damnation for the fleeting privilege of being tangled in their jasmine-scented hair for one night of ecstasy.
Yet this odd woman with her bold speech and hacked-off hair stirred him as those exotic beauties never had.
He reached for a corner of the cloak, surprised to find his hand unsteady. He had no further reason to resist temptation. His crusade was done, his vow fulfilled, his penance paid. She would make no protest if he drew back the cloak and covered her body with his own. He would not be the first stranger to seek release between her milky thighs, nor would he be the last. Mummers were known for passing their women around like flagons of wine, sampling their sweetness until each had drunk their fill.
But Colin hesitated, his reluctance even more inexplicable than his lust. Her innocent slumber might be naught but another cunning illusion like the forgiveness she’d offered him, yet he was loath to disturb it. He surprised himself by gently tucking the cloak around her and retreating to his own side of the fire. Perhaps its flames would serve to remind him that a passion that burned too hot could bring destruction as well as pleasure.
CHAPTER10
W hen Tabitha awoke the next morning, the fire had died to ash and the knight was gone.
She scrambled to her feet in a blind panic, throwing aside the cloak that enveloped her. A gauzy mist enshrouded the clearing, giving it all the welcoming charm of a graveyard at midnight on Halloween. The pearly light drifting through the interwoven branches made it impossible to tell if it was dawn or noon.
A sleek head loomed out of the mist.
Tabitha clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle a scream before collapsing to her knees in relief. Sir Colin might abandon her, but she knew from the gentle way he handled the animal that he would never forsake his horse.
The stallion surveyed her with limpid brown eyes before lowering his head to a clump of moss. While Tabitha was fingering the woolen folds of the cloak, wondering how it had come to be wrapped around her with such care, Lucy toddled over to butt her in the thigh.
She scratched beneath the kitten’s chin, mocking Colin’s burr. “Did Prince Surly abandon ye? Or has hegone on a quest fer a saucer o’ cream and a box o’ Tender Vittles fer his wee lassie?”
With the morning hush came a startling realization. For the first time since arriving in this wretched century, she was alone. Her heartbeat quickened. If she squandered this opportunity, there was no telling when or
if
the wary Scot would grant her another moment of privacy with the amulet.
She drew the emerald from her shirt. It made her nervous just to look at it, she’d grown so accustomed to bungling her every wish. She took one last look around the clearing, wondering what Colin would think when he returned to find her gone.
“Good riddance, most likely,” she whispered, ignoring a pang of regret. Perhaps for the first time in their lives, her parents needed her. A man like Colin never would.
Before she could lose her nerve, she snatched Lucy to her chest, gripped the amulet, and closed her eyes. “I wish …” She drew in a deep breath before, blurting out, “I wish I were home.”
A whisper of a breeze tickled her cheek. She opened one eye. The mist, the clearing, the grazing stallion all remained. She stole a quick glance around to make sure Colin hadn’t returned to watch her make an idiot of herself. But her only audience, aside from the horse and kitten, was the gnarled trees that looked suspiciously like the ones that had hurled the apples at Dorothy in
The Wizard of Oz
.
Thankful her mother couldn’t see her at that moment, Tabitha rose to her feet, clicked the heels of her chipmunk slippers together three times in quick succession, and mumbled, “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.”
“I’ll not argue the sentiment, lass. ’Tis a noble one indeed.”
Tabitha’s eyes flew open. Colin was leaning against a
Yet this odd woman with her bold speech and hacked-off hair stirred him as those exotic beauties never had.
He reached for a corner of the cloak, surprised to find his hand unsteady. He had no further reason to resist temptation. His crusade was done, his vow fulfilled, his penance paid. She would make no protest if he drew back the cloak and covered her body with his own. He would not be the first stranger to seek release between her milky thighs, nor would he be the last. Mummers were known for passing their women around like flagons of wine, sampling their sweetness until each had drunk their fill.
But Colin hesitated, his reluctance even more inexplicable than his lust. Her innocent slumber might be naught but another cunning illusion like the forgiveness she’d offered him, yet he was loath to disturb it. He surprised himself by gently tucking the cloak around her and retreating to his own side of the fire. Perhaps its flames would serve to remind him that a passion that burned too hot could bring destruction as well as pleasure.
CHAPTER10
W hen Tabitha awoke the next morning, the fire had died to ash and the knight was gone.
She scrambled to her feet in a blind panic, throwing aside the cloak that enveloped her. A gauzy mist enshrouded the clearing, giving it all the welcoming charm of a graveyard at midnight on Halloween. The pearly light drifting through the interwoven branches made it impossible to tell if it was dawn or noon.
A sleek head loomed out of the mist.
Tabitha clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle a scream before collapsing to her knees in relief. Sir Colin might abandon her, but she knew from the gentle way he handled the animal that he would never forsake his horse.
The stallion surveyed her with limpid brown eyes before lowering his head to a clump of moss. While Tabitha was fingering the woolen folds of the cloak, wondering how it had come to be wrapped around her with such care, Lucy toddled over to butt her in the thigh.
She scratched beneath the kitten’s chin, mocking Colin’s burr. “Did Prince Surly abandon ye? Or has hegone on a quest fer a saucer o’ cream and a box o’ Tender Vittles fer his wee lassie?”
With the morning hush came a startling realization. For the first time since arriving in this wretched century, she was alone. Her heartbeat quickened. If she squandered this opportunity, there was no telling when or
if
the wary Scot would grant her another moment of privacy with the amulet.
She drew the emerald from her shirt. It made her nervous just to look at it, she’d grown so accustomed to bungling her every wish. She took one last look around the clearing, wondering what Colin would think when he returned to find her gone.
“Good riddance, most likely,” she whispered, ignoring a pang of regret. Perhaps for the first time in their lives, her parents needed her. A man like Colin never would.
Before she could lose her nerve, she snatched Lucy to her chest, gripped the amulet, and closed her eyes. “I wish …” She drew in a deep breath before, blurting out, “I wish I were home.”
A whisper of a breeze tickled her cheek. She opened one eye. The mist, the clearing, the grazing stallion all remained. She stole a quick glance around to make sure Colin hadn’t returned to watch her make an idiot of herself. But her only audience, aside from the horse and kitten, was the gnarled trees that looked suspiciously like the ones that had hurled the apples at Dorothy in
The Wizard of Oz
.
Thankful her mother couldn’t see her at that moment, Tabitha rose to her feet, clicked the heels of her chipmunk slippers together three times in quick succession, and mumbled, “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.”
“I’ll not argue the sentiment, lass. ’Tis a noble one indeed.”
Tabitha’s eyes flew open. Colin was leaning against a
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