Heart of a Warrior
(romantic suspense - novella)

Excerpt ~

The hand holding the gun trembled.

Dismayed, Ali resolutely steadied her aim settling the weapon’s deadly sights upon the back of her unsuspecting target—Aiden Greig’s soulless heart. The man she’d been hired to kill. Her husband.

She paused.

Despite the burning hatred harbored in her heart, her eyes hungrily soaked up every detail of the man like ravenous animals. And maybe they were; it had been ten years. Unruly hair, still the color of midnight called to her fingers, begging them to run through the thick mass. Wide shoulders perfect for providing shelter, mocked her, sensing her desire to burrow there now despite everything. Solid hands capable of providing hours of ecstasy until a woman promised her soul, hung to the sides of the six-foot three-inch rock hard body befitting of a Greek God currently hidden beneath a perfectly cut black business suit.

That was new. What’d happened to the farmer’s clothes?

“You should have shot when you had the chance Ali,” Aiden growled pivoting, furious golden-brown eyes blazing with a heat index she’d never seen another human attain. She remembered a time when they’d touched her regularly as hot but with passion.

Sucking in a sharp breath, Ali shivered within knowing he spoke the truth. But she’d waited on purpose. Releasing the safety, noting there was nary a quiver of fear visible, she scoffed, “That is what they told me too, but I had my reasons.”

One dark eyebrow rose mockingly. She in turn pressed lips tight refusing to be rushed. She’d dreamt of this moment more times than she could count. She had not however counted on being able to hear her heartbeat pounding so loudly it virtually drowned out all else. Or feel the rivulets of sweat running between her aching shoulder blades. Or breathe the unique sandalwood scent recognizable anywhere as his reminding her of another time, another place when she’d loved him blindly.

Still do, whispered a tiny spark of pain deep within.

“Mommy!” Adam’s anguished ghost-cry slashed across her soul joining the roaring, ‘No’, from her gut reminding her why she was there—she’d promised her son justice. Her finger twitched on the trigger. “I waited so I could see the look on your face as you died knowing I’d pulled the trigger.”

Aiden snorted derisively with a curling lip. “What? Cuckolding me, stealing my son and disappearing for ten years weren’t enough?”

Ali’s brows dipped, her head twitched and her mouth parted in disagreement. What was he talking about? He’d been the one to strike Adam… a gust of wind socked her from behind stealing her breath and throwing her directly into Aiden’s chest. Bands of steel wrapped themselves around her and the gun was easily seized from her lifeless grasp. Golden-brown eyes stared humorlessly into her stunned expression.

“Sorry to ruin your plans, my dearly-devoted-and-ever-loving wife.” A finger placed under her chin tilted her head. “Where is my son?”

Confusion warred with overloaded senses. “What are you talking about? You know where Adam is!” In heaven if there’s any justice in this world, she thought angrily pushing against his hold.

He growled low in his chest then snapped his fingers. The world went white. She blinked then stiffened sure he must have knocked her out as a cursory glimpse revealed stonewalls, a monstrous bed, and a low-banked fire in a stone hearth. But they stood exactly as they had before…? “Where are we?” she asked hating the telling tremor.

He released her striding to the hearth. “Fourteenth century Scotland, my home and my time with my rules.” He turned facing her. “Now where is my son?”

Ali took an instinctive step backwards. They’d traveled back in time? Yeah right.

He snapped his fingers. The suit was replaced with a silver and blue kilt leaving the rest of his magnificent body gleaming naked in the firelight. Her heart skipped but whether from fear or excitement… She reminded herself she hated him, had not needed someone to pay her to kill him. Facing her enemy, she lifted her chin. “I’m not answering that ridiculous question Aiden.”

He took a step towards her a slow grin traveling across his face as his gaze deliberately lowered to inspect her form knowingly.

Ali sucked in a sharp breath unable to believe the furious raw desire burning in his depths. He couldn’t really mean… She glanced nervously at the bed. She’d never been able to deny him anything there…

“Wife.”

Her dismayed gaze leaped to his.

“Undress. Slowly.”

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Nicole