Becca St.John by Seonaid Read Free Book Online Page A

him of sleep, she’d put this piece of jewelry in his hand, his talisman for courage.
    As always, she wore it near her shoulder, to hold her tartan in place. She removed it, secured the pin so it wouldn’t prick, and placed it in his open palm.
    As his fingers curled around it, stoicism turned to ferocity.
    Brave little man.
    She wrapped him warm, pulled him close, onto her lap, and stopped him when he tried to push away. “I need you close, for me. To share your strength.”
    He relaxed then, into her hold, didn’t fuss when she rocked, with him in her arms, mother and son, back and forth, bonding in emotion restrained.
    Exhaustion overrode all else and he slept. It was the darkest point of night, just shy of sunrise. She tucked them both into his pallet.
    Rocks and dirt shifted, as Padraig climbed onto the top of the boulder at their back. He would keep them safe, for now. Only for now. She must send him away. No point relying on help that wouldn’t last.
    “Is the lad asleep?” His whisper reached her.
    Aye. Asleep. So easily led to comfort and safety with the adults around him. Another shift of dirt and stone and Padraig was there, crouching, stroking Deian’s head as he’d done earlier for her.
    “That’s the second time he’s been in grave danger since you left.” He met her eyes.
    “That was my fault.”
    “And if something happens to you?”
    “What are you saying?”
    Deian shifted in his sleep. She eased away from him, out of the pallet to cross to her own. Padraig followed.
    “He’d be safe at Glen Toric.”
    “And wounded a thousand times, with all those nasty barbs and whispers.” The words burbled out, tight and tremble-y. “He’s a good lad, a fine lad, but they will poison him. He’ll become as bad as his father if he goes back there. The cruelty will make him cruel.”
    “No,” Padraig argued, but she knew the truth of it. He’d never been on the outside. Lived with the spitefulness of children.
    He didn’t know.
    But she did. They would not turn back. The dangers of their travels were nothing compared to the dangers of the truth running rampant at home.

CHAPTER 6  ~  DESTINATIONS
     
    Fortune—or luck—rode with them for three days. Not that Padraig felt terribly lucky. He’d been in a state of arousal all three of those days. Worse than before Seonaid discovered and forgot passion.
    Worse because he now knew the taste of her.
    She blamed them both for Deian’s wandering around alone at night. No chance of that happening again, yet here he sat, upon his steed, fighting a desperate and greedy need.
    Every little movement flamed his want. Her smile slipped straight to his gut. Her temper enflamed his need. Deian received her gentle touches, but the vision reached Padraig as a velvet touch to his nethers.
    All too much. She’d as good as told him to go. “You’ll be leaving us soon enough,” she’d griped.
    He refused to look at her, for fear she’d see the sappy hunger in him.
    Fine. He would leave. Tonight, once he knew they were tucked in and safe. Except who would watch over them as they slept?
    He would not leave tonight. Tomorrow morning, perhaps?
    They weren’t that far from where he would put them on a ship. He’d not try to get her to turn around anymore. She’d made up her mind. She didn’t trust him to take care of her, of the lad.
    She didn’t want him.
    But he knew that was a lie. She did want him, a powerful want. He’d tasted it, felt it. One of the grandest moments in his life and he’d not even ridden it to the end.
    Aye, she did want him.
    He’d have to do something about that, work it to his advantage. Get her to return home, build a life together with him.
    “We’ll have to stop for a day,” he told them. “Hunt and plan our travels.” He looked over to Deian. “You need to know how to keep yourself safe in these wilds, lad. That’s up to you.”
    Deian nodded, chuffed to be considered old enough to hunt for something larger than a