Blazing Earth by Terri Brisbin

inadvertent touch of his hand.
    â€œThea, come in,” he said, taking her hand and tugging her inside the building and out of sight of anyone passing by. At least she did not resist his touch now.
    â€œI did not mean to interrupt you at your duties now, Tolan,” she said softly as he pulled the door closed behind her. “It can wait until later.”
    â€œNay, it cannot,” he whispered, pulling her kerchief off and wrapping his arms around her. “I cannot.”
    He kissed her then, letting her feel his desire for her. He knew there was more between them than simple lust and he would make certain she knew that. If she thought that he would reject her for speaking her mind, she needed to know he would not. More than all that, she had to know that he was not the brute she’d married and nearly had not survived.
    Thea softened beneath his mouth as he gentled his kiss and he felt her hands glide along his back. Slidinghis hands up into her hair, he held her to him with only enough strength to keep her close. If she’d stepped away, his hold would not prevent it.
    â€œNothing has changed between us,” he whispered against her mouth.
    â€œI heard what Lord Geoffrey expects from you, Tolan. I will not be in the way.”
    Ah, so the conversation was not as private as Tolan had requested it be. Word spread from those living in the keep to the villagers with a quickness that always surprised him. Content to keep his own counsel, Tolan did understand that others found joy in sharing bits of news and gossip.
    â€œWe can speak of that later,” he said, releasing her. “And other matters.” He kissed her once more and stepped back. The frown was still set firmly on her brow, so he reached out and smoothed it with his thumbs, cupping her face. “I will be there.”
    Thea nodded and picked up her kerchief from where he’d flung it and he watched as she covered her hair. He would have mourned for the loss of seeing it except he knew he was the only man to glimpse it uncovered, loose, and swaying around her naked body as he drove her toward carnal satisfaction. Even now he caught himself watching the way her hips moved with each step away from him.
    Shaking himself free of her spell, he turned back to his task as she headed toward the village with her basket on her arm.
    The day moved along and he tried to concentrate on what he needed to accomplish and not on her, but hecould not. With all the strange possibilities surrounding him and trying to take control of his life, she was the only constant.
    The only one on whom he could depend. She worked in service to those living here much as he did. They shared a common purpose here.
    As a shiver slid along his spine, Tolan knew he would do what was necessary to keep her safe. A glance toward the shadows of the woods there told him that the men who had followed him since he left the keep two days ago still did so. Every step he took was being observed.
    And Tolan did not know why.
    The orders would have come directly from Lord Geoffrey, so it meant that he suspected Tolan of something. Was it over the matter of marriage that Geoffrey had discussed? Were they watching to see with whom he spent time? Had Tolan’s refusal of the nobleman’s help in finding an appropriate wife angered him?
    Or worse, had his ritual in the field been witnessed?
    He remembered being as careful as always when he carried out the prayers. He’d always waited until the village and farms were long settled for the night. He would have felt their weight on the earth if they stood nearby.
    Startled at that realization, he turned back to his preparations within the shelter of the building and waited for night to fall.
    *   *   *
    It had happened again.
    As Thea laid her hands on old Rigby’s leg, mangledmonths ago when the millstone broke, she felt the heat passing from her blood into the still-healing bones there. Under the guise