Fire and Flame by Anya Breton Page A

Pennsylvania. But she couldn’t spend the rest of her life cowering because the children of her father’s murderer wanted to harm her.
    “God forbid something should happen to Fintan’s princess,” Sara drawled nastily. “His riches would go to the cousins and then where would you be?”
    “Please tell me you at least had someone else to protect you last night.”
    “I stayed in the populated areas,” she said rather than answer him directly. Her gaze slid away.
    “Sara,” he said in a low, warning voice that drew her attention back. “Did you have someone else to protect you?”
    “You have no right butting your head into my business. So just—”
    “I’m high priest now. I have every right until you swear fealty to someone else. Now answer the question, Sara. Were you alone last night?”
    “Get out.”
    Brent’s eyes blazed a split second before he stalked across the room. He grabbed hold of her biceps, hauling her onto the tips of her toes. The motion allowed him to pin her with the malevolent swirling of his darkened gaze.
    “Did you do your duty with someone else to avoid doing it with me?” he all but shouted. Brent’s nostrils flared like a cartoon bull about to charge. His brows met at the deep crevice that had formed above his nose. If she hadn’t known better she might have thought his irises had gone evergreen.
    A flare of exhilaration shot up Sara’s back. He was furious. God help her, she enjoyed it.
    And then the memory of what he’d done last night filled her with indignation. “You brought this on yourself because you were busy helping Vanessa do her duty!”
    Something changed in Brent’s stance. His grip on her eased while his expression morphed into slack-jawed surprise. But his surprise didn’t last long before fury returned, this time in an eerily chilly way.
    His frame locked tight. Very quietly he asked, “Who was it?”
    “None of your—”
    “It is my business,” he shouted. Within a split second he’d gone from cold right back into fury. Brent tightened his hold on her arms. “Tell me who I have to kill next, Sara!”
    She couldn’t stop her gasp at his words and the flickering gleam in his eyes that was twice as malicious.
    How did she answer? She didn’t want to admit she’d been completely alone last night but she also didn’t want to put anyone in danger. Would Brent really kill someone because of her?
    The answer was obviously yes because he already had. But this time was not like the other. Then he’d killed to protect them both. Now… Now his fury was based on…jealousy?
    Softly Sara replied, “No one.”
    The muscle in his cheek twitched. “Don’t lie to me, Sara.”
    “I’m not lying.” She emphasized her answer with a rapid shake of her head. “I was reckless. I had no protection.”
    His grip eased but he wasn’t finished with her. “Was it a human?”
    God, he looked like he would kill a human if she’d admitted she’d been with one. The little zing of exhilaration Sara had felt when she’d realized he was jealous morphed into a shot of anger. Now that he was high priest he thought he owned them all! He would probably claim the old custom of keeping a harem. She wanted to set his head on fire for even thinking it.
    “I’m not your possession, Brenton.”
    Brent jerked as if he’d been hit. “Pardon?”
    She gave him the explanation with a chilly delivery. “Just because you’re now high priest doesn’t make me part of your harem.” She nearly spat the word. “And even if I do become touched in the head enough that I agree to do my duty with you—to earn my inheritance—I still won’t be part of your harem.” Voice lowering and expression hardening, Sara finished, “For the last time, get out of my bedroom before I set you on fire.”

Chapter Twelve
    Brent scanned her face for an explanation. He was baffled by what had happened. One moment she’d been protecting the identity of whoever had guarded her last night and in