Instinct Read Online Free Page A

stepped
across discarded branches and bracken. “Another hour would not
cause bother, I am certain.”
    I smiled at her
wistful tone and took her elbow to balance her step across a
muddied puddle. “I have an appointment I am committed to.”
    Halting, one
foot each side of the shallow water, she peered up at me through
narrowed eyes. “With Lord Wells’ daughter, perhaps?”
    At the sight of
her, slender legs peeking from ruffled petticoat and annoyance
creasing her expression, I almost considered disobeying James as
the want to take the female in my arms and ravage her
battled my inner instinct. Drawing in a deep breath, I forced
myself calm. “With my brother.”
    “Ah.” She
smiled, her features relaxing again. “The other Mr Holloway. I am
told he is the gentleman you refuse to be.”
    Laughing, I
slid an arm around her waist, took her hand, and lifted her across
the wet ground. She did not protest, but simply straightened her
clothing once set back on her feet.
    The light rain
had intensified during the morning, and heavier drops landed to
soak the ground. I had never been as far as Jem’s home before,
though it could be seen upon leaving the forest. A scattering of
thick and proud oaks dotted the land between and provided obscurity
to our emergence.
    Jem halted and
placed her hand against my chest. My heart thudded beneath it when
I realised she had initiated contact for the first time. “You can
come no farther,” she said. “Mother mustn’t see you.”
    “She will not
see me with so much cover.” I took her hand to bring her closer,
leaning in until my nose met with her slender neck. An inhalation
drew her essence deep into my lungs, my upward sweep ending at her
hair.
    Her quiet
intake of breath accompanied the tilt of her head. “Why must you
always sniff at me so?” she whispered, her breaths seeping through
the fine fabric of my shirt and warming my shoulder.
    I smiled into
her hair. “Why must you always smell so delectable?”
    Her step away
from me did nothing to hide her tremor. “It is time I left.”
    I cupped her
face, placed my lips to hers. “Until Tuesday next, then.”
    She glanced
downward, her cheeks accepting the deep blush that visited them.
“Until Tuesday next,” she repeated, turning away. With hems lifted
from the sodden ground, she met with the far sward and kept
walking.
    Not yet ready
to part with the sight of her, I strode to the first oak she had
passed and pressed my cheek to the rough bark, peering around to
watch. Her scent lingered, as though collected by the rain as it
struck her body, to be gathered upon the ground as a direct path to
her.
    She crossed
beyond the second oak, and I dashed to that one, my eyes held
captive by her movements. The female entranced me, without a doubt,
so I did not fully register the tingling sensation which visited my
limbs, or pause to investigate, before darting toward the third oak
in a bid to see her for longer.
    In only four
more long strides, pain shot through me, forcing me to my
knees.
    A downward
glance showed ripples rolling beneath my flesh, and my chest
muscles convulsing against the heavy pounding of my heart.
    I shook my head
in denial, my whispered, “ No ,” no more than a hoarse
grumble.
    Peering around,
I searched for a sign: who, why? How?
    No one
loitered, not even Jem, who had disappeared behind the security of
her door.
    Another
circuitous inspection of my surroundings brought still no answers.
My change had come early, and I did not know why.
    I tried to push
to my feet, but my muscles cramped, demanding I do otherwise. As my
body brought me lower, my eyes fell on the culprit.
    Through my
frown, I narrowed my stare to study the growth harder—to be
certain.
    The plants
bordering Jem’s home pointed at me with their spiked leaves, waving
at me with the lemon flowers that sat atop them.
    “Wolfsbane,” I
whispered, panic surging my adrenaline higher.
    With a roar of
self-encouragement, I forced my legs into