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)
“I can do this myself.”
He took her by the arm and opened the door. “That is not the point. I am going to protect you whether you want me to or not.”
“But I do not need protecting for this,” she insisted once again as he propelled her out the door. “I need privacy.”
“You need both, and I will see that you have both.”
She yanked her arm free and dropped the bucket. “You are a stubborn man who—”
“Intends to keep you safe,” he finished, and then took hold of her shoulders and turned her toward the side of the house and gave her a slight shove. “Now go see to your needs. The light is fading and it grows colder.”
She hurried off mumbling beneath her breath, knowing it was useless arguing with him. It took her a few moments to find a good spot and the brief delay had him calling out to her.
“I am fine. I will be a few minutes.”
“Call out to me when you are done,” he ordered.
For some reason, she smiled. She was not sure why, but that had been the way of it since meeting Torr. At times she found herself feeling happier than she had been in a long time and for no good rhyme or reason.
Love.
She shook her head. This was no time to be thinking about love. She finished what she had to do and turned, then turned back again. Something had caught her eye in the distance by a tree. She strained to see what it was and when she could not quite make it out, she took a few steps closer. When it still was not visible enough, she took several more steps and suddenly froze.
A pair of eyes stared at her from between the branches and she turned and ran, screaming out for Torr as she did.
Torr bolted around the cottage as soon as he heard Wintra scream out his name in terror. His blood ran cold as she continued screaming his name, and he swore to himself that he would never let her go off alone again.
She flew into his arms as he ran to meet her.
“A man! A man!” she said through quick breaths. “Watching me.”
Torr scanned the surrounding area and wondered why the man had not followed her, unless he was reporting back to someone in which case they would not be able to stay here, or perhaps he was simply a traveler on his own. He needed to determine for himself what was going on.
“Show me where you saw him,” he said to Wintra and took hold of her hand.
She nodded and gripped his hand tightly as she led him back to the spot, coming to a halt a few feet away. She shook her head. “He is still there.”
“Where?” Torr asked glancing around.
Wintra pointed as she walked. “He has not moved.”
Torr could see the man now and he knew with one glance that he was dead.
Wintra stopped a few feet away. “I think he is dead.”
“So do I,” Torr agreed. “Do you want to wait here while I have a look?”
She shook her head and held on to his hand. “No, I want to stay with you.”
They walked together to the man and stood and stared for a moment. Then Torr released her hand and pulled the man back from where he was braced between the trees. He laid him on the ground, though the man’s limbs remained frozen in the same position they had been in.
“I don’t know which one did him in, the stomach wound or the cold,” he said and turned to Wintra. She was as pale as the freshly fallen snow, and Torr silently cursed himself for letting her see the dreadful scene.
He hurried over to her, wrapping his arm around her and turning her away from the dead man.
But she shook her head, slipped out of his arms, and turned around, pointing to the man, though found it hard to speak.
Torr slipped his arm around her waist. “What’s wrong? Tell me?”
Wintra took a deep breath and shivered. “He is one of the men who had been with Owen when he rescued me from my abductors.”
Chapter Eleven
Wintra sat by the hearth rubbing her cold hands together and staring at the flames. She could not get them warm enough, and she could not get the vision of the wide-eyed, dead man out her mind.
She jolted when Torr wrapped his hands around hers and started rubbing them. He had moved his chair closer to hers, and she did not hesitate to lean against him. She would crawl into his lap if she could. The strength of him combined with his tenderness was a comfort she more than favored and could use right now, but then curiosity reared its head and questions sprang forth spilling from her lips.