Susan King - [Celtic Nights 02] Read Free Page A

its northern trek through Scotland. Chivalry and heroics were replaced by cruelty, lust, and the basest qualities of mankind. Witnessing deeds even uglier than the burning of Elladoune, he had continually found ways to avoid committing direct acts of cruelty himself.
    The sins on his soul bothered him, and the thought of dishonoring his vows of knighthood disturbed him just as much. Disillusioned by this campaign, he realized that not even his own king upheld the ideals or integrity that Gawain revered.
    He swam toward the circle of swans with steady strokes. Treading water, he saw that pale form again, moving among the birds. She swam toward the shore, and he surged after her.
    Swans lurched upward, clumsy in the transition from water to air—grace lost, grace regained. Gawain treaded water, watching.
    When the commotion of swans cleared, he saw the girl again, nearing the reeds along the shore. He lunged forward to grab her. Though she struggled, he scooped an arm around her and tugged her toward shore. When she began to scream, he cupped his hand over her mouth and stilled in the water, holding her close.
    "Hush," he breathed out. "Easy! I have you!"
    She twisted in his arms and gasped out an angry, muffled retort. Shouts sounded on shore. He saw the glare of torches and the glint of armor. Cradling the girl in his arms, he glided into the shelter of the reeds, his feet on the soft bottom of the loch now. He held her with him, low in the water.
    "Let me go!" she gasped in Gaelic, writhing. He understood her, retaining some of the language from his childhood.
    "Quiet," he hissed in English. "Be still."
    "Sassenach!" she spat out. He tightened his hand over her mouth. His arm banded her, encountering soft breasts.
    "Let go of me!" she snapped in English, and kicked his shin. Struggling, she sank, and he tugged her up. She rose sputtering.
    "I only want to help you," he muttered.
    "Then do not drown me!" she gasped. He held her more securely under the arms. When she drew breath to scream, he clapped a hand over her mouth again.
    "Sweet saints, hush—be mute like a swan!"
    "Not all swans are mute," she mumbled behind his hand, and squirmed like a hooked fish.
    "That I see, Swan Maiden," he grunted, wrapping a leg around her thighs, tucking her against him like a lover, though passion was the last thing on his mind. "Quiet, if you value your life, or they will catch you."
    She stilled then, and slipped her arms around his neck. Her face was silky and wet against his bearded cheek. He felt a fine trembling all along the length of her.
    The commander and a few knights walked along the shore and pointed toward the swans, and then at the window from which the girl had escaped. A few swans flapped their wings and hissed loudly. The men backed away.
    One bird, huge and gorgeous in the fierce light of the fire, rose from the water and took to the wing, flying so low overhead that Gawain felt the breeze and ducked as it passed.
    The girl laughed. "He will not hurt us."
    "Hush," Gawain said between his teeth, embarrassed that he had thought otherwise. "You talk too much."
    Two knights waded into the reed bed and backed away hastily as the swan circled over their heads, fast and low. Gawain watched, astonished. The bird's protective action could not be deliberate, but he was grateful for it nonetheless.
    The girl looked up, her hair streaming around her face. Gawain saw that her eyes were large and dark, her head and shoulders delicately shaped. Her body was lithe and lean in his arms, her breasts lush against his chest. He held her, breathing in tandem, water lapping around their necks.
    "They are gone," she whispered after a moment. Her mouth was close to his. Feeling a strong, misplaced urge to kiss her, he pulled away slightly.
    "The knights are there, just over the hill," he murmured.
    "The swans are gone, too, farther down the loch. Look."
    He turned and saw that most of the swans had disappeared. The remaining few glided