Free Hers to Choose by Patricia A. Knight Page A

horse and stood beside its shoulder.
    Eric shook his head in frustration , kicked a leg over his mount’s neck and slid down to face her. He kept his voice low. “Sophi, I cannot protect you if I don’t know where the hell you are.” I can’t erase the image of a savage wolf gorging on your bloodied corpse.
    “I didn’t think.” She cleared her throat and followed him with her eyes.
    Her disappearance had shaken him. He didn’t trust himself not to lay hands on her, so he crossed them over his chest. “I don’t know whether to kiss you or upend you and spank your hind until you can’t sit.”
    Her eyes closed for a long moment. When she opened them he thought he might drown in their liquid depths. “ An easy choice. Kiss me.”
    Her blue eyes widened as he bent toward her—then he closed his and awareness of anything but her lips vanished.
    She trembled beneath him, her mouth soft and dry. He pressed his lips to hers gently, cupping her face in his bloody hands, restraining his need to ravish, to take, to punish her for raising a fear in him unlike any he had felt before. Coaxing her lips apart with a gentle probe of his tongue, he drew in her sweet taste and lingered with soft presses and gentle nips of teeth until he felt her relax and begin to lean into him, returning his kiss. With a soft sigh, she straightened and pulled back.
    “ When that creature leaped at you…” She choked to a stop. “If we hadn’t heard your instructions to your men, we could not have killed them.” She closed her eyes with a painful grimace. “I am sorry, Eric. I panicked. I could think only that we were trapped. I would rather die than be captured again.”
    He could feel the warm seep of blood in his groin where his wound had reopened. He pressed his hand against it gently, trying to stop the flow. The material tightened, delineating his partial arousal.
    “Sophi, we work together from now on. Agreed? No more darting off on your own. It is not my intention to hinder your command, but I cannot help you if I don’t know where you are.” He took a deep breath and scrubbed at his face. “And once again, a timely intervention. Thank you.”
    A small smile pulled up the co rners of her lush lips. “Agreed—no more ‘darting off’ and you are welcome.” Her eyes wandered to the hand at his groin and she frowned.
    “You have opened it again. Before we leave this place, let me dress it.” With a hint at her old manner , she added, “I’ll give you a much bigger cloth.”
    With a snort, he turned and they led their horses back toward the narrow passage. He stopped before the hulking body of the alpha wolf and placed his foot on the animal’s neck. After three attempts, he jerked his saber from the beast’s skull.
    She looked up at him. “ Before my precipitate flight, you were going to tell me your plan.”
    “ Hmm. We cannot stay here a moment longer than necessary. I want you to send your women back to Sh’r Un Kree. I’ll send my men with them for protection.” He couldn’t help a wry huff. “Though it is debatable who protects whom. If Petrina’s information is correct and Sh’r Un Kree is Krakoll’s target, the villagers will need all the help they can get. You and I are going to ride as hard and fast in the opposite direction as horses will take us, for Sylvan Mintoth. We cannot risk the Haarb capturing you. I must get you behind the shield walls of the sigil towers, Sophi. It is the only place you will be safe.”
    Eric watched as Sophi stiffened and closed her eyes, her posture rigid, her fists clenched. As she relaxed, her aqua eyes slowly opened and met his.
    “All right.”



Chapter Six
     
    Sophi thought her body hard, toughened. After four years of daily riding, she thought she could match any pace Eric set. But she had not imagined a merciless flight that took no notice of night or day, rough terrain or smooth. They stopped only to water and feed their horses then they struck out again. Their