Page 9 of Horned to be Wild
“You’re very small.”
The words came out gruffly, and she bit back a smile. His comment was a pleasant change from Jeremy’s constant complaints about her size.
“Not for a human,” she said truthfully. “You’re just very tall.”
He snorted, a huff of sound that she suspected was laughter, and the last of her anxiety disappeared.
“How are we going to fix it?”
He tensed at the wordwe, but he reached for a bottle of wood glue before she could amend her question.
“We are going to insert glue in the cracks, then clamp it together.”
“Cracks?” she whispered, suddenly afraid that she’d done even more damage than she realized.
“In addition to the large one on her neck, there’s another hairline crack at the base of her tail.” Her expression must have given her away because his voice softened. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Will the repairs be visible afterwards?”
“Possibly, but I should be able to disguise it.”
She started to nod, then hesitated, remembering a pottery exhibit she’d seen the previous year.
“What if you didn’t try and hide it?” she asked slowly. “Have you ever heard of Kintsugi?”
“The Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold?” He ducked his head, his tail flicking nervously at her surprised look. “I read about it.”
“Why don’t we do something similar? Instead of trying to hide the cracks, why not make them a feature? So that the damage makes it more beautiful?”
“I don’t have any gold.”
“It doesn’t have to be gold. Could we use something else?”
“Perhaps.” He looked at the goat, his head tilted. “I could use some walnut wood shavings mixed with the glue to fill thecracks. That would make the line stand out but still complement the color of the rest of the piece.”
“I think that would be beautiful,” she said enthusiastically, and his tail flicked again.
“It will take me a few minutes to prepare the mixture,” he said.
“I can help.”
He looked as though he was about to refuse, then gave an abrupt nod and handed her a small plane. She watched closely as he shaved the first piece of wood from the small block of walnut, then tried to emulate his movements. She didn’t succeed quite as well and her shavings were thicker, but he didn’t comment, instead adding them to a small bowl and crushing them further with the back of a spoon. She passed him the bottle of glue and watched as he added it to the mix, using a toothpick to combine them.
“Now what?”
“Now we apply the mixture to the cracks.” He picked up the toothpick and started to apply the paste, then paused and handed it to her. “You try.”
She reached for it eagerly, but the paste was thicker than she expected and she wasn’t quite sure how to apply it to the narrow groove.
“Here.” He moved to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her and guiding her hands. “Let me show you.”
She froze, overwhelmingly aware of the heat of his body behind her and the strength of his arms around her. His scent washed over her again and she felt a rush of liquid heat between her thighs. She didn’t move as he gently guided the toothpick alongthe crack in the goat’s neck, then filled the crack at the base of the tail.
“Good,” he said, his deep voice rumbling in her ear and sending another wave of longing through her.
Her heart was beating so loudly she suspected he could hear it. He didn’t move but she could sense his own tension and wondered if he was as affected as she was. Then he stepped back, and she immediately missed the warmth of his touch. He returned with a set of small clamps and carefully applied them to the goat’s neck, then to her tail, and she sighed with relief.
“She’ll be fine now, won’t she?”
