The wagon rolled closer and everyone watched it approach until suddenly heads started turning the opposite way. Dawn and Kirk followed to see what had caught everyone’s attention and Dawn’s eyes turned wide.
There was Cree on his steed barreling down the path. He wore no cloak, though he did wear a deep scowl and the look in his eyes had believers or not crossing themselves in protection as he flew past them.
Dawn wondered why the cleric’s arrival had elicited such anger in him until he stopped abruptly in front of her, his stallion pounding the ground appearing as annoyed as his master.
He didn’t say a word. He leaned down and snatched her up around the waist, which had her wincing and him cursing and readjusting his arm, and then he dropped her in front of him on the horse. He turned his steed around and with the same fast gait took off.
Dawn realized that his actions had shocked everyone silent. Though what troubled her was that she caught sight of the cleric, his neck stretched out the window watching the whole scene unfold with disapproving eyes.
Chapter Twenty-four
Cree no soon as closed the door to Dawn’s cottage then he said, “I thought I told you to rest.”
She slapped her chest, held her wrists together as if shackled, and shrugged.
“No, you are not a prisoner but—”
She prevented him from continuing by holding her hands up and then walking her fingers across her hand to demonstrate that she had gone for a walk.
“You were just attacked yesterday and you chance going out today?”
Her eyes narrowed in anger and she pointed to her wound, pounded her chest with her fisted hand and shook her head adamantly.
“You’re not going to let that stop you?” he asked to make sure he understood her foolishness.
She snapped a definitive nod.
Cree ran his hand through his hair, growled like an angry bear, and then grabbed her by the shoulders. “Did you once stop to think how worried I would be when I learned that you went for a walk?”
So that was where Elwin had gone… to tell Cree. And he hadn’t thought twice about leaving his new arrivals. He had come in search of her. Her heart fluttered and she couldn’t help but smile.
Cree didn’t smile, though his brows shot up as if confused.
She tapped his chest with one finger and then tapped her own, her smile growing.
He didn’t seem to understand her at first and then suddenly it seemed to dawn on him. “Yes, I came for you. I was worried to death that something would happen to you and our babe. You seem to forget, or simply ignore the fact, that someone means to see you dead and that his time is running short.”
In all honesty she hadn’t given it thought. Her only thought had been to get out of the cottage, breath some fresh air and clear her troubled mind. He was right though, she should have been more diligent, but then she was with her father, who she had momentarily wondered if she could trust.
She sighed silently over her own foolishness, tapped his chest, and nodded.
“Did you just agree with me?”
She nodded and tapped her temple
“Are you saying that you should have known better?”
She nodded again.
Cree stood there speechless, staring at her.
She waited a few moments and when he still hadn’t spoken, she grinned, tapped his lips and shrugged.
“Yes, you have rendered me speechless.”
She eased herself free of the grip he had on her shoulders and drifted forward to rest against him. His arms went instantly around her. And all she could think about was not how she had caused him to worry, but how he had come after her. And with no regard to what anyone thought, he had scooped her up and carried her away. And right in front of the cleric, though giving that thought, it might not have been the best thing for the cleric to see.
But right now she didn’t care. He had been her champion and he deserved a gift.
She brought her lips to his and kissed him lightly at first and felt his body relax. Then she turned the kiss a bit more demanding and his body relax some more. Then she took hold of his face and kissed him with such a fierce hunger that his body tensed and he grew hard against her.
“Damn, I don’t have time for this,” he said with regret after he pulled his mouth away from hers, a difficult task since she had refused to let him go and damn if he hadn’t enjoyed the struggle.
She shook her head, holding up two fingers.
“No, not even two minutes. I should have never left my guests in the first place and now the cleric has arrived.”
She had taken hold of his wrist and was tugging him toward the other room and he wasn’t stopping her.