Besieged Heart (No Ordinary Lovers Collection) Read Free

also have kidnapped her for more personal use—tales of the ravishment of women unwise enough to wander alone into the forest were not unknown.
    It was possible, of course, that she did not stir him to such a deed. The thought was unsettling. She directed a frown at the man’s broad, retreating back
    It was then that Mara heard the deep, drumming sound high above her. It grew louder, a muffled rumble that increased rapidly to a booming roar. It was approaching, becoming a mind-shattering thunder that reverberated against the sky until it shook the very heavens. Something dark and dangerous streaked above the treetops with a deafening, deep-throated roar.
    Her cry of terror was almost lost in the noise. Her every limb shaking, she squeezed her eyes closed and dropped to her knees with her hands over her ears.
    In an instant, the man called Rayne was beside her. He closed his hands on her arms to lift her to her fee and draw her close. “Hey, it’s all right,” he murmured. “You don’t have to be scared. It’s a plane, that’s all, just a plane.”
    It was difficult to say which was more shocking, his words or the familiar way he had put his hands upon her. She should withdraw from the solid warmth of his body against hers, and would as soon as she was steady upon her feet. In the meantime, there was comfort in his hold, and a deep security of a kind she had not known since she was a child.
    Dearest heaven, what was she thinking? What was she doing?
    She pushed away from him, though she had to hold onto his hard forearms an instant for balance. Removing her hands, she clenched them into fists in front of her. “What was it you called that…that thing?”
    “An airplane. You know, the machine men use to fly?”
    “To fly.” Her voice was blank as her mind refused to absorb so fantastic a thought.
    “Like a bird. After all, Princess, honey, this is twenty-first century.”
    The twenty-first century…
    The idea was too incredible, too far beyond what was remotely conceivable. She shook her head. “No. Impossible.”
    “Cross my heart. Look, maybe I had better get you to some place where you can lie down. You don’t look so good.”
    She could imagine. She felt chilled to the center of her being. Her lips were so stiff she could barely speak. Her hands trembled if she did not keep them balled into fists.
    Twenty-first century.
    Eight hundred years. Eight hundred years into the future.
    You could vanish…
    No. It could not be.
    Could it?
    What had the wizard done? What had he dared do to her?
    The man from the future, this Rayne, was taking her elbow, urging her to come with him. She snatched free of his grasp. “Don’t touch me!”
    The man lifted his hands, backing away. “Fine. If that’s what you want, honey, you’ve got it. But I’m leaving. You can come along or stay here. It’s all one to me.”
    He did not linger to hear her answer. Swinging around once more, he strode into the woods.
    In a few seconds he would disappear into the forest, leaving her alone in this strangely beautiful place that had suddenly become so alien. She let him take half a dozen steps before she called out to him. “Wait!”
    He paused but did not look back.
    “I’m coming.” She picked up her skirts and began to walk after him.
    She thought he would return to guide her, or at least remain where he was until she reached him. He did neither. Moving off again, he glided swiftly through the woodland as if it was his home and he knew no other.
    She could not catch up with him. Rotted tree trunks and snaking vines tripped her. Briers caught at her mantle and snagged in her linen coif, tearing it free of her hair. She abandoned it, hurrying after him.
    But her footsteps could not match the length or speed of those of the man ahead. She had to break into a run just to keep him in sight. A stitch formed under her ribs, and she longed to halt long enough to ease it. To do so would mean losing her rescuer or calling out to him to