Midnight's Warrior by Donna Grant Read Free Book Online

eyes swam with unshed tears as she leaned her forehead against the door. She tried to hold back the tide of emotion, but Ramsey had opened the floodgates when he’d read her so perfectly.
    The first tear escaped, and then the others quickly followed. Her shoulders shook with the force of her loneliness and fear. She covered her mouth with her hands to hold back her sobs, but it was too late.
    *   *   *
    Ramsey laid his palm flat on Tara’s door. He hung his head as he heard the sound of her tears. He hadn’t wanted to make her cry. He hoped to let her see that he was there for her.
    Instead of making progress, he had taken a giant leap backward. And he knew if he hadn’t asked Arran for the snow that Tara would have left Dunnoth Tower. How would he explain it if he followed her? At least he hoped he wouldn’t have to.
    Tara was scared, but she wasn’t witless. She wouldn’t venture out in such weather.
    Ramsey stayed by the door for several more moments listening to the soul-deep sobs from within the room. Only when Tara’s tears began to lessen did he return to the kitchen and clean up after their meal.
    He couldn’t help walking past Tara’s room once more before he made his way outside. After he closed the door to the castle and locked it, Ramsey added a quick protection spell.
    “Will that keep Declan out?” Arran’s voice asked behind him.
    Ramsey wasn’t surprised to find his friend there. “Nay,” he answered as he turned to Arran. “But it will take him a few moments to get through the spell.”
    “Moments we could use in getting Tara out.”
    “Aye.”
    “Good idea,” Arran said.
    They fell in step as they walked to Ramsey’s cottage. The snowfall hadn’t stopped, and already it was piled thick on the ground so that they sank to their knees when they stepped through it.
    When Ramsey opened the door to his cottage, a fire raged in the hearth, and the smell of coffee filled the air. Charon turned from the stove and set two heavy mugs on the table before reaching for his own.
    “Thanks,” Ramsey said as he reached for the cup and sank into the chair.
    He felt Charon’s and Arran’s eyes on him as they took their seats and silently waited for him to tell them if anything had happened with Tara.
    “The snow will keep away any visitors, but I’ll head out in a few hours for another look anyway,” Charon said.
    Arran chuckled. “There willna be anyone on the roads, at least no’ coming here. I’ve made sure of that.”
    “It willna keep Declan out for long,” Ramsey said. “If he wants Tara as desperately as we think he does, he’ll figure out a way to get here.”
    “Then we need to move things along,” Charon said.
    Ramsey set down the thick mug. “I think I might have scared Tara off tonight.”
    “What happened?” Arran asked.
    Ramsey raked a hand through his hair and dislodged the strip of leather he used to keep the strands tied back. He tossed the leather on the table and sighed. “She told me she has a gift for reading people, so I told her to read me.”
    “You didna,” Charon said with surprise.
    “I did. And she read me.”
    Arran leaned forward on the table. “Well?”
    “She’s good. Verra good, actually,” Ramsey confessed. “She didna get into specifics, but she obviously can read people.”
    “What did she say exactly?” Charon asked.
    “She said I had an old soul, and that I had a few secrets. That I left friends I considered family for something I deemed important. She said I was a warrior who would protect what was mine.”
    “Damn,” Charon murmured. “She is good.”
    “I tried to tell her she would need friends, but when that didna work, I asked if I could see if I could read her as well as she did me.”
    Arran rolled his eyes and sighed. “Well, doona keep us in suspense!”
    Ramsey leaned his elbows on the table. “Apparently, I did a good job. I didna give specifics, just general things as she did with me. But I hit a nerve, I think.