Page 20 of The Warrior's Innocent Captive

‘Are you comfortable?’Erik murmured into her hair.

‘Mmm...’ Linota shifted slightly in the saddle. ‘I’m fine.’

Fine didn’t quite cover how she felt. Shewascomfortable. In fact, she wastoocomfortable. Erik’s strong arms were wrapped around her and she was snuggled against his chest, his cloak encasing both of them. She’d be content to stay like this for ever, with the warmth of his body seeping into hers.

‘You got Cai back quickly,’ she said, trying to distract herself from her inappropriate thoughts.

A laugh rumbled through his body, the movement causing pleasant tingles to ripple through her. ‘It wasn’t difficult. They weren’t the cleverest men I’ve ever met.’

He lapsed into silence.

He was different this afternoon. Much quieter. Which was fine, he obviously had a lot to think about, but the lack of conversation allowed her imagination to run wild. As they’d left the small settlement together she’d wondered whether they looked like a married couple, riding towards their home, and the idea had sent a thrill running through her.

Her head kept reminding her that she mustn’t have these thoughts and feelings about Erik. There would never be a future for them in which resting in his arms would be as normal as breathing. But her body wasn’t listening. Her fingers itched with the urge to trace the length of his arms, to feel the muscles that held her tightly.

He rode briskly, not stopping for a break and only speaking once to ask if she was warm enough.To distract herself from Erik, Linota tried to concentrate on the passing scenery. There was only so much attention she could give to endless trees and after a while she gave up trying. She’d have to spend the rest of her life without Erik, why not enjoy the sensation of his arms around her right now? She allowed her back muscles to relax and sink into him. She held her breath, waiting for him to pull away, but he didn’t and after that she thought of nothing but him.

The sun was starting to set when he finally pulled off the rough path they were following.

‘We’ll be able to stop soon,’ he said.

‘Where are we going?’She’d assumed they were heading for Borwyn’s fortress and was unnerved by how thrilled she was that they weren’t. Whatever happened later, tonight she was going to spend more time alone with Erik.

‘I...’ He cleared his throat. ‘I have a place. It’s small. I...the thing... I... Nobody knows about it.’

She twisted in the saddle and looked up at him. A faint blush had spread across his cheekbones and her heart squeezed at the sight.

‘What I’m saying is it’s not luxurious,’ he said, not looking down at her. ‘I bought it for... I bought it as a place to stay whenever life at the fortress gets...overwhelming.’

Linota turned away from him. His confession had embarrassed him and she didn’t want to make him feel foolish by staring. She’d never thought of him as the type of person to need a sanctuary. He always seemed relaxed in his surroundings, whether riding through the forest or training with the men at Ogmore’s fortress. She knew him as a casual, carefree man, someone whose eyes twinkled as he spoke. His reputation as Borwyn’s right-hand man suggested he was fearless, a formidable man not to be provoked. A bolthole seemed incongruous with the man she’d come to know.

She wanted to ask him more, but his obvious discomfort held her tongue. The time for questioning would come.

It wasn’t long before a peasant’s cottage came into view. They slowed and came to a stop in front of it. Linota did her best to keep her expression straight. This simple dwelling was another surprise. Even knowing he had a refuge she still hadn’t expected this rustic dwelling for the hardened warrior.

‘I’ll stable Cai if you would like to let yourself in.’ Erik jumped down and helped Linota off the horse.

Once her feet were settled on the muddy ground he strode off, tugging Cai after him, not glancing back to see what she was doing. He let himself into one end of the dwelling and disappeared from sight.

She looked around her, trying to get a sense of what this building was used for. The air was still with no sign of any animals around, no sense of anyone else around, for that matter. Whatever Erik used the place for it wasn’t for keeping livestock or a hidden army.

She made her way over to a wooden door at the opposite end of the dwelling to where Erik had recently disappeared and shoved it open.

A little light, left over from the evening, spilled in through the opening. She wasn’t sure exactly what she’d been expecting—something thick with dust, perhaps, or maybe the sour scent of damp—but the inside was very neat and clean with only the faint whiff of old wood smoke. An unlit fireplace was brushed out with no signs that it had been used recently. A long, wooden table took up one side of the room. She made her way over to it and ran her hand over the smooth wooden top. It was a beautifully made piece with a long bench of equally good-quality workmanship tucked underneath.

Linota stilled as she looked them over, her heart beating painfully in her chest as a horrible thought occurred to her. Could Erik possibly be married or betrothed? Was this home set up for the woman he loved? She’d never thought to ask him if he had a wife and no one had mentioned it either way. She’d seen him flirting with women but, of course, that meant nothing. Plenty of men were unfaithful. The giddy feelings she’d been experiencing whenever she was around him suddenly seemed ridiculously naive.

The more she looked around the more convinced she became. This was not some place Erik had acquired on a whim. There were little details throughout the cottage that spoke of love and care and a fine attention to detail.

How foolish she was to have felt comfortable in his arms. This confirmed that all the gentle flirting had been nothing but a kindness on his part. She was so inexperienced in the world that she’d taken that care and made it into something else in her head. And, even though she’d always known they couldn’t be together, she’d still tucked away every little compliment he’d given her. She’d been so foolish.

She twisted her fingers into her skirts. She didn’t want him to come in and find her dithering and slightly heartbroken over her discoveries. She needed to be active, to show that she didn’t care that he had a woman in his life who wasn’t her.

A small stack of wood was piled next to the fire. She made her way over to it and started to pile the sticks in the way she’d seen her sister do. It couldn’t be that hard to light a fire and it would give her something to concentrate on other than her heart constricting in pain.

‘You are being silly,’ she muttered to herself as she selected some of the smaller logs. ‘Even if he did adore you, you couldn’t marry him anyway. So stop this nonsense and get on with things.’

‘Did you say something?’ said Erik.

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