The Claiming

He guided old Duke at a nice steady gait back towards the ranch house; neither of us said another word until we reached the porch.

“Go on inside and get warm, you might as well put on a pot of coffee I don’t think either one of us is going to get any sleep tonight.”

“Speak for yourself I could sleep for the next twelve hours easy.” I grumbled under my breath but he somehow heard me.

“What was that?”

“Uh nothing, nothing at all, just talking to myself.”

I rushed into the house after shaking off the excess snow from my boots and light jacket; I’d only been wearing it because it was more comfortable to drive in than my bulky winter coat, which was in the trunk of my car, but if course Mr. Know-it-all had to call me stupid. Sometimes I wished I had the nerve to call him on his bullshit.

Heading straight for the kitchen I got the water ready and measured out the coffee so his majesty could have something hot to drink after he had seen to his horse.

That was his only redeeming quality, his love for that old horse, a horse he’d had since his early teens and refused to trade up, he cared for that horse like it was his child, it’s the only thing that told me he was human, that and the way he treated his little sister.

I was sitting next to the fire he had going in the hearth when he finally came in, his golden russet, who knows what color hair, was all mussed, his jaw was a little shadowed and his face was red from the cold, still he was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.

See, I was cursed from birth, it was just my luck that my one and only crush made Ebenezer T Scrooge look like the tooth fairy.

“Let me see your hands.”

He walked over and took my hands in his before I could protest. The shock of his touch went through me like a hot knife through butter and I almost jumped out of my skin.

“Would you be still, why the hell are you always so skittish?”

“I don’t know, sorry, I don’t mean to be…”

Talk about ice water on a hot libido, I wish I could get over this foolish high school dream, you would think after a year and more of this type of treatment those feelings would’ve died, but nope, no such luck.

“Where are your gloves Jade?”

“I lost them.” I finally found my voice after enjoying the sound of my name on his lips, I don’t think I’d ever heard him call me by name before, and he need not say it again either, unless he wanted me in a puddle at his feet. Sweet merciful heavens, wet panty alert.

He rubbed my hands between his to bring back the warmth, I guess he figured if I got too close to the fire to warm them I might burn them or something, seeing that I was such a ditz.

He got up and took down two mugs when the coffee was ready.

“I prefer hot chocolate….”

He huffed before turning away and getting the chocolate out of the cupboard.

I’m no fool, I’ve heard stories about his hot chocolate though I had yet to taste it, and I wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass me by.

He chopped chunks of chocolate, heated the milk and added a stick of what smelt like cinnamon and some other things he seemed to add randomly. He was too quick for me to see what they were but it smelled heavenly.

I sat like a mute feeling very self-conscious all of a sudden, what the hell were we supposed to do for the next few hours?

From experience I knew this storm wasn’t letting up anytime soon, poor dad would be worried sick as there was no way to contact him, phone service both landline and cell were a joke in these parts in weather like this.

“My dad’s going to be so worried.”

“Your dad’s not home, he was called out on a missing person’s report, seems some hikers have been missing off the trails for a couple days and they called him in since he’s the best tracker in these parts. He called me before him and his team headed out and asked me to keep an eye out for you.”

“Oh…” Well that sucks, I guess I would be spending another thanksgiving alone then.

I felt very tired and very alone all of a sudden, something must’ve shown on my face because the ogre gave me a gruff, “Don’t pout, your father has a job to do, you should be proud of him.”

“I’m not pouting.”

“Yes you are, now here, drink your hot chocolate like a good girl and get warmed up.”

I did as I was told.

“Damn….”

“Good?”

I nodded my head like a bobble head doll, good wasn’t the word, it was ambrosia. Sweet and creamy and hot.