“Liam!”
“I’ve got you,” he said, pulling the vines away and scooping me into his arms.
Unable to run with my weight in his arms, Liam hustledthrough the trees, the poacher closing in. I met eyes with our pursuer over Liam’s shoulder. He had a knife in his hand and cold violence in his eyes. But he also had welts on his exposed skin, his forearms covered in angry-looking red pustules.
Only a couple of feet away now, the man lunged with his knife. I screamed. Liam pushed himself into a jog, his breaths heaving with the effort, barely skirting the attack.
The poacher stumbled, then collapsed, gasping for air. I breathed a sigh of relief as I clutched Liam’s neck tighter. Liam turned, facing the poacher as he backed away.
Reassured he wasn’t getting back up to chase us, Liam marched us away, tightening his grip on my waist and legs.
“We should put more distance between us before we stop,” he panted.
I gritted my teeth through the pain in my ankle. I didn’t think it was broken, but most definitely sprained. Fortunately, once we stopped, I’d be able to heal myself.
“I can’t believe that worked,” I said, trying to shove away the realization that we may have killed four men. “Oh gods, Liam. That was much too close.”
Something subtle flashed in Liam’s eyes and he leaned in as if he were about to kiss my forehead. But he pulled back and whatever I had seen in his gaze disappeared as he looked away. “Yes. Yes, it was.”
Just this morning he’d kissed me. Or I’d kissed him. It was hard to tell who’d initiated it. I hadn’t had time to process it due to our run-in with the poachers. But now, as he held me close, his hands clutching me as we continued on, I couldn’t stop replaying it in my head.
I had never been kissed like that before.
Unable to help myself, I lay my head against him. Liam tightened his grip in response. My entire body heated just thinking about the kiss. The desperate way Liam had plunged his tongue in my mouth. The possessiveness of his hold on my rear as he’dpulled me flush against him. How he had groaned when he nuzzled my throat.
I wanted to do it again. To do more. I yearned to.
But I’d pushed him away. Why?
I was still trying to figure that out. I’d enjoyed his company tremendously these last few weeks. And to be honest, I didn’t want this expedition to end, even though we were lost. But when I imagined going back home—back to work and my normal life—fear worked its way into my gut.
Because this could only be a fling. We would return to our respective places of employment and the towns we lived in that were several days’ journey from one another. We would probably see each other at conferences or events, but maintaining something beyond that felt impossible.
Aside from the logistics, my biggest fear—that I was embarrassed to admit—was what my mother would think. My whole life had been a disappointment to her. My lack of climbing the ranks as fast as she had. My inability to contribute ground-breaking discoveries to the field of natural sciences. Ending my relationship with Ambrose that was ‘perfect’ in her eyes.
If she knew I was falling for Dr. Liam Pendragon, she’d never let me hear the end of it. And, even in my mid-thirties, I wasn’t sure I was ready to face that. She was the only family I had.
So I had panicked and stopped him.
“Let’s rest and I’ll look at your ankle,” Liam said, startling me from my thoughts.
He knelt, setting me on a moss-covered log beneath a tree with twisted branches and vibrant yellow flowers. Rolling up my pants leg, he unlaced my boot, grasped my calf with one hand and gently tugged the shoe off with the other. Despite the pain, the touch of his fingers on my bare skin made me involuntarily shudder.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked, looking up with concern.
“No,” I said, voice hoarse.
His hand moved lower, his thumb swiping back andforth, while the other clutched my foot, rolling my ankle around carefully. I gasped, but it wasn’t because of the pain.
His eyes narrowed. “Are you sure you’re not in pain? I don’t think it’s broken, but you seem to be?—”
I pulled my foot from his grasp. “No. I’m fine. I’ll heal it.”
I leaned down, avoiding eye contact with him as I placed my hands on my ankle and closed my eyes, willing my magic into my tendons.
Once my ankle was healed, I went to work on my face, still avoiding his gaze though I could feel it searing into me.
With a deep breath, I opened my eyes to find Liam looking at me as though I was a puzzle he couldn’t figure out. His bright green eyes were filled with longing and something like confusion.
