“You’re a bloodyfemale,” he stated.
Okay, I needed to hold on to my patience.
I didn’t hold on to my patience.
“I’m glad you noticed,” I retorted sarcastically.
His expression changed and my immediate world changed withit.
He was furious, he wasn’t hiding it, and he was this to suchan extent, the heat of it felt like it was singeing my skin.
It was scary AF.
He let my hand go but advanced on me in a way I had nochoice but to retreat.
“If this caper was to get my attention, it’s both stupid andcruel,” he said in a dangerous voice as he backed me toward the corner.
Cruel?
“I simply wanted to put the horses away,” I told himsomething he knew.
“You came with two grooms, and we have at least that many.You wish the horses stalled, you pull thefuckingcord to call aservant to tell them to tell the grooms to put thefuckinghorsesaway.”
Wow.
He said the f-word.
Twice.
To me.
A lady (as far as he knew).
I knew they had that word in this world because Dad-not-Dadhated me saying it.
But I’d never heard anyone else say it (though, until veryrecently, I hadn’t been around anyone but Dad-not-Dad).
And somehow, having that be the only time I heard it fromsomeone other than me, it gave it much more gravitas.
I hit something, it was the armchair, so I was forced tostop.
Loren stopped toe-to-toe with me, so close, I could actuallyfeel the hem of my skirt resting on his boots.
“I think you’re being a bit dramatic,” I whispered, soundinguncertain of my own words because his presence was overpowering, and it wasthat not only because he was a pretty big and definitely powerful guy.
“Do you?”he asked with an almost sneer.“Is that what youthink?”
I wasn’t a fan of the sneer.
“Actually, right now I think you need to step back.”
“My mother was seeing to some villagers.She did that whenpeople were ill and needed assistance, or were recovering and needed company.She was in a phaeton.The weather turned when she was on her way back.She gotcaught in the rain.She caught a chill.A week later, she was dead,” he shared.
I blinked up at him.
“My sister had a puppy who fell into the creek.The oneright out there.”He jabbed a finger toward the window, but he didn’t look thatway, he kept his eyes locked to me.“She went in after it.It was late fall.Warm in the morning, chilly by the afternoon.But the creek was freezing.Thepuppy lived.She went down with a cough that turned into a wracking fever thateventually burned her little body away.She was eight.”
“Oh my God.”
