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specks of light strewn across the night sky reminded her of a crystalline encrusted velvet dress favored by her mother at Michaelmas. Aeden shifted his seat, jolting her back to the present. His words echoed in her head once more. Nonetheless, she refused to believe he expected her to share his bed. To be sure, he made another inappropriate jest if for no other purpose than to see her vexed. A quiver of frustration shook her.
    Aeden tightened his hold and inquired, “Are you in need of an extra plaid?”
    Another plaid? God save me.
    Instead of answering his question, she inquired, “Chief Maxwell?”
    “Aye?”
    She hesitated, uncertain how to frame the words.
    “Go on, say your piece,” he urged. “I can no’ imagine why you should hesitate.”
    The disbelief in his voice prompted a smile from her. “Yes, you have been an unenthusiastic recipient of my blunt manner.”
    He laughed, his tone rueful. “Truer words were never uttered. Go on, let’s hear it.”
    Before she lost her nerve she did exactly that — spit out her question in one rapid fire string of words.
    “Would it be indecent of me if I took my ease against your chest?”
    “No.”
    Thrown off kilter by his instant reply, she frowned. “No? Should you not think the matter through first? Truly, this cannot be everything you have to say on the matter.”
    He shrugged. “What is there to say? We have been a-horse for some time. No doubt the strain of keeping a respectable distance betwixt us wears thin and you’ve finally reached the sensible conclusion to rely upon my superior strength while replenishing your own.”
    Not quite ready to abandon the argument, she ploughed ahead. “Put like that it seems absurd to hold myself to such rigid standards if one takes the circumstances into consideration. Still, you have no sense of propriety,” she accused, a bit affronted he considered her sensibilities insensible.
    He sighed loud and long. “Woman, you make problems where there are none. Such insignificant concerns are beneath my notice.”
    She snapped to attention in her seat. “Concern for one’s reputation is not an insignificant matter. You have no idea the trouble that is caused when rumors spread. For all I know you are a married man with ten children. Of course, your character would little suffer. Mine, however, would be in complete tatters.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “How on earth would I expect to make a new beginning if my name becomes sullied afore I even get the chance, I ask you.”
    “Settle your feathers,” he muttered.
    His exasperation set her teeth on edge. She scooted forward and threw an unraveled hank of hair over her shoulder to punctuate her irritation.
    “For the love of — ”
    A satisfied smirk pursed her lips as he tugged at a strand of her hair clinging to his whiskers. Her glee was short-lived as wind exited her lungs in a rush the moment he pinned her against his chest. She wanted to protest, but the amount of energy it took to muster maidenly outrage wearied her to the bone. In truth, social status amounted to naught at this point. Extraordinary events unfolded each day and the unreasonable strictures of her stepmother’s manor seemed worlds away. In the end, the weight of her fatigue won out.
    Exhausted, she sank into his warmth. The curves of her lethargic body melded with his hard masculine planes, as if he had been fashioned just for her. His strength enveloped her, his solid arms created a band of steel to protect her, and his radiant warmth beat at her from the sensitive curve of her nape down to her bottom snuggled in-between the granite-hard vee of his muscled thighs. Unbidden, a contented sigh slid from her lips. Just this once she ceded defeat, and allowed herself to savor the luxury of his secure embrace.
    • • •
    Goat willow, alder, rowan and ash trees shielded hills and vales for miles, while sweet pea, thistle and wild rose flowered in lavish tangles of untouched beauty. Yet,