AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He let out an odd sound that almost seemed like the echo of a chuckle.
“Like this,” he said, holding out his hands.
She handed over the tiny cell of milk and watched as he deftly tore it at the corner and flicked the end to form a nipple.
“Wow,” she said.
“You’re surprised that a man can care for a baby,” he remarked in an indifferent tone.
But he was anything but indifferent.
Maybe she was just delirious from exhaustion and hunger, but Kinsley swore she was starting to recognize some of the various frowns that made up his repertoire of facial expressions. And this one was the same one he’d been wearing when he yelled at her.
He was offended. This mattered to him.
“That’s not what I think at all,” she said carefully. “I was impressed that the cell can be prepared that quickly. But I know you can care for the baby. Just look at her.”
They both looked down at the precious little girl in her arms. She had stopped fussing the moment Kian arrived and was waiting patiently, her eyes bright and alert.
“Look how good she is for her daddy,” Kinsley said proudly, holding out her hand for the milk.
But he didn’t give it to her, and when she looked up he was wearing an expression she didn’t recognize at all.
He quickly put the cell in her hand and marched off again, leaving her standing there.
The baby made a small sound of impatience, and Kinsley remembered herself.
“Here you go, love,” she murmured, offering the little one the milk. “Here’s your dinner.”
The baby latched onto the cell and gulped down her meal with an energy Kinsley hadn’t known such a little thing was capable of.
By the time she looked up again, Kian was up at the front of the longhouse, talking with the two gray women.
A little shiver of something that felt an awful lot like jealousy darted around in Kinsley’s chest.
Don’t be silly. He’s not your boyfriend.
But her heart pounded on anyway, leaving her to wonder what was happening to her. Ever since she’d met the man, she’d felt drawn to him. She thought it would pass, but it had only grown stronger as they traveled. And now it was like there was a rope that tied her to the big warrior and grew taut any time he moved away.
Maybe she just needed a good night’s sleep, and it would all sort itself out by morning.
7
KIAN
Kian stood stupidly in the kitchen of the longhouse, his heart as tangled as the calf in the net.
The girl can set your heart free, too,the dragon whispered.
He would have roared in frustration, if he weren’t in a space full of other people, milling around and joking, with no idea that Kian’s soul was in anguish.
He hadn’t longed to let the dragon free and reallyflylike this in years. But his frustration was reaching a peak, and he yearned for fight or flight - neither of which was an option.
Kinsley had broken him with her thoughtless remark.
Look how good she is for her daddy.
The words echoed in his head, their meaning lighting him up inside like a shooting star. But like a shooting star, he was also bound to crash and burn if he let her words take up residence in his heart.
