Page 14 of The Warrior's Innocent Captive

If de Bevoir replied it wasn’t loud enough for Linota to hear.

Last night Linota had found the rotund de Bevoir slightly ridiculous, with his polite manners and straggly beard. That had been a mistake. The cold calculation now in his voice sent chills racing up her spine and she shivered.

When there was no further conversation Linota tapped Erik on the shoulder. She was surprised to see anger burning brightly in his eyes.

‘Can we move now?’ she mouthed.

He shook his head and mouthed a reply.

She frowned to show she hadn’t understood his meaning. He leaned over, his stubble brushing her cheek, his breath whispering across her skin. She managed to hold herself still as her body longed to arch into the sensation.

His whisper was as soft as a summer’s breeze. ‘I haven’t heard their horses moving. I think they are still in the area.’

Linota’s fear disappeared as Erik’s nearness swamped her senses. She could feel the length of his hard body down the fullness of hers. His hand still rested gently on her hip, steadying her.

He moved away from her and she followed instinctively. She heard his sharp inhale as her body aligned with his. He looked down at her, the anger in his gaze replaced by something else. An emotion she didn’t recognise but which had her body tightening in response. His eyes flicked to her mouth and back up again. Her heart beat as if it wanted to take flight. Her fingers trembled and she reached up to place her hand on his arm.

He flinched and dropped his hands from her body, increasing the space between them. Her stomach swooped with disappointment and she turned her head away so that he wouldn’t read it in her expression.

She’d been so sure, when his gaze had dropped to her lips, that he was experiencing the same intense feelings as she was: an overwhelming desire to run her fingers over his whole body, to experience what it would be like to become one with him.

But of course he wasn’t. He was a man used to women throwing themselves at him. Perhaps their enforced proximity had flared a momentary attraction for him until her touch on his arm had reminded him who she was.

It was probably for the best. If he had kissed her like she’d desperately wanted him to, it might have caused her to fall deeper for him and that would only end in heartbreak—her heartbreak, not his.

She rolled on to as much of her back as possible and stared up at the overhang above her. A spider scuttled across the craggy roof and she shuddered.

She needed to get out of this tiny space and away from Erik whose presence crowded her senses.

As the long moments passed her desperation increased until it felt as if she were trying to crawl out of her own skin.

After what felt like a hundred lifetimes they eventually heard the sound of horses moving away from them.

She raised herself on to one elbow until a hand on her shoulder stayed her movements.

‘We need to give them enough time to move far away from here,’ said Erik quietly.

She sagged back down and waited, her eyes fixed on the spider, which was now spinning an intricate web above her head.

She didn’t turn to look at Eric once.

Finally, he appeared to be satisfied with the amount of time that had passed since they last heard de Bevoir and Gamel.

‘Let’s go,’ he said.

He rolled away from her quickly and out into the open. Although she’d been desperate to get away fromhim, she immediately missed his warmth and the security his large body had given her. She crawled after him, her body stiff after a night in the cramped space.

‘It’s so cold,’ she murmured, her breath turning to white puffs in front of her.

‘We’ll warm up once we start moving.’ Erik strode off in a seemingly random direction, not waiting to see if she was following.

She scrambled to her feet and scurried to catch up.‘Where are we going?’

‘I’m hoping to find Cai. I left everything with him. I’ve got a handful of coins, but we’ll need more if it takes us a while to meet up with the others. We’ll have to eat.’

At the mention of food her stomach roared to life, sending her a sharp reminder that she hadn’t eaten in over a day, apart from a dried oatcake she’d forced down during her ride. She’d been so cross with Katherine for not telling her what was going on that she hadn’t had much of an appetite. How petty that anger seemed now.

She rubbed her growling stomach. One of her mother’s favourite punishments for Linota and her sister had been to withhold food, so Linota knew what it was like to feel hungry. At least she’d thought she’d known. This hollow feeling was something entirely different. The stabbing pains shot through her and there was nothing she could do to ease them as she followed Erik further into the woodland.

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