Chapter Nineteen
Torin crouched atthe edge of a small cliff and looked down at the River Coquet and Braya bathing in it. He knew he should turn away, but the sight of her caught him by surprise when he was searching for berries for breakfast and mesmerized him.
It didn’t matter that she wasn’t facing him. Her long, creamy back, draped in waves of light, shimmering gold, and the alluring curve of her waist, set his blood to racing and made his muscles tighten. Part of him wanted to continue gazing at her, making him wish he could paint or put to words what he thought of her and how he saw her, like a living flower, perfectly crafted by God.
The other part of him wanted to tear off his clothes and dive down to her…hold her and kiss her, take her deeper into the waves and make love to her. But first—
She turned and looked up suddenly, as if she’d sensed his gaze.
Instinctively, he backed away and then fled.
Hell! He shook his head as he scurried away like the coward he was. Why was he running away? Why did the thought of facing her now make him want to keep on running? He should go back. No. He already looked foolish. He would not avoid her though. The thought of not being with her riled him and worried him at the same time. He was going to have to get used to not being with her soon enough. He didn’t want to rush the inevitable along if he didn’t have to.
He made his way down the steep hill and around to the riverbank. He would find her, apologize, and then meet her back at the campsite.
She was out of the water and dressed in her chemise when he arrived. The thin linen clung to her wet body.
Torin swallowed and commanded his eyes to look away. They refused.
“I did not mean to—” Hell, he could barely think and finally turned away when she reached for her léine. “I was searching for berries and I came upon—forgive me for staring, but you are like sunshine finally breaking through the clouds.”
“Torin.” Her voice rolled across his ears like the current of a rippling brook.
He turned to her just as she reached him. She closed her arms around his neck and fit herself perfectly against his body. Could she feel his heart beating against her?
“Torin, there is something I must tell you,” she said, looking into his eyes. “I…I am in love with you.”
Nothing in his life could have ever prepared him for this. He hadn’t loved or been loved in twenty years. He was afraid of it. In fact, it was theonlything he feared. No. He feared losing it, losing her. He wanted to believe he was in love with her. Better that than going out of his mind and ending up on the road, begging for mercy when he’d never granted any. Until recently.
“Braya.” He dipped his head to her and breathed across her lips. “I—”
“No,” she pleaded. “Let us say no more.”
He closed his arms around her slim waist and pulled her in close. She felt right in his arms. He felt restored in hers.
She opened her mouth to his and clutched his mantle in both hands as he pressed her to him. He swept his tongue inside her, gently brushing it over hers in a dance that freed his soul and captured him whole at the same time.
His slid his hands down her elegant back and rested them on the soft mounds of her bum. His muscles tightened. His kiss grew deeper. All he had to do was lift her up, free himself from his breeches, and have her right here. Right now.
But he was no brute. Not with women. He smiled against her teeth. Even women who would try to slay him.
“What is amusing about this?” She laughed and pulled away from him with a playful smile tilting her rosy, swollen lips. Swollen from him.
He growled from deep in his throat and closed his eyes, and then laughed when she poked him in the guts and traipsed away toward the water.
He untied his mantle, pulled off his léine, and kicked off his boots. She wagged her finger at him, telling him not to follow. Of course he would, as soon as he got out of his belt. He laughed and shook his head at himself that she could make him so pitiful he would forget how to remove his damned belt!
Finally! He flung it aside and gave chase. When he got close, she squeaked and kicked water at him. He bent and splashed her back until she screamed and ran again. He chased her through the shallow bank, over pebbles and other stones, feeling better than he ever had in his life.
He stopped suddenly and stared down at the water. Something swam across his legs. His smile faded and he lifted his arms in the air.
Braya stopped and watched him. “What are you doing?”
He swept his damp curls away from his eyes and cast her a worried look. “I felt something brush across my legs.”
“’Twas just a fish,” she said. He could hear the humor in her voice and almost admired how hard she worked at keeping it away. “Why do you look so alarmed?”
“I do not like what I cannot see.”
