Read Online Taken by Storm (ROMANTIC REALMS COLLECTION) by M.J. Schiller - Free Book Online Page A

nearly flinging it off the other side in his fury. He thought about it as he stamped out the fire, kicking the logs apart and spreading the remains high and wide.
    “You all right there, Prince?” Radeem asked, peering at him curiously.
    “Fine. Just ready to go,” Tahj mumbled, not wanting to have to explain himself. Besides, at the moment he was pretty sure any extended conversation with Radeem would end up with the good captain being belted.
    “Sure thing,” Radeem responded in a chipper manner, which set Tahj’s teeth on edge. Tahj reached up for the saddle horn, stepping into the stirrup. “Bashea,” Radeem added, drawing out her name, “can ride with me today. Give Ballamore a rest.”
    Tahj froze for a second, his muscles tense. “Fine.” He finished pulling himself up and sat, staring straight ahead.
    “My dear.” Radeem offered Bashea a hand to help her onto the horse.
    She took it, but muttered under her breath, “I’m only letting you help me because my shoulder is sore.”
    “Of course.” Radeem winked and Bashea frowned at him. He climbed on in front of her. Tahj wondered about the exchange for a moment, but then decided he didn’t care. Whatever was going on between the pair was none of his business. None of his damn business.
    They took off, heading north through the trees, not running, but keeping a steady clip all the same. Tahj just wanted to be done with the whole thing, leave the girl with her family and…what? What was he to do now? His home was gone, his family was gone… But he’d escaped with his life; he would at least be grateful for that. He would start a new life somewhere else. Somewhere…far away from these two, he concluded. He tried not to look, but every once in a while he couldn’t help but glance over at her hands around Radeem’s waist, as they had been around his the day before. Once, Bashea glanced back over at him, and he turned back around. He didn’t want to look into those eyes of hers.
    At midday they stopped in a meadow by a stream. Tahj chewed on some of the leather-like meat, which had been stored in salt in a pouch inside their packs. He lifted his eyes and saw Bashea. He froze, and his lips whispered her name involuntarily as he watched her dip to get water out of the stream. She brought it to her mouth and drank long, and then splashed some on her neck, stretching and closing her eyes. She was hot and weary, he knew, as he felt the same. A light breeze blew the hair back from her face, and he dropped his eyes, afraid she would see him watching her again, and, no doubt, think he was having perverse thoughts about her, which, he had to admit, he wasn’t far from.
    When Tahj glanced up again, Radeem had stepped up under the branches of the trees near the water, resting a hand against a limb as he talked to Bashea. She looked up at him and responded with something Tahj could not hear, but his stomach churned.
    “Let’s get moving,” Tahj called out, packing things up again.
    “What’s your hurry, Tahj?” Radeem queried, returning from across the meadow.
    “Nothing. No hurry. I just want to be done with it.”
    “Done with it?”
    He shrugged. “Take the girl to her home. Done with it. Done with her.” Tahj said it casually, but it was far from the truth. The last thing Tahj wanted was to be done with the girl.
    “ It is going to be an interesting trip from here on out,” Radeem speculated. “The journey to the girl’s home is only a day long, had we crossed the desert. But skirting it as we did, in the shadow of the trees, it will take a bit longer. I know this part of the kingdom, and we are going to run out of trees soon. We will need to cross out in the open eventually.”
    It was just this the two men were discussing when Bashea returned. “We’ll need to get a hold of some tents,” Radeem was saying. “We won’t last a day without them in the desert.” He looked up when she entered the shade where they reclined. “Our tree cover