“The horses. We have tae rest them.”
Kai looked ready to argue, his eyes just visible over the fur of his cloak, but he nodded all the same. Pulling his horse up alongside a lonely skeletal tree in the snow, he jumped down, wrapping the reins around a branch and pulling out a blanket from one of his saddle packs which he threw over the horse.
As Ava reached him, he held up his hand to her.
“Since when dae I need a man’s help tae get me down from a horse?”
There was a twinkle in his eyes that were just visible as snow flurries flew between them.
“Yer next lesson. A man likes tae think he can be useful tae his lass. Even if she doesnae need them, he likes tae be of service.”
Ava’s wish to argue fell away. There was something about the idea of Kai’s hands on her waist, helping her down from the horse, that was suddenly alluring. She pushed the weapons in her belts aside and shifted in the saddle, bringing one leg around to face him. The lip of the saddle caught her woolen skirt and lifted it high, so that she flashed her thigh at him.
As Kai’s eyebrows shot up, Ava reached fast to pull it back down, but his hand got there first. He covered her leg up swiftly, though she was sure she had felt the backs of his fingers brushing the top of her thigh and her skin burned where she had touched him.
He reached up again, and she leaned toward him. With her hands on his shoulders and his hands on her waist, he helped her down from the horse and into the snow, her boots sinking until they were ankle-deep. He didn’t move back from her but stayed completely still, his hands resting on her waist.
Rather breathless, Ava kept her palms on his shoulders too, waiting to see when he would step back, but he didn’t. They both just stood there in the flurries of snow, staring at one another.
“Is this another lesson?” she whispered eventually.
“Aye.” He bent his head toward her an inch. “If ye want a man tae be interested in ye, Ava, ye dinnae pull back from his touch.”
“I’m nae pulling back.”
“I noticed.”
She held her breath and for a moment, it didn’t feel like a lesson was happening at all. It was just her and Kai nestled together on a mountain side, listening to the horses’ snort beneath their blankets as the wind whipped between them.
“Ye’re a good learner,” he said after a few more seconds of silence, his lips spreading into a smile.
Ava couldn’t help returning that smile. Her fingers softened on his shoulders, and she slowly brought them down the center of his chest.
“Averygood learner,” he whispered huskily.
There was a creak somewhere and a crunch of snow. Ava blinked, her mind half concentrating on Kai and his husky voice, as the other part of her mind recognized that these were sounds that were not expected.
“Stand this close tae a man and he’ll fall at yer feet.”
“Kai?” she whispered.
“Ye dinnae believe me?”
“Kai.” Her fingers tightened on his cloak. The smile vanished from his face.“Listen.”Her whispered order made him fall still.
A crunch came again, as if it was the snow being flattened beneath someone’s heavy boot.
Kai’s hands tightened, no longer on her waist but slipping down to her hips, protectively.
“What are ye–”
“Shh,” he urged, releasing her and reaching for her saddle where she had put her sword. He brought it out swiftly and handed it to her. “I think ye are about tae need this, Ava.”
She took the handle, cold as ice, and lifted the blade high in front of her.
The crunching had grown louder now, much nearer. She and Kai moved back-to-back, touching, as they each lifted their blades in the air. Then abruptly, that sound vanished. In its place, all she could hear was the whistling wind as she strained to peer through falling snow for any sign of movement.
Whoever was out there, they knew just how to hide.
