Free Blood Blade Sisters Series by Michelle McLean

eyes. She was worried about her sisters back home, worried about what Frank might be up to, and despairing over their lack of progress in the search for Jake.
    They found a small clearing near a creek that was sheltered by a thick copse of trees and stopped to make camp for the night. As they went about setting up their bedrolls and building a fire, Cilla found her gaze returning again and again to Leo.
    The last couple weeks had been difficult in more ways than one. Whenever possible, they’d stayed in the towns they’d visited overnight and had always gotten separate rooms. But there had been nights when they’d slept on the trail, and the hours of traveling had created an uneasy intimacy between them. Cilla felt both more comfortable around Leo and more uncomfortable at the same time.
    It didn’t help that she’d begun to dream of him at night. The often sensual dreams were disconcerting enough, but waking from one of them to find him watching her, the firelight dancing between them, was almost more than she could take. Her response to him irritated her to no end. She’d been around handsome men before, but she’d never been one to moon over them. The fact that she couldn’t get Leo out of her head, even when she slept, gnawed at her like a dog going after a bone. But nothing she did could dislodge him from her mind.
    Cilla watched Leo move around the campsite, trying to ignore the warm rush of butterflies that fluttered through her belly at the way his muscles bunched and strained against his shirt as he broke small branches to feed into the fire. The way the firelight danced across the strong line of his jaw, added red streaks to his dark, wavy hair, illuminated the dark eyes that stared into hers.
    It took a second for Cilla to realize that Leo had stopped what he was doing and was standing frozen, just watching her watch him. She jumped up and grabbed the bow and quiver of arrows that she’d brought with her to hunt small game.
    “I’ll, um…I’ll go see if I can find us some dinner.”
    A small smile touched Leo’s lips. “Don’t wander off too far.”
    Cilla didn’t say anything in return, just turned and hurried off. What in the world had just happened? She was more riled up than a chicken with a fox in the coop. She forced herself to stop for a moment, breathe deeply, and clear her mind. If she didn’t settle down, she’d scare off any game within a two-mile radius, and game was getting scarce as it was with the cold weather blowing in.
    It took her much longer than usual, and she lost two arrows before she finally made a good shot and brought down a fat rabbit. By the time she got back to camp, Cilla had calmed down a bit but still felt jittery as she started dressing the rabbit to cook over the fire that Leo had crackling cheerily.
    They ate in silence, cleaned up, and crawled into their bedrolls without saying a word to each other. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, though. In fact, despite the stolen glances they had both taken throughout their meal, Cilla drifted off to sleep feeling more settled and comfortable in Leo’s presence than she had since he’d appeared at the ranch. Perhaps she was finally getting used to him after all.

    Cilla woke suddenly in the middle of the night and jumped to her feet in a defensive crouch, the knife she kept shoved her in her boot was already in her hand and ready to do damage. The large shadow that had been looming over her swore.
    “Cilla! It’s just me,” Leo said, holding his hands out.
    Cilla relaxed her stance but didn’t drop the knife just yet. Her body rippled in goosebumps and her jaw was clenched so tightly her joints ached, though it didn’t stop her teeth from chattering.
    “What are you doing?” she managed to get out.
    “Your rattling teeth woke me. I was just trying to warm you up a bit.”
    Cilla tried to snort but the sound didn’t quite make it out. Leo apparently got the gist though.
    “I’m not going to try anything