A few hours later they came to a small river and Col announced happily, “We’ll be on Limont land as soon as we cross the burn.”
Charity nodded and plopped wearily to the damp edge of the river, startling only a little when Toren crouched beside her. It was a long riverbank, surely he could have found another place to plant himself. He dipped low and began scooping water into his cupped palms and drinking lustfully. Charity couldn’t help watching the way his Adam’s apple bobbed in his strong throat column, satin skin moving over hard planes.
Damn it. It wasn’t fair to be so attracted to him. She looked away, eyeing the water, her own throat muscles working from thirst until Toren brought his hands to her, cupped together and brimming with tantalizing water. She quirked a brow at him. “Is it safe?”
His own brows pulled together in puzzlement. “Ye believe Aldreth has tainted it?”
No. Actually she was thinking more of the lack of purification tablets and parasites. It was a fairly strong current though and running water was safer than a still pond, right? At least she thought she’d heard that somewhere. How long would it take to boil it? The mercenaries wouldn’t mind waiting. She was so thirsty. She looked Toren over again. He’d been drinking unpurified water his entire life and he was fit enough. Fit? He was beyond fit. Not in a body-builder type of way, but the long lean muscles built over a life actually engaging in activities that packed on muscle naturally. A working man, well, warrior. Crap. She was salivating.
For water. She was thirsty. Foregoing the water Toren held for her in his hands, she bent low and drank from her own hands. Goddess, she didn’t know water could taste so good. She gulped more and more.
Hands on her shoulders pulled her up. “Easy, lass, not so fast. You’ll make yourself sick.”
Uh, right. She grimaced at him, wiping her mouth, and shrugging his hands off until he got the message and let his hands fall. They sat in uncomfortable silence, taking small sips now and then. Col and Edeen’s hushed chatter a little ways off filtered around them.
“Er.” Toren cleared his throat. “Charity.” She looked at him sidewise, suspicious at his uncharacteristic hesitancy. He wouldn’t look at her, but stared into the tumbling river. “I…” he continued. “Ye have my gratitude.”
Huh? She turned to fully face his profile. “Oh. So you’ve decided I’m not an evil villain soul-bent on your destruction.”
His lips quirked. “I never considered you a villain.”
“A pawn of a villain then, which is all the more insulting. If I was an evil-doer, I’d be the boss, not a pawn. If I wanted to, I’d make a great villain.”
He faced her then, a full smile lifting his features and everything holding her spine together turned to goop. She actually swayed, but caught herself, freezing to the spot, as Toren’s calloused hand brushed along her cheek and slipped into her hair. His face dipped close, inches from hers. “You could never be the villain,” he crooned huskily before easing back.
Her spine tightened back up. Hard. Everything tightened. And tingled. Low. In parts she hadn’t felt in a while. Her mouth went dry. Dang was she thirsty, but couldn’t seem to turn toward the water lapping mere inches from her.
“I…” Damn, this wasn’t fair. What he was doing to her. She was in to him. Way into him. No doubt. Hell, she’d traveled centuries back through time just to help him and her body was reacting like a hormone-raging teenager just from a smile and husky voice. She had to clear the air, be up front, in order to keep her wits—and her hormones—in check enough to get through this ordeal. He had apologized for thinking she was working with Aldreth. Well, kind of. He hadn’t said he was sorry, but he told her thank you. That was a start.
“Listen. Um, it’s fine. Okay. I get it.” She leaned back from him. Far back. He was still looking at her intensely and it was, well, intense. She swallowed. “You were hurt, feverish. How could you know who I was or what my intentions were. It’s fine. It really is. Don’t worry about it.” There. Done. She really didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
“I should have known,” he said quietly and Charity’s heart took a little stumble, because that’s right. He should have known. Or…well, how could he have. Best to clear the air between them and then drop it.
She went on quickly before her voice broke. “Look, I kind of messed-up your time-line a bit in order to get here. The first time, we um…” She dropped her gaze to her lap. “I healed you, back in my time, and something happened, something…”
“Intimate?” he supplied for her and his voice caressed along her skin.
Heat poured into her cheeks as she nodded. “Y-yeah. We, um, shared…” She twirled her hands in the air between them as though she could erase the connection drawing her to him. He reached over and stopped her hands, taking them between his own and they both froze, a jolt going between them.
Charity blinked, swallowed, and pulled her hands loose, looking away from him so she could just get through the humiliation of what she had to say. “Bottom line, I feel things for you, all right.” That was putting it mildly. “I wish I didn’t. And I can’t help it. You don’t feel the same, which is fine. Really it is. I get it. You don’t have to worry. I’m not some schoolgirl who is going to follow you around like an unwanted puppy. I’ll get over it. Believe me I’ve done it before. So let’s just get you to your clan, get these spelled bands off of you, and then you can open a rift and get me back home. You can get me back home, right?” She squinted up at him and damn if he didn’t look a little disappointed.
His lips tightened and he dipped his head in a curt nod, long hair lowering in a jerk. “Once I have uninhibited use of my magic again, aye Lady, I can deliver ye to your own time.” That said, he rose and stalked off, hands clenched at his sides.
Chapter Twenty-One
Highland Sorcerer Page 22
