Free Tallchief for Keeps by Cait London

knowledge still startled her.
    “I need answers, Elspeth. You are going to give them to me, like it or not.” He bent to brush his lips across hers. The second time, he leaned closer, and Elspeth held her breath as his lips lingered over hers, brushing, warming. He was asking now, needing—
    Alek inhaled quickly and straightened away from her. ‘That’s how it is, Elspeth-mine,” he murmured, and was gone.
    Elspeth flattened back against the wall for support and found herself shaking.
    Whatever had passed, the bond that she knew they’d forged that night remained. It shimmered and tangled between them, twisted and heated and forged like an ancient Celtic design. She’d known from the moment he’d come to her side, his eyes hot and laughing, and his hand taking hers…
    Elspethplaced her shaking hands over her face and tried to control her emotions as she had since that night.
    Yet her instincts told her that it was the same as when she’d first met Alek, the heat and the need to claim him for her own…to bond with him…to meet him on a plane where they both demanded and both gave—Was it true? Did she bond with Alek so deeply that even with their past, he could still affect her on a level that she did not want to revisit?
    “No.” Elspeth firmly reined her impulse to seek out Una’s legend of the shawl, to place the pieces together and try to unravel the words. The words came to haunt her— scarred warrior…placing the shawl…the Marrying Moon…tepee….
    Before her encounter with Alek in Scotland, she’d believed the words would unravel into a romantic truth just for her. Now she had no illusions.
    “No. I will not let him interfere with my life,” she promised, and forced herself to walk to her loom.

Four
    “A lek Petrovna, Jr., don’t ignore me.” Talia, dressed in overalls and a sweater, picked her way across the rubble of Alek’s new office. She tottered on an uneven board, and instantly Alek and Calum swooped upon her. Two big hands gripped each side of her overalls at the waist and lifted her over the board. She glared up at them, both with a big hand on her shoulder to steady her.
    “Wouldn’t want the baby to get hurt.” Alek rubbed Talia’s gently rounded tummy.
    “The percentages say that we’ll have a girl,” Calum stated, and bent to kiss his wife. He caught the back of her overalls in his hand, tethering her and drawing her back to him. “You’ve been up all night practicing. Tell him.”
    She stared at her husband and stated indignantly, “I was merely baking baklava. You didn’t have to sit in the kitchen and placate me with nods and hmms.”
    “Sweetheart, it’s darn hard to sleep with you marching in your Hessian boots and muttering in corrupted Swahili. The Russian folk music didn’t help, either.” Calum kissed her nose. “You were stewing, precious. I’ll leave and let Junior take his medicine. Make certain you’re home in time to take your nap, or I’ll be hunting you.”
    Talia snuggled against him, contentedand loved. “Well…okay. Just because I know you’ll send out Duncan and Birk and probably Alek, too. But I want a kiss first.”
    After Calum had left, Alek noted, “That was some kiss. He’ll be steaming all afternoon.”
    Talia grinned. “Calum is in that “gee can I…is this good for the baby?’ stage and too ready to protect me. He needs reassurance and pampering.”
    “I’m glad you’re together.” Alek glanced at Elspeth’s house and tasted her mouth again. He inhaled and stuck his hands in the back pockets of his jeans.
    “You’re mooning over her, Junior. I never thought I’d see the day when hard-to-catch Alek had it bad.” Talia slid her arm around him to soften her tease. She leaned her head on his shoulder. “You just don’t know how to handle yourself around her. Elspeth can’t be pushed, and you are…you’ve got that ‘ugh, me man’ look around her, just like you want to toss her over your shoulder and run off with