Page 42 of New Storm Rising
Just right for a couple.
As if in a dream, I made my way across the clearing and up the stairs. The warm, golden tone of wooden walls, illuminated by the cheerful fire flickering in the brick fireplace, greeted me as I pushed open the door. In the centre of the room stood a round wooden table, with a chequered tablecloth and a vase full of wildflowers on top.
Wildflowers someone had picked by hand.
I swallowed.
Bloody hell, Lilly! Where’s your righteous fury? That man stuck a stick of dynamite in your underwear! And not the kind a newlywed bride is usually hoping for! You should be pissed off! Royally pissed off! Not…not…
Touched?
“Rikkard?” His name was out of my mouth before I could help it.
He stepped into the house behind me.Ourhouse. Such a hard man he was. Such a cold man. So how come I suddenly felt more warmth radiating from him than from the blazing flames in the fireplace?
Reaching behind me, I clutched his hand. “Thanks.”
“For what?” He asked, his fingers tightening around mine. “I merely provided the necessary lodgings for our stay in the vicinity.”
Glancing back at him, I raised an eyebrow, and pointed at the vase of flowers. “Sure you did.”
He gazed at me, his face completely serious and unmoving. “Karim picked those.”
Sweet, thick-headed, lovable man!
“Oh,of course.” Grabbing hold of his lapels, I started to drag him towards the bedroom. “Now, come along. We havea lotto talk about.”
“The kind of talk that is commonly referred to as ‘pillow talk’?”
“Ha! You wish!” Stopping at the doorway to the bedroom, I jabbed a finger into this chest, glaring up at him. “Don’t you think that, just because you did something mildly honeymoonish, I’ve forgotten what you did. It’s time for an explanation, Mister! Don’t you realize what you have done?”
Taking hold of my hand once more, he pulled me into the bedroom, closing the door behind us. A delicious little shiver went up my spine when I noticed the huge double bed standing against the wall, but I quickly suppressed it when I saw Mr Ambrose raise his eyebrow at me half a millimetre.
“Pray, what have I done? Care to enlighten me, wife?”
Wife.
The way he said that word…
Another shiver went down my spine.
Dammit! Concentrate, Lilly, concentrate!
“Isn’t it obvious?” I waved a finger under his far-too-perfect nose. “We got your men out, granted! But after the stunt you pulled, my face is plastered on posters all over that town! How am I supposed to help you now in whatever wild plans you come up with next? I won’t be able to set a single foot outside!”
“Indeed?”
I stared at his stony visage for a moment—then realization set in. “You…! You did this on purpose!”
“Naturally.”
“Why! Why would you do this? Why would you try and confine me inside this house?”
Mr Rikkard Ambrose didn’t answer. He simply sent a glance over at the very marital double bed right next to us, and then raised an eyebrow, the unspoken words practically ringing in my ears.Take a guess.
Colour flooded my face. “You…you…!”
“…amazing, romantically talented husband?”
