“Beasty?”
Alina nodded toward the horses.“The rangyroan.It was as if the fates sent him to me.”
“Maybe they did,” Roark said, rolling hisshoulders and his neck.“If so, they have a twisted sense ofhumor.”
“At the very least,” Alina agreed.She lookedover at the brigands.“What do you want to do with them?”
“From what I understand, the effects of theWhite Milk will render them useless until well into tomorrow,” hesaid.“If we tie them up and leave them, chances are they’d die ofexposure before they managed to get loose, and we don’t need anymore murder charges against us.While their motives were purelymercenary, they didn’t beat me or starve me, even after I killedtwo of them in a fair fight,” he added.“And they did let me turnArtur loose.”
Alina heard the catch of Roark's voice at themention of Artur.“You did it for his own good,” she reminded him.“He would’ve foundered and died in pain if you hadn’t cut himloose.At least this way he’ll have a chance to rest and heal.”
“Aye, if his hoof doesn’t worsen and hedoesn’t founder anyway, or get attacked and eaten by wolves.”
Alina gave Roark’s arm a gentle squeeze.“Youdid what you could for him, and he was doing fine when I last sawhim.He’s a big, strong stallion who’d give as good as he got.Maybe once we get to Silver Water Keep, you can come back forhim.”
“Maybe,” Roark said.“After you’re safelyaway.”
“Speaking of safely away.”Alina looped theropes in her hand over her shoulder and lifted her chin toward themen’s gear and horses.“I say we take what we want of theirs,including their horses, and leave them to hoof it out of here.”
“Agreed.You go through their gear and I’llsaddle their horses.”
Alina added another small sack of beans anddried meat to their foodstuff but left the men their waterskins andflints while Roark stripped their saddles of any extra rope,leaving their extra clothes and bedrolls on the saddles.
“Pull off their boots,” Roark said.“We’lltoss them as we go, slow them down a bit while they’retender-footing it and searching for them.”
When they’d finished, he knelt down next tothe man who’d controlled the noose around his neck.“Shaw,” he saidsharply.“Shaw.”He grabbed the man’s jaw and held his face so thatthey were nose to nose.“I’ve no idea if you’ll remember this,” hetold the glassy-eyed man.“But know that I held your life in myhands and I didn’t kill you.”He tied the short piece of rope thathad bound his wrists around Shaw’s neck.“Come after me or the girlagain, and I won’t be so generous.”
CHAPTER 12
Silver Water Keep
They rode north down the mountainside, Alinaon Etain and Roark on the rangy roan she’d named Beasty, leadingthe other three horses and tossing the men’s boots one at a timeevery quarter league or so until they made the northern edge of thewoods where the country opened into rolling hillsides.They doubledback another half a league, leading the horses in several largecircles, and then they removed the saddles and tack from the men’shorses, tossed them along the wood’s edge and turned the horsesloose.
From there they turned into the woods androde until they came upon a rain-filled stream with a rockyshoreline.Urging the horses into the water, they backtracked southto another large area of rocky shore, where they dismounted andwalked the horses out of the water.Remounting, they rode northwestfor Silver Water Keep and rode until noon, when they stopped in alittle glen of beech fern with a rill running through it.
“When's the last time you slept?”Roark askedAlina as they dismounted and let the horses drink.
“I dozed on and off yesterday night,” shesaid, the dark circles under her eyes telling him it had been moreoff than on.
“Considering Ned and the lads are likely onlynow coming out of their daze enough to start looking for theirboots and mounts, how about we rest here for a while?”He ran ahand back through his sweaty, grimy hair and rubbed his handsroughly over his face.“I for one could use a dip in the water anda bit of sleep.”
She gave him a tired smile.“Soundsgood.”
They staked the horses and stripped.Bone-tired, sore, and half-starved as he was, Roark’s cock stillrose at the sight of Alina’s lissome limbs and womanly curves.Herweary gaze fixed on his erection.“Don't worry,” he told her.“Ican wait.”
Alina’s lips curved up.She stepped up to himand pressed her soft breasts and warm belly against his.“I can’t,”she whispered roughly.
Roark held her face in his hands, her greeneyes reflecting all the fear and rage and determination he’d feltwhile being held captive, and all the relief, longing, and desirehe felt now.
He took her mouth with his, devouring thesalty sweet taste of her like a starving man granted the mostsumptuous of feasts.He ran his hands down the tautly muscledlength of her back and cupped her round buttocks, pressing herpelvis even closer, rubbing his engorged cock against her softcurls.He scooped her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist,her warm flesh nestling his cock.Clinging to him, she liftedherself up so the tip of his cock barely touched her flesh, andRoark held her with one arm as he grabbed his cock and held it andshe lowered herself over him, her wet, warm, welcoming sheathtaking him in and closing around him, her intimate muscles ripplingand contracting around his throbbing cock.
He pushed up as she bore down and ground herpelvis against him in delicious, torturous, flesh-melding,mind-bending circles.Slowly at first, then faster and faster as hethrust harder and deeper, again and again.She arched against him,her fingers gripping his shoulders as he gave one last shudderingthrust and she threw her head back with a raw, primal moan as hermuscles convulsed around him.
Panting, she met his lust-hazed gaze, her ownheavy-lidded and unfocused.Roark took one of her peaked nipples inhis mouth and her groan reverberated from his mouth to his cock.Helaved one nipple and then the other as their sweat cooled and thenshe lowered her mouth to his and kissed him with such need anddesire his cock grew inside of her.
“Ach, Ali girl,” he rumbled as he walked withher still straddling him to a grassy spot of ground.“I feared I’dnever be stones deep in you again, love.”
She laughed as she lifted herself up and sliddown his belly and legs.“I just found you,” she said as her feettouched the ground.“I wasn’t about to lose you, to lose this.”Shebumped her pelvis to his.“Not as long I have any say in thematter.”
