Barbarian's Soul by Joan Kayse

eyes again. This man, this barbarian also was no simpleton. There was intelligence in those emerald depths. Admitting her guilt or not, he would soon discover that Tiege had the jewelry.
    Tiege had the jewelry .
    Hope flared in her chest.
    Adria pushed against his arms, which was like pushing against granite and squirmed until he set her on her feet. Still caught between his well-muscled arms, Adria lifted her chin and motioned toward the tenement. “Your property is in there.”
    The barbarian glanced over his shoulder and frowned. “My jewelry is in a kitchen?”
    Fear stifled a bubble of anxious laughter. She shook her head. “No. In the tenement next to it...on the other side of this building. A thief named Tiege has it.” She settled back, waited for him to release her to go retrieve the items. What a brilliant solution. She would be free, she would still have the money and this barbarian and Tiege could take care of each other.
    “Come.”
    Adria had no time to recover from her shock and even less to protest as he grasped her wrist and started for the tenement.
    “No, wait!” Adria dug her heels into the rocky soil. Her efforts did nothing to deter him, only caused the worn leather of her sandals to slip, the sides of her feet scraping in the rocky soil as he dragged her forward. She cursed as a shard of broken pottery sliced her toe. “I will only be a hindrance to you.”
    “Does it appear I am being hindered?” he asked in a dry, mocking voice.
    Adria’s mind raced as he strode toward Tiege’s lair. She could still hear echoed cries of the master thief’s men as they searched for her. This man had no idea the danger that awaited him. Tiege had at least ten men armed with knives, swords, and clubs with him at all times. Tonight there had been twice that number along with a ragtag group of street boys pretending to be men, which for all their bravado were just as dangerous. Even the handful of whores who served the master thief were known to carry blades. He was walking to his doom—and dragging her along with him.
    She had no experience with barbarians. Did they respond to reason? She glared at the tense line of his broad shoulders and knew the answer was no. “This is not a wise decision.”
    The barbarian halted in mid-step, causing Adria to stumble into him. A fleeting impression of his hard body beneath his tunic had her jumping back as far as his restraining hold would allow. They were mere feet from the noise and light of the lair entrance but all she could see was the fire in his eyes as he whirled on her.
    A small muscle ticked in his cheek and his gaze seared her. “The lack of wisdom came when you decided to steal from me!”
    A twinge of regret tugged at her, added to her disconcertion. She buried it beneath her own anger. “I did not steal from you. I stole from the jeweler, Paulin.”
    The barbarian narrowed his eyes. “Moments after my bargain with the man had been struck.”
    He was not only angry, she realized, but indignant as well. “You were not there,” she countered, the rationale sounding weak even to her own ears.
    Another growl of frustration. “Woman, I have not the time to debate. I want my property.”
    “There you are, you little bitch. I...”
    Adria saw only a blur as her captor’s fist shot out. Tiege’s man crumpled to the ground in a soundless heap. She stared at the rivulet of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth then raised wide eyes to her captor’s expressionless face. With as much effort as an ordinary man might take to swat a pesky fly, he had knocked a man as tall and broad as he unconscious. “Is he dead?” she heard herself asking.
    A shadow of disgust passed over his face and his voice had an odd hitch to it. “I do not kill for the sport of it.” He spared a glance at the unconscious man. “But had I wanted him dead, he would be so.”
    Adria sensed a shift within him, an increased tension. Her gaze fell on the broad hand still wrapped