Read Online Once Upon a Romance 02 - As The Last Petal Falls by Jessica Woodard - Free Book Online

respectfully, and dispersed to go make their preparations. Fain sighed and pointed his feet back to his own chamber. He had his own assignment to take care of.

    After a few hours of playing nursemaid, Fain was ready to hand the lass back over to the wolves, if it would just get him some peace. She really was weak from the fever and her long days out-of-doors, but instead of making her tired and compliant, it just made the little spitfire fretful. She’d turned her nose up at the broth and biscuits the Shapherd brothers had sent up for her, and wouldn’t drink the bitter concoctions Connelly had left until he threatened to sit on her and pour them down her throat. She complained of being dirty, and smelly, and excessively warm, until a mild fever returned, and then she huddled in the blankets and complained of the chill. She was bored, she was tired, and she was “unaccustomed to having great oafs glaring at her just because she expressed her opinion.”
    “If your opinion is always so spiteful, it’s a wonder people don’t do more than glare at you,” Fain said through gritted teeth. He had just about had enough.
    “Forgive me.” Her voice was icy. “I have a hard time being gracious to someone who does nothing but insult me. Should I be grateful for your vile comments on my character?”
    “You should really be grateful that I haven’t throttled you yet!”
    “How dare you threaten me? ! “
    Fain’s temper finally snapped. “How dare I? This is my keep! I took you in, had your injuries tended, and have been playing nursemaid while you’ve abused me at every turn! It’s a wonder I haven’t tossed you back out in the snow!” He was practically roaring with rage, but his fellow combatant had gone strangely silent. “What?” he snarled. “No biting comment about my temper?” She still didn’t speak, and he threw himself into the hard, wooden chair, letting out a grumble of frustration and anger. He yanked a book free from his shelf and opened it, hardly seeing the words before his eyes, but determined to ignore the wench in his bed.
    After a few moments she spoke, her voice sounding small. “What are you reading?”
    He almost didn’t answer her, but she’d asked graciously enough, so he sighed and said, “It’s an old collection of fairy stories.” He expected her to scoff at him, but her eyes brightened a bit.
    “I love fairy stories. I had a large illustrated collection when I was younger, but one of my governesses took it from me when she caught me reading my favorite tales over and over, rather than my lesson books. I’m afraid the history of the outer provinces wasn’t a topic I was terribly interested in when I was eight.” She sighed pensively, and stopped, but after the past hours Fain had no trouble guessing what had happened.
    “How did you get back at her?”
    The lass blushed, but didn’t try to deny that he was right. “I waited until my father came to visit one of my lessons, and then I asked her if we could discuss human anatomy again, since I couldn’t remember all the male parts. She gaped at me and tried to protest to my father that she’d never taught me such a thing, but she got so flustered that she turned red and ran out of the room.”
    Fain stifled a laugh. It was a wicked thing to do, but a clever revenge for an eight year old. “What happened?”
    “Father spanked me for it. He knew I was lying. Then he asked me why I’d tried something so horrible, and I told him. He found my governess a position elsewhere until I was older and could appreciate her. But he wouldn’t let me have my book back; he said it was my punishment for ‘abusing my station.’” When the lass imitated her father, she put on a deep voice and pulled her brows together threateningly. It was altogether charming, and Fain quickly asked another question to make her stop.
    “Did she ever come back as your governess?”
    “Indeed, the year I was sixteen. By then my lessons fascinated me,