Warrior's Moon Read Online Free PDF Page A

calm she wore like a façade to protect those depending on her was already beginning to crack at the edges under the strain the past months had put on it.
    Caelis made a sound of disgust. “You are not an Englishwoman to worry about such, no matter what garb you wear.”
    “Had I worried about the like as a younger woman, many of my hardest choices would not have been forced on me.” She pressed against his chest to push him away, knowing the additional touch was risky.
    And indeed, her hands wanted to stay pressed against hot skin over strong muscle and a plaid worn to softness. She could not give in to such weakness and forced her hands to drop to her sides again when her attempt had no effect on the big man.
    Instead, Caelis reacted to her attempt to free herself by pulling her closer. “I can explain.”
    “Explain?” At first she could not comprehend what he could be talking about.
    And then it came to her. He thought he could
explain
six years ago? There was no explanation for that kind of betrayal.
    She shook her head vehemently, her emotion threatening to overwhelm the calm she clung to. “Nothing you say could ever undo what you have done, what I have had to endure these past six years.”
    A spasm of regret crossed his face, but it was quickly followed by the obstinacy she’d once found comforting. “You will still listen to what I have to say.”
    “I’ll do that,” she said with bite. “Exactly when the Highland clans bow to England’s king.”
    She could not imagine in her worst nightmares that day coming and neither could Caelis, she knew.
    He scowled when he got her meaning.
“Mo toilichte,”
he whispered as if the words themselves had the power to heal the breach between them. “There were things you did not know, could
not
know then.”
    “I’m no more your
happiness
, than you are
my
warrior.” She shook her head, trying again to step away. “
Please.
Let me go.”
    Perhaps he realized the cost to her to plead with him, or mayhap he simply decided he had held her long enough, but hands so large they covered her shoulders completely dropped and she was able to step away.
    “Whatever talking you seek to do will have to wait until the English lady has spoken to our laird.” Niall’s tone left no room for argument.
    Surprisingly, Caelis did not make one. He simply nodded. “I will accompany you to the keep.”
    The reminder that their discussion had been overheard by others, many of whom could not fail to note the resemblance between Caelis and his near–mirror image son, brought the heat of embarrassment crawling up Shona’s neck. She should be used to it by now, but the sting of humiliation still pricked deeply.
    Caelis looked down at her, dark brows drawn down over his blue gaze. “Are you well?”
    To answer truthfully was not a luxury Shona could afford, so she merely nodded and indicated they should begin their trek to the keep.
    Niall did exactly that, leading them all onto the narrow path, her son’s hand still firmly held in his big warrior’s paw. So tired and stiff from day after day of riding that her limbs did not want to work, Shona trudged behind.
    Shona stumbled. Her exhaustion—mixed with the near dreamlike state of the fact she’d come face-to-face with Caelis again after six years and all that had come between—making her clumsy.
    Audrey took one hand, giving Shona a reassuring smile, and Thomas offered his arm.
    The growl from behind them should have made the young Englishman drop his proffered arm. It certainly sent chills down Shona’s spine.
    But Thomas just scowled over her shoulder at the big warrior who had taken up position behind them. “I know what you are, and you forfeited your rights to her. I will offer my friend assistance and if she will take it, I
will
give it to her.”
    Shona felt a prick of humiliation to realize her friends did indeed realize
this
man was the father to her eldest child, not the man she had called husband for a little over