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"I don’t trust you"

"Balthazar’s been poisoning your h the daesture rees And his reasons, I suppose But you must have learned by now that, when it coood and evil can become rather … relative"

"You broke in rave insisted "You don’t believe me, of course Well, let’s strike a deal I’ll help you hoist the formidable Mr More onto the back of your horse and let you both depart, safe and sound In his case, also frozen, but don’t worry He’ll thaw"

Skye hesitated "What do I owe you in return?"

"One conversation You and I, with nobody else present--and that includes Balthazar And instead of spending all your tiuard I am, you’ll listen Really listen" He leaned still closer, and two of his fingers curled around one tendril of her brown hair that had shaken free from the helmet "Is that so unfair?"

There had to be more to it She knew that But what could she do?

"Hurry, Skye You can’t yet hear the others approaching, but I can Perhaps it’s Constantia and Charity, who are loyal to me and won’t touch you without my permission--but perhaps it’s not"

"Well--when do we have this talk? And where?" She was stalling now; it was obvious that he knew it

Teasingly, he singsonged, "I will choose the tiood girl and hear e reed Now help rave scooped his arms around Balthazar and lifted him as easily as he could have done Skye herself She went to Eb and took the reins, soothing hih the placement of the heavy, unfamiliar burden on his back Balthazar lay unconscious, storave stepped away "Until we "

Hands still on the reins, Skye said, "What’s that?"

"You were in grave danger today, and it wasn’t Balthazar who saved you"

Redgrave took one step back, and then see away so quickly, so inhuer after he did Skye didn’t stay to find out who elseup into the saddle instantly, thinking only of Balthazar and home

Peppermint had already found her way back to the stables and stood there outside the door, blinking sleepily

"You saved your own butt pretty quickly, huh, fatso?" Skye said "fatso" as fondly as it was possible to; she’d been half convinced the old rateful to see her Peppermint had been Dakota’s, after all Skye wanted to keep so of his safe Maybe she should nail a couple of crucifixes up in the stables

Sheto regain consciousness Though he couldn’t speak, and still didn’t seeuided hio, he sluet hiuided the horses into their stalls, grabbed her cell phone, and begged Mrs Lefler to coency, she claimed Fortunately, Mrs Lefler didn’t ask, just promised to be there within fivehi, then went back to Balthazar

Once his uide hih the house By now he had started to talk … sort of

"Redgrave"

"That’s right He was in the woods" He came after us, she wanted to say, but that wasn’t the truth, was it? And Skye couldn’t bring herself to say, he saved us, even though that appeared to be the case "Coht hih her parents weren’t expected back until after et home early probably would be when she had a semiconscious man laid out on the sofa Once they were up there, Skye wasn’t sure what to do until she glanced at the door of her bathrooet you undressed"

"Wait" Balthazar pushed away her hands "Shouldn’t"

"I’ you in a hot shower You can’t do it yourself" Skye tugged off his wet coat, then got to work unbuttoning his shirt The damp fabric stuck to his skin "I’ve seen a nadto fall out in astonishue any further, but as she got down to yank off his boots (cold river water dribbling out of them), she noticed that he clumsily saw to his own belt and jeans But as he stripped theht Deep breaths Yeah, she’d seen Craig naked, and Craig was a hot guy, but Balthazar was--like a statue, soed to tear her eyes away long enough to get the shower running The water ran hot right away, clouds of stea at the mere presence of heat Really, she needed a hot shower, too, but cli in with a nad Balthazar--that would definitely undo her "no molestation" promise