His hands came down and pushed her hands away from his waist. She immediately felt the absence of him. That was an oddity in and of itself, but she didn’t give herself time, didn’t dare give herself time, to question why she felt that absence. They were about three-quarters of the way down now, and the ground had leveled into a sort of ledge. He peered over the side and down at the village below before leveling a direct gaze on her face.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever thought about it. It’s just the way things were. When we were made, my father was the first, and he was also the leader of the knights that were cursed to be dragons. I guess it was just a natural thing.”
She regarded him steadily. “A natural thing?”
A small vertical slash appeared between his eyebrows. “My father came from a time different than the one you live in. Back then, feudal law and rule of blood were common. Kings were born for the most part and others made by war. He seemed to fit both bills, I guess.”
She could agree to that but it had not escaped her notice that his answer had been evasive and uncertain. She knew she shouldn’t ask, but her thoughts of her own cowardice and career made her say, “If you could choose to be anything you wanted to be, what would you be?”
He gave her a sheepish smile. “The time when knights lived and fought on your world is over. Those times are over here as well. We’ve managed to come to some sort of peace with the Orcs, and we avoid the elves. There’s really no need to fight so we don’t, but if I had my choice, I’d be a knight.”
“I think you’d make an incredible knight.”
He smiled at her. “Let us hope that peace remains and I never have to find out.”
She gazed down at the small town and said, “I think I can make it from here.”
He nodded and pointed to where the path bumped sideways and then moved downward again. “All right then.”
She started walking, striding along right next to him. She wasn’t actually confident in her ability to make it down the side of that mountain; she just knew that if she continued to touch him, she was going to lose her usual inhibitions. There was just something about Max that made her so heated and left her so aching that she was afraid of it. Him too. Any man who could make her feel that way was a man she should not get close to.
