Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Declan stepped in closer. “I would say keep this quiet, but that’s impossible with the guards being posted. But do you think someone in the village could be involved?”
“Not likely,” Hamish said, not even taking a moment to consider it. “The clan is too pleased with how you have made sure men hunt for food, cottages get repaired, and more. You are bringing the clan back to life and they are grateful. And though all know your marriage is one of convenience, it still brings them joy. They would do nothing to harm the peace you’ve brought them.”
“It must be one of the fathers, and when I get my hands on him…” Declan’s hands closed in tight fists.
Hamish studied him for a moment, then softened his voice. “You care for her.”
Declan didn’t answer right away. “She is a good woman who has offered to help me, and I won’t see anything happen to her.”
Hamish’s smile grew as he watched as Delcan strode toward the door. “Well, I’ll be… he’s falling in love with the lass and doesn’t even know it.”
Declan entered Aura’s cottage after receiving no response to his knock to find her seated at the table, her head bent down busy using her pestle to grind dried leaves in her mortar. Her focus was on her chore, even the strand of hair that had fallen in her face was ignored. She chewed at her bottom lip as she worked, plumping it and turning it rosy. Her slim fingers worked with skilled practice and though she must have done this tedious chore repeatedly, she appeared quite content.
“Aura,” he said gently.
Her hands froze and her head popped up, her eyes turning wide.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you. I rapped at the door, but you didn’t answer.” How was it he hadn’t noticed the touch of glimmer in her brown eyes? It was almost as if the brown color shielded people from its beauty.
He stared at her strangely, but then she was a bit disheveled, having gotten lost in her work.
Her work.
“I thought of some plants to combine to make a brew that perhaps could soften the effects of the wish, but I need certain plants to add to it to make it more potent, which means a trip into the woods.”
“Not without me,” he said firmly.
She smiled and pushed the loose strand of hair out of her face, leaving a smudge of ground leaves on her cheek. “I had the same thought.”
“I’m afraid it will have to wait. Hamish has gathered a few volunteers to go with me to the place where you were to be left. It seems that the ring of stones is a place feared by many. It is believed dark magic exists there.”
Aura hurried her apron off. “The witch. She may be the cause of all this. I am going with you.”
Declan’s chuckle was not one of humor. “Not likely.”
Aura’s eyes turned wide. “Why not? I may spy something there, a plant, a root, an amulet that could help me better understand the cause of your problem.”
Bloody hell if that didn’t make sense, Declan thought.
She hurried around the table and tapped at his chest. “I can see in your eyes that what I said makes perfect sense.”
He muttered beneath his breath.
“This is an opportunity,” Aura said, a sense of excitement in her voice. “We can’t risk losing it. It could mean freeing you of this wretched wish.”
It was an opportunity but not the kind she was talking about. It was an opportunity to ease the ache that had been nagging at him since he entered the cottage and watched her lip grow plumper from her absent-minded chewing. The ache to… kiss her.
“You must let me go with you,” she insisted.
He silently warned himself to ignore his urging, though he couldn’t ignore the smudge on her face and unwisely brushed it away with a swipe of his thumb.
Aura’s breath caught for a moment, then she whispered, “Please do this.”
It was as if she begged him to kiss her and naturally, he couldn’t deny her.
CHAPTER 10
Declan’s hand cupped the back of her neck as he lowered his head and brushed his lips across hers before settling on them in a tender kiss that spoke of a promise of things to come.
Aura had never been kissed and the startling and pleasant sensation it sent through her shocked her, and she froze.
He felt her body grow taut and silently cursed himself for taking such liberties with her. He dropped his hand off her neck and took a step back away from her.
“Forgive me,” he said. “It was wrong of me to do that when you have been so gracious to help me. It has been so long since I have been able to kiss a woman, though that is a poor excuse. Again, my apologies.”