Page 46 of Winter's Scorching Kisses
“He’s right.” Adorra took his side on the matter because she was a strong woman. “I may be a lady, but I can survive anything if it means I see my sister again.” And saved her sister.
Lisag sent her an encouraging smile. “Well, I don’t know about you two younger people, but I need to get some rest. Unfortunately, all we have to offer the two of you is the space in front of the hearth.” She smiled at them. “But we have plenty of furs for the both of you.”
“We will take anything you can offer. Just sleeping in this cabin with full stomachs is more than enough.” Mathar smiled back over at Lisag.
“Grewar will get the furs for you.” She looked over at her husband.
“I guess that means my dinner is over,” Grewar said with a chuckle as he stood up from the table and left the room.
Lisag rolled her eyes. “Men. You can keep house for them, and all they can do is gripe and moan when you ask them to do one simple task. That’s marriage for you.” She gave Adorra a pointed look, but there was a twinkle in her eyes that said she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Rising, Lisag collected the dishes and placed them over near the cooking fire, and then she disappeared upstairs.
It didn’t take long for Grewar to come down the stairs his arms laden with furs. They nearly dwarfed him with how many he had.
“Need help?” Mathar asked.
“Nope.” Grewar dumped them on the ground near the fireplace. They landed with a whoosh. “I’ll leave you two to sort out your sleeping arrangements. See you two in the morning.” With that, he disappeared up the cabin stairs with a one-handed wave, and she heard a door shut up there.
Adorra continued to eat her soup as silence reigned over them. All that could be heard was her slurping up the hot broth with eager sips.
Mathar just sat across from her gazing at the fire, appearing to be lost in his thoughts.
“Anything you’re thinking about?” Adorra asked trying to strike up a bit of conversation.
Mathar stirred as he glanced over at her. “Nothing much. It’s been a while since I allowed myself to dream about owning one of these.”
“One of these?” Adorra’s nose crinkled a bit.
“I knew I should have kept my mouth shut.” His lips drew into a flat line.
“No,” Adorra threw out a hand that landed on Mathar’s forearm. Quickly, she yanked back her hand as shock spread through her, tingling all the way to her spine. “I didn’t mean to sound like I was judging your decision to have a cabin. I was only trying to see why one of these would appeal to you so much.”
“The solitude more than anything.” Another gleam of wishfulness entered his dark eyes. “I grew up in the village that surrounds our castle, and everyone knows everything and everyone else.”
“Trying to get away from someone?” She asked. She got the feeling he wanted to run away from something in his past. There was a certain haunt to his eyes that she couldn’t shake, but it reminded her of the haunt that she saw every time she looked in a mirror. After witnessing Edmund’s death, her eyes had never been the bright, cheery orbs she remembered.
Mathar shrugged his wide shoulders. “We should get ourselves to bed so we can wake nice and early in the morning and get back on our way.” He rose from his seat and began sifting through all the furs that’d been deposited on the floor.
“Can I help you?”
“You can help me spread out the furs before the fire.”
She nodded and jumped up from where she was sitting. She was eager to cuddle up in those furs right next to the fire and get some well-deserved rest.
Once they had the furs all spread out, she looked up at him. The fire was dying down to just red-hot coals, but she still had enough light to see him in the dark.
“Thank you for this.”
“For what?” Mathar got under the covers, leaving her plenty of room right next to the fire.
“You didn’t have to make a pitstop here. I’m sure you could have ridden right past this place, and I wouldn’t have even known, but you didn’t force me to sleep out in the cold again.”
He snorted. “You’re overthinking this. I like a warm place and a good bowl of soup like any other person. It wasn’t just for you.”
