Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 106398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Princess? Sloan shook his head again. Torr and Wintra? There definitely was going to be holy hell to pay when they got home. Sloan recalled how Cree would voice his thoughts after visiting with his sister. He had plans to arrange a good, solid marriage for her. Cree would not be happy about this.
Torr kept rubbing her face with snow and demanding she wake as all eyes turned on him.
Her eyes finally fluttered open and with some effort she raised her hand to press against his cheek. “You need not shout. I can hear you. I merely,” —she paused trying to clear her jumbled thoughts— “fainted?” She was surprised at her own conclusion. “I have never fainted.”
“You rolled down a hill and into a dead body,” Torr reminded, relieved to see color returning to her face. “You had a good reason to faint.”
Wintra dropped her hand to rest on his chest. “My face is chilled.”
“Torr covered it with snow to get you to wake,” Sloan said.
She turned her head to glance at him. “I forgot my brother’s warriors were here.”
Was that disappointment Sloan heard? And Wintra touched Torr with such ease and familiarity. Could she possibly feel as he did for her? How had this happened so fast? Sloan had to smile. The same had happened to Cree, so why not his sister?
“We will see you safely home,” Sloan assured her and stood.
“You will post more guards?” Torr asked, though it sounded more like a command.
“I intend to see to that now.” With a nod to Torr, he walked off.
Torr took hold of Wintra’s hand that rested against his chest. “Are you in any pain?”
“I am fine,” she said, having repeated it so often that it felt like a chant to her.
He leaned down closer, his face not far from hers. “If we were alone I would strip you bare and check every inch of you to make certain.”
Images of her naked, his hands roaming over her, exploring, igniting her sensitive flesh, filled her mind. It left her feeling deliciously wonderful, yet terribly vulnerable, especially since in her vision he was completely clothed.
Her remark slipped from her mouth as fast as images had filled her head. “I would permit that—only if you are naked as well.” Had she truly just said that? Did she truly mean it? Oh Lord, whatever was the matter with her letting him know that she wanted to see him naked again?
Torr grinned. “I am not asking your permission, Princess, and if you want me naked just ask. I will gladly oblige you.”
Her cheeks turned so hot that they probably blistered red, and she wished for more snow to cool them off.
“Tell me you will wed me, and then you will be able to see me naked whenever you want.”
She laughed softly and gave him a playful punch in the shoulder. And she found herself about to agree to wed him, but she held her tongue. Too fast. Too fast. It was all going too fast since she had left the abbey. She had to take a breath and think. No not think, she thought too much. She needed to let things be—for now.
“You are mine and you know it. Soon you will admit it,” he said still grinning. “I would love to wrap myself around you tonight to sleep, but that won’t be possible, of course, if we were wed…”
“Go,” she said giving him a slight shove. “I need to think.”
He laughed. “You never stop thinking.”
“I am cursed with a curious mind or so say the nuns at the abbey who are probably at this very moment praying for me.”
Torr brushed a damp curl off her face. “I love your curious side. It makes you even more interesting than you already are.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “I will be back soon. Do not think. Rest.”
Wintra watched him go. Each step he took left her a bit more upset. She sighed and burrowed further under the blanket. Her sole thought and objective for so long had been for her and her brother to be reunited. It had occupied her thoughts day and night. She had taken to devising plans, often nonsensical ones, to escape the abbey and find her brother. But the years had passed and the plans had remained mere thoughts—until Owen.
She wondered now what Owen had truly wanted from her. And try as she might she could not get the two dead warriors out of her mind. Their lifeless eyes haunted her. Were they begging for help or warning that she too could find herself like them—unexpected victims?
Too many possibilities rattled around in her head, and she reached the conclusion that there had to be more to Owen’s plan than to simply wed her. There had to be a reason that these two men who had helped him rescue her had been found murdered. She had to settle this matter for herself if she was to keep her sanity. She might not always find answers to her endless questions, but this was one time she intended to get answers, no matter what.