There All Along by Megan Hart, Lauren Dane Page A

manageable.”
    Haldeman sent a hand through his hair and then nodded. “Go on. Tell me what you need and how many you want to come with you.”

8
    H e shuffled back up the hill some hours later. He’d been up for far longer than he should have been and Indigo, his second, had shoved him out the door with orders to get some kip and a meal before he came back.
    It was the calm before the storm. They’d prepared all they could for the time being. The team had left to destroy the bridge at the upper river with several of the garrison’s best trackers so he had every reason to believe they’d finish the job and likely be back at the garrison before the brigands had even reached that far.
    His people would also do a survey of the river to be sure there were no weak spots to get across. They could use boats to get across, but the current was fast as well as cold. And the brigands were many things, but sophisticated they weren’t.
    There was nothing to do at that point but rest while they could so he’d nodded and left.
    The shutters were locked all over town, though some were out and about doing necessary business. But the mercantile was closed, he was pleased to see.
    He went around back, unlocking the large blast doors covering the entrance and sliding them back into place when he’d finished.
    She was curled in a chair near a shuttered window. He smiled at the juxtaposition of her there, small, the tumble of hair making her seem even smaller, and the rifles at each window.
    He’d only gotten three steps into the room before she awoke.
    “News?” She stood, stretching, and before he could think to say anything he was on her, his mouth on hers, his hands pulling her close. He
needed
that contact in a way that should have scared him. Most likely would later.
    After.
    He shoved her hair back over her shoulder one handed and slid the robe she’d been wearing off her shoulders, leaving her in a long nightdress that buttoned all the way up the front. He couldn’t wait. Didn’t want to wait. He grabbed either side and tugged hard, the material parting on the sound of buttons flying.
    She gasped and he paused, waiting for rebuke, but got none. Instead she moaned, arching into his touch as he slid covetous hands over her bare skin. He’d had this well of need for her that appeared bottomless. And since the first kiss, he’d been unable to resist her.
    She offered herself to him and he had no ability to turn away.
    Pale and beautiful in the dim light that made its way through the shutters, he took her in as she stood, bare, the remains of her clothing pooled at her feet.
    He fell to his knees. “I believe, before we were so unfortunately interrupted by brigand talk, I had plans for you.” He leaned in to kiss her belly, below her navel. “For your pussy.”
    She shivered, sliding her fingers through his hair.
    It was cool in the house and he noted the gooseflesh. “Wait for me there.” He pointed at the settee, before he moved to the woodstove and built up the fire within. The air began to warm a little and he moved back to where she sat, watching him without a word.
    He took her mouth, still on his knees. She wrapped her legs around his body, holding him close.
    “So beautiful,” he murmured, kissing down her neck to her breasts, licking and biting her nipples until she made a whimper deep in her throat. “I’ve been thinking about the way you taste all night.”
    •   •   •
    H e’d come in looking haunted.
    Long and lean, his hair close cropped so she could see the lines of his face. The lips, currently cruising down her ribcage, the blades of his cheekbones, the blue-gray eyes that failed to miss anything. He’d come in, loaded down, she knew, with the worries and fears of everyone in Silver Cliffs.
    He’d stood looking at her as she’d shaken off her fitful sleep and managed to stand, moving to him as if he drew her by some magic.
    But it wasn’t magic, it was him. Her heart beat for him. Had