“No. No, Luc. Uh,Skywalker. You know?”
She didn’t.
“Um, Luuuuuc,” he exaggerated, moving the vowel up from where he’d hidden it under his tongue.
“Luke,” she said.Bringer of Light.
“What about you? You told me, but…”
“Abigail.”
“Abi—”
“No,” she interrupted, remembering her resolve.Hername,herlife,herfresh start. “Not Abigail. Abby. Just Abby.”
“Okay, Just Abby,” he said, his lips quirking up enough to tweak the scar—the one that made him look like he was smiling, even though smiling clearly wasn’t his thing. “I’m called Luc Stanek.”
“I’m Abby Merkley. Although Merkley’s my…”Husband’s name, she almost said, but suddenly she didn’t want him to know about Hamish—her old-man husband. Suddenly, being given away to a man three times her age seemed wrong. A point of shame rather than a fact of life. And, for some strange reason, she didn’t want this man to see her shame.
* * *
You wanna taste me?
No matter how hard he tried, Luc could not push those words from his brain.
Ignoring the hot flush of his skin, he reached for two canisters and asked, “Tea or coffee?”
“Oh, no, I don’t need anything.”
Annoyed, he looked right at her. “It will keep you warm.”
“All right. Either.”
He huffed out a sigh. “Do you like coffee?”
“Never had it.”
He blinked but let it go, spooning granules into a thermos before filling it with water and a splash of milk.
“This stuff is disgusting, but it’s all I have. The tea’s no better.”
Armed with the thermos, an extra cup, and warm clothes, they trudged back out into the cold.
She was slow. With the shit already starting to fall, there was no time to waste. Already he regretted giving in to her request.
You wanna taste me?
No, those words weren’t what had made him agree. It was her calm insistence that had finally worn him down, along with the ice. He hadn’t believed that offer for a moment—although the image it had conjured…
“Do you know anything about grapes?” he barked, stomping toward the farthest, steepest field. The one he had to finish before bad weather made it too slippery and dangerous.
“I’ve…I’ve watched you.”
He stumbled. God, was she going to continue with the explicit remarks, because he didn’t think he could—
“I mean, I’ve seen you working,” she corrected, a flush climbing up her face. At least he wasn’t the only one who needed help with communication skills. “I can learn.”
“Today, we work fast. That field is too steep to prune with ice on the ground.”
