Page 86 of Arrows and Gems
Even Michael had made a reasonable choice to marry when he thought she was dead. And no matter how strained his marriage was, it wasn’t a betrayal to reject her in favor of his wife.
Luther... well, Luther was a piece of work. But Cap wasn’t like him.
“I trust you, Cap,” she said simply.
One corner of his mouth tugged up. Taking the arrows, he set to work.
“Margit.”
She looked over in surprise. “Yes?”
He canted his head, watching her with one eye while he honed the arrowhead. “Would you like to come with me tomorrow?”
“Hunting?”
He nodded. Helena stared at him with wide eyes. Even Rouge paused in the middle of laying a piece of dough on the cooking sheet. “But you always hunt alone.”
Shrugging, he replied, “Not always. Besides, I should make sure our second-best archer can pull her weight.”
“Second-best?” Helena spluttered. She wanted to be outraged, but the skin at the corners of his eyes was crinkled. Shaking a finger at him, she argued, “You’ve avoided a competition since I arrived. You can’t just declare yourself the best.”
“But I am.” He raised an eyebrow and returned his focus to his work. “What is your answer?”
“To who’s the best? I am.”
His lips twitched. “To hunting tomorrow.”
Not wanting to seem too eager, she sliced off another chunk of dough and rolled it between her cold hands. The quiet sound of the arrowhead skimming across the whetstone beat out the time as she considered her response. She didn’t want him to think shedidn’twant to come. But after Rouge’s comment, she was worried someone might think she was throwing her cap at…Cap.
A grin spread across her face as a brilliant idea struck her. Why not shift the focus? “Cap, are you asking me to walk with you?”
A loud scrape interrupted the steadywhiskof the arrow. Cap froze, then slowly turned toward her. “No. I am merely offering to share my expertise with you and to give you an alternative to cooking.”
But his cheeks bore a light dusting of pink.
Helena stopped the pleased feeling before it spread. He might be embarrassed because of the suggestion itself, not because it was on target.
“Good. Then I’d be happy to.” Setting out the last of herdough, she stood and rinsed her hands in the water bucket. There was a flour handprint on Cap’s shirt, but she wasn’t going to tell him.
“Margit.” He picked up the arrows that he’d already finished. “Before you go.”
She let her bare fingers scrape across the palm of his glove as she collected them. His hand twitched in response.
“I’ll expect the rest when I return,” she said with a smirk.
His answering smile was all in his eyes. “You may be sure of it.”
Stuffing the arrows back in her quiver, Helena buried her pleasure and spun away to finish setting up her tent.
If he were a Ralnoran nobleman instead of an ex-Amitian guard, she would never have left home.
CHAPTER 30
Helena
Hunting with Cap was a great improvement over cooking with Rouge.
Snow crunched under Helena’s boots as she followed him across the mountainside. To keep the hunting parties from overlapping, she and Cap were heading for a stand of trees on the far side of a large bare stretch filled with slippery, snow-covered rocks.
