Born In Ice by Nora Roberts

limits."

    "No, you don't, Margaret Mary," Brianna called out as the door slammed shut. She stood for a moment, lost in thought until Con's steady tail thumping roused her. "Want out, do you? Fine, then. Go see what Murphy's up to."

    The minute she opened the door, Con streaked out. After one satisfied bark, he was loping toward the fields. She closed the door on the damp air and debated. It was after ten, and she had chores. If Gray wasn't coming down to breakfast, she'd take it up to him.

    A glance at the menu on the table had her smiling again. She was humming as she arranged the breakfast tray. Hefting it, she carried it upstairs. His door was closed and made her hesitate. She knocked softly, got no response, and began to gnaw her lip. Perhaps he was ill. Concerned, she knocked again, more loudly, and called his name.

    She thought she heard a grunt, and shifting the tray, eased the door open.

    The bed looked as though it had been the scene of a small war. The sheets and blankets were tangled into knots, the quilt trailing over the footboard onto the floor. And the room was stone cold.

    Stepping over the threshold, she saw him, and stared.

    He was at the desk, his hair wild, his feet bare. There was a heap of books piled beside him as his fingers raced over the keys of a small computer. At his elbow was an ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts. The air reeked of them.

    "Excuse me." No response. The muscles in her arms were beginning to ache from the weight of the tray. "Gray-son."

    "What?" The word shot out like a bullet, taking her back a step. His head whipped up.

    It was the pirate again, she thought. He looked dangerous and inclined to violence. As his eyes focused on her, without any sign of recognition, she wondered if he might have gone mad during the night.

    "Wait," he ordered and attacked the keyboard again. Brianna waited, baffled, for nearly five full minutes. He leaned back then, rubbed his hands hard over his face like a man just waking from a dream. Or, she thought, a nightmare. Then he turned to her again, with that quick, familiar smile. "Is that breakfast?"

    "Yes, I ... It's half past ten, and when you didn't come down..."

    "Sorry." He rose, took the tray from her, and set it on the bed. He picked up a piece of English bacon with his fingers. "I got it in the middle of the night. It was the ghost story that clicked it, I think. Christ, it's cold in here."

    "Well, 'tis no wonder. You're after catching your death with nothing on your feet and the fire out."

    He only smiled as she knelt at the hearth and began to arrange new turf. She'd sounded like a mother scolding a foolish child. "I got caught up."

    "That's all fine and good, but it's not healthy for you to be sitting here in the cold, smoking cigarettes instead of eating a decent meal."

    "Smells better than decent." Patient, he crouched down beside her, ran a carelessly friendly hand down her back. "Brianna, will you do me a favor?"

    "If I can, yes."

    "Go away."

    Stunned, she turned her head. Even as she gaped at him, he was laughing and taking her hands in his.

    "No offence, honey. It's just that I tend to bite if my work's interrupted, and it's cooking for me right now."

    "I certainly don't mean to be in your way."

    He winced, bit back on annoyance. He was trying to be diplomatic, wasn't he? "I need to hang with it while it's moving, okay? So just forget I'm up here."

    "But your room. You need the linens changed, and the bath-"

    "Don't worry about it." The fire was glowing now, and so was the impatience inside him. He raised her to her feet. "You can shovel it out when I hit a dry spell. I'd appreciate it if you'd drop some food off outside the door now and again, but that's all I'll need."

    "All right, but-" He was already guiding her to the door. She huffed. "You don't have to be booting me out, I'm going."

    "Thanks for breakfast."

    "You're-" He shut the door in her face. "Welcome," she said between her teeth.

    For the