The Hunter by Monica Mccarty Read Free Book Online

pilgrims. I will be far safer with them.”
    “Then it’s a good thing we won’t be traveling on the road.”
    “Do you proposed to fly to Berwick?” The sarcastic words were out of her mouth before she could snatch them back.
    He smiled, and some of that irritation she was feeling squeezed strangely in her chest. He was handsome, she realized. Sinfully handsome. She didn’t need to see the rest of his face to know it. It was right there in that crooked smile. A strange shudder passed through her, prickly and warm, as if someone had just spread a thick plaid over her naked skin.
    “Not quite,” he said. “We’ll keep to the trees and stay off the main roads.”
    He took a step closer to her, and she caught a faint whiff of leather and pine that she wished she could say was unpleasant. Instead she felt the nearly irresistible urge to inhale. She shook it off, wondering why she was acting like this. She had never been the type to be made silly by a man—not even when she was young. In fact, it had been the other way around.
    She had to tilt her head back just to look at him. “What if we get lost?”
    The harsh sound out of his mouth was almost a laugh. “We won’t get lost.”
    He glanced down, and their eyes met. Something lockedin her chest. Her breath, she realized. It seemed to have become stuck. Something strange passed between them. Something hot and intense. Something that made the skin beneath her cloak prickle. She was suddenly very aware of her naked skin beneath the wool.
    Almost as if he knew what she was thinking, his gaze dropped to her chest. A strange warm flush spread over her, and she gasped. The small sound was enough to break the connection. He jerked his gaze away, a dark look crossing his face.
    He took a step back and she tried to cover the moment of awkwardness, but her voice sounded unusually breathy. “I’m afraid it’s impossible. You may escort me to Dryburgh if you insist, but it isn’t proper for me to travel alone with a man.” Jerusalem’s temples, they’d have to spend at least one night together!
    His mouth twisted. “There is nothing improper; you are a nun. Your chastity is safe with me.”
    There was something about that little smile and the way he said it that didn’t sit well with her. Had she misread what had just happened? Was he telling her he wasn’t attracted to her? Though that was exactly the way she
should
want it, she had just enough vanity left to discover that it bothered her.
    She needed to change into a new chemise and put her veil in order. Then she was sure she would feel like herself again.
After
she got rid of him. “I did not mean to impugn your honor. You are a man of honor, are you not?”
    “Usually.”
    She frowned. Not exactly the answer she was hoping for, but it would have to do.
    “And as an honorable man you would not force your person on an unwilling woman?”
    For a chivalrous man there was only one answer. He, of course, gave her another.
    “Well, I guess it depends upon the circumstances, becauseI have every intention of forcing my person on you, Sister. So if you are done trying to talk circles around me until I do what you want, you can change while I find my horse, and then we can be on our way.”
    And without waiting for her to respond, he turned on his heel and left her there, gasping. Or perhaps sputtering was more accurate. It had been a long time since she’d lost a war of words.
    It seemed she wasn’t going to be rid of him as easily as she’d hoped. Actually, it seemed as if she wasn’t going to be rid of him at all.

Three
    Something about her expression when he walked away made Ewen want to laugh. He’d wager it wasn’t often the wee nun heard the word “no.” He was less amused, however, upon his return. For a woman of God, she sure as hell had a way of rousing the devil in him.
    He stared down at her from atop his horse, his hand extended. “I said, give me your hand.”
    She shook her head, the hideous