Free Christina Phillips - [Forbidden 01] by Forbidden

times.”
    “Perhaps she genuinely doesn’t know what they are.”
    “Then what was she doing by the spring?” Aquila’s gaze sharpened. “You think she was meeting someone there?”
    Fuck. He hadn’t meant to put that idea into Aquila’s head. He didn’t want any more searches of the area, not unless he decided his Celt needed to be flushed out for whatever reason. “I meant she doesn’t appear to be in full possession of all her senses. Perhaps she simply doesn’t know their names.”
    Aquila’s scowl deepened, as if Maximus had just insulted him. “I believe her senses are intact. She is merely traumatized by the events of the last year and still in mourning for the death of her sister in childbirth.”
    “So you’ve given up on her?” He rolled his shoulders in appreciation of the masseur’s ministrations and imagined his Celt giving him a full-body massage instead. Both of them oiled and naked. His lips curved. Somehow he would find a way to make that fantasy reality.
    Aquila raised himself up on one elbow. “Is the Primus interested in Branwen for himself?” There was a distinct undercurrent of hostility in his friend’s tone, and Maximus shot him a calculating glance.
    “Not in the slightest. She’s hardly my type, Aquila.”
    “Indeed.” Aquila’s tone was scathing. “And yet I’ve seen that look in your eye before, Maximus. If you wanted her, why didn’t you take her the other morning? They brought her back for you, after all.”
    Maximus waved his masseur back and sat up, remembering only just in time to cover his erection with the towel. If Aquila saw that, he would never believe Maximus couldn’t give a shit about his precious Branwen.
    “If she interested me, I would have taken her.” He rearranged the towel since it didn’t appear to be doing its job. “Although I doubt she would have accepted me had I offered, so you can take your vine stick from your arse and find better use for it.”
    Aquila rolled onto his back and clasped his hands behind his head. The length of his erection almost rivaled Maximus’s own.
    At least Maximus could anticipate slaking his desire this night with the one who haunted his thoughts. Aquila, poor bastard, would have to seek relief from a whore. That knowledge was enough to temper Maximus’s irritation with his friend’s banal accusation.
    “Go fuck a pretty girl,” he said, laying a hand on Aquila’s thigh. “It will help clear your thoughts. Then look at your Branwen again, and see if she still fills your loins with lust.”
    Aquila grunted, as if Maximus’s wise words didn’t much assist. Winding the towel around his hips, Maximus rose from the bench, only to come face-to-face with the Legatus, similarly disrobed.
    “Sir.” Maximus nodded in greeting at the imposing middle-aged man he had known his entire life, and hoped the commander wasn’t about to embark on an impromptu military discussion. It had been known to happen, and was one of the reasons the Legatus preferred using the communal baths to his private bathhouse, but this evening Maximus wasn’t in the mood for such distractions.
    Aquila struggled to sit up, but the Legatus waved him back and then sat upon Maximus’s recently abandoned bench.
    Fuck. Maximus reined in the impatience threatening to steam his blood and sat beside his commander.
    “I’ve just received word from the Senate,” the Legatus said, hands splayed on his knees. “They wanted to know whether we’ve eliminated all the cursed Druids in the area.”
    The Emperor was obsessed by the Druids, and Maximus agreed their ferocity in confronting the Legion had been unexpected. “We haven’t come across any since the border skirmishes.”
    The Legatus raised his eyebrow. “They were rather more than skirmishes, Maximus. Fucking Druids have a death wish.”
    Maximus conceded the point. Not only had they fought furiously; they had also rallied the villagers in the vicinity who appeared in thrall to