Dangerous Read Online Free

understanding. She knew better than to question the instincts of a man who slept with his sword.
    Micah seemed to sense the intruder as well, and he shuffled quietly in the chamber behind them. Aside from that, the chestnut stallion made not a sound. Eric quickly bridled him and boosted her onto the horse’s bare back.
    “At the other end,” he murmured as he led them down a narrow tunnel, “you’ll find a glen beside a brook that flows down from the hills. Follow it north to Caileann.”
    “What about you?”
    He simply handed her the reins. “I’ll deal with our visitors.”
    “But—”
    Before she could protest any further, he shoved Micah down the corridor and disappeared into the darkness.
    With Eric’s orders echoing in her ears, Elisabeth rode into the misty morning. The clearing was as he’d described, and she turned Micah onto the path. In the distance, she heard the sound of a commanding male voice. She couldn’t make out the words, but the calm answering tone was Eric’s. After several exchanges, all fell silent, and she smiled as she brought Micah to a halt.
    “He’ll be along shortly.” She patted the horse’s thickly muscled neck. “We’ll wait for him here.”
    The clash of metal broke the stillness, and Micah jerked his head around to stare in the direction of the skirmish. Nostrils flaring, a disapproving growl rumbled deep in his chest. Elisabeth nudged him forward cautiously, prepared to duck back at the first sign they’d been spotted. Of his own will, Micah stopped amid a stand of pine trees, thoroughly concealed by their branches.
    Four men she counted, all far too occupied with Eric to notice her. A quick slice of his blade felled one, the next strike nearly decapitated another. The remaining pair grew wary, and well they should. He fought with lethal precision. While they feinted and parried, he struck without reserve, every blow meant to kill. He coolly dispatched the last two, then swiveled toward a rustling in the trees.
    A muttered Gaelic curse was followed by the crashing sounds of a rapidly fleeing horse. Eric took several steps in that direction, then stopped as if recalling that he had no chance of catching them without Micah.
    He cleaned his bloody sword in the grass, then balanced the tip on the ground and looked straight at her hiding place. “You may come out now.”
    Awestruck, Elisabeth didn’t even think to take up the reins. Micah obeyed the command, however, and trotted over to his master like one of her father’s well-trained wolfhounds.
    “What are you doing here?” Eric scolded him, scratching the horse’s forehead affectionately. “You were to take her away, not bring her back.”
    This wasn’t the same man who’d just killed four men before her eyes. Having grown up along the hotly contested border separating Scotland from England, she was no stranger to battles. But nothing she’d seen could match the slaughter she’d witnessed this morn. Despite their greater numbers, Eric’s opponents had been woefully outmatched.
    “The one who ran off will return with more,” he predicted grimly. “We must leave at once.”
    Taking the reins from her, he led Micah back toward the cave. He lifted her down, then went inside to retrieve his scant belongings. While he strapped on the weathered saddle, Elisabeth couldn’t avert her eyes from the bodies strewn about the clearing. Where had he learned to fight the way he did?
    “Are you ready?” he asked.
    She nodded, and he lifted her into the saddle before swinging up behind her. They returned to the winding brook and began making their way north. The trust she’d begun to feel for him was gone, and she kept herself away from the loose embrace of his arms as he held the reins in front of her.
    “The Redmond have many fine warriors,” she ventured, hoping to entice him to reveal something about his background. “But none of them could best you.”
    “Your praise is unwarranted, milady.”
    After waiting