A Soul For Trouble

Chapter 20

Kell watched Arden disappear through the trees. The gentle sway of her hips mesmerized him until the world around him faded from view. He doubted she knew what a tempting creature she could be sometimes. But the questions she roused inside him almost made him forget the sweetness of her lips. She was different from any other woman he'd tangled with before. He actually meant it when he said she made him want to be a better man. If only he knew what she wanted from him.

Bynn snapped his fingers in front of his face. "Should I even ask what happened?"

An easy smile curled the corners of his mouth up as they wandered back to the camp. "I might have had a bit more fun if you hadn't interrupted us."

"And is your curiosity sated for now?"

"I've just whetted it." Arden captured his mind more than any other woman he'd met. Her uncertainty when he turned her to face him. The way she dropped the branches in her arms when their lips touched. Her hesitancy when he'd kissed her. All the signs of a woman who'd never been with a man before. He inwardly winced at how he'd thought she was little more than Dev's whore before this afternoon. "She's more innocent than I gave her credit for." And I'm the one trying to corrupt her.

"Or she's just a really good actress. Sometimes I wonder which one of you is trying to fool the other."

Kell halted. "What do you mean?"

"I know you're trying to seduce her so she'll stay and help you defeat Sulaino, but I'm beginning to think she's playing the same game with you. If she joins you in your bed, would you set her free?"

Anger flashed through him, locking his muscles as the current passed over them. "What do you have against her, Bynn?"

"I'm just trying to be a good friend. I've never seen you act this way around a woman before. You're obsessed."

Obsessed? He chuckled at the idea, his temper cooling with each note. "Maybe I've found someone who amuses me more than those simpering ladies of the court."

"Are you sure she hasn't cast some kind of spell on you?"

"Would she be so resistant if she did?"

"I suppose you're right. But I still wonder about the recent change in you. Last night, for example—"

"I'm perfectly aware my behavior has you and the other men concerned, but you have nothing to worry about. I'm in control of this situation, not her."

He refrained from telling his best friend about the odd ache in his chest every time he stared into her eyes, or the way he almost forgot about everything but her when they kissed. Hell, he even held back on the kiss for fear he would startle her. He'd never done that before.

"As long as you know what's going through my head. I'll be watching both of you."

Kell couldn't suppress his grin, finding some levity in this conversation at last. "You never struck me as the voyeuristic type before."

Bynn's expression mirrored his, and the tension between them eased as they continued toward the camp. "Are you suggesting I could learn a thing or two from you?"

"I'm having to handle her differently. The last time I met this much resistance from a woman was when I stole a kiss from your sister about ten years ago."

"Which neither one of us has forgiven you for doing, by the way."

He laughed. "Yes, I still remember the black eye she gave me."

Larenis approached them with worry tightening the planes of his face when they returned to the camp. After a quick bow, he said, "Your Highness, I hate to bother you, but I thought you should see this."