She bit her lip.
“Come on,” he said in a coaxing voice. “I promise to be a gentleman. And you can bring Hadrian’s Wall with you.” He added ruefully, “Even if I wanted to seduce you, in the state I’m in you could easily fend me off. One biff on the head and I’ll be out like a snuffed candle.” And that, unfortunately, was true.
“Very well,” she said, and he moved back to make room for her. “But nobody must ever find out. If they did . . .”
“How would anyone find out? I won’t tell anyone, and if the vicar asks you, you will continue to lie to him, just as you did today.”
“I did not lie to him,” she said indignantly. “I told him I’d made up a bed on the floor, and I had.”
“Yes, you merely left out the part about not sleeping in it. Perfectly unexceptional. And you’ve made up the bed on the floor tonight, as you said you would, so stop hopping about on the cold stone floor and get into bed.”
She grabbed a quilt from the bed on the floor, rolled it into a Hadrian’s Wall, stuffed it against him, and climbed in after it. She pulled the bedclothes over her, shivering.
“See, you’re half frozen,” he said, and put his arms around both her and Hadrian’s Wall.
“Stop that,” she said, but he could tell a halfhearted objection when he heard it.
“You can warm your feet against my legs if you like,” he invited. The fresh, distinctive scent of her and her soap teased his nostrils.
She made a small huffing noise and didn’t move. “You’re pleased about this, aren’t you? she said crossly.
“It’s the only logical choice.” He couldn’t keep the satisfaction out of his voice. His gentlemanly promise had definitely slowed his plans for seduction. But so had his aching head, and there was more than one way to seduce a woman . . .
After a while she stopped shivering.
“I told you,” he murmured. “All toasty and warm.”
“Do your ribs hurt you at all?” she asked in a soft voice.
“No, not a bit—oof! What was that for?” She’d edged an arm under Hadrian’s Wall and elbowed him in the ribs, hard.
“For being stubborn, manipulative, and impossible,” she purred. “And for gloating. Good night, Mr. Rider. Sweet dreams.”
Maddy smiled as she closed her eyes. He deserved it, she told herself. He’d blackmailed her into his bed. Her bed. And as she’d climbed into bed she’d caught a gleam, in the firelight, of a white, triumphant smile.
And as for his arms around her, pulling her against his long body, well, Hadrian’s Wall was some protection, but not much. She’d tried to push him away, but she was so cold and he was so warm it was easier not to resist.
It wasn’t just about the cold, she admitted to herself. Having his arms around her, sharing a bed, it felt . . . lovely. She felt warm, protected, and less alone than she’d felt for a very long time.
Her feet were still cold, but she was drifting off when she felt a stealthy movement in the bed. She feigned sleep, curious to see what he was up to, ready to repulse a rakish advance.
A large, warm foot burrowed beneath the rolled-up quilt that separated them. He hooked it around her feet and slowly drew them toward him. Drawn by the warmth generated by his body, she let her feet be taken and warmed between his calves.
She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. A wicked, rakish devil he was, to be sure, warming her feet in secret.
She fell asleep with a smile on her face.
Thump! Thump!
Maddy’s eyes flew open. A sick feeling curdled in her stomach. Not again.
Thump! Thump!The door rattled on its hinges but the new bolt held fast. A low moaning came from outside. Unearthly. Terrifying.
A shadow appeared at the window. Something scrabbled against the glass, as though with claws. The hairs on the back of her neck lifted.
The moaning rose in pitch, louder and louder, until it ended on a deathly shriek. The horrid sound shivered through her.
The frenzied scrabbling continued. The glass couldn’t take much more, she thought. Any instant it would shatter.
