Bernt looked more boy now than youth. She had him. A boy’s sense of adventure was universal.
“It’s a magical world out there.”
Torben’s eyes focused. “You’ve seen magic?”
She lowered her voice and leaned forward as if she was about to impart a great secret. “I can do magic,” she told him.
“Show me,” he demanded.
Now she had him, too. She only had to draw out his curiosity until her missing magic reappeared.
She stretched her arms above her head. “Oh, I’d love to,” she told them. Was she going overboard with the reluctance lacing her voice? “But it seems I have to be on my way.” She aimed her steps in the direction of the door.
“Oh, but—”
“Maybe you can stay a little longer.”
She flashed them a smile. “You did say something about clothes.”
“And we have something that will take away the pain of your cuts and sunburn.” The boys left her side in a sprint, Bernt rummaging through an old wooden chest by the window, while Torben vanished into the bedchamber. They both returned with well-worn but clean pants and shirts. About three sizes too big. But if for some reason she was back out wandering the woods again, the rugged material of her new outfit would protect her from the sun and the tree limbs.
“Tell us about what you’ve seen,” Torben urged.
What would intrigue him besides her magic? Food always worked for her. “My favorite day is market day. All the tradespeople and farmers bring t heir wares and set up booths. Of course everyone gives you a little sample of their food so you’ll buy. One walk down the aisle and you’re completely full.” Or so she’d been told by one of the maids who’d helped her dress. Her parents would never have allowed her to go to market day, so she had something in common with these two brothers who longed to experience something new and different.
“What kind of food?” Torben asked, licking his lips. “All we get here is porridge and meat. Burned meat.”
“To a crisp,” Bernt added. “Osborn is not a very good cook.”
“And if we complain, he’d make us do it. Can you cook?”
She didn’t exactly cook, but she knew how to direct a kitchen staff. “My favorite is stew.” That wasn’t a lie. She didn’t specifically say she’d cooked it. “Thick with lots of vegetables and fresh baked bread.”
Both boys closed their eyes and moaned.
“But there’s more than just the booths. There’s singing, traveling acrobats and minstrels and dancing bears.”
Bernt’s face grew angry. “Bears shouldn’t dance.”
She’d forgotten she was in Ursan lands. “It was only one time. I’d love to tell you more, but I better change clothes and start walking before it gets dark.”
Torben slumped in disappointment. “I’d like to try that bread.”
Breena began to finger the frayed edge of the pants they’d given her. “I’d hate to put on these fresh clothes when I’m so dirty. Is there somewhere I can take a bath?”
She’d only suggested a bath to stall time, but now that she’d said the request out loud, Breena actually longed to be clean. To wash the grass from her hair, the dried blood from her knees.
“We usually just hop in the lake.”
“There’s no bathing tub?”
The boys just looked at her blankly.
“I’m guessing you wouldn’t have shampoo?”
Torben only nodded.
“Okay then, point me in the right direction.”
Bernt’s brow knotted. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Technically I’ll be out of the house, so he can’t get mad,” she assured him.
“Oh, he can get mad.”
She just bet he could.
OSBORN STALKED THROUGH the woods, crashed though the tall grass and avoided the areas where the bears slept. Sweat slid down his back as he pushed himself to keep going. Away from his home and away from her.
He swiped at a branch closing in on his eye. Clearly he was going crazy. The isolation of his lonely life was making him want things he had no business wanting. What a fool he’d been. He’d clung to the woman who visited him as he slept. He hadn’t realized how much until what he’d been fighting so hard to hold on to had been ripped away from him. At first he’d try to force his thoughts to something else during the day. Keeping the area around their cabin clear. Ensuring there was enough food and clean water. Taking care of his brothers. But finally he succumbed, and he’d work to remember those dream moments with her throughout his day. Although, truthfully, it wasn’t very hard. Those moments drew him to his bed at night so he could dream.
But it wasn’t special like he’d thought. He’d never imagined her to be real; otherwise, he would have dredged hell to find her. The elemental pleasure that tore through him the moment he’d realized his dream woman slept in his bed, lay in his arms, was alive for him, rivaled only by the primal satisfaction of joining the ranks of Ursan warriors.
Only, the woman in his dreams just wanted him to kill for her. Like all the others who thought coin would keep them clean from the dirty work. Special? What in the hell had he turned into?
The heat and exhaustion finally took him over. Osborn stripped off his shirt to cool down, and his steps slowed. But the sun overhead beat down on him. He changed his course to the lake. How many times had he sought refuge from his thoughts, his responsibilities and the weight of the lives he’d taken in those chilly waters?
The splashing was what put him on guard. He sunk to his knees, reaching for the knife he always kept tucked in his boot. He quietly followed the trail of the intruder. They hadn’t worked hard to cover their tracks. Or to be quiet. It sounded like…
He shook his head, but no… It actually sounded to him as if…
Osborn heard the beautiful sounds of a woman singing. His muscles tensed and his cock hardened. He cleared the brush blocking his view, the weapon in his hand forgotten. There, swimming in the blue water of his lake, was Breena. Naked.
Her ripped and worn clothes lay discarded in a heap by the bank. He spotted the pants and shirt loaned to her by his brothers neatly folded and waiting for her on a rock. The long blond strands of her hair floated around her shoulders, billowing in the water like something otherworldly and beautiful. He took a step, ready to touch it, touch her, before he stopped himself.
She’d had him under her spell for too long.
Breena let her feet land on the bottom, standing waist-deep. With a smile, she reached toward the light filtering between the leaves of the trees that protected the lake he’d once thought idyllic. Now she’d invaded it, stamped her impression in this place that was once all his own. Sunlight glinted off the water drops rolling down her skin, and her wet hair plastered against her back, almost long enough to reach the most beautiful ass he’d ever seen.
This was how she was when he was alone with her in his dreams. She turned in the sunlight, beautiful and utterly delectable. Her nipples stood out between the wet strands of her hair, tempting him, drawing him closer. His for the taking.
Why was he the one walking away?
She was his.
He reached for the button of his pants, and they joined the clothes she’d tossed aside.
The water chilled his overheated skin as he chased her in the water. Breena turned toward him with a little gasp of surprise. Her cheeks were rosy from her exertion in the lake, her green eyes sparkling from the pleasure of her swim. He knew that pleasure. Now he would know another. In her arms.
She hadn’t left his lands. Surely it would be easy enough to find another mercenary to kill whomever she wanted dead. There were plenty after his neck. But she’d stayed. She wanted him. Now he needed to know why. Needed to know almost as much as he needed to find the pleasure her sweet body offered. He grasped her chin, forcing her to look up at him.