Dragon Warrior (Midnight Bay) (21 page)

William looked over at him in surprise. “Are ye saying we not only can’t fix their problems, but that we can’t even
suggest
how to fix them?”

Kenzie chuckled. “This may come as a surprise to you, Killkenny, but women are just as capable as men when it comes to dealing with most problems, only they prefer to approach them with understanding instead of a sword.”

“But sometimes a good smack with the flat of a sword can keep a wee problem from becoming a big one. There, she just bolted into the woods.”

“I saw her.”

“Drive right by,” William said, unfastening his seat belt. “And let me out around the next curve.”

Kenzie pulled to a stop down the road, then grabbed William’s arm to keep him from getting out. “It’s not the flat of your sword she fears, my friend, but more likely the blow you could deliver to her heart. Eve told me Maddy realizes there’s more to us than meets the eye, but she thinks that’s only part of the reason Maddy’s acting skittish.”

“Did the pixie explain the magic to her, then?” he asked hopefully.

“Nay. I know it’s hurting both women, but Eve will keep her word to me. Have ye decided yet what your intentions are toward Maddy?”

William got out and turned to look across the seat at him. “Right now my only intention is to see what color undergarments she’s wearing today.”

“Ye can’t seduce her into liking you, Killkenny.”

William gave him a sad smile. “Is that why you highlanders carry such long swords, Gregor, to make up for the length of your cocks?”

“One of these days, I really will make you sorry for finding the stone that led you here.” Kenzie’s mouth twisted wryly. “Unless
your woman
beats me to it.”

William shut the door with a laugh, but instantly sobered once he started walking up the road toward little miss maddening Maddy. Why in hell couldn’t the lass just relax, and let them enjoy the pleasure of each other’s company? There was no need for her to be afraid of him, only he didn’t know how to make her believe that.

Well, except he had discovered that when he was loving her mouth—and her luscious body—she did seem to forget that she feared him.

But Christ, he couldn’t keep her perpetually naked.

Or could he?

William rounded the corner just in time to see Maddy peeking out of the bushes.

But when she spotted him, she quickly disappeared again.

Oh, she was a smart little hedgehog, having the sense to make sure they hadn’t seen her. Aye, she was already coming to know him quite well.

He continued walking a short way past her, then pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial for
her
phone. He then stopped and faced the woods on the opposite side of the road, peering into them as if searching for her.

He heard the loud musical tone of her cell phone go off—followed almost immediately by an unladylike curse—and then he heard her bolt deeper into the woods. He took off after her, jumping the ditch and pushing through the bushes, breaking into the old-growth forest without slowing down.

Chapter Fourteen

W
illiam was surprised to see Maddy run not in the direction of town or An Tèarmann but deeper into the woods. He was also surprised by how fast she was, considering her large purse kept sliding off her shoulder and bumping against her hip, more than once snagging on a branch and almost yanking her to a halt.

He’d have to have a talk with her, he decided, about shedding cumbersome gear if she ever found herself being pursued by anyone other than him. The lass needed to realize that her belongings were not as important as her life. William leaped over a fallen tree that had forced her to veer slightly, and finally moved to intercept her.

Only his gut suddenly knotted at the stark fear he saw in her eyes when she glanced over her shoulder and realized he’d closed the gap between them; and he nearly gave up the chase when he heard her cry of panic as she grabbed a tree and swung herself to suddenly change direction.

But he was well past the point of letting her go, and had been for days now.

He caught hold of her shoulder and spun her toward him, wrapping his arms around her and twisting to take the brunt of their fall. And then he simply held her against him as she struggled like a cornered animal, her ragged, panting whimpers far more wounding than her pummeling fists.

He got one arm around both of hers, using his other hand to cup her head to his. “Hush, Madeline,” he whispered into her hair, wrapping his legs around her when her knee jerked close to his groin. “Just lie here with me and catch your breath,” he crooned, clutching her to him with the same desperation he felt in her struggles.

She went utterly still, holding herself arched tensely away from him. “Please, I just want to go h-home,” she whispered, finally admitting defeat and going limp.

He loosened his arm around her, and brushed a tear off her cheek with his thumb. “I’ll take ye home, Madeline. Just as soon as we catch our breaths, we’ll walk back to An Tèarmann and I’ll drive ye home.”

She hesitantly tested his grip.

But finding himself still unable to let her go, he released her only enough to let her sit up, then turned so she was tucked against him as he leaned against the tree he’d slammed into bringing her down. Apparently realizing that he wasn’t giving her the option of moving away, she buried her face in his shirt with a shuddered sob.

He slowly ran his fingers through her tangled hair, carefully working small twigs free. “I told ye there would never be a reason for you to run from me, Madeline,” he said thickly. “If you are frightened, run
toward
me, not away. If you’re angry, give
me
your wrath. And when you are confused or heavy of heart or simply tired, my strong arm is yours for the asking.” He kissed the top of her head. “Everyone needs a safe shelter to run to, Madeline; let me be yours.”

“I-I can’t,” she whispered, her voice quavering. “I might not survive.”

He tucked his finger under her chin and tilted her head back to look at him. “I won’t ever let anything happen to you.”

She leaned away, continuing to stare directly into his eyes. “Maybe it’s not about you at all,” she said, her voice raw as she tried to catch her breath. “Maybe it’s about me,” she continued in a raspy growl, lifting her hand to tap her bosom. “I only have one heart to give, and I’m not risking it on a man who expects me to trust him but who refuses to trust me in return.”

William took his first relieved breath when her cheeks colored with budding anger. He pulled her head back to his chest—ignoring her protest—so she wouldn’t see his scowl. Dammit to hell, she had him by the short hairs! He’d decided he agreed with Kenzie: explaining the magic would likely send her running forever.

But not explaining who he really was to her was making her run anyway.

“I would ask a favor of ye, Madeline.”

“No, dammit. No more favors.”

“I promise not to be offended if ye say no.” He took a shuddering breath of his own. “And if ye do say no, I will never bother you again.”

She went completely still for several heartbeats. “You’ll just w-walk away?”

“Aye . . . if you say no.”

She started to tilt her head back to look at him but then suddenly settled against his chest again. “What’s the favor?” she whispered.

“Take me as your lover.”

Her head popped up so fast that she nearly clipped his chin. “What?”

He fought to stifle his grin as he watched a blush spread across her cheeks. “Take me
only
as your lover,” he repeated softly. “Keep your heart tucked safely in a box under your bed, but give me your body.”

Her lashes dropped to hood her eyes from him, and her blush intensified. “A-and if I say no, y-you’ll just walk away?” She looked directly at him again. “Just like that, you’ll stop giving me gifts and coming to the nursing home? And you’ll s-stop kissing me?”

“No more gifts or kisses, but I would like ye to keep the pin and cell phone.” He took another painful breath. “And if ye insist, I will stop visiting Elbridge and the others.”

“And if I say yes?” she asked in a tremulous whisper.

“Then we are both free to indulge our senses.” He squeezed her gently. “I have but one stipulation: I admit to being somewhat possessive, so as long as we are enjoying each other’s company, I must be the only man in your life.”

She dropped her gaze to his hand resting on her thigh, letting the silence of the forest settle around them.

“Do I have to give you an answer right now?” she asked, not looking at him.

He gently brushed his thumb on the inside of her thigh and felt a small quiver run through her. “How about if you give me your answer tomorrow morning, when I get back from my ride with Elbridge?”

Silence settled between them again.

“Do ye need longer?” he asked. “Because I have to tell ye, lass, I’d prefer to know where I stand with you sooner rather than later.” He smiled crookedly when she looked up. “Because if ye do say yes, I would like to clear up last night’s unfinished business between us as soon as possible.”

“We have unfinished business?”

“You’re not one of those women who likes to leave a man . . . hanging, are ye?”

“Hanging?” she repeated, her brows drawing together in a frown. But then her eyes suddenly widened and her cheeks turned a lovely pink again. “You mean . . . you didn’t . . . omigod, you didn’t!”

Unable to stop himself, William threaded his fingers around the back of her neck and pulled her mouth toward his. “Just one more taste of ye, Madeline, just in case ye say . . . no,” he murmured against her lips.

But when he hesitated, she leaned forward and softly touched her lips to his.

Using all the restraint he possessed—and some he borrowed from the devil himself—William held back from claiming her mouth.

His patience was rewarded when her arms came around his neck just as she gave a small hum of frustration, and her tongue sought his—only to pull out and begin tracing the contour of his lips.

His restraint shattering with her boldness, he canted her head to capture her teasing tongue, and got serious about loving her mouth. He devoured her softness, sipped her sweetness, and almost shouted with joy when she melted against him.

But he quickly realized that if he didn’t stop, there was a very real danger that he really would find out what color underclothes she was wearing. And as delightful as that might be in the short term, it certainly wouldn’t help him reach his ultimate goal. He broke their kiss and pulled her head back down to his chest again, smiling at her initial protest and then her sigh of contentment.

His beautiful, maddening Maddy, he thought, stifling his own sigh, so full of passion and yet so frightened by it. It wasn’t so much him she was afraid of, he was coming to realize, but herself.

He would like very much to meet her bastard ex-husband who had stolen her courage to open her heart to another man. When he’d asked, Trace had told William that Billy Kimble hadn’t made it past puberty, and that if Maddy hadn’t divorced the bastard six years ago, she probably would have killed him by now out of sheer frustration.

Apparently his cousin, Trace had said, had started taking on the role of caregiver when she’d found herself raising a husband right along with her daughter. Then, when her father had died, she’d moved home to finish raising Rick and had even begun mothering her mother. It was easier, Trace had said, for Maddy to focus on everyone else than it was to deal with her own insecurities.

William knew he was pushing her to do exactly that by asking her to give him only her body; and that if she did, she would more often than not push back with the fierceness of a bear if she felt anything other than lust start to blossom between them.

A large buck suddenly snorted not a hundred paces behind them and went crashing away in alarm at discovering that he no longer owned the woods.

Maddy scrambled off William’s lap with a yelp of surprise, and he grunted at the sharp pain that suddenly shot through him when her knee drove into his groin, the blow completely unmanning him.

“William! Come on,” she hissed in a whisper as she crawled away and started fumbling with her purse. “It’s those wolves. We have to get out of here!”

Rolling into a tight ball of agony, William fought for breath even as he wondered how his not wringing her neck would help her decide to give herself to him.

“Come on!” she cried, tugging his sleeve. “The woods are getting dark. William, I don’t know which way the road is!”

“N-not wolves,” he gasped. “It was a—” He snapped his mouth shut when he saw the huge gun clutched in her hands, her arms stiffened to hold it pointed into the woods as she knelt over him. “Christ’s teeth!” he shouted, clamping his hand over hers as he sat up. “What in hell are ye doing with a gun!”

She started wrestling him for control of the weapon, and when her knee came too damned close to his groin again, William spun her around and slammed her back against his chest. Not knowing exactly where her finger was but hoping it wasn’t on the trigger, he repositioned his grip over the barrel and twisted the gun free, immediately tossing it out of her reach.