Midnight's Warrior (8 page)

A second later the events of the night before rushed through her mind. She slowly sat up, a smile pulling at her lips as she thought of how safe she had felt with Ramsey. It never entered her mind to be afraid of him or of Declan.

Tara couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so free. Maybe that’s what allowed her to sleep so deeply, but whatever the cause, she felt like a new woman.

She threw back the covers and slid off the bed. The mirror on the back of the door stopped her cold when she saw her reflection. She hadn’t paid much attention to the shirt Ramsey had given her the night before, but now she couldn’t look away.

It was flannel, but one that had been washed many times. The plaid was blue, white, and black and smelled like a heady mixture of pine and man. She turned her nose to the collar and inhaled the scent that was all Ramsey.

The cuffs were unbuttoned and hung well past her hands when she lowered her arms. She’d never understood why in movies they always showed a woman walking around in the man’s shirt after they’d had sex. Now she knew.

She’d never felt sexier in her life.

Tara snorted at her own thoughts. “I’ve never felt sexy at all.”

She tried to smooth down her sleep-mussed hair with her fingers without any success. Then, she slowly turned the doorknob and opened the door.

Silently she peeked around the doorjamb at the couch, only to find it empty. Her feet walked soundlessly across the wooden floor and rugs to the kitchen, but she found herself alone.

Tara was about to return to her room and see how dry her clothes were when her gaze was caught by the view out of the huge windows that took up a large portion of the wall.

Snow had fallen at an incredible rate the night before, leaving huge mounds of it everywhere. The flurries that continued to fall were large and showing no signs of decreasing anytime soon.

Everywhere Tara looked it was white. Only the gray stones of the castle broke up the white wonderland. If she tried really hard she could almost believe she was in another world, a world where Declan didn’t exist and she didn’t need to run for her life.

*   *   *

Ramsey nearly dropped his armload of wood when he caught sight of Tara. Every fiber of his being was attuned to her. It wasn’t only because Tara leaned over and his shirt hem came up to the top of her shapely thigh, giving him a peek at bright green panties with white lace trim.

It wasn’t only because her hair was tousled as if she had just been made love to.

It wasn’t only because her smile transformed her face into something that stole his breath away.

He was seeing a side of Tara he suspected few ever had. The sun broke though the thick canopy of clouds and shone directly on Tara, highlighting her light brown hair so that the golden strands in it shone.

To his amazement, she leaned to the side so that he was able to see a white frog on the back of her panties and the word
JAMMIN’
atop it.

It brought a smile to his lips, because he hadn’t expected to see Tara wear panties like that. She was a loner, a runner, so she had expressed herself in ways others wouldn’t be able to see.

He could stare at her all day, his imagination running wild over what she was—or wasn’t—wearing beneath his shirt. All he could think about was how good it looked on her, but how desperately he wanted to rip it off her body.

His cock thickened and his blood quickened at the thought. How would her magic affect him if they kissed? Or made love? The fact that he was even thinking about it told him she had already affected him too much.

“Oh,” she said as she turned and found him staring. “I thought you had left.”

Ramsey finally shut the door behind him and stomped his feet to get the snow off before he walked to the fireplace. “We were running low on wood, and with the temperatures continuing to fall, I needed to stock up.”

He stood after putting the wood away and once more he was lost. Tara was a classic beauty, but there was something so compelling, so alluring, about her that Ramsey had been struck by it from the first moment he saw her.

“Did you sleep well?”

She smiled and glanced down at her feet. “It’s been a long time since I’ve slept that well.”

“I’m happy to hear it.”

“Thank you for the use of your shirt.”

Ramsey walked back to the kitchen and leaned against the stove. “It looks much better on you than it ever did on me.”

Her slow smile made his balls tighten and his hands itch to touch her. He’d only gotten a small feel of her smooth skin, and he wanted, no, he needed more.

Ramsey mentally shook himself. He wasn’t there to seduce her, he was there to protect her. He needed to remember that before he got her killed.

“I was about to make pancakes and sausage. Are you hungry?” he asked.

“Famished. Would you like some help?”

He shook his head as he began to get everything out. “Nay. You sit and talk.”

“About what?”

He glanced at her as he opened the refrigerator. “Anything.”

“I’m not that interesting.”

“I doona believe that. Everyone is interesting in their own way.”

“Not me,” she said with a laugh.

Ramsey wanted her to get more comfortable with him, to trust him. And that meant she had to start opening up to him. “How about telling me something you did that you weren’t supposed to as a child?”

She bit the side of her bottom lip, her blue-green eyes alight with pleasure. “All right. I used to sneak out of my house to swim in the loch.”

“That’s the best you can do?” he teased as he stirred the mixture in the bowl. “I didna just sneak out. I would take something from my father and put it with one of my cousins so he’d get in trouble. It was a game we had played since we were old enough to walk.”

“Did they ever discover you?”

He grinned. “No’ once.”

They shared a laugh, their eyes locking. Ramsey was the first to look away. He told himself it was because he didn’t want the pancake to burn, but the real reason was that he didn’t trust himself with Tara.

She was allowing him to see a little bit into her world, and it startled him how much more he wanted to know. She only had herself to lean on to survive, and through it all, she could still smile as if Fate hadn’t screwed her.

“What?” she asked, her head cocked to the side so that her wavy, light brown hair hung over her shoulder.

He flipped the pancakes with a twist of his wrist. “How long will you run from this man who is after you?”

She looked down at the table and exhaled. “Either until he catches me or I kill him.”

“You doona believe he’ll give up?”

“No.”

The firm note in her voice made him nod. “What if I said I could help?”

“Why would you want to? You don’t know me, Ramsey. I’m not going to hand my problems off to you or anyone else.”

He got out a plate and put the first pancake on it before handing it to her. “Why did you stay here last night?”

“What?” she asked as she slowly lowered her plate to the table.

“Why did you stay?”

Tara pushed herself up from the table. “I shouldn’t have.”

“But you did, and there’s a reason. Say it.”

She shook her head.

Ramsey closed the distance between them and lifted a lock of her golden-brown hair with his fingers. “You felt safe.”

Already Ramsey could feel her magic moving from her hair onto his fingers. His god all but purred at the unique and heady sensation that was becoming all too familiar.

He found himself leaning closer to her, drowning in her beautiful blue-green depths. The tendrils of magic were once more swirling around his hand and were working their way up his arm the longer he touched her hair.

“Yes,” she finally admitted. “Thank you for that.”

She rose up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. Her lips on his skin was his undoing. He turned his head slightly so that their mouths brushed, which halted her retreat.

Her lids lifted so that she looked into his eyes, and the need he saw there was all it took for him to shift his head a little more until their lips brushed.

Ramsey’s breath locked in his lungs at that first, hesitant touch of their mouths. He tilted his head and kissed her again, longer, deeper.

His body roared to life, demanding and needy. The ends of her hair tickled his hands as he placed them on her back. He coaxed, he seduced. Anything to get closer to her, to feel more of her.

To know more of her.

To have her.

Tara’s soft moan had his blood burning through his veins like quicksilver, and when she softly laid her hand upon his chest, Ramsey wanted to crush her to him. The urge to pin her against the wall and ravage her lips was overwhelming.

His chest constricted, his heart pounding inside him as if he’d run for days. He heard her soft intake of breath that was part gasp, part pant.

And it drove him wild.

Ramsey fisted his hands in her shirt as he swept his tongue inside her mouth and she eagerly returned his kiss. For a moment he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, the passion and pleasure was so intense.

She leaned into him, her breasts pressed against his chest. Ramsey bit back a groan as her magic joined in the frenzy that surrounded him. It became too much to govern, too much to resist.

Just before he lost all control and kissed her as he’d been dreaming about, he heard footsteps approaching. Grudgingly, reluctantly, he pulled back.

It took a moment before Tara opened her eyes. They were dilated and her breathing was rapid, proving she was just as affected as he from the kiss.

“We’re about to have guests,” he said a moment before the door opened and Charon and Arran stepped inside.

Ramsey met their surprised gazes, but when Charon’s eyes lowered, Ramsey knew he had seen the magic that was once more swirling around him.

CHAPTER TEN

Tara looked at the two men filling the doorway. They were tall, brawny, and there was something about them that reminded her of Ramsey but had nothing to do with looks.

It was something to do with the men, something that set them apart from other guys. Almost as if Ramsey and these other two were in a class by themselves. A class where coiled violence, tangible danger, and dark seduction were part of their DNA.

Despite their similarities, Tara wasn’t attracted to the newcomers as she was to Ramsey. She met the dark gaze of the one nearest the door, the one who had narrowed his eyes on Ramsey before shifting to her.

“Tara, these are my friends,” Ramsey said as he moved so that he stood behind her. “The one with the goofy grin is Arran MacCarrick, and the one behind him is Charon Bruce. And this is Tara Kincaid.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Arran said as he held out his hand.

Tara looked into his pale brown eyes and returned his smile as she briefly grasped his hand. “Likewise.”

Charon moved around Arran and held out his hand. “Tara.”

“Charon,” she said as they shook hands.

He was studying her, of that Tara was certain. The why, however, was what she didn’t know. Charon wasn’t rude, but he was reserved, almost as if he didn’t trust her.

That made Tara smile, which in turn had Charon’s dark brows rising.

“Something amusing?” he asked.

She looked at their still clasped hands and pulled hers from him. “You don’t trust me.”

“Ramsey said you were able to read people. Does it bother you that I’m … reserved?”

She glanced at Arran to find him watching her intently. “Not at all,” she answered Charon. “I’ll leave you lads to breakfast.”

“Will you no’ stay?” Arran asked.

Tara shook her head, wishing it had been Ramsey who asked. “I must return to the castle and my duties.”

As she walked to the bedroom, she felt three pairs of eyes watching her, and it was everything she could do not to look over her shoulder at Ramsey.

She shut the door behind her and leaned back against it before she closed her eyes. A sigh escaped her lips as she thought of the all-too-brief kiss.

He had been about to deepen the kiss, but pulled back to announce that they had visitors. How could he have known that? Charon and Arran hadn’t knocked.

Tara frowned, but realized she was most likely overreacting. She did it constantly and it had kept her on the run. Maybe it was time she relaxed a little.

She pushed away from the door and began to unbutton Ramsey’s shirt. Her clothes were still damp when she put them back on, but she wouldn’t be in them very long.

After making the bed and trying once more to fix her hair, Tara walked out of the bedroom to find all three men sitting at the table. They looked up at her arrival, but she focused on Ramsey.

“I cleared a path to the castle,” he said as he stood.

She smiled, hating to leave. Not only did she enjoy Ramsey’s company, but she liked how she felt around him. And then there was the attraction.

“You can stay. Eat your pancakes,” he offered.

Tara took a deep breath and grabbed her boots. She shook her head slowly while she put on her shoes. “I appreciate everything, but I need to get back.”

“Of course.”

“I hope you are no’ leaving on our account,” Charon said, his hand around a large mug of coffee.

She met his probing stare. “Not at all. I do have a job to do.” With one last look at Ramsey, Tara left before she did decide to stay.

The cold hit her instantly, and she crossed her arms over her chest and walked as fast as she could back to the castle. The first thing she was going to do was take a long, hot shower to warm up. Though thinking of Ramsey’s kiss was definitely helping her to withstand the cold.

*   *   *

Ramsey stood by the window and followed Tara with his eyes until she was inside the castle. He licked his lips, still tasting her upon them. He’d never tasted anything so wonderful, and he craved another kiss.

One that would allow him to explore Tara at his leisure with his mouth and his hands. It had been a mistake to kiss her, but a mistake he wouldn’t reverse if he could.

He looked down at his right arm where the tendrils of magic swarmed up to his shoulder. Somehow he’d managed to keep it hidden from Tara, but the longer he touched her, the more her magic would show.