“You think you don’t, but you are wrong. You don’t know Boucher. He is a dangerous man,” Landyn protested.
“He is,” the man on the ground agreed.
“Shut up,” Raven snapped at the toothless man without taking her gaze from Landyn. “I don’t care how dangerous he is. You left me.”
“You should care!” Landyn hollered, his blood boiling at her innocence, her insistence. “About all of this.”
“I don’t care because I am more dangerous than he is.”
“You think you are, but you’re wrong.”
“He killed my father,” Raven growled with murderous rage clenching her jaw.
“I know he did. And he killed those farmers. But you are not like him. He is sneaky and murderous. And cold. And you are none of those things. He’ll kill you just as he did those farmers.”
“I am not one of those farmers. I’m trained to defend myself.”
“She is good with a sword,” the man on the ground agreed.
“Shut. Up!” Raven hollered more forcefully. She marched up to Landyn.
“John was good with a sword, and Boucher killed him,” Landyn said rationally.
Raven’s glare turned furious, irrational. “This is my mission.Myfather was killed. You’ve given up every right to be part of it by leaving me.”
Landyn shook his head. “I promised John I would care for you.”
“And you do that by leaving me?”
“By protecting you.”
Raven stepped up to him, pushing toward him. “I am not your wife. I don’t need your protection.”
The mention of Viola caught him unaware. He was certain she had done it on purpose, to stun him. He ground his teeth and swallowed in a tight throat. “Boucher doesn’t play by the rules. If he hurt you… If hekilledyou… I don’t know…”
“Don’t know what?” she demanded.
Landyn’s shoulders sagged. “I don’t know what I would do.”
“Because of your misguided vow to my father?” Raven challenged.
“Yes. No! Because of so much more. You’re smart and beautiful and strong and talented. I couldn’t risk your life.”
“So instead of facing this together, you ran away? You left me alone.”
Landyn clenched his teeth. “I was going to kill him so he couldn’t hurt anyone else.” His chin lowered to his chest, and he stared down at his feet. “I should have done it after he killed Viola. Then those farmers would still be alive. John would still be alive.”
Her gaze raked over him, and her mouth closed into a thin line. She suddenly pressed her lips to his.
Raven wanted to punish him. But she also wanted to console him. And she desperately wanted to kiss him. His lips were firm with shock for a moment. Then, they softened beneath hers like a sigh, and he took control. He answered her need with desperation and heat. His lips slid across hers in a moist, expert kiss.
She had been in control when it started, but suddenly as his hands wrapped around her, one entwining in her hair, her restraint swirled away in a flood of rising desire. He pushed tight against her, and she felt the length of his hard body. She had never wanted to be kissed before. But it was different with Landyn. She wanted to be in his arms; she wanted to feel him. It was a desperate need, almost as essential as breathing.
Her horse whinnied. It was an alarm in her mind, and she turned her head from Landyn’s kiss out of instinct. Through a foggy awareness, she saw the captured man climbing to his feet.
As if a bucket of water were dumped over her heated skin, the passion was gone. She pulled away from Landyn, yanked her sword from the dirt, and dashed two steps after the man.
The man bowed his head and cringed from her as she reached him. “I was only stretching me feet,” he said.
