“I’m fine.”
“You look troubled.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I’m in the Black Woods hunting a witch. It’s troubling.”
“That’s why your expression fell?”
She didn’t know if she was more disturbed by the fact that he was watching her close enough to notice or that he seemed genuinely interested in her response. Either way, best to shut it down now. She needed him disinterested. “Is this how you spend your time on patrol with your men? Talking about your feelings in between all the killing and branding?”
“We talk,” he said. “It’s important for me to keep track of how my men are doing. I’d as soon ride into battle with a lame horse as a distracted soldier.”
She raised her brows. “I’m the lame horse?”
“You’re a woman who’s never been in this situation. I care what you’re thinking. A lack of focus could put you in danger. I understand you don’t like me, but we have to work together. It would help if we could have a simple conversation without you snarling at me.”
“I don’t snarl,” she said, mildly offended. “Despite what you think, I have excellent manners.”
“Might I ask where you keep them?”
Ha. “Maybe I save them for better company.”
“Like George?”
“George never branded my mother.”
His expression didn’t change so much as harden. She’d noticed that about him. It was like he didn’t show emotions on his face. He hid them. She’d landed a hit. It should make her feel better. So why did she feel like apologizing?
“If I told you everything that was on my mind, Captain, you wouldn’t like it.”
He huffed. “You’re like a thistle or a nettle. All pricking thorns. No wonder you’re?—”
A flush crept up the side of his neck.
“No wonder I’m what?”
She honestly wanted to know what he’d been about to say.
“Nothing. You’re right. We don’t have to talk about anything but the job. You’re a hired guide. We’ll focus on that.”
Shouldn’t feel like a rejection, should it?
“How much longer until we reach where you found me?”
She pointed to the great black rock thrusting up from the forest floor ahead of them. The one that looked like a bear. “We turn there at the rock. If we line up from the rock to the highest peak in the mountains to the west, that’s the direction we need to take. It will be another hour or two.”
“You must have wanted that doe very badly.”
“Spoken like a man who’s never had to worry about his next meal.”
“You’d be wrong about that.”
“I doubt it.” It was clear he was well fed, and he’d been captain of a patrol for at least six years. Had he been forced to skip dinner once?
His gaze rested on her for a moment, but she kept her eyes fixed forward. In the end, he only asked, “This is the path to the fort?”
“It’s the way Toby and I came. Straight past where I found you and through the swamp. We follow the river for two days. The swamp will be the tricky part. The paths change constantly.”
“We interviewed at least a dozen men from the surrounding towns and farms before we entered the woods and none of them mentioned a swamp.”
