knife.”
Her heart pounded at the thought of hunting with the man beside her. “You are not telling me it is too dangerous?”
His hand captured her chin and brought her face around to meet his. “From what I am learning about you, Najja that would be naught but a waste of breath.” He leaned closer and covered her lips with his. The kiss was short, heated, and left her breathless. When he drew back his eyes were stormy and dangerous. “Call me Colin,” he murmured.
She could not refuse. “Colin.”
“Good girl.” His touch dropped away leaving her bereft. “We should go.” With that he struck out after the two riders. She followed.
Thankfully, Fineas responded to the touch of her heel to his side for her hands shook. Even after she brought herself back under control she allowed him to retain the lead. All the while she berated herself for allowing this male to mean anything to her.
But he had and it killed her a little more each second she spent with him. As she rode behind him, watching the natural seat he had, it dawned on her. Sometime over the past numerous days she’d fallen in love with Colin Faulkner.
Shite.
Colin stopped and waited for her. Eyes that saw too much gazed upon her. Looking past him she saw another small hut, similar to the one they’d been in on Lord Adrys’ land.
“Do you still own this?” she asked with a wide gesture that encompassed the hut.
“Yes.”
She frowned. This place was in a total other direction from Hayworth Adrys’ property.
“There has to be another involved,” she commented offhandedly, more to herself than anything.
“Why?”
She blinked. “Look at them. Old clothes, scruffy appearance. Hiding way out here.” She shook her head. “They are doing the dirty work.”
She wheeled Fineas around. Colin stared at her, an unknown expression on his face. With a slow blink she moved Fineas out.
“That it?” he asked, his large profile in her peripheral.
“What did you expect? Me to ride in and kill them?” His silence spoke volumes and caused a sliver of pain in her. “They are of no use to me dead. Whoever hired them would merely hire more, new ones. I know these men now and will be alert for them around the family.”
She could see him mulling over her explanation. “How would you deal with someone hijacking your stuff?”
The question threw her for a moment. This had nothing to do with the men they followed here.
“Where are the things being taken? Land? Sea?”
“Land.”
“I would have a shipment leave as expected and lay a trap.” His jaw flexed a sure sign of his agitation. “Are people being hurt?”
“Yes.” The force of the word made it a curse. “This last time killed two men. They both had families.”
His pain could be felt and it tore at her. This illogical need had grown inside her to do what it took to keep him safe. If this is what love is, I want no part of it. “Do you know how many people are in on it?”
“One of my men said he recalled three voices but there could be more.”
She thought as they rode along. “I would schedule the next run, you know the route. Have a rider with you that you trust. Perhaps even another hiding in the wagon, all armed and expectant of the attack.” She thought for a moment and slanted her eyes at him. “Do you think it is someone who works for you? Or someone who just wants to steal your things?”
“I do not know. All I know is I am livid it happens. I want it to stop.”
Ice lined his words and she fought a shiver. “No one likes to be stolen from.”
His gaze burned as it snared hers. “You think that is why? I am furious because they killed two family men. Leaving the children to grow up without their fathers.” He jerked Salvage to a halt and jumped off. Every ridge of his body taut with frustration.
His reason amazed her, given what she knew of his own dysfunctional relationship with his own father. She, too, dismounted and walked up behind him, one hand reached out only to pause before actual contact could be made.
“I am sorry I misunderstood your reason.”
He shrugged dismissively before pinning those verdant orbs upon her. “Logical given my own relationship, or lack of one, with my family.”
She wiped her hands off on the gray fabric of her dress and stepped so they were shoulder to shoulder. “It was still wrong of me to make such a statement.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her with him to the base of a thick tree. At the simple touch, all chill from the day banished and she felt almost feverish. She thought about pulling away but the comfort his caress brought her negated that thought.
Colin sat with one leg propped up and his free arm draped over his knee. He kept hold of her hand and despite wearing gloves she could feel each sensuous sweep of his thumb across the back of her hand.
“My father is an ass,” he said without preamble and with the same tone one spoke of the weather. “My brothers are as well. All concerned with flashing money.”
She sat with her legs bent to one side. “And what did young Colin desire?”
“Adventure.” A wan smile graced his face. “So I told the old man I was going the military. He was almost proud until I said I wanted the Royal Navy as opposed to the army.
She pondered that for a bit. “And did you find your adventure?”
He pinned her with his changing eyes, staring at her from behind thick and curved lashes. Her throat dry, she swallowed a few times.
“I found adventure, yes. I also found that what makes the true measure of a man is not the circumstances of his birth but the character of his heart.” He shook his head and released her hand. “We were close. They were my men.” His tone betrayed the pain of his losses.
Najja wanted to reach for his hand and offer comfort but she folded her gloved hands in her lap. She didn’t quite understand what he’d gone through, losing men like he had. It was a foreign concept to her.
She realized she was an oddity. And a commodity. Sent in to do a job, no matter the cost. Josephine Adrys and her family were the first people who showed her what it was to be part of something greater than oneself. Family.
Those devilishly thick lashes lifted and she once again found his magnetic and assessing gaze fixated upon her. “Surely you have lost people close to you.”
“No. Jo and her family are the first I have allowed myself to be emotional about.”
He frowned. “What about your family?”
“The Adryses are as close to family as I have.”
“Surely your father--”
He stopped when she shook her head. “Father is a man who decides if I live or die. There is no,” she searched for the appropriate word, “parental love there.”
Disbelief filled his expression. “Your mother?”
“Never met her.” Najja rolled her head on her neck and struggled to explain, for the first time in her life wishing to share. “I have but one function. To serve Father. Go where I am sent, do the job and if possible find my way back to do it all over again.”
He moved close on his knees and gathered a wayward section of her hair, letting it slide through the black leather of his gloves. His gaze had darkened and swirled with emotion. All she could do was sit there and enjoy the sensuality which he embodied.
Pirate. Gypsy. Corsair. Privateer.
All decadent and mysteriously sexy. He was all rolled into one with a slight hint of arrogance aristocrats had a wealth of.
“Tell me, luv,” he said. “How did you manage to survive without love?”
She blinked. “Hard to miss what one does not have.” It lingered on the tip of her tongue to ask him the exact thing, yet she refrained.
He stretched out his long body, rested on an elbow and still played with her hair. His hooded eyes stared at her. “And Jo?”
The smile flashed involuntarily. “She was a pain. Never understood I wanted to be left alone.”
“So she wore you down?”
He tugged on her hair until she looked down at him. The winter sun glinted off the hoop in his ear. She wanted to tug it with her teeth. Smooth her hands over the corded muscles in his back and…
“Najja?”
She blinked and inhaled sharply. “She did. Never gave up. Followed me one day into the forest.” A shudder passed through her at the memory of that day. “After that, I figured the least I could do was teach her how to survive.”
He reached for the leather throng around her neck and began lifting it from her dress. His eyes on her, she remained still while he completed his quest. Free, it sat against his palm. Bone white against black glove.
Colin sat up and moved closer. He rolled the object between his thumb and forefinger. His eyes flowed from her to the item and back again.
“This is a tooth.”
“Yes, it is.”
“What is it from?”
“A leopard.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Who gave it to you?”
“I earned it. When I was younger.”
A furrow appeared between his eyes. “What did you have to do in order to earn this?”
She touched the large canine tooth. “Survive.”
He dropped the tooth and gave her all his attention. “I do not like the sound of that.”
Unrepentant she shrugged. Her life was as it was and she offered no excuses.
“Are you telling me you fought a leopard?”
She nodded as her mind flashed back to that day. The magnificent male had breathed his last with her. Even in death the creature’s lethal beauty could be felt and demanded respect. So did the wounds the cat had inflicted upon her young body. Injuries she ignored until she’d given the creature a proper burial. Taking his life had not been anything she’d wished and had made sure to ask for his forgiveness. Since that day she’d never killed another leopard. With a slight sigh she touched her side before Colin cleared his throat grabbing her attention.
“Where were you?” He didn’t speak of anything other than her trip through memories.
“Home,” she admitted.
“I thought you said your father’s camp was not home.”
“It is not. But Africa is.”
His gaze shuttered. “You will still leave Jo.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes,” she said with regret.
“What about you, Najja?”
She frowned slightly. “I do not understand. What about me?”
He positioned his back against the tree and drew her to settle between his legs. She fought the urge to totally sink against him.
“When do you get to find happiness?”
Najja blinked at the question. No one, not even Jo, had ever asked her such a thing. She could not call forth any response.
You were put here for my whims. Never forget child, you live and breathe because I deign to allow it, not because you have the right. The things you have, I gave and I can take them away. Anytime. Father’s words flared in her memory.
Colin held her tight to him. She could feel his arousal pressing along her back. Desire rocked into her with the force of a squall tossing about a tiny raft.
“I am but a slave, Mr. Faulkner,” she said climbing away from his intoxicating touch and forcing all personal feelings away.
He rose with a dangerously smooth motion and stalked her. She backed against another tree mesmerized by the raw power he exuded. Awareness erupted within her and she longed to purr and rub against him. Najja couldn’t tear her eyes from him as he approached. The wind circled around them moving his dark hair and cloak. Colin only stopped when his large, hard body pressed into her. One thick thigh wedged between her legs. His hands cupped her face and he lowered his mouth until their lips barely touched.
“You may be a woman who follows orders, Najja, but you are no slave. Not to anyone.”
Light feathery touches on her lips followed his decree. She brought her hands up and placed them under his cloak upon the solid wall that made up his chest.
“Open for me, luv,” he whispered, his mouth still tasting and teasing her.
She surrendered on a sigh and did as he’d requested. His tongue dipped and swirled like the air around them. Her world narrowed until only two people existed in it. He dominated her mouth and she let him. She reveled in it. For a moment she forgot he was anything but hers and elated in his touch.
When he drew back, her lower lip was caught in his teeth. He tugged lightly on it until he released it with a pop. Her hands rested against the rigid planes of his torso and he still cupped her face.
“Najja,” he murmured taking one of her hands in his. “I want you, luv. In my bed.” Their joined hands settled upon his stiff erection. She squeezed him and he groaned in response, thrusting against her palm. “I want to show you how it can be, Najja. Let me love you.”
The dark velvet of his voice made her quiver. To be in bed with someone by choice, not for any other reason than it was what she longed to do. What harm could it do? Father already assumed she had lost her virginity.
Her virginity.
She licked her lips. “I…there is something I have to tell you.”
“No. Your past is your past, Najja. I do not want anyone else there besides the two of us. No ghosts, nothing but the two of us.”
“Yes.” She rubbed her hand along his length and he cursed.
“No, luv. Not here. It is too bloody cold out here. I want to enjoy taking my time with you.”
Sexual awareness spiked. Najja regretfully released his shaft and trailed her hand down his cloak. “Kiss me again.”
His responding smile as intimate as the kiss they’d just finished. “Colin,” he said twirling some of her hair in one hand.
“Kiss me again, Colin.”
He complied before the final syllable vanished from the surrounding air. Heaven. That’s what his kisses were like.
Colin couldn’t keep his eyes off the woman who rode beside him. His blood surged at the prospect of having her in his bed. He craved the ability to undress her and lay her back upo
n his massive bed and enjoy each and every inch of her.
He had no wish to know how many men she’d been with. I will make sure she forgets them all. Jealousy simmered at the thought of anyone else laying a hand on her. Ever again.
With a grunt he again looked to the woman, who’d since her arrival tossed his life into a spiral of lust and desire. On the return ride he told her about his estates and asked questions of her travels. There was no more talk over them making love but he did claim one more passionate kiss before they rode into view of the house.
Jo was there immediately and Colin didn’t get a chance to see Najja again until the evening meal. Like usual she ate with quiet grace, while around him the family chatted and showed him how unique of a family they were, with their unconventional meal etiquette. He loved it. Najja merely observed and answered when asked a direct question.
After the meal had finished and he had been in his study for a while a knock came. “Enter.”
Abel opened the door and admitted Lord Adrys before he approached the large desk.
“Adrys, I will be right with you. What is it Abel?”
“This arrived for you sir, by messenger.” The sealed item was handed over.
“Thank you, Abel.”
“Very good, sir.” The man left in silence.
He stared at the item and frowned. His father’s solicitor. With disgust churning in his belly he tossed it to the smooth desktop and got to his feet. Adrys stood by the fire staring at the whisky in his hand. Colin joined him moments later.
“What can I do for you, Adrys?”
“Actually, I think this is more what I can do for you.”
One brow rose. He waited intrigued.
Adrys swallowed the whisky and placed the crystal upon the mantle. “I hope you do not take offense by my offer. I have been trying to find a way to thank you for your kindness when we blustered into your life that stormy night.”
He opened his mouth only to close it when Adrys raked a hand through his hair then continued, “Najja said she would be honored if she could help you with your hijacking trouble. She,” the man took a ragged breath, “has volunteered to accompany you on this next trip.”