Page 18 of Bewitched

“Oh,” she said, releasing a breath. “Sure, then. Go on. Ask me whatever you want.”

“Well, how about, how old are you?” was his first question. Unfortunately, that seemed to upset her again. He thought it was a safe thing to mention, and couldn’t for the life of him understand why she reacted the way she did.

“How old do I look?” she asked, not answering the question but throwing one back to him. He knew this maneuver, and it was a sly way of dancing around an answer.

“I don’t know,” he said, drinking in her beauty once again. “Maybe, eighteen or twenty at the most.”

“I’m twenty,” she said quickly. “How old are you?”

“I’m the youngest of the brothers, at twenty-three. Zann and Darium are twenty-four and twenty-five.”

“No sisters?” she asked.

“Nay. The Blackseed line has had only boys for generations.” He skipped a stone into the lake, watching the ripples move outward as it hopped across the water.

“Only boys? I wonder why.”

“It’s just the way it is, I suppose. Do you have more siblings besides Rapunzel?”

“I do. Well, they are all half-siblings, and I’m the youngest. There are eight of us in all.”

He whistled lowly when he heard the number. “That’s a lot of children in one family.”

“Aye. I suppose it is,” she agreed.

“Are you all witches, then?”

Her head snapped up. She looked quickly in one direction and then the next before answering, as if she wanted to make certain no one else was listening. “Not really. Although some of my siblings have proven to have... powers.”

“I thought you were about to say magic.”

“They all had magic within them, since each of them was cursed. My brother Hugh still is.”

“Really?” That took his interest now. “Who cursed them?”

“It doesn’t matter.” She looked down and played with her fingers.

“Well, what kind of curses did they have?”

“I think we’d better get back to the others. They’ll wonder where we are. Plus, we really should start on our journey, since we’ll be hiking up a mountain and that will take some time. I still think it would be faster if I just transported.”

“All right, we’ll go. But first, at least tell me what curse your brother Hugh still has. You’ve made me curious, so at least allow me the answer to that.”

“I’d rather not talk about it right now.”

“Sorry,” he apologized, seeing this was upsetting her and he was getting nowhere. “I’ve got my horse. Get on, and we’ll ride back together.”

He expected her to just transport up there like she did before. Instead, she stopped at the side of his horse and looked up to him with longing in her eyes.

“Will you help me up?” she asked, flashing a killer smile.

Rhys knew damned well that she didn’t need help to get on the horse, but still, he didn’t mind playing the little game with her since it was a form of flirting. He hadn’t had a girl in his arms in some time now. This was starting to sound inviting to him. When the girl wasn’t trying to knock him down or take off his head, she was very alluring indeed.

“Of course,” he answered, putting his hands around her waist and lifting her up to sit atop Sampson. He quickly pulled himself up after her, wrapping his arm around her to keep her from falling.

“You’re very strong,” she said, looking down and placing her hand on his arm. He felt the warmth of her gentle touch.

“You have no idea. Being strong is a trait I was born with.”