Page 28 of The VaDorok's Unexpected Mate
“So,” she drawled, stretching the word out, “this is nice. Just sitting here, warm, hanging out together.”
Ren grunted in agreement without even looking up at her as he twisted the bit of leather into a complicated knot.
Strike one.
“That’s a really nice knot,” she tried again. “What’s it used for? I bet it works well. Why don’t you show—"
With a tug, the knot fell apart, and he began to loop the string casually through his fingers instead, as if playing cat’s cradle. It was like she’d never even spoken. She stared at him; her eyes drifting down to the string and then back to his face again. What the hell? Was this kid trying to test her? First it was pranks; but now she was getting the silent treatment? How was that fair?
Strike two.
“Do you have a favorite—” she began but was cut off yet again, this time by the male sighing very loudly as he shrugged and continued to study the twisting string.
Strike three. Batter’s out.
Maybe she should just give up and go hide in the bedroom until Kull returned. If she was going to be sitting in the midst of an oasis of silence, she might as well do it while sprawled on the bed. What the hell did she know about kids, anyway?
She leaned forward, resting an arm on her knee as she regarded him. Okay then. Her lips pursed with frustration as she mentally chanted a mantra not to kill the child. “Look, I get this isn’t your idea of fun having to stay here with me, but this isn’t a picnic for me either,” she grumbled.
Miraculously, the string stopped twisting and his eyes lifted to her face. “What is a picnic?”
“Well... an enjoyable outing,” she explained, a bit caught off guard by the question. It was so weird explaining something that she had always taken as common knowledge. “You pack up food and take it out somewhere outside to sit and eat—”
“And you do this for fun?” he interrupted incredulously, his nose wrinkling. She couldn’t tell if the expression was distaste or disbelief.
“Of course... well, maybe not here,” she conceded with a mutter. “Who wants to have a picnic on a block of ice if you’re not a penguin?” Her eyes shot at him before he could ask the obvious question. “That’s an animal that lives in a part of my world that is frozen most of the year.”
He nodded as if that made perfect sense. “The only time we eat outside is if we are hunting and do not have much choice. Rations work well for this, but a fresh kill is also suitable.”
“I see,” she mumbled. “I guess right now you would have been out hunting with Kull if it weren’t for me being here.”
To her surprise, Ren shrugged. “Not always. Sometimes there are other things that need to be done.”
“Well, what would you normally be doing right now?”
Ren paused and then scratched the base of one of his horn-spikes as he thought about it. “I guess I would be digging for roots.”
Back outside. Lovely. Katie hid her grimace, however, and nodded. That sounded perfectly reasonable. “Okay. We can go do that. Just show me what we need.”
The male gaped before vigorously shaking his head. “I cannot. Kull will skin me alive if I take you back outside so soon.”
So dramatic. It wasn’t like she was on her deathbed. It was just digging for roots. How bad could it possibly be? She doubted that Kull would even notice if no one blabbed and she was inside and all toasty again before he returned. That was probably a bit subversive on her part, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone, least of all him.
Her lips twitched despite her best intentions, however, and Ren lifted a finger accusingly at her. “You find that humorous.”
She blinked at him in surprise. What? “I do not,” she denied.
“You do! You wish to see me made into a pair of boots for your ridiculously small feet!”
Boots? That time she did giggle. “Don’t you think that’s a bit of an exaggeration? First, I’ve learned my lesson and am not eager to repeat it. Second, I doubt he would punish you for trying to keep me entertained. Besides which, I wouldn’t want boots made from your hide—you would probably go out of your way to trip me.”
His brow lowered into a scowl as he studied her for a long moment, but she caught the reluctant twitch at the corners of his mouth.
“I would not trip you,” he mumbled as his gaze returned to the string. “Playing a joke to make you mad and want to leaveand cease disturbing my brother is different. I wouldn’t want to actually hurt you.”
Cease disturbing his brother—ah, right. The whole pretense of being...
She squinted at him. “Are you still trying to scare me off?”
