SeducingtheHuntress by Mel Teshco Page A

their maid to run a bath on her arrival, and
she lay in it for long minutes, luxuriating in the feeling of being clean after
almost a day of hard riding. It was only when she lifted a leg to soap her skin
that the neat little stiches in her thigh caught her eye.
    Reuben had only ever treated her like a princess…his
princess.
    She heaved an exasperated sigh and clambered out, water
sloshing as if an angry sea. She dressed into her usual garb that was blessedly
clean, though much looser than what it was six days ago.
    Her eyes steered clear of the mirror. She didn’t need to see
her weight loss to know she was different. Reuben had turned her from a girl
into a woman. A woman with too many yearnings and secrets.
    One of the villagers had knocked on the door and kindly left
behind a big tureen of chicken and vegetables. Isabella sat at the table with
her father, trying her best to be a dutiful daughter and managing three or four
mouthfuls of the stew along with a half mug of tea, before she made her excuses
and retired to her bedroom.
    All she wanted was to lick her wounds in private. All she
wanted was to forget the one man her mind couldn’t stop dwelling on.
    Tiredness pressed upon her the moment she stretched out on
her mattress of cushions. But she knew she wouldn’t be sleeping tonight. Not
with her thoughts going round and round about the man she’d left behind.
    But then she closed her eyes and the world around her
slipped away.
     
    She cracked open her eyes to full sunshine. A smile pulled
at her lips and a strange sense of anticipation filled her belly—until she
registered she was back in her own bedroom.
    Reuben’s cozy log cabin with its crackling fire was never
going to be her home, no matter how much she yearned for it to be. Perverse
really that the one place she’d wanted desperately to escape from was now the
one place she wanted desperately to be.
    She rubbed a hand over her eyes. Reuben would never again
loom in her vision with his assessing stare and thoughtful expression. She
would never experience the wonder of his kiss, never fall apart in his arms as
he possessed her with both tenderness and stunning savagery.
    Her movements were stiff and uncoordinated when she finally
made an effort to get up and pull on some clothes. She grimaced at her weight
loss, tying a darfe around her waist to keep her pants from falling
down. Though her shirt was baggy, at least it wasn’t about to fall off.
    “Ah good, you’re awake at last,” her father said when she
walked into the sitting room.
    “How long have I been asleep?” she asked, aware his face
already looked much more animated than when she’d seen him for the first time
yesterday.
    “All night and most of the day.” He chuckled.
    She put a hand to her mouth, resisting a little smile. The
sleeping in thing was getting to be a bit of a habit.
    “The men have already been out hunting wild boar and deer
for tonight’s celebration,” her father added.
    She cleared her throat. “A party really isn’t necessary,
Daddy—”
    “But it is.” He shook his head, his smile fading fast. “I
thought I’d lost you. I nearly went out of my mind with grief! But now you’re
back and I realize just how lucky I am that you’re safe.”
    If only he knew how close she’d come to dying. Yet another
little secret she’d gladly keep to herself.
    He took a sip of his hot tea, his stare shrewd. “So how did you survive that long out there on your own?”
    “Do we need to talk about that now?” She was no longer in
the mood for more lies and half truths, wasn’t in the mood to side-step how
wonderful a nightmix had treated her. Her father would never understand.
Worse, he’d probably never forgive her.
    He nodded, releasing a heavy sigh. “I’ll let it go…for now.
Just rest assured that we’ll find the nightmix who eluded us and we’ll
slaughter it.”
    Her eyes widened in alarm, even though she knew Reuben was
safe and back in his kingdom, prince