Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 99593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
She turned in his arms, her eyes misty. “I love you, Ryland.”
“You truly meant what you said in front of the Old Woman?”
“Every word,” she said softly then chuckled. “I thought I was going mad when feelings began to stir in me for Torrance. I couldn’t understand how I could feel something for someone so cruel. It truly was a relief to find out that I had fallen in love with a good man.”
His fingers slipped beneath her braid, brushing lightly along her neck, her silky soft skin stirring his desire for her. “I will be a good husband to you, Esme. On that you have my word.”
“A word I can trust and that means much to me after so much deceit.”
He leaned in, resting his brow against hers, his voice low. “Deceit is not something you ever have to worry about with me. I will be honest and sometimes bold with my words to you, like now when I tell you I want to strip you naked and make love to you.”
His blunt words sparked her passion sending a shiver of desire through her, and she whispered, “And what, may I ask, is stopping you?”
He grinned and went to kiss her when her stomach rumbled loudly, reminding him that he had left her hungry hours earlier.
“Ignore it,” she insisted.
“I think not,” he said, his grin turning wicked. “You will need fuel for what I have in mind.”
Her cheeks flushed imagining what he meant, and she had no intention of waiting too long to experience such pleasure.
“I spied some root vegetables in the baskets on the shelf. If you can fill that cauldron,” —she gave a nod to the black pot on the hearth stone— “with snow, then I can set a vegetable stew to cooking.”
“That will take time and you’re hungry now.”
“Aye, but hungrier for your touch than I ever thought possible.” Her hand rested on his chest and drifted slowly down lower and lower and…
Ryland grabbed her hand. “I’ll fill the cauldron with snow.”
He reluctantly left her, slipped on his cloak, then grabbed a large bucket and hurried to the door, saying, “I will be right back.”
Esme grabbed a basket of root vegetables off the lone shelf and set them on the table. A bucket of snow to melt and have ready to wash her hands would be good and she could grab that before Ryland returned. He would know enough to pick a clearing where the snow would be the purest which would take him further from the cottage. Besides, she could use a quick, private trip outside before they settled in for the night.
She grabbed the bucket and her cloak and hurried outside, staying close to the cottage, barely stepping around its side to get done quickly when Ryland emerged from the falling snow and entered the cottage.
He kept his head bent, shaking the snow off his cloak as he walked to the hearth to hang the cauldron on the hook and push the hook back over the flames.
“The snowfall grows worse. We may be—” his words ended abruptly after throwing his hood back and seeing the cottage was empty. He cast a quick glance at the peg by the door to see her cloak was gone. And he could not think of any sensible explanation for her to risk leaving the cottage. Then he thought of one and grew furious, she didn’t wait for him to go with her. She could easily get lost in the snowstorm, not find her way back.
Just then the door opened, and Esme entered, the bucket in her hand, and seeing Ryland sending there, fire in his eyes, she almost turned around and headed back into the fury of the snowstorm.
Instead, she reminded herself he was Ryland, not Torrance, who was upset, and she quickly offered an explanation. “I stepped around the side of the cottage. I thought for sure I would be back before you returned. I did not mean to upset you.”
Ryland had seen the panic in her eyes when she looked at him and he silently cursed himself, for he realized what she saw… Torrance.
“You could have gotten lost in the snowstorm,” he said more calmly than he felt.
“I made sure to keep my hand on the cottage wall and I truly needed to step outside for a moment,” she said, hoping he would understand.
“The next time wait for me. You frighten me when you disappear like that. Promise me you will not do it again.”
“I promise,” she said without hesitation, realizing how much it had upset him.
“Hurry and get the stew cooking,” he said, his anger slowly dissipating.
“Aye, it won’t take long,” she said, setting the bucket of snow near the hearth and after shedding her cloak, got busy chopping the root vegetables to add to the cauldron as soon as all the snow melted.