Flight of Fancy: Cora's Daughters by Mercedes Keyes Read Free Book Online

between them. When finally she had her bearings about her, she spun and sprinted off through the woods. The world had suddenly gone topsy-turvy on her. Nothing made sense. She ran as fast as she could to where she had left her horse. Sprinting with all the speed her body could muster as if the devil himself were on her heels. She wanted to look behind her to see if he was there too, running to catch her – but she dare not look, she dare not. With her heart going faster than she’d ever felt it beat, she finally came to where her horse waited. Snatching the reins free she leapt upon it in one fluid motion and set it off into a fast gallop away from Clover Grove plantation, and away from the big white man she’d first encountered at the lake.
     
    Unable to move, his world was spinning, all thought within his mind had come to one sound conclusion as clear as the sun, he, Broc Wolf, wanted that woman. Seeing her standing there, whipping the hell out of Gareth Kuiper – and rightly so, and seeing the way she’d traveled, taking possession of all that she needed. Watching how she, on her own made it to that plantation.
    To see her take out it’s overseers one at a time until she got a hold of Gareth Kuiper, made him desire her.
    Seeing that and getting to know her by staying back and watching every one of her deeds, told him loud and clear – he was watching his mate for life. The gold be damned! She was worth far more than any amount they could come up with. To see her bravely face him and possible death – and not for a moment, was she willing to give in to save herself. Like some other women might have, she had not been willing to bargain, beg or plead – offering nothing to him to save herself – not even her body. 
    Not… Asiza.
    She was not a demon.
    Nor a witch.
    No wickedness flowed through her veins.
    A spirit? Oh yes indeed, the grandest type of spirit.
     

Within her was a driven spirit more precious than any gold he would collect. He would have her any day over the mere pittance they were offering for him to bring her in, dead . His entire adult manhood he had been roaming about, trying to find himself , trying to find his father – as if he were the missing piece that would make him whole.
    He no longer believed this to be so.
    As he stood watching her flee – he knew as he knew the air that he inhaled kept him alive, that she was the missing piece of his soul.
    Finding his father – could wait.
    Tracking and gaining the trust and acceptance of his soul-mate… could not. What he needed to continue on life’s journey – stood just out of his reach. The true purpose of why he’d become a bounty hunter became abundantly clear – he’d needed to be in place in time to be the one sent off in pursuit of the fancy – that he would now claim as his own. 
    Determined to see that end, his next goal was to gain her heart, her trust and her vow to him.
    In that, he was certain he would not fail. However, before he left Clover Grove plantation, there was something he had to do. Life was about seizing opportunities – he was the type of man that would let none pass him by. After that, he would be back on her trail.
     

Chapter Four
     
    He was following her.
    She just knew that he was – she could tell. She hadn’t known it at first, that he had followed her from the lake – but now – she sensed him. She didn’t get it. If he was after her, why hadn’t he done to her what he’d come to do?
    He shot and killed Master Gareth. Seeing that, remembering that, still made her head spin. That ball had been meant for her, why did he use it on someone he was supposed to be on the side of?
    Who was that white man?
    Why was he that way? Killing his own?
    The strangest part of all – knowing that he was after her, should have compelled her, to kill him. Instead, she was running from him, why? She could have doubled back, climbed a tree, sat in waiting, and immediately dispatched an arrow just for him. Because