Page 84 of Keep Me

She lifts her arm from around her eyes and stares at me skeptically. “What?”

I kneel in front of her and unlace her boot enough to get it onto her foot. “You’re not a prisoner here, Sylvie. You need some fresh air, but I can’t let you leave alone while you’re so sick. So let me help you.”

She sits up and gives me a narrow-eyed expression. “Where are we going?”

After sliding her foot into the boot, I tie the laces. “Just on a walk of the grounds. We’re sitting on sixty acres, you know.”

Letting out a rattling exhale, she fights the urge to cough again. Then, she says in a raspy voice, “Fine.”

“It’s not raining for once, and I’ll stay by your side the entire time.”

She cocks her head to the side. “I’m not a child, Killian.”

“No,” I reply, tightening her laces. “But you are my wife, and it’s my job to take care of you.”

“It’s really not,” she replies weakly.

“Shut up, cow,” I say, making her laugh. “Too harsh?”

She shakes her head with a soft smile. “Not at all.”

Then, she puts out her hands for me, and I hoist her off the bed. I feel her forehead again for good measure, but as she said, her fever is gone, even without the medicine to keep it down.

On the entire walk along the gravel drive out to the farm, I keep Sylvie’s hand in mine. It’s warm enough now that we don’t need gloves, although the leather ones she bought me are still tucked away in my pocket.

“We’re not walking all sixty acres, are we?” she asks wearily.

“Of course not,” I reply with a chuckle. “Are you feeling okay? We can head back.”

She shakes her head. “No, I’m fine.” Then she wraps herself around my arm, resting her head on my shoulder as we slowly walk down the path toward the farm.

“What do you do out here all day?” she asks.

With a laugh, I say, “Not much, really. The grounds crew keeps most of it up. I do like to help out where I can.”

Then, she squeezes my arm. “You must do a lot. Enough to keep up this physique.”

We stop, and I turn toward her. “Are you…complimenting me?”

She rolls her eyes. “Don’t get used to it.”

“I won’t. I think I prefer the name-calling.”

“Okay, good,” she teases as we start walking again. “You have large muscles, but you’re still stupid and ugly.”

“Well, that’s just a lie,” I reply with a grin. “I’m incredibly handsome.”

The next time I look down at her, I notice she’s chewing on her lip and trying to hide the blush on her cheeks.

***

When we reach the farm, Ben, the groundskeeper, is standing outside his quaint brick house in front of the barn. I introduce him to Sylvie, and she greets him warmly, which is nice to see. She reserves her bitchiness just for me.

As Ben and I get into a conversation about the garden we’ve been working on, Sylvie walks away to explore the farm. When she finds the gray mare, I excuse myself from the conversation with Ben and run over toward her.

“Is it nice?” she asks before getting too close.

“She’s very gentle.” I grab an apple we keep in a basket near her stall and place it in Sylvie’s hand. Then I hold her against my body as I ease her hand out to the animal.

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