This Time Next Year – another snippet

Here's another snippet from THIS TIME NEXT YEAR, you know, to tempt you to head to Amazon or Barnes & Noble and spend a whopping $2.69! (Remember, you don't have to have an ereader. Both stores have software for reading on your PC!)

He'd been right, and was stirring the stew fragrant with beef and draught beer when he heard the uneven slide of her socks on the floor behind him. He glanced back, but didn't linger. He didn't need to. Her sleep-tousled hair and eyes still not fully awake would stick with him a very long time.

As would the remnants of her fear. "How's your ankle?"

"It's okay. Sore, but I don't think it's sprained."

Her voice was low, a bit husky. With no door or bad weather between them, it was the first time he'd noticed the tone, and he let it settle, finding it unexpected, intriguing. Sexy. "Most likely it's bruised from being twisted. But you should still take it easy."

"I will. Thanks for drying my jeans. I guess they were pretty soaked."

Nodding, he set the business end of the ladle on the saucer beside the stove and turned to get his first real look at her. He knew she was tall from the way she'd fit against him on horseback. Knew, too, she was curvy.

But he hadn't had time to take her in and did so now. Admiring. Appreciating. Lusting inappropriately. He had a thing for long legs. "Sorry about…peeling them off without asking first, but it had to be done."