Free Warrior Untamed by Melissa Mayhue Page B

before we have to stop for the night.”
    “How much longer I might last?” She snorted her derision. “My stamina is hardly in question, now, is it? Yer the one with the patched-up arm. Better I should be asking you how much longer you might last.”
    Prickly-spirited, as always. It was one of the adjectives he’d somehow left off his earlier list,along with impatient and annoying. The woman had a temper that made him grind his teeth.
    She would be one of the things he’d truly miss when he left this world.
    “You think that’s funny, do you?” she asked, her brows drawing into a frown as she glared at him. “I fail to see anything the least bit amusing about our situation. It’s no bad enough that we’ve two days of hard travel ahead of us, into territory where neither of us is welcome. Now yer sitting there with that silly grin upon yer face. And look at this, would you . . . it’s starting to rain! On top of everything else. Fine reward that is, and me trying for nothing more than to see you safe.” She wiped a hand over her face and pulled up the hood of her cloak with one last annoyed look in his direction.
    As if the rain were his fault.
    Hall stared into the solid gray wall of precipitation moving toward them, knowing that, in fact, the rain was his fault. He’d allowed his emotions to run wild, doing nothing to cloak them. Nothing to prevent the all-too-obvious result of his depression.
    He’d never realized that masking the way he felt required so much energy. Energy he simply didn’t have to spare right now. But mask it he must.
    With an effort on his part that stole from him his ability to do anything else, the pounding rain slowed to a light, annoying mist. By the time they reached a spot where he felt they could camp for the night, the rains had completely stopped.
    He brushed away the assistance Bridget offered and slid down from his saddle, praying his legs would hold him.
    “Leave the horses and I’ll see to them after I’ve taken care of a fire.” Her words were more a command than an offer, leaving him no alternative but to argue with her.
    “I’m not on my deathbed yet. I can still take care of our animals.”
    Bridget glared at him, her mouth set in a hard, straight line as if she had something she wanted to say but held it back. Finally, after a long moment, she shrugged and turned away, leaving him to lead both their horses to drink.
    It was as if, no matter what he did, he managed to anger her. Never in all his days had he dealt with a more complicated, more strong-willed, more annoying woman than Bridget MacCulloch.
    He had also never before crossed paths with a woman he found more appealing.
    Had the Norns not conspired against him long before his birth to eliminate any chance for a future of happiness, Bridget, with her bravery and her willingness to confront every situation head-on, would have been exactly the woman he would have looked for to share that future with him.
    T HE FIRE BLAZED steadily and Bridget had already begun to lay out their evening meal by the time Halldor finished readying their animals for the night. Ithad taken him twice as long as it should have, and he wore his exhaustion like a heavy cloak when he approached the fire.
    “Best we enjoy the luxury of this warmth tonight,” he offered as he sank down to sit across from where she stood. “Another day’s travel will bring us too close to Torquil’s domain for us to risk drawing his attention with such a large fire.”
    If only he had shared that handy bit of information earlier, she might have had time to bring down some fresh meat for them tonight. A rabbit, perhaps. But no, he’d waited until well after dark before he bothered to—
    She clamped down on her internal rant, common sense rearing its unfamiliar head. She needed to curb her unreasonable anger over every little thing Halldor did. It wasn’t his responsibility to point out the obvious. She should have thought of it herself.
    Fear