“No one with half a groat’s worth of wit would ever think to set upon Quentin,” Rhys said confidently. “Not unless they want to carry their bollocks home in a saddlebag.”
“Ah, you boys flatter me so.” Quentin walked forward, her stride direct and confident, as she held out her hand to Jessica. “They’ve never brought a lass before, so I consider myself honored by your presence.”
Jessica took the other woman’s hand, and shook it. “I wish we’d more time to become friends.”
“I’m a better ally than friend, Miss Jessica. May your journeys be either as eventful or uneventful as you desire.”
Before she could press Quentin for anything further, Ezra stepped forward and took Jessica’s hand in his. It was a warm, familiar gesture, but her pulse leapt all the same.
“We’d best be on our way, love,” he murmured.
“Our way where?” she asked pointedly.
“By and by, Lady Vixen.”
Quentin gave another snort. “Fitting name, a fox for wolves.” She made a shooing motion with her hands. “Let me see your backs, then.”
Moving outside, the day had turned hazy and cool. Ezra released her to go untie the horse.
Standing in the gray afternoon sun, Jessica pulled her caraco jacket closer to ward off the chill. The fabric of the garment was fine, but not especially good at shielding her from the elements.
All at once, warm gray wool engulfed her. She found herself looking up into Rhys’s beautifully formed face. He stood close to her as he finished settling his coat around her, tugging the lapels close. He was so much larger than her that the coat hung past her knees and the wide cuffs, adorned with leather-covered buttons, completely covered her hands.
They looked at each other, and her fingers twitched with the urge to touch the birthmark close to his nose. The little spot was like Venus’s signature marking one of her favorite creations.
“It’s true, what Quentin said.” His voice was low between them. “We’ve never brought anyone to her before.”
“Ezra said he needed me to come with you because it wasn’t safe for me alone in the woods.”
Rhys ran a hand through his golden curls. “I warrant you could see to yourself if you had to. He knows it, too.”
“Then, there was no need for me to accompany you.”
“I’ve met many people in my short life. Cheats, charlatans, thieves.”
“And good people, too, I’d wager.”
His broad shoulders lifted in a shrug. “They’re rarer. Harder to find in the mire. But you…” Rhys’s hand moved from the coat’s lapel, and he stroked a fingertip along the curve of her cheek. “Lady Vixen is a good name for you. There’s a wildness in you, and a gentleness. You’ve seen us as men, as beasts. Yet you don’t judge. You don’t turn away. I haven’t…”
The column of his throat worked, and there was a sheen in his eyes.
“You haven’t much experience with that,” she filled in gently.
He shook his head.
“I can’t judge you, Rhys.” Her own hand came up to weave her fingers with his. “I haven’t the right.”
“That doesn’t stop other people from doing the same. It didn’t stop my aunt and uncle. I wasn’t welcome in their home. They said I was an aberration, and I shouldn’t exist.”
“Fools,” she answered. “The both of them.”
His eyes shone. He bent down, and she held herself still as he brushed his full lips over hers. Only once, yet it was enough to made her liquid inside, even as her heart ached for him, this lost soul.
Then he was gone, striding away to help Ezra with the horse. She found herself alone with Tej, watching her with interest.
“I feel honored,” she said to him. “Taking me to your fence. It’s like bringing me to meet your family.”
“Quentin’s more than a fence for us. She…takes care of things. Gets us horses when we need them, finds us new dens if one’s been compromised. She’s even paid a sheriff to turn his back when the law got too close.”
