A Warrior s Desire - By Pamela Palmer Page 0,49

him whole, melding with the protectiveness that drove him every hour of every day.

If he did nothing else, he would keep her safe.

She kissed his shoulder once more, then rose to her knees with a fluid grace that never ceased to impress him.

As he rose from the cloak he'd laid out for them on the crystal floor, she pulled her torn and stained gown over her head.

Even dressed in rags, she took his breath away.

He finished dressing and they set off again.

They'd barely walked an hour when Tarrys whirled to stare at him.

"What's the matter?" he demanded.

"Do you smell that?" He sniffed the air, smelling nothing but the sweet scent of the woman whose body he'd come to know as well as his own.

"What do you smell?" "Trees.

We've found the way out of the mountain."

Their gazes met and locked, relief and dread arcing between them as they wondered what awaited them in the land beyond.
Chapter 18
Tarrys stared at Charlie's broad back with disbelief as he pushed her behind him.

"What do you think you're doing?" "Wrap your feet.

If you're smelling trees, we're near an exit.

We need to douse the light."

He was right, of course, and she quickly untied the strips of cloth she'd been wearing around her wrists for just such a situation.

But that wasn't what was bothering her at the moment.

"Charlie, why would you shove me behind you? They know you're human.

They'll come after you with arrows and knives, neither of which can hurt me.

Let me go first."

"No. I'm leading from here on out."

Tarrys made a sound of exasperation.

"Are you really going to start this again?" He looked back at her, meeting her gaze, his jaw set.

"I concede the wisdom of your words.

But I'm not letting you take the brunt of the attack."

"That doesn't make any sense."

With a shrug, he turned back.

"Doesn't matter."

"I'm virtually indestructible."

"A handy trick."

Tarrys stared at his back, frustration growing quickly into anger.

"Charlie Rand, turn around, now.

" He glanced at her over his shoulder, meeting her gaze.

"Turn around," she said again.

"I can't talk to you like this and I won't let you treat me like a slave, shuffling behind you with no say in what I'm forced to do."

The expression in his eyes sobered and he turned, kneeling so that he could straighten his back.

She liked when he did this.

It was the only time she could look down at him.

She took his beloved face in her hands.

"You told me I was your partner.

You know they can't hurt me.

Yet you're trying to protect me anyway.

Don't be foolish.

" He grabbed her hands and tugged her down onto her knees in front of him.

"I'm not being protective.

I'm being reasonable."

She gave him a disbelieving look.

"Okay, so I am being protective, but hear me out.

If the Esri are out there, I'm dead.

If they've caught up with me already, there's no hope for me."

"You could go back in the mountain."

"Only if you don't get captured.

And for how long even then? You keep me going, but you can't heal me.

I need the antidote, Tarrys.

You know that.

Without it, sooner or later, I'm going to die."

He squeezed her hands.

"I can't live without you.

You can live without me.

If they're out there, I want you to go back through the mountain.

You can find your way to the gate and wait until the next full moon to return to D.

C."

"Without you?" His gaze melded with hers.

"I want you safe.

I want you free and happy, Tarrys.

I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Nor I you."

"I'm not going to let them take you.

As long as I'm alive, I'm going to keep you safe."

She stared at him, at the hard promise in his gaze, and felt her love for him deepen even more.

No matter what happened, no matter that he didn't actually love her, the gift of his caring, of his knight's honor, would stay with her forever, tight beside the love she felt for him and the love she'd been showered with as a child.

Sustenance during the long, cruel nights to come.

"So you're going to step out there and let them shoot you?" she asked.

His mouth compressed and he shook his head, a gleam in his eye.

"Not at all.

I'm not going down without one hell of a fight.

If there's no one out there, I'll come back for you."

"No, Charlie.

If safety had ever been my goal, I'd have stayed in D.

C.

I didn't risk everything to come with you only to hide now.

You might leave the mine first, but I'll be right behind you."

Emotions chased one another across his face - frustration, anger,