Try as she might, Annis couldn’t avoid his eyes when she turned to look at him. Sparks lingered there, and she couldn’t deny they ignited something in her.
As usual words shot from her mouth without thought. “You have experience with that, I do not.”
“You do not need experience to understand how you feel when you are with me, when I hold your hand, or when I kiss you. You only need to feel.”
She stepped to the side to put distance between them as they walked. “You will not kiss me. You will hurt your wound.”
“You want me to kiss you though, don’t you?” he asked and not playfully. “And do not bother to lie. I can tell when you lie. You get a cute little wrinkle in your nose when you lie.”
Annis covered her nose with her hand and Brogan laughed.
“You truly are incorrigible,” she said.
“You pick on me to avoid the question. Do you want me to kiss you again?”
She thought of a suitable response. “Not at this moment.”
“You let me know the moment, leannan, and I shall see it done.”
As soon as they started on the path, Annis realized she would not meet the witch today. There was barely any mist, a patch here and there, but no thick mist at all. It did give her a chance to survey the area. It was lush with growth; majestic trees, plentiful plants, and colorful flowers grew in abundance. The squirrels were even chunky, though that could be a sign of a cold winter to come.
They came upon the stream Una had mentioned. It was narrow and ran clear and was no more than ankle deep from what she could see of it. She squatted down and scooped up a handful of water to drink, the taste cold and refreshing.
Brogan went down beside her and did the same, drinking several handfuls.
“We will not find her today,” Annis said. “There is no mist. She travels in the mist. It protects hers.” Her words surprised her, not sure where they had come from or why she had even thought that.
“Rannick, Odran, and I thought the same, but even when the mist came, she was nowhere to be seen,” Brogan said with disappointment.
Annis lowered her bottom to sit on the bank of the stream. “It would stand to reason that if the witch knows how to break the curse, then she could be the one who empowered Lady Aila to cast it.”
“There is that theory,” Brogan agreed, sitting as well.
“Lady Aila must have been desperate to seek the help of a witch.”
“I recall my father saying that the king gave the order and there was no disobeying the king. The order was to be carried out or one would suffer the same fate of the Clan MacWilliam.”
“I wonder why the curse affected you and the other two lords more personally than it did each of your fathers?”
“Our fathers suffered along with our clans. Though, you are right. Rannick, Odran, and I suffered more and wondered the same as you. The only reason we could fathom was that we are the heirs to our clans and our clans’ futures depend on us.”
“Just like the future of the Clan MacWilliam, the bloodline, depended on the two-day-old lass,” Annis said, trying to make sense of an act that had taken place twenty years ago and continued to affect so many today.
“With nothing to find today, we should return and help Iver and the others who prepare for winter. The fat squirrels indicate a harsh one.”
Annis scrambled to her feet. “I will see that the stone shed is constructed well, and you can make sure there is enough meat to fill it.”
Brogan sprang to his feet and startled Annis when he took her in his arms. “How about a gentle kiss, just a light one? If you’d like?”
Not only startled to be in his arms, but startled that she was tempted, much too tempted, and even more startled by her response. “A light kiss.”
Brogan hugged her waist with his hands, easing her closer to him and nodded as he lowered his mouth and whispered, “A faint one.”
A tingle shot through her, shivering her when his lips barely skimmed hers. It felt like a feather being drawn across them, first one way, then the other. Hungry for more, so much more, she turned her head away, frightened at what she might do.
Brogan placed a kiss on her temple and whispered, “I love kissing you.”
And there went the tingle again, shooting through her with such passion that it almost buckled her knees. She hadn’t realized that she gripped Brogan’s arms until she saw for herself when she turned her head to look at him.
“I’ve got you, mo ghràdh, and I am not letting you go,” he said and brushed his lips over hers one more time. He waited a moment, needing time himself to gather his senses about him and give him time to get his arousal under control, before stepping away from her and taking her hand.