“You express your love so beautifully.”
Dawn smiled. Lila always made her feel as if she could speak, and she didn’t know what she would do without her. That was why she wouldn’t take a chance of getting her friend involved with the situation.
She kept her smile, tapped her chest, and gave one good nod.
“I know you feel you can handle this, but,” —another tear slipped down Lila’s cheek— “Cree is a monster and how can you fight a monster all by yourself?”
Chapter Six
Cree paced the confined cell impatient for Dawn’s return. She could not speak, yet he felt as if she had spoken to him. Her hand gestures and facial expressions spoke more plainly than words and more honestly than people with voices. He had been surprised as to how comfortable he had slept wrapped around her last night. He rarely slept without waking several times but not so last night. He had slept soundly. He could blame it on the long walk tethered to Colum’s horse but that would be nonsense.
He stopped and stretched working the taut muscles in his back. His stamina was beyond the ordinary; he had made sure of it. He pushed himself beyond the limits of endurance with the intention of being prepared to survive anything; the harshest of battles, unpredictable elements and intolerable pain. Many believed him oblivious to pain, though the truth of it was that many believed he lacked a soul. That he had long ago bartered the devil for it, or as some had whispered… he was the devil’s own.
He welcomed the rumors. He wanted people to fear him, fear prevented people from taking action, which allowed him to win many a battle that could have otherwise been lost. Of course being feared by so many left you with little or no friends. And women? No decent woman would give herself to him and even the indecent ones hesitated. After all, anyone who lay with the devil’s progeny would surely bare his mark. Those who chose to lay with him could not resist but to return for more, the devil’s son being skilled in the ways of the flesh and once tasted—were impossible to resist.
That mattered little to him now. It was his plans that mattered most. They had been laid and set in motion. He would have what he wanted and that included a noble woman as his wife. He may not have been born to nobility but it could be bought for a price and he had done just that… bought it.
He stretched again twisting at his waist to limber his muscles. It would do him no good to simply sit. He would keep himself well limbered.
His thoughts drifted to Dawn and a low growl rumbled low in his chest, a habit of his when he grew annoyed. And annoyed he was for he grew hard with the thought of her. He could certainly keep himself limber coupling with her. Not that he had any intentions of doing so. He had told her that he’d be the one to lie between her legs merely to frighten her. He couldn’t imagine bedding a woman who could not utter a sound. What pleasure would there be in that? He enjoyed the moans and groans of a woman in the throes of passion. He grew harder thinking of the groaning screams of a woman in climax. He could not fathom finding any pleasure in silence.
And yet…
Dawn was excellent with gestures; her hands spoke what her voice couldn’t. Would her hands speak as loudly when making love? Would her touch say what she couldn’t?
He stilled, his growl growing deeper as the thought of her touch turned him rock-hard. If he did not rid himself of this torment, he feared what he might do and no doubt what Colum expected… rut with the mute and take the chance of leaving his seed to grow in her.
He was angry with Colum for using an innocent young woman who could not voice her fear or objection and he was even angrier with himself for thinking of bedding her. She needed protection from the likes of Colum and even from the likes of him.
He had told her that she belonged to him and what belonged to him he protected… he would protect Dawn even from himself.
Voices drifted in from outside and he went to the door and stood a few feet in front of it, his feet braced firm and ready.
The door swung open and with a laugh the guard shoved Dawn in only this time Cree was there to catch her. His arm swiftly wrapped around her waist and he drew her firmly to his side in a display of not only protection but possession.
“Shove her again and I will kill you.” A primitive snarl followed Cree’s warning and the sunlight falling in from the open door glistened off every taut muscle in his toned body.