She shifted her weight. ‘How do you know I didn’t?’
‘I saw your sister.’
She swallowed. ‘I gather from your expression it was the one who talks.’
‘You told her I bought younuts?’
Blake closed her eyes. ‘She needed them more than I do. They all do.’
He brushed his nose, his temper rising. ‘You getting food from somewhere I don’t know about?’
Her eyes opened. ‘No.’
‘Then youallneed it.’
She stared at him a moment. ‘Why are you angry?’
It was a fair question. Now to come up with a logical answer. ‘Because you’re out here eating grubs.’
‘You told me to eat them. You said they were safe, that they were as good as meat—’
‘They are, but you don’t eat them while your sisters gorge themselves on eggs.’ He needed to stop, to calm down.
He needed to care less.
Blake did not respond straight away, just watched him. ‘I’m sorry.’
Now he felt like a complete bastard. ‘Don’t.’ He rubbed his brow. ‘Don’t say that.’ His eyes went to the hole in the trunk behind her. ‘How many did you find?’
‘Six.’ She scrunched her nose up. ‘How you eat them with a straight face I’ll never understand.’
She moved to sheathe her dagger, but he reached out and caught her hand.
‘Before you do that, I want to show you something.’ He pointed the dagger at his face. ‘Keep your hand there.’
Her eyebrows came together in confusion, but she did as she was told. His hands hovered on either side of hers.
‘Watch,’ he said, smacking the back of her hand and inside of her wrist. The dagger flew from her grasp, landing on the ground four feet away. ‘Fingers can’t grasp a weapon when your hand bends at that angle.’ He went to pick up the knife and gave it to her again. ‘Now point it at my stomach.’
Her hand dropped. ‘Like this?’
He nodded, then repeated the action, this time from above. The dagger went flying once more. Again, he fetched it for her. Their eyes met as he lifted her arm so the weapon was pointed at his chest. He ignored the foreign sensation in his gut that came with being close to her.
‘If you point it straight at me, at my chest, I can’t disarm you so easily,’ he said. ‘Not without potentially cutting myself.’
The weapon remained where it was. ‘So what will you do?’
Something in her tone made the small hairs on the back of his neck stand to attention. His eyes moved between hers as he slowly took hold of her wrist. He tugged her forwards, pinning her dagger hand to his hip. Her other hand landed on his chest.
‘First, I make sure you can’t stab me.’ He ran his hand along her arm, shoulder, neck. She sucked in a breath when he gripped her hair. ‘Then I bring your pretty face to my knee and break your nose.’
Her lips parted. ‘Rather aggressive.’
‘They don’t train us to be gentle. They train us to be efficient.’ He was watching those lips now.
‘You’re forgetting one thing.’
‘What’s that?’ Their faces were so close he could almost feel her breath despite the misty rain.
