Read Online Resenting the Hero by Moira J. Moore - Free Book Online

it.”
    He stopped so suddenly my own momentum carried me a couple of steps beyond him. “When?” he demanded.
    Back at the first tavern in Over Leap. “What difference does it make?”
    â€œI certainly never did it in front of other people.”
    â€œNeither did I. You’re the one who felt like dragging the true reason out back there. They were believing the exhaustion excuse.”
    He couldn’t reasonably deny that. He pushed a hand through his hair. “What the hell did I do, anyway?”
    â€œSorry?”
    â€œYou were friendly with the blond fellow back in Over Leap, and the innkeepers and shopkeepers and strangers on the street, and everyone back at the residence, but with me you have this chilly, polite facade going.”
    So? Why couldn’t he just leave it? We were getting along well enough. So what if I didn’t adore him? By tomorrow morning he would have a hundred admirers tagging his heels.
    â€œSo what did I do?” he asked impatiently. “Tell me. My hair isn’t blond? I’m not tall enough?”
    Prat. Did he really think I cared about such trivial things? “I am a simple girl, Karish,” I said. He snorted in disbelief, which surprised me. “And I never anticipated being bonded to the Stallion of the Triple S.”
    â€œYou may stop referring to me in that manner any time now,” he instructed me coolly. “I asked you to call me Taro.”
    â€œHey, if the horseshoe fits.” And he ordered me to call him Taro. Big difference. “I wanted to be Paired with someone discreet.”
    â€œAnd of course I’m not.”
    â€œYou’re too”—I gestured vaguely as I tried to think of a suitable word—“legendary. You have all this dash and flair, running hither and yon saving the world. Everyone knows who you are, and everyone loves you.”
    He smiled crookedly. It wasn’t a happy expression. “Do they?”
    â€œWell, look around.” At all the people who turned heads to take another look at him. He was honestly that beautiful. He didn’t look, so he didn’t see, but he probably didn’t need to. No doubt he had seen it all before. “I didn’t want to work with a legend. I wanted a quiet life, do my job without anyone much noticing.” I let myself sigh. “No chance of that, now. Certainly, you’ll be the focus of all the attention, but some of it is bound to splash onto me. Lord Shintaro Karish’s Shield, easiest road to his favor.” Oh, he didn’t like that at all, and he scowled to prove it. Well, too bad. He’d asked for it. “You’ve got no right to complain about my behavior. I’ve been polite.”
    â€œBarely.”
    Completely. “Right back at you.”
    He stiffened his jaw before saying, “I have guarded Shields before.”
    It shot out of the mouth before the brain had time to kick in. “When?”
    â€œDuring my training,” he gritted out through his teeth. “When do you think?”
    Oh.
    â€œWe are trained.”
    â€œI know that.” Not as much as we were, but they got some smattering of discipline, I knew.
    â€œWe are not these uncontrollable forces of nature unleashed on the unsuspecting world with nothing more than one frail Shield standing between us and chaos.”
    â€œI know.” I supposed.
    â€œAnd believe me, we’re made well aware of our obligations to the regulars and to our Shields.”
    I knew that. Still, this was a social event. Why would he want to be saddled with any responsibility at a festival? Any normal person would resent that, never mind someone of Karish’s ilk.
    Karish swore. Under his breath. Very prettily. The refined accent gave the oaths a certain venom I had never heard before.
    â€œListen, I just think it’s a little early in the schedule to be asking you to guard me for something like this.”
    â€œIt wasn’t