I looked down at my half-eaten sandwich. “Are you still willing to take me there, knowing the creatures might be there?”

“For the space of one year I will take you anywhere you wish. All you need do is ask.” His eyes locked with mine.

“Out of duty.” Returning his unblinking gaze I realized I wanted more than duty from him.

“I gave my oath to you.” His voice was mesmerizing.

“Then I am asking you. Please, will you take me to bury my father?” My voice was almost a whisper, rough with emotions I was just beginning to feel.

“Yes, Lady Rhiannon. I will take you and protect you.”

“And keep me close to you?” I couldn’t stop myself from adding.

“I will keep you as close to me as you wish to be.”

Oh, jeesh, what a loaded comment that was! I wondered about the etiquette of asking him to shift into man-form. Is it kind of like excusing yourself to put in a diaphragm? Or get a condom?

The clattering noise of pots being cleared snapped my thoughts out of the bedroom, and I was mortified to feel my face blushing—until ClanFintan’s gaze registered the redness of my cheeks. And then the soft smile he gave me made me ridiculously glad I’ve always been a blusher. God, I felt like a goofy teenager (although that’s redundant, teenagers are all goofy).

“You must be tired.”

Well, I had been thinking about bed, if that counts. He smiled as if he could read my thoughts. I’m pretty sure I blushed again.

“Rest while I tell the centaurs of our plans.” He started to move toward the other campfire, but turned back at the sound of my voice.

“Um, what are our plans?” Damn, he looked good in the firelight.

“We will escort you to MacCallan Castle.” That was easy.

“What about Epi, uh, Epona?” She pricked her ears in my direction at the sound of her name, and I blew quick kisses at her.

“I will delegate two centaurs to stay here with her and await our return. By the time we come back, she will be ready to travel, although she probably will not be able to bear your weight.”

“Then how am I going to get to the castle and back home? Did you bring a horse with you?” Well, I meant, besides his friends.

“No.” His smile had broadened.

“Am I supposed to walk?” Like that wouldn’t take forever.

“No.” Now he looked like the damn Cheshire cat.

“Well, then how?” What the heck was he thinking?

“You will ride me.” He gave a little mock bow, then spun around (like any good cutting horse) and headed to the other campfire.

For once I was rendered speechless—utterly devoid of speech.

Ride him? Well, I already knew he was a biter.

I just hoped he didn’t buck, too.

Wonder how the hell the Duke would handle this one?

8

Wine, food and warmth worked their magic, and by the time ClanFintan set Epi’s soft saddle next to me for a pillow and nudged me off the rock, I was barely able to mumble a thanks before I fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.

It seemed as if I had only just closed them when the wonderful fragrance of frying meat forced open my undoubtedly bloodshot eyes. I stretched and was immediately sorry I’d done so. How was it possible for every single muscle in my body to be sore? I think my hair even hurt.

“Ahhh.” Getting to my feet was a noisy affair. In the middle of trying to straighten my old, abused body, I made the mistake of glancing up, and saw eleven pairs of centaur eyes and one pair of Epi eyes watching me. Eleven of the twelve looked amused. Epi’s eyes, I was pleased to notice, showed only her usual horsey adoration.

“What?!”

“Nothing, my Lady…” At least they had enough sense to look semi-embarrassed

“Damn men.” Mumbling under my breath I gave Epi a pat before heading down to the river’s edge. I really, really wished I had a toothbrush. Bending over was decidedly not fun, but I did feel better after washing off my face and swishing water around my mouth (and using my finger as a toothbrush—yuck). Now, to top off an already lovely morning, I had to pee. Again.

I started marching purposefully downstream (but it’s hard to march purposefully, or any other way, when your thighs are screaming like Richard Simmons in a candy store—good God, stop the madness). I came to an abrupt halt. And turned to see twelve pairs of eyes staring at me—and one centaur, decidedly the most handsome of the group, and just coincidentally my mate, obviously getting ready to follow me. Oh, no. No toilet paper is bad enough. Mr. Ed could just keep his hairy butt there, no matter how cute he was.

“I’m just going to—you know…” And I nodded toward the forest edge.

“Call if you have need of anything.” ClanFintan and the rest of them tried unsuccessfully to hide smiles.

“Not in this damn lifetime,” I muttered as I hobbled toward the bushes, scratching at various bug bites.

Have I mentioned how much I loathe camping?

Exercise is supposed to loosen sore muscles and as I climbed down the bank and made my gimpy way back to camp, I waited for my thighs and butt to uncramp. Of course, my muscles didn’t know the loosening rule. They were screaming things like Are you crazy? Do you know we’re thirty-five years old? Sit down and feed us a Twinkie!

It was going to be a long day.

The centaurs had put out the fire I had slept by, and as I walked up to the group surrounding the remaining fire, they made way for me, and one of them (an adorable palomino) handed me another hard bread and meat sandwich.

“Thanks.” I smiled my appreciation and he gave me a sweet little bow. These guys were awfully cute.

ClanFintan joined us, and his centaurs made room for him next to me.

“How are you feeling this morning, my Lady?” ClanFintan asked sociably.

“My butt hurts like hell.”

I thought the palomino was going to gag on his sandwich, and several other centaurs had sudden coughing fits. I smiled at them. They seemed relieved, and I could feel them studying me with new eyes. I kept forgetting what a bitch Rhiannon must have been.

ClanFintan’s eyes were sparkling at me.

“Anything I can do to help you?”

A good, firm ass rub would be nice, but I didn’t want to mention that in front of the herd.

“I don’t think so.” I glanced pointedly at his broad back, where shortly I was going to have to sit my sore butt. “Unless you can shape-shift into my bed and your friends here can drag us to MacCallan Castle.” I looked inquiringly at his men, including them in my joke.

They repaid me with outright laughter and several of them slapped ClanFintan on the back saying, “She has you there.” ClanFintan took their good-natured teasing well. Their laughter included me and made me feel part of them. I began to realize what Rhiannon had missed out on by being such a bitch.

“Forgive me, my Lady, but I cannot shift into a being that does not have the breath of life within it,” he said.

“You are forgiven, my Lord,” I teased. “Just be gentle with me.”

“Always.” His hand reached out and brushed an errant curl from my face. Over his shoulder I saw the centaurs smile knowingly at each other.

And I found myself feeling very glad that Rhiannon hadn’t done irreparable damage here. I really wanted them to like me. Okay, I’ll be honest. I wanted their High Shaman to more than like me. But these were good guys/horses/whatever and their friendship was something I would like to earn.

“Can you finish breaking your fast as we ride? We need to get started.”

“Yes.” I hesitated.

“Is something wrong?”

I looked over his shoulder at my mare. “I’m just worried about Epi.”

“She will rest comfortably while we are gone.”

“She’ll be safe?” A picture of the creature-things sprang into my mind.

“Any of us would give our lives for her, or for you.” He certainly sounded serious. I didn’t want anyone to die for my mare or for me, but his declaration was giving me goose bumps and causing me to have a John-Wayne-leading-his-marines-through-danger moment.

I didn’t know what to say. Again. My students would be thrilled at me being rendered speechless twice in such a short period of time (of course, they wouldn’t know what the word rendered meant, but you get my drift).

“Perhaps you would like a moment to say goodbye to her and to tell her you will return soon?” He was just so dang considerate.

I mumbled some kind of thanks, and took my sore-butted sandwich-eating self over to my mare, who was grazing contentedly. She pricked her ears and gave me a soft nicker of welcome.

“Hi there, sweet girl.” I rubbed her jawline and cooed wordless love noises at her as she nuzzled me. Resting my forehead against her neck I spoke softly so that she had to cock her ears back to hear me.

“I have to leave for a couple of days. ClanFintan is going to take me to the castle.” She craned her head around so that she could look into my eyes. “Don’t worry, he’s leaving a couple centaurs here to take care of you. And he won’t let anything happen to me.” She seemed okay with that. I continued, lowering my voice even further, “I have to tell you, I’m a little nervous about this riding-him stuff. I mean, please, how am I supposed to keep my hormones in control with him between my legs all day?”

She gave a deep, horsey sigh that seemed to say, Well, don’t then.

“Some help you are.” I gave her soft muzzle a quick kiss. “Behave yourself while I’m gone.” She lipped my hair briefly then went back to grazing.