“Bring her.”
“Thank you.”
Her head held high, she walked past him to the side of her horse.
Simon moved to assist her, but Draven pulled him back. “If I am the one she insults, then I shall be the one to set her on her backside,” he said under his breath.
Knowing when not to laugh, Simon cleared his throat. “I’ll see her maid settled.”
Draven approached Emily who looked up at him with a puzzled frown. He couldn’t miss the look of challenge in her eyes, nor the enjoyment she took from having bested him.
“Did you make me wait apurpose?”
She gave a tiny smile. “My mother always said a lady should make a man wait for her. If a man stews long enough in anticipation, then he is more likely to savor her presence.”
“Well, if pleasures are greatest in anticipation, then the same can be said of trouble.”
“Are you flirting with me?” she teased.
Draven went cold. Aye, he was indeed flirting with her! He, who had never attempted such before, was actually doing it now and with a woman who would be his death.
“I never flirt.” He placed his hands around her waist.
The frailness of her bones amazed him. She scarce weighed anything at all. His hands looked large in comparison, and he could feel the heat of her skin through the cloth of her kirtle. What had he been thinking? He should have allowed Simon to do this task.
But he hadn’t.
Committed to the deed, he sought to end it as quickly as possible. He lifted her from the ground and set her on the back of her steed.
He diverted his gaze from her thankful smile and made the mistake of looking at her leg at the precise moment she adjusted her skirt around her. She flashed him the sight of one trim ankle encased by finely woven stocking that also hugged the contours of her calf.
Draven stifled a curse as his body reacted instantly. From what little he had seen, she had a beautiful leg and nothing would give him greater pleasure than to lift her skirt and explore the length of it with his lips.
Grinding his teeth, he forced the thought from his mind. He would think no more of her ankle, her toes, her... whatever.
She would be banished from his thoughts!
Leaving her side, he walked stiffly to his horse and mounted. Once Simon swung himself up on his horse, he gave the signal to start the journey.
Emily rode in silence. But her mind raced at all that had transpired.
You are mad for teasing him. You’re lucky he didn’t strangle you for your behavior, and in front of his men no less! What would father say?
Well, her father would be delighted since she tweaked the nose of his adversary, but were it any other man, her father would be appalled by her behavior. And in truth she was as well.
A little anyway.
But there had been no mistaking the fire of admiration that sparked in his eyes when she stood up to him.
And when he touched her...
Her body still tingled from the memory. His hands had been strong, sure, and he had hefted up with no effort at all. Oh, but it had been wonderful to be in his arms if even for so brief a moment.
And it had been then that she made up her mind for certain. Gruff though he appeared, she wanted him to be her husband for no man had ever made her heart race the way he did.
It races from fear.
Nay, she argued back. It wasn’t fear she felt at his presence it was something else. Something she couldn’t quite name.
