Return of the Warrior by Kinley MacGregor Read Free Book Online Page A

She sang a song in a language he had all but forgotten. And in that instant, he flashed back to his own childhood. To the last time in his life he had felt truly safe.
    Loved.
    I love you, little Christian, his mother’s voice echoed in his mind as she kissed his brow and rocked him in her arms. I always will.
    He couldn’t count the times his mother sang to him when he was a child. But even so, her voice was no match for the beauty of Adara’s.
    Lutian cleared his throat as if to warn them of his presence.
    The older of the girls straightened up as she caught sight of him watching them. “Are we doing something wrong, brother?” she asked him.
    Adara stopped midsong as she turned to face him. God’s blood, but she was a striking woman. Her wealth of black hair fell freely around her like a mantle of sable. And those eyes…
    A man could lose all sanity while staring at those kind, sweet eyes.
    Surely no queen should look so guileless and innocent. Especially not one who had traversed an entire continent just to seduce him to her bed.
    “Nay,” Christian said quietly. “And I’m not a monk.”
    The little girl cocked her head at that.
    “He’s playing dress-up,” Adara said. “Like Marge.” She handed the dolls back to the girls, then stood up and joined him.
    “Did you not eat?” he asked.
    She gestured to a cloth napkin that covered a small stack of mincemeat pies and two skins on a nearby table. “I thought it best we eat on our journey.”
    “I ate already,” Lutian said. He patted his stomach. “It was very tasty and well served. I still would rather have had my first request, though. A prime maid to feast upon.” His gaze went to Adara. “What man could ask for more?”
    Christian frowned at that until she brushed ahand against his brow, which immediately succeeded in calming him. “You shouldn’t do that so much. You’ll get wrinkles before your time.”
    Christian opened his mouth to speak, then paused as he heard something odd from outside.
    If he didn’t know better…
    A dagger went whizzing past his face, narrowly missing it.
    Adara screamed as she moved away from him to shield the children. Lutian quickly joined her in the corner.
    Before he could unsheath his sword, the door slammed open and a body was flung through it.
    Christian pulled his sword out and angled it to the man on the ground, only to realize he was already dead. He stepped back as another man came through the door with a drawn dagger in his hand.
    Adara held the girls’ faces to her gown to shield them from the sight of the dead man as she tried to understand what was happening. Even Lutian stood as motionless as a statue.
    Christian still held his sword at the ready, but made no move to attack.
    The newcomer was almost as tall as Christian. He had black hair that flowed long past his broad shoulders. In truth, she’d never seen hair so long on any man. His skin was a darker tan than most Europeans. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he was Saracen.
    But his eyes were so pale that at first glance,they looked white. They were as startling in their mercilessness as they were in their color.
    “Phantom,” Christian said in a low tone. “Are you friend or foe this night?”
    “If I were foe, Abbot, you’d be dead now,” the man said in an accent that was definitely Norman.
    In one fluid motion, Phantom wiped his bloody dagger on his thigh before he tucked it into his black sleeve.
    “Mercy, mercy!” the hostel owner said as she entered the room and saw the dead man on her floor. She rushed to the girls, then herded them out of the room.
    Phantom turned his cold, eerie gaze to Adara, who stiffened instantly. There was something very chilly and frightening about this man. And at the same time, there was something eerily familiar about him, too, but she was most certain that had she ever met this man before, she would definitely recall it.
    “What have we here?” he asked with a note of excitement in his