Free Season of Desire: Complete Edition by Sadie Matthews

weeks? What if it’s like this for the rest of the winter?’
    He stares back, his expression grave. His lips have tightened in that way I’ve already learnt means he’s serious. We both know it’s not impossible for us to be stranded for a long time. If bad weather really sets in, we could be snowed in for weeks. People around here are usually prepared for such occasions, with well-stocked larders, snow chains for their car tyres, and snow ploughs for the roads. But this place isn’t designed for that. Miles comes over to me and crouches down in front of me, taking my hands. ‘I’ll get us out of here, I promise. We’re not going to die here. I won’t let that happen.’
    I stare back, my anxiety turning to frustration. ‘Really?’ I say icily. ‘You weren’t able to stop the crash from happening. You didn’t prevent us falling off the damn mountain. Why should I trust that you’re able to stop us starving and freezing to death in this bloody hovel?’
    He flinches as though I’ve slapped him. His blue eyes turn flinty and he lets go of my hands. ‘You know that the accident was out of my control. I like to think that I actually prevented us suffering a much worse outcome. I got you out of the car before it fell.’
    ‘Remind me to arrange a medal,’ I say sarcastically. I can hear myself and I don’t want to be like this, but my panic is coming out as anger and vindictiveness. I need Miles, desperately. I want him to like me. This morning I was curdled with desire for him, and now I’m treating him with cold contempt. What the hell is wrong with me? Why do I do this?
    ‘Listen,’ he says, his voice furious. ‘I didn’t want to take the damn car out at all in those conditions. I advised against it. But my orders were clear. Freya Hammond wants to get to the airport and what Freya Hammond wants, she always gets. No one is going to tell that pampered madam to take her head out of the fucking Gucci-styled clouds and see the world as it really is.’ He looks at me with scorn. ‘Did you really think that you can make the weather obey you? That your money can buy control of the elements? Well, it can’t. You’re going to learn it the hard way, and unfortunately, so am I. Your stupidity could get both of us killed – and God knows what will happen to the poor saps they send out to look for us. You’ve put plenty of other lives at risk, besides your own pointless, cossetted existence. I hope you’re happy. You’ve got your own way. If it kills you, it’ll be your own goddamned fault.’
    I gasp. No one – no one – speaks to me like this. I can’t stand his expression of contempt or the vile things he’s just said to me. I draw back my hand and go to slap his face but as I fling my palm towards his cheek, he grabs my wrist and twists it away.
    ‘How dare you?’ I shriek, trying to wrench my wrist out of his grasp. ‘You can’t speak to me like that!’
    ‘Who’s going to stop me, you little vixen?’
    I go to scratch him with my other hand and he grabs that wrist too, twisting his face out of the way of my nails. He stands up, yanking me up on my feet as well. I’m vaguely aware of the pain in my chest but my fury has grown into a full-blown attack of hysteria. I’m losing control and I don’t care. I need to express all the fear and anxiety and helplessness I’ve experienced over the last day and Miles is the only thing I can turn my emotions on. I begin to struggle, trying to bite his hand to make him release my wrists so that I can pound my fists on his chest and punish him for everything I’m feeling, but he easily evades me. He’s immensely strong and with only a small amount of exertion, he holds me away from him while I shriek and flail, helpless against his superior strength. I’m simultaneously frustrated and excited by my vulnerability. I know he won’t hurt me. I can express my pent-up emotion and, I realise somewhere in the back of my mind, I’m getting a little taste