To Hunt a Ruby Remedy: A Grumpy/Sunshine Little Red Riding Hood Novella

Nine - Scarlette

I toppled intothe river with Ranulf below me. The cool water closed over my head, and I pushed against the warm expanse of muscled chest and flailed for the surface. My skirts tangled in my legs. My hair drifted out in every direction. Finally, my feet found purchase on the riverbed and I stood.

Ranulf wrestled his way upright, and I splashed him. “I can’t believe you did that!”

He raised his hands in surrender. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to; I reacted before I could think.”

The water only came to just above our waists, and despite getting a good look at him earlier, I was entranced by the sight of his chest. Something about watching the droplets slide down from his black hair and over those delicious muscles was mesmerizing. The necklace with multiple charms hanging off it only made the lack of anything else on his body even more apparent. It was a statement that clothes simply didn’t matter, or he’d have put in the same effort to keep them with him. The man hadn’t shown even a sliver of self-consciousness about being naked, and I could see why.

I closed my eyes for a moment. I should be reeling over the discovery that he could turn into a dragon, but somehow that seemed inconsequential compared to nakedness. Shapeshifting was a legend. Naked Ranulf was a too real temptation. “This was not what I had planned for my swim.”

When I opened my eyes, he was scowling at me. “Why did you even plan to go for a swim? You know Gideon is wandering the woods.”

“And he should be far from the cottage by this point. Besides, I figured the risk was minimal. He only cares about finding the dragon. He wanted to pay me to sleep with you and learn anything you knew, not get under my skirts himself.”

His expression somehow grew even fiercer. “You’re kidding.”

I shook my head. “Nope. A half silver for the information and another half silver for how I was to obtain it.” I considered our current predicament. “If he sees this, he’s going to think I changed my mind.”

I should get out of the river. Ranulf could pretend he was swimming without me.

I needed a chance to fully comprehend everything that had happened in the last quarter-hour. I couldn’t do that until I got away from distraction.

I started to turn, but Ranulf’s hands clamped on my hips, pulling me toward him. I gasped, startled by the sudden movement, and incredibly conscious of the minimal barrier between our bodies. He had pulled me close enough that there was no mistaking his reaction to our situation.

His lips barely moved, and his voice wouldn’t carry past the riverbank. “If that branch was Gideon, then he might be waiting at the tree line, watching us. Don’t turn around.”

“Why not?” My voice trembled. I wanted to put my hands back on his chest, to run them up over his shoulders, then back down below the water. But not with an audience. “It will look like pure chance if I turn and notice him. Then he can’t spy on us.”

“If you turn around, you will be giving him a view he has no right to.”

I glanced down at my chest. The water stopped below my breasts, but my tumble into the river had soaked me from head to toe. My thin shirt was completely transparent, plastered against my curves, leaving nothing to the imagination.

My cheeks heated, and I glanced up, expecting to see Ranulf looking at my chest.

He wasn’t. His forest green eyes were on my face, dark and searching.

My lips parted.

“May I kiss you, Scarlette?”

I threw my arms around his neck, forgetting about Gideon, not caring about anything but Ranulf’s body, all the places it touched mine, and all the places it could be touching. “Please do.”

He moved slowly, lowering his head the short distance between us with his eyes still locked on mine. Then his lips met mine and my eyes drifted closed. I could feel Ranulf’s hand fisting in my hair, but his lips were gentle against mine. He kept the kiss light. It was at once both the fairy-tale perfect dream young girls imagined for their first kiss and the heart pounding fulfillment women wanted from their lover. He gradually increased the pressure and sucked on my bottom lip.

I moved closer to him, seeking the heat of his body, but my shirt was a cool distraction against my skin. I let go of Ranulf and fumbled for the hem of my shirt.

He pulled back. “What are you doing?”

“I want this shirt off.”

Ranulf caged my wrists in one of his large hands. “Not here. That damn hunter might still be lurking in the woods.”

“Affenala curse him.” My shoulders slumped, and I rested my cheek against his shoulder.

Ranulf released my hands and began combing his fingers through my hair. “I didn’t think Affenala indulged in curses.”

“Under the circumstances, I think the goddess would sympathize with my frustration.”

“I don’t think Gideon is watching us, but I’d rather err on the side of caution. If that branch snapping was him, I think he probably saw us and moved on.”

“That would make sense. He’d assume the lure of his silver was too much for me; he wouldn’t want to interrupt my fact-finding mission.” I groaned. “I’m going to have to explain that I didn’t learn anything. He will not take it well.”

“Why bother? Take his coin and tell him the same things the villagers do, that the dragon flies over the forest occasionally, but makes his nest in the mountains.”

“I’m fine lying to him, but I’d feel guilty taking his coin as I did so.”

“Why? The money will do more good in your hands than his.”

I laughed and hugged Ranulf a little tighter. “I’ll still have to tell him I haven’t learned anything yet. It might be suspicious if I convinced you to spill all your secrets after a single frolic in the river.”

Ranulf snorted. “I’m touched that you think I’d be that tough to crack, but you are selling yourself short, Scarlette. It didn’t even take a ‘frolic in the river’ for me to divulge my secrets. I have no defenses against you.”

His casual pronouncement stunned me enough that I barely noticed him untangling himself from my hair. He tilted my chin up for a quick kiss and stepped back. “Stay here and stay facing the far bank. I’ll make sure Gideon isn’t waiting nearby.”

The walk backto the cottage was not the most comfortable for several reasons. My sodden skirts made me trip multiple times. The feel of my bodice laced up over a wet shirt was surprisingly uncomfortable, and my heart and mind were in a deadly battle that would leave no survivors.

Ranulf had decided that shifting and returning to the meadow where he had left his clothes would be safer than risking crossing paths with Gideon while walking back to the cottage naked.

That left me alone with my thoughts, which couldn’t stop trying to find a hidden meaning in Ranulf’s words. My heart insisted that he had risked exposure to protect me and that his statement of not having any defenses against me was practically a declaration of love. My mind pointed out that Ranulf was a kind man—much as he wanted to hide that fact—and the way he had put my safety above his own didn’t have to mean anything more than the fact that he was a good person. Under the circumstances, his words didn’t have to mean anything beyond the fact that he was attracted to me.

If my heart was right, then I might get to enjoy a few days of bliss. Then I had to return home. Even the most devout disciple of Affenala would admit that expecting anything more was unrealistic. Suppose I delivered the charm to Mama and came back. I didn’t have a life here. How long would Ranulf’s feelings last when I was constantly underfoot, contributing nothing? We had known each other for less than a week. A sane person did not plan their entire future around a single week, especially not one that was an exception to the norm.

If my mind was right, then I might still have those few days of bliss, but it wouldn’t be quite the same. Purely physical relationships rarely appealed to me. I wanted more. I already knew my time with Ranulf was limited, though, so asking for more made no sense.

Eventually, I realized that it didn’t matter what Ranulf had meant, since I couldn’t decide what I wanted. The only conclusions I reached were that I wanted to bed him and that, given the slightest push, I’d fall for him.

The cottage was empty when I returned, so I hurried upstairs to change. Ranulf had told me his sister kept a few changes of clothing in a trunk in the attic and I was welcome to borrow them. Given that I only had spare undergarments with me, and my skirt and now wet bodice would soak through them within minutes, I decided to accept the offer.

Rosalia was a little shorter than me, and more slender, but not enough to make the clothes ridiculous. The skirt and petticoat didn’t quite reach my ankles, and the edges of the bodice didn’t meet when I laced it up, but the fit was good enough.

Dry and dressed, I went back downstairs and got started on the pie. The cottage had a wonderful little oven built into the brickwork of the fireplace, and by the time I had finished assembling the pie, it was hot enough. I stuck to the familiar cast-iron pot for a loaf of bread, but I had to admit, the oven was a wonderful convenience. Back home, I had to barter with the tavern keeper for the use of his ovens if I wanted to make something like a pie.

I slid the pie into the oven and went to clean up.

The garden door opened, and I smiled, expecting to see Ranulf. Instead, a woman with the same black hair, albeit threaded with a bit of silver, entered the cottage. She looked barely older than my mother, though I knew she had to be at least two decades older, with a straight spine and arms corded with muscle.

I remembered my first conversation with Ranulf, when I told him he was too muscular to pass as a grandmother and he had told me I clearly hadn’t met his. I clapped a hand over my mouth to hold back a giggle.

The woman cocked her head to the side and considered me. Despite her obvious strength, there was a hint of exhaustion in her hazel eyes. “You don’t look like a dragon-hunter.”

“That would be Gideon, not me. Please, sit down. I’ll make you some tea. There is also soup over the fire.” I had been waiting for Ranulf to return to eat.

She sat at the head of the table. “You are very comfortable in my kitchen.”

“Taking over a few household tasks was the least I could do. Your grandson is making a charm for me that I can’t afford.” I ladled out a bowl of soup and put the kettle over the fire.

Grandmother Molle accepted the bowl. “Ranulf is letting you help around the house?”

I smiled. “I didn’t give him much of a choice, then bribed him with bread and pie.”

Ranulf’s grandmother laughed. “Smart girl. What’s your name?”

“Scarlette.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Scarlette. Now, tell me about this dragon-hunter. All we heard down in Ortfel was that someone was asking around about dragons.”

“His name is Gideon. He arrived in Wulfkin a few days ago and did everything he could to convince the villagers to share what they knew. He offered silver; when that didn’t work, he tried to get everyone drunk, but Mistress Weslet was having none of it.” I prepared two mugs of tea and brought them both to the table. “He arrived at the cottage yesterday. He is out looking for the dragon now.”

I stopped there, not sure if I should say anything that betrayed that I knew the identity of the dragon. I wasn’t fond of deception, but I figured it was Ranulf’s decision to tell his grandmother that he had let an outsider in on the secret.

Did everyone in the villages know? Mistress Weslet must, it was why she had needed to send a note to Ranulf. Was the secret only that Ranulf could change forms, or was there more to it?

“The hunter is staying here?”

I pulled my thoughts back to the conversation at hand. “He wouldn’t take no for an answer, and unlike me, he can pay for his room.”

My questions would have to wait for later. Not that I truly expected Ranulf to explain everything.

Grandmother Molle waved her hand through the air in a dismissive gesture. “That room is meant for people in need. You have more right to it than the huntsman.”

The garden door opened again.

“Nana!” Ranulf crossed to his grandmother’s side in a few easy strides and kissed her on the cheek. “Everything went well with the birth?”

I rose, letting Ranulf and his grandmother talk. I prepared another mug of tea and grabbed two more bowls for soup.

“I was there. Of course it went well. I stayed a few extra days to make sure mother and child were doing well. They are strong. They’ll be fine now.”

“Did you hear about the dragon-hunter?”

“I did. Scarlette was just telling me more about him.”

Ranulf looked at me, a question in his eyes. I carried the soup to the table and gave him the tiniest shake of my head.

His lips pressed together for a moment, then he looked at his grandmother and one shoulder lifted in a minuscule shrug. “I planned to lead him off toward the mountains today, but encountered a few complications.”

Grandmother Molle looked at me. It was a considering look, not mad or accusatory. My cheeks flamed under the attention, remembering exactly what form one complication had taken.

I darted a glance at Ranulf and saw that his cheeks had taken on a rosy hue as well.

“Complications,” Grandmother Molle said dryly.

Ranulf nodded. “The hunter wasn’t watching the sky. The idiot stayed under the trees most of the day. It took me hours to catch his attention. I planned to lead him up the river, then veer off to the mountains, but he never made it. I’ve given up for the day. Scarlette’s charm still needs work.”

Grandmother Molle set her spoon down. Her bowl was empty. “You seem to have everything in hand here. If you don’t need me, then I think I’m going to take a nap. The trip from Ortfel is harder on my old bones these days.”

Ranulf rose and kissed his grandmother’s cheek once more. “Rest, Nana. We’ll survive without your help for a few more hours.”

His grandmother got to her feet and moved down the short hall to the bedrooms. She went into hers and closed the door.

Ranulf watched her. Then a few seconds after the door closed, he cursed.

“What is it?”

“With Grandmother back, we now have four people and only three bedrooms.”

I blinked. “You are kidding, right?”

He scowled. “I will not assume that you are comfortable with me sharing your room, and I’m certainly not sharing with Gideon.”

I pressed my lips together to hide a smile as I imagined how Ranulf would react if someone told him he had to share a room with the hunter. “You’d probably kill him.”

Ranulf crossed his arms. “No. I refuse to let him turn me into a murderer. I’d transform him into a frog.”

I blinked. He sounded serious. “Can you do that?”

I supposed it wasn’t so far-fetched, considering he turned into a dragon.

“Theoretically.” He shrugged and uncrossed his arms. “It is much harder to affect a different person than yourself. That’s why it takes so much effort for a mage to heal somebody, yet their own body will heal at an unnatural rate even if they are unconscious. With the node, I have enough power to shrink a human down to frog size, but I don’t have the knowledge to perform the transformation successfully.”

He paused. “Actually, I can only shift myself between human and dragon forms. I should be able to do more, but I developed a mental block as a child.” Ranulf frowned. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

I let the smile I had tried to hold in stretch across my face. “You are talking to me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“A few days ago, I could barely get you to answer a question with yes or no. Now you are volunteering information.” Whatever had changed between us, it was more than physical attraction. There was more between us.

Ranulf shrugged, but despite his show of nonchalance, I knew he was embarrassed. “You already know my biggest secret. It isn’t like anything else I tell you can top that.”

“That’s not the point.” I stood up and rounded the table. Ranulf shifted in his seat, turning as best he could to face me when I stopped at his side. I leaned down and kissed him, a fleeting press of my lips against his, then straightened. “I need to check on the pie.”

I felt his eyes on me as I moved to the fireplace. He didn’t say anything, but it was no longer because he didn’t want to. No, Ranulf didn’t know what to say to me. I pulled the pie from the oven and set it in the kitchen to cool.

Ranulf jerked to his feet. “I should work on your charm.”

He settled into a chair in the front of the cottage, and I let him be. I wanted to tease him more, but the mention of the charm reminded me why I was here. I had to remember that I only had a few more days with Ranulf. I shouldn’t push for more than was already between us. The result would only be pain.