Not Without Juliet - By L.L. Muir Page 0,65

that you? Only my own grandda calls me that.”

“More like he’s the only one to say it to yer face.” Ewan suddenly grinned and his paint cracked around his lips. His beard looked like he’d cleaned the blue off his fingers with it.

To Jules, he looked beautiful. And only when her body relaxed did she realize how tightly she’d been wound. She nearly fell off the horse, shaming the state of Wyoming.

Ewan looked at the other horse. He had to know whose body it was.

“And where’s me cousin, then?” he asked anyway.

Quinn groaned.

Ewan nearly jumped off his horse. “Jesus, Mary and Joseph!”

“He’s not dead,” James announced, like he should get credit for that.

“But I am bleeding,” Quinn mumbled.

James had promised that as he was tying Quinn’s body to the horse, he’d been sure to place pressure over the wound in his back, promised that pressure was the only thing they could do for him until they met up with Ewan. He’d also promised the hole wasn’t deep, but that didn’t keep Jules from worrying.

Frankly, she was surprised he hadn’t passed out, hanging over a horse, all that blood going to his head.

Jules swung a leg over her horse’s head and jumped down, but when she ducked beneath its chin to get to Quinn, a big man was blocking her way. She tried to step around him, but he was already lifting Quinn’s body off the horse and onto his shoulder.

“Quinn!” It was pitiful, really, but she had to let him know she gave a damn that he was bleeding.

The big man turned to look at her and she tried to read his expression through the slashes of paint. He looked an awful lot like—

And he looked just as shocked as she was.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded. She could feel herself blush, for all the things she’d fantasized about this man in spite of the fact he was technically her brother in law.

“Juliet, is it? We’ve come to bring ye safely home, lass. To the arms of yer family.”

And just like that, her insides started falling apart, like she was a human sized pastry that had just had all its filling sucked out. Pieces of her broke away like crust, including the words she’d intended to say to this man once she got up the courage to knock on his door, the words she’d laid out in her mind to make damn sure his wife suffered enough in five minutes to make them even. If they were going to be nice to her... If they were going to be nice to her, she was doomed. None of the mental weapons she’d prepared would be effective against nice.

She fought the urge to turn and run, not sure her legs would cooperate and damned sure she didn’t want to leave Quinn.

“Monty Ross,” came Quinn’s muffled voice. “Keep yer bloody arms to yerself. She’s mine.”

The big man put Quinn’s feet on the ground and steadied him, then began unwrapping him, carefully, frowning at the wide bloodstain as he pulled it away. Quinn grasped at the plaid at his waist when the unwrapping might have gone too far. Jules couldn’t have looked away if she’d tried. His back was a bloody mess, but the hole looked small. And she was relieved to see he’d stopped bleeding for the moment.

“I’ve yet to touch her, Nephew.” Montgomery laughed. “And I can’t tell ye how pleased I am to find yer still alive.”

Quinn ignored him and turned to face her. The way his eyes crinkled, she figured he was pleased to find her so near. She gave him the same smile, but what pleased her was the fact that he’d claimed her.

Too bad it was only for the moment.

Leaving him behind was going to suck. If she was smart, she’d start preparing herself now. But she didn’t want to waste what time they had left.

Who was she kidding? It was already sucking. The reality that they would never see each other again, after she climbed back in that tomb, made her feel hot and sick on the inside. The cool air of shadows surrounded her. A few deep breaths of it helped.

When he reached for her, she stepped up to him quickly, ecstatic there were no longer any bars between them. And as he pulled her to his bare chest, her fingers started tingling. She couldn’t tell if that tingling was due to the fact her fingers were finally getting a little oxygen or if they