Dropping my hand, Liam eyed my clothes with perplexed look on his riot inducing face. “May I ask you a question?” he said cautiously.
“That was a question.” I replied with a wry smile.
He responded with a half-cocked grin and then said, “An additional one then?”
“Sure.” I responded with a shrug.
“Are you aware that you are dressed rather…strangely?” he asked, running one hand absently through his hair.
I chewed the inside of my cheek as I watched the sleek locks fall back around his face. It took a moment for my mind to register the question and another to formulate a response. “Maybe I’m not, maybe you are.”
He nodded, one corner of his pouty mouth pulling up. “I believe I can assure you that of the pair of us, you will be the one to stand out if you remain dressed…as you are.” He said, but didn’t push for an actual answer to his question, though the look in his eyes said the fact that I didn’t offer one did not go unnoticed.
“What if I mean to stand out?” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
He looked almost worried now. “I feel it’s unwise to draw attention to yourself.” He said and his tone was all business. I knew what he said was true, but I wasn’t ready to deal with the why that it begged. I had my suspicions already. All crazy, all unrealistic, all impossible. I couldn’t come up with anything so far that didn’t fall into all three of those categories.
After a pause spent studying my garb again, he finally said, “We should find something less conspicuous for you to wear.”
From that statement, only one word registered. “We?”
He looked almost offended. “I will not leave you out here alone and unprotected. You are alone aren’t you?”
I looked at the ground, feeling like his concentrated stare would melt my internal organs. “Yes.” I told the ground. “What do I need protecting from?” I directed this question at the ground as well. Not that I wouldn’t have followed him to Canada or the Emerald City or wherever you could get to from here if he asked, but his statement raised questions I had yet to consider in this beautiful, peaceful place. What malevolence could be lurking in this beauty?
I braved a glance toward his face and saw worry etched across his features. He looked away and his eyes hardened as they searched the landscape for a sign of what I could only assume was danger. My heart beat quickened, not from his beauty this time, but his severity in this moment. He looked back to me and his eyes softened. “A lady should never travel alone.” He said softly. His tone suggested his actions were the result of civic duty, but I could still sense an uneasiness in him that suggested I needed protection from a specific source.
“Hmph. And they say chivalry is dead.” It was the first thing that popped into my head.
Liam cocked a perfect black eyebrow and asked, “Do they really say that?”
“Yes, and it may rest on your shoulders to prove them wrong.” I said with shrug.
He walked over to his horse who had wandered in the opposite direction to graze contentedly and began pulling the beast in my direction. “I will be most happy to prove chivalry to be alive and well.” The half grin pulled up one corner of his mouth.
I watched him coax the horse back toward me and he looked up to meet my eyes. I looked quickly toward the ground, unable to hold his gaze. I didn’t want him to see me, like, really see me. I was afraid of what he would find. I had known him for all of about 15 minutes and I was already pathetically nursing a foolish crush on him and, let’s be honest, if Jones was out of my league, then Liam and I didn’t even play at the same ballpark. Ever.
“There is a village not far from here. We should be able to find something suitable for you there. Are you ready, milady?” He said as he extended a hand. It was obvious that I was expected to get on this giant creature’s back and that wasn’t really in my plans. I did not do horses.
“You want me to get on that thing?” I asked pointing to black beast in front of me.
He looked at me questioningly, then to the horse and in its general vicinity. “You mean the horse? He’s not a thing, he’s a horse. He won’t hurt you.” He stated as his hand dropped to his side. His tone reminded me of debate class. But then he looked into my eyes. I couldn’t look away this time; I was like a deer in the headlights. His tone softened and when he spoke it was just above a whisper. “I told you that I would protect you, that was a promise.”
I was reduced to putty and would’ve climbed into the mouth of a dragon for him if he’d only asked it of me. But he didn’t need to know that. So I just said, “Okay.”
I walked toward him and he took me by the elbow and gently turned my body so that my back was to him. Then he placed his hands at my waist and lifted me effortlessly, as though I was filled with air. He placed me in the saddle then hoisted himself up behind me, one arm on either side of me.
Liam made a clicking sound and the horse responded by working up to an easy speed. He smelled like sandalwood and sea mist, clean and masculine. His chest grazing my back slightly felt nothing more than necessary, but my body responded to his proximity with a fierceness.
My pulse pounded in my ears and my mind took inventory of every place in contact with him. Our thighs were pressed together in the limited space provided, my back only just touched his chest, and his arms grazed my own sporadically with the movement of the horse. But, what really set me reeling was his breath at the nap of my neck, slightly more to my left side. Even through my thick hair that fell loosely down my back it was discernible. It was simultaneously intimate and innocent and I struggled to form a coherent thought.
I broke the silence that had fallen on us since we’d begun the ride. “Where are we?”
“Milady, you have the pleasure of being in The Emerald Wood, one of the most beautiful places to behold in all Avenlore.”
“Avenlore?” I asked.
He halted the horse and leaned forward to look at my face. “Milady, it is what these lands are called. Did you not know?”
Of course I did not know. “Yes, yeah. I’m still a little off balance I think from all the startling.” I answered quickly, unable to hold his gaze. He looked completely unconvinced, but didn’t press me. “And it’s Dani, remember?” I added steeling a peak at him over my shoulder.
His answering smile lit his face. “Dani.”
At the sound of my name from his lips, my world titled on its axis.