Page 21 of Horsemen and Hot Chocolate

“I could be much more to you, Katie,” Brom said, stepping closer.

Katie? The Horsman’s fingers clenched, aching to tear the man apart.

“How does any woman resist you?” she asked, stepping back.

Brom smirked and grabbed her hand. “They usually don’t.”

“Now, now,” she said with a tilt of her head. “Let’s not be too hasty.”

“I’d be a fool if I didn’t make you my bride here and now.”

The Horseman’s pulse roared in his ears. His knuckles burned, his fingers cracking against his curled fists. How dare he?

The Horseman paused. Was this envy? Jealousy? It couldn’t be.

Katrina’s tinkling laughter snapped him out of his rage-induced haze. She gave Brom a dazzling smile.

She had reassured him that she didn’t wish to marry Mister Van Brunt and wanted nothing to do with him. But he couldn’t tear his eyes off how she twirled a lock of golden hair around her finger.

“Just be patient, Brom. All in due time,” she said.

The Horseman’s anger sizzled like a fire doused with a bucket of water. The spike in his gut tore through the other side, leaving him breathless and in pain. All the fight left his body as he stared at the pair.

An ugly thought slithered into his mind. They make a fine couple, it said. A beautiful woman deserves a handsome man like Brom. Why would she ever choose a headless specter?

The thought shattered something fragile in his heart. Somehow, hope had crafted a dream he’d not been aware of—a hope of a future with Katrina Van Tassel. It had slipped past his defenses and now left him in utter ruin. How could he have been so foolish?

Katrina would never be in his future.

With that sinking thought, the Horseman turned away and could not bear to look at the couple any longer.

The darkness crept around Katrina. Owls hooted, and the leaves rattled above her, yet the once eerie woods no longer frightened her. She knew the Horseman was somewhere in the shadows to protect her, which warmed her heart more than anything—more than any man she knew could comfort her.

The thought made her pause, wondering why her pulse raced in anticipation of meeting the Horseman. She recognized that her goal of finally getting closer to the battlefield where her brother had fallen and making reparations was within her reach. Yet she’d somehow been distracted by a friendly ghost along the way.

However, she froze when she found the Horseman at their meeting place. His shoulders sagged, and he did not have the pumpkin on his neck. He stood motionless against the moonlight, like a silent wraith standing guard.

“Hello?” she asked gently. Tonight, they were to visit where he last remembered gaining consciousness. Without a word, he strode in the opposite direction, and she hurried to follow him.

“Are you all right?”

The Horseman shifted beside Inferno. She wondered if he could speak without his pumpkin head to convey his words. It was difficult to determine his feelings without the pumpkin to express himself. She relied on the minuscule body language he portrayed.

“It is nothing,” he said, but his fists curled at his sides. The voice came from deep within, echoing in his chest cavity.

“I don’t believe you,” Katrina said, keeping up with his quick stride. “Surely you can speak your mind around me. Are we not friends?”

“You consider me a friend?” he asked, his voice uncertain.

“Yes, of course,” she said, smiling to reassure him. “I enjoy your company.”

“More than Brom’s?”

Katrina blinked in surprise. “No... I do not consider him a friend. Where is this coming from?”

“I saw him with you,” he said, like a whisper through the leaves. “I saw how he looked at you. He said he wished to marry you. And you did not—” his voice sputtered, and his hands unfurled. “You didn’t turn him away.”

Inferno snorted as if in agreement with his master.