Read Midnight's Warrior for Free Online Page B

interested. “Survive? Survive what?”
    He shrugged. “It was a figure of speech.”
    “I think you’re lying.”
    One side of his lips lifted in a crooked smile. “Is that right?”
    “It is. Just as I know you’re hiding something.”
    “And how is it you can see that, lass?”
    Tara leaned her forearms on the table and met Ramsey’s silver gaze. “I learned the hard way how to read people. It’s how I survive.”
    “Then tell me what you’ve read in me.”
    She knew she shouldn’t. Already things had gotten entirely too personal. The fact that she wanted to know more about Ramsey, and that she wanted to trust him, only complicated things.
    If she didn’t take a step back, she was going to find it difficult to leave when the time came. Which was why she was already thinking of leaving. If only that damned snowstorm hadn’t blown in.
    “Well?” Ramsey urged.
    Tara picked up her wine glass and swirled the golden liquid of the pino grigio. She tilted the glass to her lips and let the wine slide down her throat.
    The delicious food forgotten, she leaned back and took a deep breath. “Are you sure you want to know?”
    “Do your best.”
    “All right. You’ve an old soul. You’re cautious, and you have secrets. Not a lot, but I suspect they’re dangerous secrets. You know modern tools, but you aren’t meant to hold them. You’re a warrior, a man who knows how to look after what’s his. You have close friends who you consider family, but…” She paused as she cocked her head to the side. “But you’ve left them for something important.”
    Tara blinked and looked away from Ramsey’s gaze and the confusion she glimpsed there. She took another drink of wine. “I told you I could read people.”
    “Interesting.”
    “Am I right?” she asked without looking up.
    “And if I said aye?”
    Slowly, her gaze lifted to his. “I would ask if your friends know your secrets?”
    “They do. Now, I think it’s my turn.”
    Tara’s body jerked. “What do you mean?”
    “You’re no’ the only one who can read people, lass. It’s only fair I get my turn.”
    She wanted to bolt from the kitchen, and from the castle. Then she realized Ramsey wouldn’t be able to tell anything about her. She was too good at hiding her true self from everyone, including herself.
    “Go ahead,” she said with a nonchalant shrug.
    Ramsey’s smile and the way his ashen gaze leveled on her made a shiver race down her spine. What did he think he knew?
    “You’ve been running a long time,” Ramsey said softly. “You’re a loner, but you’re also lonely. I can see it in your eyes when you watch families and friends together. Especially when you see a couple. You have secrets of your own, and you’re afraid of everything. You can no’ find peace, because you have no’ stopped running.”
    Tara shook her head in dismay. She rose to her feet so quickly her chair fell backward, breaking the silence. Ramsey stood and reached for her, but Tara jerked away.
    “Who are you?” she demanded.
    “I’m a friend. If you believe nothing else, believe that.”
    With her hands shaking, she set down the wineglass and took a step back. “I can’t afford friends.”
    She turned and started to walk away. Tara reached the doorway when Ramsey’s words halted her.
    “Running again?”
    For a moment she wavered. She desperately wanted to collapse in the chair and spill all her secrets. She wanted to tell Ramsey everything, and maybe he could even help her.
    But Tara knew what kind of magic Declan had. If she involved Ramsey she was sentencing him to death. And she liked him too much to do that.
    So, once more she would stand alone.
    “Thank you for sharing a meal with me.” She glanced over her shoulder at Ramsey.
    Before she gave in and told him everything, Tara walked to her room and quietly shut the door. She locked it, and then bolted it. Not because she was afraid of Ramsey, but it was a habit she couldn’t let go of.
    Her