Wildest Dreams (Fantasyland #1)(26)

I turned to the door and again, like that morning, when he saw me, he stopped dead.

Weird how he did that.

“Hey,” I greeted. “I’m going to town to pick up some stuff for dinner. Do you want anything?”

He stared at me a moment and I was hoping he wasn’t back in silence mode when he stated, “I’ll take you.”

Hells bells. I’d actually wanted some time alone to psych myself up for what was going to happen after dinner.

However, time alone wasn’t going to help me know this guy any better, or get used to having him around, so maybe him going was a good thing.

We could chat.

“All righty then,” I replied.

His eyes moved to my hair and he moved toward the living room, muttering, “I’ll saddle Tyr. You get a hat. I don’t want my new wife catching a chill.”

Hmm.

That was thoughtful.

So thoughtful, I smiled as I followed him and called out, “Tyr?”

He turned at the front door, answered, “My mount,” then left.

Well, there you go. I already knew something more about him. His horse was called Tyr.

That was a start.

I went to my trunks and pulled out a cloak I liked especially. It was a light silvery-gray wool with fur in a matching color on the high collar. It had matching gloves and hat. The hat was knit wool at the top, furry around the edges and I’d noticed it didn’t give me hat head.

I didn’t want hat head. Not that day or, maybe, any day when Frey was around.

So I got ready to face the chill, nabbed my basket and then walked to the stables.

When I got there, Frey had Tyr in the middle of the space, bridle on, saddle on (with a longer, very dark brown blanket style thing that hung over his rump, probably to help ward off the cold, something the horse hadn’t worn on our long ride there). I noticed now that the horse was like everything Frey that was to say his coat so dark brown it was nearly black. He was also huge. He was also glossy. He also had extremely intelligent eyes.

He was lastly beautiful.

I went to the hooks on the wall to get a bridle for one of the grays and had lifted a hand to nab it when Frey called from behind me. “What are you doing?”

I dropped my hand and turned to him then answered, “Preparing a gray to ride.”

“You’ll ride with me.”

I blinked.

Then I asked, “What?”

He stood by his horse for about half a second then he walked to me, reached low, engulfed my hand in his then led me to his horse. Before I became unstuck, he’d mounted and leaned down to hook me around the waist and pull me up in front of him.

Then he immediately clicked his teeth and Tyr walked out of the stable. Once clear of the structure, Frey clicked his teeth again and leaned slightly into me, taking me with him, chest to back, at the same time his arm moving me back into him as it tightened around my belly and Tyr took us from walk to a not fast but definitely not slow canter.

Apparently, Frey Drakkar did not stop and smell the roses.

“Um…” I started then pointed out, “You just broke our deal.”

“How?” he asked, his voice sounding in my ear.

“You just put me on your horse,” I explained as the forest went passed us and I noticed Frey knew a better, what appeared to be more direct route because he was now taking it.

“Yes, I did,” he agreed.

“Part of our deal was, you wouldn’t do that.”

“No… Finnie, part of our deal was I wouldn’t toss you on a horse. I didn’t toss you on a horse. I pulled you onto a horse.”

“That’s a technicality,” I declared.

“A what?” he asked.

I didn’t explain, instead I stated, “I think you knew what I meant.”

“And I think, when you’re making a deal, you may wish to be more clear in your demands and your expectations,” he returned.

Well, it could be said he was not wrong.

I made a mental note to do just that.

We rode through the frozen forest and it didn’t take long for me to come to the understanding that I liked this better, riding with Frey. I could pay more attention to the beauty that was around me (even if it was mostly streaming by) and not where I was going. And he was warm and solid behind me and any warmth in Lunwyn, I had learned, should not only be made use of but treasured. It was a lazy way to go but it was definitely the better way to go.

Hmm.

I decided not to focus on that and instead, learn about my husband.

Therefore, I set about doing that.

“So,” I began, “uh… where have you been the last six weeks?”

“At sea,” he answered readily.

My brows went up but I kept my eyes on the vista before me. “That whole time?”

“That whole time,” he replied then went on, “or the part of it we weren’t in Middleland.”

I twisted my neck to look at him and got an eyeful of strong jaw and masculine throat. Attractive strong jaw and appealing masculine throat.

That was when I looked back forward.

“What were you doing in Middleland?”

“One of my men had an errand to run.”

Interesting.

“What was the errand?” I asked.

Frey did not answer.