Kiss Across Swords (Kiss Across Time Series) (21 page)

“You’re a philosopher,” Veris concluded.

“I was, in my former life. I would like to be once more, if I can ever find peace.”

Their horses had taken several steps before Veris replied. “You were born in the wrong times for peace, Alexander.”

“So I am beginning to understand.”

The two of them exchanged glances. Veris grinned. Slowly, Alexander smiled. Taylor got the impression that somehow, Alexander had met with some sort of approval.

Veris sat back on his horse.

“You do not object to your assignment, Will?” Brody probed. “I thought, from the scowl on your face when you rode up here, that you resented the work most bitterly.”

“I did, until I saw your faces.” Veris didn’t seem to mind talking in front of Alexander now. “The column had begun to leave and you were clearly shocked to see me here.”

“Yes,” Brody said. “We were.”

Veris chuckled. “I spent the night and the morning thinking your lady had connived with Selkirk to have me put here.”

Taylor could feel the guilt swirling through her. She pushed Goliath ahead a step or two so that she could see Veris properly past Brody’s body. “I tried, Will. That’s exactly why I went to see Selkirk last night.”

Veris’ smile faded. “You tried?”

She nodded. “You know these lands and how the people live here. Your knowledge would have been so useful. I wanted to surprise Brendan with my thoughtfulness, as he didn’t appreciate this assignment any more than you did last night. I asked Selkirk if we could borrow your services for three days. He refused. I even tried gambling with him and lost.”

“Gambling?”

“A wager,” she amended.

“You wagered for my services?”

Taylor couldn’t tell if Veris was pissed or not. His tone was completely neutral.

“It was a last attempt to make this work for Brendan and I lost,” she said, confessing it all.

Veris was utterly silent. Taylor could almost hear him thinking it through. “He won’t give me to you for a favor, but he’ll use me to enhance his own reputation. Well, I knew the man was self-serving.” He stirred and looked at Taylor. “I thank you for your honesty, although I’m pleased you are such a bad gambler.”

“So am I,” Brody confessed. “It’s better this way.”

Veris parted his lips to say more and shot a glance at Alexander. He closed his mouth. He said nothing more that day that wasn’t perfectly polite until they had camped for the night and he found Brody and Taylor alone.

They had five wagons, three of them empty of everything but wooden barrels, which they used to make a large protective semi-circle on the other side of a huge set of sand dunes that would protect them from the worst of the night winds. The horses were strung out on lines behind the wagons and a guard set.

Brody defied normal security precautions and found a location for Taylor and him to sleep away from the rest of the camp, outside the wagon ring. He built a fire for them. Taylor spread her saddle blanket. That would be her bed for the next three nights.

She stripped the mail from herself and plucked the sweat-soaked undershirt from her chest. Then, unable to stand it any longer, she pulled the shirt off, too. Then the leggings.

She unbraided her hair and rubbed her fingertips through the stressed roots with a sigh.

Brody sat watching her with a half-smile as he tended the building fire. “I would give
anything
to have a camera right now.” His smile faded. “I know why you took it all off. I wanted to every day when I was first getting used to it. But you’re sleeping in it, Taylor. I mean it.”

She grimaced. “At least let me air-dry the undershirt, first.”

He nodded. “We can wait that long. It’ll only take a few moments in this climate.” He picked up the undershirt, walked over to the nearest wagon and spread it over the side to dry. He came back at a slightly faster pace, hooked up her tunic from the sand where she had dropped it and tossed it to her. “I’d put that on,” he suggested. “Veris is coming.”

She struggled to throw on the tunic, suddenly all thumbs.

Brody grabbed the hem and hoisted it over her head. She managed to push her arms through the sleeves as he yanked it down over her body. She was still pushing her head through the opening when she heard Veris say, “Your guard said to come straight through.”

Taylor pulled all her hair out of the neck opening and brushed it out of her face. Veris stood about ten paces away on the other side of the fire.

Brody turned to face him. “That’s because the guard has standing orders to let you pass at all times.”

“I see.” Veris crossed his arms. He was watching her adjust the tunic. “No matter what I interrupt?”

“That’s right,” Brody agreed easily.

Taylor dropped her hands to her sides. The tunic covered everything it needed to. There was no way it was going to look like anything but a potato sack on her. It was what it was. She gave up and turned her attention back to Veris and Brody instead.

“You stopped speaking this morning,” she said to Veris. “You were going to say something, but then you looked at Alexander and stopped. What was it?”

Veris licked his lips. “That is why I am here.” He came closer to the fire, but stopped on the other side of it. He looked at Taylor again. “Do you ever wear the proper clothing of a woman?” he asked. He didn’t sound angry. He sounded stressed.

Attack, Taylor reminded herself. Attack the emotions. Keep him unsettled.

“I wore the proper attire to visit your lord. Did you enjoy that gown more than this?” She put her hands on her waist so that it was emphasized and the tunic was drawn in.

She heard his breath draw in. “No,” he confessed flatly.

Truth.

Brody stepped forward. “Come around the fire, Will. Don’t be a stranger. Neither of us is armed. Neither of us means you harm. I think you know that now.”

Will glanced at Brody’s big sword, planted blade first in the sand, next to the fire. He stepped around the fire and stopped two paces from their blankets. He was still armed, but his hands and head were bare.

He was studying Brody once more. “You set out this morning, knowing I would be left behind in Jerusalem. Why?”

“Those were my orders,” Brody said simply.

“Despite your lady’s failure to have me recruited to your task, you still went ahead as ordered.”

“Well, yes.” Brody frowned. “Was there another course you expected me to take? I don’t understand, Will.”

“You brought your lady with you,” Veris pressed.

“Tyra asked to come along,” Brody corrected.

Veris glanced at her. “
Asked
? You indulged her?”

“I wanted her with me,” Brody replied evenly.

Veris drew in a breath that even from a pace or two behind Brody and to one side, Taylor could see was unsteady. Brody’s quiet, truthful answers were not helping give Veris the vent he needed. They were acting like accelerant.

“Why go at all?” Veris demanded. “Why not leave her in the city to eat at me a bite at a time while you do as you are told? We both know she can do that.” He pushed his hand through his hair. “She has that power at least.”

Brody frowned. “Her name is Tyra,” he said flatly. “Or if Tyra is feeling very kindly toward you, she may let you call her Taylor, her true name. I’ll leave that entirely up to her.”

Veris’ gaze cut toward Taylor. “My apologies, my lady. It is a habit of speech. There has been one other “she” in my life of late and that one rarely deserves being fully named at all.”

He was talking about Davina, Taylor realized. She nodded her acceptance of his apology. She needed to let Brody control this conversation by keeping her mouth shut.

“I’m doing what I’m told,” Brody said, “because someone has to find the water for everyone to drink or we’re all going to die. It’s a simple equation, in the end.”

“You won’t die,” Veris pointed out.

“Everyone else will. Raymond told me to find the water. I’m finding water.”

“It’ll take three days at least,” Veris said.

“That’s right.”

“The siege engines will be built by then and Jerusalem taken.”

“I know.”

Veris looked Brody in the eye. “I will be gone, then. Back to Selkirk’s keep.”

Brody swallowed. “I know that, too.”

Veris stepped closer. “Yet you still go in search of water and bring your wife with you, the one person who might anchor me in Jerusalem for you.”

“You said not to pursue you,” Brody pointed out. Veris was barely a pace away from him now. Taylor could feel her own pulse rising just watching the two of them hover in this ages-old dance. She was afraid to move or speak in case she broke the spell.

“I expected you to ignore me,” Veris replied.

“I was going to,” Brody confessed. “After I got back with the water.”

Veris’ hand curled around the back of Brody’s neck. “Honorable intentions,” he murmured. “How irresistible they are.” He kissed Brody with slow, sensual thoroughness.

Taylor covered her mouth with her hand, holding in her gasp. She was so powerfully aroused by the sight of the pair of them kissing that she could barely stand still. But if she moved, they’d sense it. It was a wonder they couldn’t smell her arousal already.

Brody moaned softly.

Taylor pressed her hand harder against her mouth. Brody’s body was straining, aching for contact, but he didn’t dare press himself against Veris. The bigger man had to reach for Brody himself.

Finally, Veris drew Brody closer, his arm an iron band around Brody’s waist.

Taylor let her mouth go. The two of them were absorbed and oblivious to her. She should give them the fire and find a private corner somewhere else for the night.

She could feel herself smiling as she bent down to pick up her blanket.

Veris’ eyes were on her.

Taylor straightened. He was watching her as he kissed Brody.

Her heart rate zoomed into the stratosphere and she grew still again. What should she do? She couldn’t tear her gaze away from Veris’ eyes. This was the man she loved, the father of her child. Yet he was a stranger whose motives she didn’t understand and who frightened her with all the power and strength he wielded and could use against her because he didn’t know who she was or that she would die for him in a heartbeat.

In the end all she could see was Veris, the man she loved, kissing Brody, the other man she loved. She nearly wept at how close she was to losing that.

Veris lifted his mouth from Brody’s and ran his tongue along Brody’s neck. Taylor saw the flash of fangs and her breath stopped.

Veris had a grip on Brody’s head already. Now his other hand was creeping up to Brody’s shoulder. The classic biting position.

Taylor pushed her way through the sand a few steps and halted. What could she do? Veris was infinitely more powerful…

He was looking at her. No, not Veris, the predator in him. She could see the animal nature in his eyes, looking back at her.

His fangs extended fully and scraped over Brody’s neck. She could see Brody trying to move, but the hold Veris had on him was powerful. Unbreakable.

Taylor was aware that she was crying as she watched the teeth touch Brody’s neck, her tears running down her cheeks in scalding rivulets. She couldn’t save Brody despite sword, knife, mail, or horse. She was useless.

Veris was still watching her. His canines hesitated before they punctured Brody’s neck.

Taylor drew in a hot breath. Hope.

For long seconds they hung in that precarious balance.

Then in a blur of motion that told her Veris had used vampire speed, he let Brody go, stepped around the fire, climbed the sand dune directly behind them, crested it and was gone from sight.

Brody sank to his knees, his hands splayed in the sand for support.

Taylor hurried to him. “Up. Get up! Hurry!” She tried to lift him.

Brody stared at her, dazed.