Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 50898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
They moved together with the same fierceness as the storm outside. His groans rumbled against her skin, sending shivers over her and every thrust drove her higher until thought itself dissolved.
When release claimed her, it ripped through her with the force of the tempest outside, her cry muffled against his shoulder. Rhodes followed, his body shuddering as he spilled into her, his mouth crushing hers in a kiss that forever sealed them as one.
At last, silence returned, broken only by the fire’s crackle and their ragged breathing.
Fawn lay trembling beneath him, her cheek pressed to his chest, the hammer of his heart loud in her ear. A warm, caring sensation rippled through her, frightening in its perfection.
Rhodes’s arm tightened around her as though he feared she might slip away. His lips brushed her hair, and though he did not speak, the thought throbbed unbidden in his chest… Bloody hell, I could easily love her.
Fawn closed her eyes, her mother’s plea echoing like a ghost… “Do not seal your vows. Do not bind yourself to him.”
But it was done. And in her heart, she knew… nothing would ever be the same.
CHAPTER 14
The storm battered the shutters, wind howling, snow hissing against the roof. Inside, the cottage glowed with warmth, the fire throwing steady light over the small table where Rhodes and Fawn sat.
The pot of stew she had made earlier still steamed, filling the room with the earthy scent of herbs and root vegetables. Rhodes ate with the appetite of a man who had burned through more than strength alone, his dark hair damp and unruly, his shirt unlaced at the throat.
Across from him, Fawn sat in her shift, her fiery curls falling past her shoulders. She kept her gaze on her bowl, but he caught the way her lashes fluttered when she felt his eyes on her.
Rhodes leaned back, spoon set aside. “We’ll remain here tonight. Best not to challenge the storm.” His voice was calm, certain, as though the world beyond the walls no longer mattered.
Fawn nodded once, though her hand lingered on the rim of her bowl. “Aye. The snow will cover everything by morning.”
His gaze shifted toward the fox curled on his blanket in the corner, the doves nestled together in the rafters, and the owl, perched watchfully in the shadows. “Tell me of your collection of animals,” he said.
Her eyes lifted, surprise flashing, then softened as she glanced around at her companions.
“Frends,” she corrected him. “I tend them as I can. The owl, Sage, and the doves, Bramble and Willow, have become permanent residents. They choose to stay, even when the forest calls them. And Ash…” her voice gentled as she looked at the fox, “his leg will never heal right. He’ll limp always, and that will not serve him well against predators. So, he’ll remain with me.”
Rhodes studied her, the way her voice laced with care and her eyes filled with concern. It struck him that she spoke of the creatures not as beasts nor friends but as though they were kin.
“You intend to bring them all to the keep,” he said, not a question but a statement.
Her gaze snapped back to his. “I worry for them. This is their home, aye, but if I am to make my life at the keep, they must have a place there as well.”
His mouth hardened. “They will not reside in the keep, Fawn.”
She straightened, her chin lifting, defiance flashing in her green eyes. “Then neither will I. If they have no home there, then I have none either.”
The storm howled louder outside, but the silence between them was louder still, firelight painting their faces as their wills collided once more.
Rhodes’s gaze held hers, hard and unyielding. “I’ll not have beasts cluttering the keep. It’s no place for them.”
Her chin rose higher. “Then it is no place for me either. You’ll not have me live apart from who I am.”
“Bloody hell, Fawn, you are my wife,” he shot back, his voice sharp. “Your place is with me.”
Her eyes blazed. “Aye, and I am with you. But if you cannot accept me as I am, then what are we? Nothing but a worthless marriage, two people at war beneath the same roof. We must work together, not apart. Not separate, Rhodes… but as one. As we did when we joined together.”
Her words cut deep. His instinct was to command, to force her obedience, yet the memory of her body beneath his, their breaths mingled, their hearts hammering as one—she was right. That had not been war. That had been unity and something even stronger… love?
Still, his pride clung stubbornly. “And what then? Shall I allow an owl to fly through the hall, frightening half the women into fainting?”
Her mouth curved, stubborn fire in her eyes. “Why not? I want our children to grow with the forest in their hearts. To know its creatures, to care for them, not fear them.”