Page 11 of The Last True Hero
Mia's breath caught. He had dangerous gray-green eyes, the kind of eyes that always made her want to linger there, staring at him.
"I'm not into that kind of thing," she said primly.
"Me either. I'm starting to think I have a serious weakness for strong-willed women though."
"Even though you want to change them?"
Another smile. "Poor choice of words. Darlin', I wouldn't change a damned thing about you, but if push came to shove I couldn't just stand by and let you walk into danger. I have this idiot complex about taking bullets in the chest for pretty ladies."
Wouldn't change a damned thing about you.... Mia swallowed. He had a way with words sometimes. A blunt kind of honesty that took her breath. "I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when it comes to it," she replied. "I bet I can shoot more reivers than you can."
"So you know how to work that thing?" He gestured toward the shotgun at her feet.
"My Aunt Jenny can put out a squirrel's eye at a hundred paces. I can shoot the cigarette out from between someone's lips. She taught me how to defend myself, but her eyesight's struggling these days. You wouldn't have wanted to cross Aunt Jenny ten years ago. She rode with the Nomads for a time."
"I don't want to cross your Aunt Jenny now," he replied. "She's still sitting there with your friend, Sinclair, watching my every move. Has been ever since I walked over here."
Mia looked up and squinted in the darkness. He was right. Jake glanced away as if he hadn't been caught looking, but Jenny arched a brow as if to ask her if she knew what she was doing.
Mia shrugged, then looked back down at McClain. He was pouring some of the beans into the pot lid for her. Firelight washed over his tanned face, highlighting the stark line of his cheekbones. He was one hell of a handsome bastard, but she thought his slow manner of moving, almost a kind of carefulgentleness, and his brutal sense of honesty were more appealing than his looks.
And, she had to admit, as he handed her a share of the beans, he'd very neatly manipulated her into thinking about something other than her sister.
Mia ate her beans, watching him and brooding. Nobody had ever quite tied her up in knots like this, not even Jake.
And McClain did it without even thinking.
* * *
"I'd better takethe first watch," he said, putting his makeshift bowl down.
"You're not tired?" Mia asked.
"I can go a few days without sleep, if need be. And not that I doubt your friends but I know what to look out for in the dark. We don't need an ambush."
"You think that would happen?"
"I think that reivers are unpredictable," he replied bluntly. "They're not overly educated, but some of them are cunning. Whoever's leading this band took us straight out over these plains, which leave barely any tracks, instead of making straight for Fort Phoenix. They're heading southeast, which is unusual as there's not much out there. Maybe they'll swing back but I can't guarantee that, so we're forced to follow them and play their game for the meanwhile."
Mia stared into the flickering flames. "Do you think we'll get them back?"
McClain knelt in front of her, capturing her hands. "Look at me, Mia." She obeyed, and then couldn't look away from those intense green eyes. "I promise you I'll do my best to get your sister and your townsfolk back, but you have to promise not to give up. I'm very, very good at what I do. I promise you I'll find her, eventually."
He didn't promise he'd find Sage alive, but Mia appreciated that. "Thank you," she whispered.
"For what?"
"For not lying to me." Lowering her gaze, she licked her lips, unable to take the scrutiny of his stare any longer. "It's the one thing I can't stand—being lied to." Letting go of her breath, she released his hands and stood, brushing them against her jeans. "We'll get them back." Determination washed through her. "And you're right... I need to take care of myself in the meantime. If I don't eat or get enough rest, then I won't be at my strongest when we catch those bastards. Good night, McClain."
He was watching her, still kneeling on one knee. "Good night, Mia."
* * *
The darkness swallowed him whole. Adam climbed up onto the bluff overlooking the camp and stared out into the night, feeling the pull of it through his veins.
It was harder to contain that inner edge at the moment. He was a mess of want, of need, of hunger; though he knew most people wouldn't think it from his appearance. Adam had had a hell of a lot of time to learn to hide what he was underneath. His men in Absolution once called him the epitome of control, but now he started to wonder if all those years had merely been a conceit of his own. Ever since they'd discovered what he was, the bars of this particular cage seemed a little ragged. He could remember the looks on their faces with blinding clarity. He'd spent six years ruling them with a fair but firm hand, he'd lost blood for them, given them food off his own table and risked his own life to fetch back their women and children from reiver raids, but none of that mattered in the end.
For a few years, he'd forgotten what he was. He'd lived as a man, begun to even think he was one.
