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“Then don’t order me about. You have no right. You’re not my husband and thank God you never will be,” she said and gave one last shake of her finger.
He was suddenly right in her face, his hand swallowing her fingers in a tight grasp while Thaw growled threateningly at him,
“You would learn obedience soon enough if you were my wife,” he said, his face so near that the tip of his nose touched hers. “Now silence that pup of yours.” He stepped away from her.
“Quiet, Thaw,” Snow ordered three times before the pup settled into a low growl.
It was getting hot in the small space and Snow slipped her cloak off and felt for the back of one of the two chairs to drape it across.
“Tell me what happened, since there is no way your family would let you go off on your own and while you’re often more foolish than not, I don’t believe you’d be that foolish.”
“Your compliments always overwhelm me,” Snow said.
“Sarcasm will not help your situation.”
“You’re right,” she agreed with a nod, thinking it would do no good to antagonize him in her current dilemma. She needed his help in getting home.
“Finally, you speak words that make sense.”
Snow bit her tongue so hard she thought she’d make it bleed.
“I’m waiting,” he said impatiently.
She caught his movements and she surmised he was shedding his furs as she had done with her cloak.
“Light flurries were falling when I left Willow’s home with Finn,” she began. “The snowstorm seemed to come from out of nowhere. He stopped and tied a rope from my horse to his so he wouldn’t lose me,”
“That was wise of him. So what happened?”
“After a while his horse stopped and so did mine. I called out but got no answer. Thaw jumped out of my arms and I went after him. He led me to Finn.” Sorrow had her pausing a moment. “He was on the ground dead. I felt no wounds on his chest and head. I assumed his heart simply stopped as my mum would say.”
“Finn was a good man.”
Snow was surprised he knew Finn and that he offered even a small bit of condolence. Did the Lord of Fire possibly have a heart?
“Of course, you foolishly didn’t think to keep hold of the horses when you went in search of Finn.”
Nope, he had no heart, she thought and bit her tongue again.
“I tried to find them—”
“In a blinding snowstorm and being blind yourself. Now there’s a wise decision.”
Snow’s anger flared. “What was I to do? My one chance of getting home was to find the horses and hope they would take me there.”
“And deliver you frozen to your brother. You should have sought shelter,” he argued.
“What does it matter?” she said, throwing her hands up in the air. “You came along and rescued me.”
“You could have died,” he snapped.
“And I still might,” she snapped back.
“You don’t think I can see you safely home?”
“I fear that I irritate you so much that you might kill me before you have a chance to do so.” She sighed, exhausted. “All I want is to go home. I promise I will hold my tongue while here with you, if you would please just get me home safely.”
She startled when he suddenly stood in front of her again.
“I will not harm you. You have my word on that and you have my word that I will see you get home safely.”
“I appreciate that, my lord,” she said, addressing him properly.
“You think to address me properly when you have failed to do so endless times?”
She bit her tongue again, thinking she might very well lose it by the end of their time together.
“No response?” he asked.
“I promised I would hold my tongue,” she said.
“Good,” he said and turned away.
“More like biting it,” she murmured for her ears alone.
“What was that you said?” he asked, turning back around.
“Just warning Thaw not to bite you,” she said and Thaw gave a growl as if protesting her command. “Do you know where we are? Close to my home? My sister’s?”
“We’re closer to my home. As soon as the snow allows we’ll head there and when the weather permits I’ll see you get home safely.”
The thought of having to stay in unfamiliar surroundings with not a familiar person to help her terrified her. This small space she could quickly become familiar with and easily maneuver on her own, but a village and keep she had little memory of, not having been there since she was young, was another matter. And how in heaven’s name had they wound up closer to his home than hers? Had Finn misjudged direction? He knew the area far too well along with the land markers. Had a snowstorm driven him that far off course?
She felt for the chair where she had draped her cloak and sat lost in her worrisome thoughts.
