She whimpered in response, her cries telling me she’d missed me too.
Tears burned in my eyes, and I buried my face in her furry neck as she swiped at me with her tongue.
“Akiva, down!” Ramsay’s authoritative voice rang out across the garden.
Akiva whined but obeyed, sitting on her rump to stare up at me, tail sweeping across the grass, back and forth, back and forth. She trembled against the urge to launch herself at me again.
I frowned at Ramsay as he walked out of the new bifold doors I hadn’t even noticed until now.
“Did she hurt you?” he asked gruffly as he came over to pat a reassuring hand over Akiva’s head.
“No. She was fine.”
Ramsay’s gaze washed over me, like he didn’t believe me.
Probably because I was grimacing and exhausted.
“Did you walk all the way here?”
Not in the mood to argue about my well-being, I waved off his question. “Look, we need to talk.”
His scowl deepened. “So you walk all the way here with a fucking knife wound?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re pasty and sweating and look ready to pass out. C’mon.” He swept me off my feet before I could protest.
I grappled for his neck, grunting as my wound throbbed. “That didn’t help! What are you doing?”
“Taking you home. Akiva.” Ramsay whistled for her, and she raced after us as he bridal-style carried me to his Defender.
“This is ridiculous. Put me down.”
He did.
In his Defender.
Frustration boiled toward fury as he and Akiva rounded the vehicle and got in on the driver’s side. Akiva stopped mid jump into the back to swipe my cheek with her tongue, and her sneaky affection softened me somewhat.
But only somewhat.
“What did I tell you about bossing me around?” I gritted my teeth as Ramsay started the engine. “Only okay in the bedroom.”
“Andwhen you do stupid things like walking across the village when you’re supposed to be resting.”
“I have been resting. For days. Dr. Vincent also told me to exercise in increments. Which I have been doing.”
“Fourteen days. You were stabbed fourteen days ago.” Ramsay drove down the hill away from the B and B. “Stop trying to push your recovery.”
Seething, I waited until we were parked outside Taran’s, which was literally a two-minute drive away. Walking “across the village” was nothing. He made it seem like I’d walked miles and miles.
“We need to talk.”
“Akiva, wait here.” Ramsay jumped out of the Defender, and I threw open the passenger side. “Wait!” he practically barked.
If I could set someone on fire with my eyes, Ramsay McRae would have been ash. “Don’t even think about carrying me again!”
He ignored my wrath but gently eased me down out of the four-by-four, “letting” me walk on my own.
