“No’ if I feared for the safety of my woman.”
Galen was about to say Reaghan wasn’t his woman, but he couldn’t get the words past his lips. He knew she wasn’t, but saints help him, he wanted her to be.
“We’re battling Deirdre, Logan. I have no time for a woman.”
Logan chuckled and leaned against the cottage. “Tell that to the MacLeods. They found their women among this mess Deirdre has created. If they could, why no’ you?” Why not him?
“At least now I know why I cannot read her mind.” Galen chose to ignore Logan’s question. He didn’t want to think of Reaghan as his or why he wanted her so desperately.
“Her magic,” Logan said. “The reason shouldn’t matter, my friend, no’ if you have found happiness with her.” They had shared a night of passionate lovemaking. Was that happiness? At the time Galen would have said aye. Now, he knew too much, and knowing just what Reaghan was, meant he couldn’t have her.
Galen rubbed the back of his neck. “Reaghan’s magic was strong enough to keep wiping away her memories every ten years. If it’s that important that she would do this to herself, then Mairi was right when she said Reaghan wasn’t meant for me.” “So Reaghan cannot have happiness?” Logan pushed off the cottage wall and scowled at Galen. “You of all people know everyone deserves some contentment in their lives. Whatever she is hiding can be kept secret at MacLeod Castle where she will be safer. I can also guarantee that with her exotic looks, one of the other Warriors will step forward to woo her.” The thought set Galen’s blood to boiling. He took a menacing step toward Logan and growled, only then noticing his god was loose as a fang sliced his tongue.
Logan grinned knowingly. “I thought that might get you riled. You want her. Claim her, Galen, before someone else does.”
EIGHTEEN
Reaghan came awake gradually, carefully. The pain in her head was gone, but her body was sore from being so tense. She rolled onto her back and smoothed away the still wet hair from the side of her face she had been sleeping on.
Her eyes took in the small cottage. The only thing that broke the drone of the rain was the fire. She craned her neck to find the floor littered with sleeping bodies. Curled up at her feet was Braden, whose sweet face looked simply adorable in sleep.
The fire made the cottage cozy despite the rain. Her gaze snagged on something in the shadows near the hearth. She turned over to see who it was.
The scrape of the blanket on her skin reminded her she was naked beneath the covers, just as Galen walked from the shadows, his cobalt eyes holding hers.
His boots made nary a sound as he stepped over the bodies until he stood beside the bed. He squatted down, his back to the fire.
Reaghan didn’t like that his face was hidden in shadows. She sensed something bothered him, something he wanted kept from her. And she feared she knew what it was. Her sickness, her weakness.
“How do you fare?” he whispered so as not to wake anyone.
Reaghan shrugged. “Better.”
“Is the pain gone?”
“Aye. Thank you for carrying me. I could have walked.”
Despite the shadows, she saw him frown. “There is nothing wrong with leaning on someone when you need them. I doona think it a failing that you were brought low by such agony, Reaghan.”
She knew he meant every word, but he was a Warrior. Pain he might feel, but his god healed him of anything. Galen had long forgotten what real pain felt like.
He said the right words, words she had wanted to hear, but she couldn’t help the kernel of doubt that had planted itself in her mind. She felt she was weak, too weak to be the woman Galen might want in his life.
“Are you hungry?” he asked. “Do you think you can eat?”
Reaghan nodded and held the blanket to her chest as she sat up.
“Stay here. I’ll return in a moment.”
Reaghan picked at the warn blanket and let her gaze wander the cottage. Was it just coincidence that Galen and Logan had stumbled upon the place? Or had one of them known of it?
It didn’t look as though it had been used in a while, so it could be one of theirs. The thought of Galen using the cottage as his home didn’t seem as farfetched as she might have thought.
Some bread, cheese, and cold meat from the night before were placed in front of her along with a skin of water. “Eat your fill,” Galen told her.
She looked longingly at the food. “I should save some for the morrow.”
“You should eat,” he ordered her. After a moment he rose and returned with something in his hand. “Your gown is nearly dry. Here is your chemise.”
Reaghan’s hand brushed Galen’s when she reached for her chemise. Heat flared inside her at the touch. He was so tall, so muscular, so warm, that all she wanted to do was lay her head on his shoulder and sleep in the safety of his arms.
His deep blue gaze seared her, made her recall his soft, demanding lips as he kissed her, his gentle caresses, and the feel of his hot, hard body as it glided over her, inside her.
Her lips parted as her heart pounded in her chest. He lifted an auburn ringlet to his nose. His eyes closed as he inhaled deeply. Chills raced over her skin as she watched him, mesmerized by his actions.
“Ah, Reaghan, how you tempt me.”
She knew all about temptation, especially when it came to Galen. Reaghan cleared her throat and looked away before she pulled him down for a kiss. Instead, she tugged on her chemise and began to eat.
“How long did I sleep?”
“A while,” he answered as he sat and faced her on the bed, careful not to disturb Braden.
“And the storm?”
Galen sighed and glanced at the closed shutters. “It doesna appear to be lessening as of yet.”
She tore off a piece of bread. “How did you know about this cottage?”
“I’ve used it off and on since finding it some time ago. Apparently so has someone else. It’s been at least a score of years since I’ve been here, yet the blankets were relatively new and the wood fresh.”
“So someone lives here?”
“I wouldna go that far. Whoever it is, they haven’t been here in at least a week if no’ longer.”
They sat in silence until she finished her meal. The food did make her feel stronger. Reaghan wiped her mouth with her fingers and took a drink of the water. “Will we leave in the morn regardless of the weather?”
“I doona know.” Galen’s brow furrowed and he shook his head. “We need no’ tarry long anywhere, but I fear taking a group of Druids, all female, I might add, out in this kind of storm.”
“You don’t think we can weather it?” Reaghan teased.
Galen’s smile was slow as it spread over his face. “I know you can. It’s the older ones I fret about. It’s summer, aye, but the wind coming off the mountains cuts right through a person, especially with wet clothing.”
Reaghan thought of Odara and Mairi. Then her gaze snagged on wee Braden. “Maybe we should wait then. I’m eager to reach the castle, but not in exchange for lives.”
His hand came up to cup her cheek. Reaghan let out a shaky breath and rubbed her face into his large palm. His eyes darkened, heat flaring in their depths. She burned for his touch, hungered for his mouth. With just one caress he scorched, he enthralled.
He captivated.
Galen’s thumb glided over her bottom lip and a moan tore from his throat, filled with torment and desire and longing.
Reaghan placed her hand over his heart and felt it hammering as rapidly as her own. She didn’t resist when his hand shifted to the back of her head and he pulled her against him. She was eager for his kiss, ready to taste
