Read Online Immortal by Pati Nagle - Free Book Online

me back against him. My eyes fell closed; suddenly shooting stars were pale compared to what was going on in my heart.
    â€œLen.”
    â€œYes?”
    His cheek brushed against my hair. I felt dizzy and opened my eyes, trying to steady myself. Darkness and stars.
    â€œI should not be doing this,” he murmured.
    â€œWhy not? I like it.”
    â€œI like it too.”
    I turned my head toward his, trying to rub against that cheek. I heard him draw a sharp breath, then he began to kiss my face, moving toward my mouth.
    I turned in his arms, heart thundering. The cape slid from my shoulders; he caught it and wrapped it around us both, then kissed me.
    Sweet, long, lingering kiss. I was floating. I cared about nothing but the feel of him, the taste of him. He could have whatever he wanted from me.
    He stopped abruptly, pulling back, though the cape swathed around us kept him from moving far.
    â€œWhat?” I said.
    â€œYou don’t mean that.”
    â€œMean what?”
    â€œWhat you were you thinking.”
    â€œH-how do you know what I’m thinking?”
    â€œAh … you think pretty loud.”
    Was he joking? I couldn’t see his face. The porch light was behind him, and even though it was a way off, it blinded me.
    â€œOK, then.” Kiss me again.
    â€œLen—”
    Kiss me now.
    His hand cupped my face, then he bent toward me. I stopped thinking straight, or much at all. He tasted better than he looked, if that was possible.
    â€œCaeran!”
    We startled apart like guilty teens. Caeran slid out of the cape and wrapped it around me, leaving me warm and lonely.
    Nathrin stood on the porch of the house, backlit by the amber light, but I had recognized his voice. Caeran spoke in a husky whisper.
    â€œWe should go in.”
    He started toward the house. I followed, too confused to string a sentence together, angry with Nathrin—what the hell business was it of his?—and deeply, deeply frustrated. I had a fleeting thought of just climbing in the car and heading back to Las Vegas, but my pack was in the house, and anyway I wasn’t going anywhere. Not until Caeran and I finished the wordless discussion we’d begun.
    Nathrin fell in beside Caeran and muttered something I couldn’t distinguish. They went into the house and I followed, kicking the door shut behind me. Nathrin glanced at me, but said nothing as he pulled Caeran into the living room.
    Madera was there, standing by the fireplace. I noticed that his black hair was long, almost to his waist. Hadn’t realized it before because it was tied back in a ponytail. At a glance he looked native, maybe with some Cherokee blood to account for the height. But the planes of his face were the same as Caeran’s. Definitely some DNA in common there.
    He looked up at me and smiled slightly. “Thank you for your patience. I have a room where you may spend the night.”
    He gestured toward the doorway at the other end of the living room. I glanced at Caeran but he wasn’t looking at me. Nathrin was watching, though.
    There was nothing for me to do but pick up my pack and follow Madera.
    The door opened into a hall that ran west along a wing of the building. The place really was a hacienda, built in a square around the open courtyard in the middle. The hallway had probably been open to the outdoors once, but the side facing the courtyard had been enclosed with a wall of windows. I wondered how old the house was; the adobe was thick and irregular, and the doorways of the rooms didn’t all look the same.
    A couple of the doors we passed were closed, and guessed Mirali was probably behind one of them. Thought about inquiring after her, then decided not to bug the healer.
    â€œHere you may rest,” he said, gesturing to an open doorway.
    I looked into a tiny bedroom, softly lit by a squat lamp on a bedside table. It looked cozy, but lonely.
    â€œThanks.”
    â€œYou had something to