“You’re hopeless, but a good actor.” She burst out laughing. “I won’t?—”
Something quite muscular and narrow coiled around her calf, slithering up her leg. It couldn’t be a snake. Snakes were supposed to rest under the ground at that time of the year, weren’t they? Although the day was indeed unseasonably warm, and quite honestly, she knew nothing about snakes’ routine.
“Good Lord,” she said.
“Stay still.” He inched her skirt and petticoats up.
“I feel it.” A hysterical note crept into her voice, and tremors crawled down her back. “It’s going up.”
“Stay still and be quiet. Control your breathing.” He pulled up her skirts.
Cool air hit her legs through her stockings as the fabric of her skirts went up. The snake coiled around her knee; she could tell by the pressure around her kneecap.
“Is it aVipera berus?” she asked without looking down.
“What the hell is that?”
“An adder.”
“Then say adder, for crying out loud! No, it’s not an adder. It’s an ‘I have no bloody idea.’”
“Perry!”
“It’s a snake. We don’t need to know more. Hold up the skirts and don’t move.” He stepped towards the bushes, and a wave of panic hit her.
She shivered, holding her skirts up while the snake tightened its grip around her leg. “Don’t leave me.”
“I’m not leaving you. I’m searching for a stick. There.” He walked to her slowly. “Stay calm.” He dipped his head, holding a broken tree branch.
She winced as whatever Perry was doing disturbed the snake that reacted by squeezing her leg more tightly. “Hurry.”
The snake hissed.
“Please.” And she thought the water was terrifying?
“Come here,” he said in the gentle tone she would use for cute puppies. As if the snake would behave. “Almost there.”
The tip of the stick scratched her skin through her stockings, but then the pressure of the snake vanished after Perry made a wave gesture with his arm.
He tossed the stick behind her. “Done. It’s gone.”
Edith released her skirts and turned around in time to see a green and brown snake slithering towards the bushes. She shivered from head to toe, her hands cold.
“Heavens.”
“It was shocked, the poor thing.” Perry wiped his hands with his handkerchief.
His comment pulled her out of her shocked stillness.
“The poor thing? What about me? I could have died. Adders are venomous.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Adders are rarely lethal. Even I know that.”
“I had a snake around my leg.”
“But nothing happened. You and the snake ruined each other’s day. You’re even.” He hugged her and rubbed her back. “You’ve been very brave.”
“No, I was terrified. I’m shaking.” She rested her head on his chest, snuggling closer to him.
