Page 19 of Highland Ruse

His blue eyes were pale gray in the firelight. “They’re dead.” His voice was flat. “They’re all dead.”

Her heartbeat came harder and faster. Was he referring to Donnan? She cast a quick glance around the clearing, confirming the lanky man was still missing. “Kaid, who’s dead?”

“There’s so much blood.” He sniffed hard and looked away, but not before she caught the gloss of tears in his brilliant gaze. “The men. The women. God, the children.” His voice caught.

Chills raked over Delilah’s skin. She stared at him, not seeing the things he clearly saw in his mind, but witnessing well enough the horror etched on his face. Never had she seen a man so vulnerable, and it made her wince with the force of his suffering.

Her mind whirled with a million different thoughts, all warring against one another.

To prod for information, or to comfort?

To worry about him, or to worry about herself?

To let him continue, or to stop him?

Delilah pushed at Kaid. “It was a dream.” This time the blade shifted from her throat.

His hand sank to the ground, limp, and his gaze drifted toward the dagger. “They’re all dead. And I couldna save them.”

He dropped his head forward and might have pitched to the dirt had Delilah not caught him.

Perhaps she ought not to have done it, but her arms came around his body, and she rubbed small circles against his back, as she’d done with her younger siblings back in London. “It’s a dream,” she whispered. “Just a dream.”

He smelled of sensual masculine spice, and his body was strong beneath her touch. Hard muscle beneath firm flesh. The observation set her nerves on edge. Hadn’t she allowed men to interfere enough with her life?

She eased him off her and settled him as gently as possible to the ground, not an easy feat when his body was so much larger than her own.

In the end, she got him lying on his blanket with one arm awkwardly tucked beneath his body. With a sigh, she leaned over him in an attempt to liberate the trapped limb. After much tugging and grunting, she finally freed it.

Using that very arm, he caught her around the waist and pulled her down and back against him.

Everything in her body went on high alert, tensing for a fight.

But it was not a fight she got.

Kaid held her with the heat of his strong body and nuzzled his face into her hair, tracing the line of her neck with his lips.

Tingles prickled over her flesh and suddenly the night air was too warm.

He was cradling her to him like a lover would.

She lay still, uncertain what to do.

Part of her wanted to leap up and away from him in…what? Fear? Modesty?

But there was another part of her, a shamefully large part, which wanted to relax into his embrace and revel in the affection of his mouth upon her naked skin.

Footsteps sounded beside them, startling her. She’d been so engrossed in her own thoughts, she had failed to hear the person approach.

With a start, she jerked her gaze upward and found someone staring down at her with raised brows.

Donnan.

Chapter Five

Avoiding someone in close quarters was an uncomfortable task.

Kaid tried to keep his gaze from drifting toward Elizabeth on their journey to the nearest village for food.