Tanon yanked it away.
“You’re not hurt, are you?”
“Not at all.” She bit off each word with equal venom, then gave her hair a prim pat.
“Good, because I want you to ride with me today.”
“I’d rather you strap me to the wheel of the carriage,” she murmured.
He had the audacity to chuckle! She was torn between gaping at him and giving him the glare he deserved.
“My goodness, but you have to be the rudest man in all of Wales.”
“Cymru,” he corrected, grinning at her loss of composure. “After I teach you how to walk without falling, I’ll teach you moreCymraeg.”
Her mouth dropped open and then snapped shut again before she stormed away from him. She made it to the carriage at the same time Gareth reached his horse. He leaped into the saddle and whirled the steed around in her direction.
Tanon yanked on the door, her eyes opening wider as he cantered closer. Without slowing his horse’s pace, he reached down and gathered her under his arm, lifting her feet off the carriage step. She landed hard enough on his lap to make her teeth knock together.
Snapping her head around, she fastened her scalding gaze on him. “That was quite an impressive feat. What might you do next, strip naked and kill a wild boar with your bare hands?”
Gareth stared at her, his honeyed brow rising with surprise. “You have a mouth like a she-devil. I thought you were a lady, Tanon?”
“Did you have an actual thought?” she shot back before she could stop herself. “Or were there just grunting sounds inside your empty head?”
He still wore that infuriating smile, but his eyes flashed at her with warning.
“Woman, you try my patience.”
“And you try mine!” she flung at him, turned to face the road, and swatted a curl away from her face.
“Don’t raise your voice to me again.”
“Don’t raise yours to me,” she countered. She felt his entire body go stiff behind her. She waited for him to say something else. When he didn’t, she peeked over her shoulder. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Aren’t you going to order me to apologize to you now?”
“Nay, I’m considering that the best way to avoid tossing you off my horse is to avoid speaking to you at all.”
She spun around to face him, her green eyes blazing with insult. “There will be no need for threats. I’ll do my best never to speak to you again!”
He grinned. “You would do that for me?”
Tanon bristled in his lap. “I would if you promised to learn how to behave like a civilized man,” she retorted and pulled away from him. He hauled her back. She tried to ignore him and the way his large hand covered most of her belly. The contact was hot, needful, suddenly possessive.
“You won’t make a peacock out of me, Tanon.” A broad sweep of his thumb just below her breasts made her quiver against him.
“And what is so terrible about peacocks?” she challenged him. “They diligently preen themselves to woo a female, proudly displaying their magnificent feathers for all to see.”
He nuzzled through the abundance of her hair until he found her ear. “Would you like me to display my feathers then?” His husky, melodious offer sent a heated fissure to her groin.
She fought her reaction to his touch, but it was no use. His hard body behind her felt even harder, even tighter. Being with him every day, looking at him, sleeping with him, was slowly driving her mad. At first, she had thought him a savage, but he hadn’t tried to force himself on her. He hadn’t even kissed her again since the morning after the attack. He simply tortured her beyond mercy by giving her all his attention, and by being a complete gentleman—when he wasn’t tossing her onto his horse.
She opened her mouth but found that her retort had gone sour. For some horrible reason, she suddenly envisioned him naked with a dozen eager women all around him. Women who knew exactly what to do with all that man. The thought of it made her grind her teeth and curl her hands into fists.
“These women that you’ve been with, did you care for any of them?” She swore to herself that she would ignore him for the rest of the day, no matter how much she would rather be kissing him, if he said that he had.