Free Magic In The Storm by Meredith Bond Page B

as
well.
    He looked up at her then and narrowed his
eyes. “Is there something you fear?”
    “It... it is just that, well—wouldn’t it be
better to simply put the animals out of their misery rather than
try to heal them? You might catch it yourself if you get too
close.”
    Morgan turned back to his cooking. “No. I
will not get it. It only affects the animals in my barn. This
potion will cure them.”
    “You know a great deal about healing?”
Adriana asked, wondering if she dare ask about her leg and how he
had healed it.
    Morgan stopped stirring the pot. “I know
about healing animals,” he said.
    “What sort of healing do you do, aside from
making medicine?”
    “What other kind of healing is there?” he
said, keeping his faced turned away while sprinkling in more
herbs.
    Adriana swallowed hard. “The other day,
you—you touched my leg.”
    Morgan abruptly stopped what he was doing and
stood up to his full height before her. Looking deeply into her
eyes, he said intensely, “You imagined that.”
    Adriana looked back, not able to break eye
contact. His black eyes glittered with something indefinable that
sent chills down her spine. He didn’t look angry. He stared into
her eyes so hard that his gaze seemed to penetrate her mind.
    He said once again, “You imagined I touched
you, Adriana. I did not do so.”
    His voice was deep and resonant, but Adriana
somehow knew he was not speaking the truth. Having him this close
to her, feeling the warmth of his body at arms’ distance, she knew
she had not imagined the experience. No matter what, nothing he nor
Lady Vallentyn said would convince her that he had not healed her
leg.
    Slowly she shook her head. “No. I know what I
saw. What I felt.”
    Morgan looked away quickly. “You are wrong.
How could I have healed your leg? It’s impossible, Adriana, you
know that.”
    “I do, but...”
    “It must have been your imagination,” he
said, sitting back down on the ground and tending to his pot
again.
    That’s what Lady Vallentyn had said, Adriana
thought to herself, or was it what she had thought? She couldn’t
remember. She just remembered beginning to doubt her memories after
she had met with her hostess to try to find out more about
Morgan.
    “Who are you, really? Why do you live here?
Are you Lord Vallentyn’s gamekeeper?” The words tumbled out of her
before she could stop them.
    He looked up at her, uncertainty wrinkling
his forehead.
    Adriana knelt down on the grass next to him.
Gently placing a hand on his forearm, she said, “I simply want to
get to know you.”
    Morgan softened at her touch, and she saw the
tension leaving his shoulders. He gave a little shrug. “I am no one
you should know. No one you should care to know.”
    “But I do care.” And indeed she did, too
much, for someone she didn’t even know. But they shared
something.
    Morgan turned his head to look at her hand
still resting on his arm. Looking into her eyes, he asked, “Who are you ? What brought you here to Vallentyn?”
    Adriana removed her hand, but settled herself
next to him on the ground. She wanted to be close to him. Perhaps
if she told him about herself, he would open up to her as well.
    She gave a little shrug. “My guardian, Lord
Devaux, brought me here. He and Lady Vallentyn are trying to
arrange a match between me and Lord Vallentyn.”
    “You’re going to marry Vallentyn?”
    Once again she shrugged. “I haven’t made up
my mind yet.”
    “But that’s why you’re here,” he said,
sitting back.
    Adriana gave a nod.
    “You don’t want to marry him,” he said, more
as a statement than as a question.
    Adriana almost felt as if he could read her
mind, or her feelings—it unnerved her. She stood up and took a step
away from him, looking blindly at the trees that closely surrounded
his home.
    “No. But I may not have a choice. My guardian
is trying to force my hand. So far, though, I haven’t given in. I’m
going to find a way to convince either