Highland Son (Highland Sorcery: A New Dawn) by Clover Autrey Read Free Book Online Page A

second floor.
    He caught up to her on the outside walkway above the courtyard. “Jewel, what’s going on?” He kept his voice low, fully aware those above on the roof could hear them.
    She spun back, large frightened eyes glossy in her pale face. She glanced around, swiping at her nose again. “Nothing.”
    “I know what I felt.”
    She flinched again and looked up at the concertina wire just above their heads. “Quick. In here.” Spinning on her heel, she entered one of the rooms. “Leave the door open for the light.”
    Alexander followed her inside and left the door ajar.
    “It’s just a nosebleed.” She grabbed up some cloths from the standard motel night stand still in the room and sat on one of the two beds and held the cloth beneath her nose.
    Spying a pitcher of water on the nightstand, Alexander poured a bit onto another one of the cloths and brought it to her. “Here.” He sat on the bed beside her and pressed the damp cloth on the back of her neck. “Headache too?”
    She nodded. “It will pass.”
    “Um-hmm.” He pushed the cloth up, obstructed by the unbecoming cap she always wore so he tugged it off, not expecting the thick fall of hair to come loose like satin over his hands. The scent of cherries released around them.
    “It’s stopped bleeding.”
    “What?” Alexander’s voice caught.
    “My nosebleed. It’s stopped.”
    “Oh.” Alexander moved the wet cloth to her cheek and over her mouth, wiping away any remaining flecks of blood.
    Her eyes shone in the silver light and his mouth went dry. He looked away from her vulnerable gaze and reached over to place the cloth back onto the night stand. He smiled at the assortment of products she’d somehow managed to scavenge for herself. Cherry blossom shampoo. Cherry lip balm. Cherry scented lotion. Faded cardboard car fresheners in the shape of the fruit.
    “What?” She’d followed the direction of his gaze to her collection.
    “Nothing.” His smile widened. She was a rare mix of surprises. Self-assured and able, and a feminine wonder beneath that ugly cap. A female whose features were weary and pale.
    Without thinking, he slipped his large palms into her hair and started rubbing her temples to ease the ache. “My mam used to do this for me.”
    She stiffened beneath his touch.
    “Of course she was a healer so the pain was gone in a matter of minutes. I’m sorry I don’t have that talent.”
    The soft gasp speared right into his heart. She was afraid. Of magic. Of her own magic. He had suspected as much. Bits and pieces of the puzzle that was Jewel began to take shape.
    “I wish I did. I’d take your pain away, Jewel. I’d take it all away.”
    She turned to face him, pulling his hands down into hers. “Please stop talking. Don’t say anything to anyone.”
    He studied her wary features. “What did you do, Jewel? What made the Sifts leave?”
    She pushed away from the bed. “Please, we shouldn’t talk about it. You can’t say anything. To anyone.”
    Her plea was so heartfelt and frightened, he’d promise her anything to erase the fear in her eyes.
    “But you did something. You used magic,” he prodded her. “You can trust me.”
    “Can I?”
    He suddenly realized he wanted her to, not just out of need to know what was going on to help her people, but he wanted her to trust him. For herself. It felt like the most vital thing in the world. Yet, was it reasonable to expect her to trust him, a stranger she didn’t know, when she didn’t even trust her own people? Which, that was an entirely different perplexing matter.
    Why didn’t she trust her own group to know she had magic? That it had been her all along keeping the Sifts away from the motel, because that’s obviously what had been going on here all this time.
    “Jewel, why are you keeping what you can do from everyone?”
    “It’s complicated.” Her gaze kept tracking toward the door. “Please, can you just leave it alone? And please don’t say anything.”