The Maiden and the Mercenary by Nicole Locke

Author:Nicole Locke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-09-09T13:08:54+00:00

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This man was too potent. Too...everything. The first time Bied saw him, she couldn’t believe a man like him existed, with eyes like his and that way he dipped his chin to look at her.

There was more, too. She wanted to trust him, even though she had learned her lesson in the harshest of ways with men and accepting their help. Yet, she wanted to believe him that he’d help rescue her sister and her. Ridiculous.

‘You have your mission to do,’ she said.

‘Bied,’ he growled.

She firmed her resolve against him. ‘It’s true. You’re a mercenary hired by someone, but you won’t tell me why or by whom. And all of it is entirely too much and puts my sister in danger. Even if it’s to save kingdoms, it’s not worth risking her for.’

He stilled. ‘Why did you say that?’

‘You keep talking that there’s something more here. I might not be of noble blood, but we are in a Warstone holding. If it’s more than this, then what more could there be?’

His jaw tightened. ‘I won’t be distracted this time around. We both have our reasons to be here. If this between us was something simple, it would be possible to say no. Does it seem like something you can walk away from?’

‘We should walk away from it. I am a sister pretending to be a kitchen servant to save her. That should be my only role, my only want.’

At his expression, she hadn’t any more words to fight him off, so she turned her back to him. She’d crumble if she faced him now.

But she knew he faced her. Could feel his eyes taking in the tension in her shoulders, the way the gown stretched across her broad hips.

‘I’m a mercenary who is pretending to be an usher, but with you, Bied, I’m only a man.’

His voice was low, a roughened tenor that rushed the awareness she’d been trying to avoid through her. The wall she stared at wasn’t interesting enough to ignore the man or his words. ‘What has that to do with anything?’

‘I thought we were throwing out opposites.’

She was throwing out excuses. Reasons. So many. Oh, she’d had men before when she wanted them. But there was too much with Louve. Too much fascination with the wave of his hair and too much want when he gave a smile that lit his eyes.

‘Tell me,’ he coaxed.

‘Tell you what?’ Her voice, she was proud to say, remained as steady as always. As long as she didn’t turn, she could remain strong. He’d grow bored and leave.

‘What’s the opposite of man?’ he whispered. Why did she have to face a wall with only a few pans and some herbs dangling from it? Did he know her heart beat that much more with his every word? That each breath drawn became that much more difficult as desire tightened her insides?

Woman was the answer she almost blurted. She wanted him and more so now the longer they stayed in these deplorable kitchens.

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