Chapter 9
Freya
Iwake up to a lot of faces looking down at me. I try to focus my eyes and fail, so I just close them back down. I try to think back to what happened and remember my family trying to get me to leave Hunter's Peak by force. I feel a cool damp cloth against my forehead and try to open my eyes again.
This time there's only one person in my view, and it's my mountain man. Who apparently goes around carrying weapons. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I'm certain he saved the day today. Oh my God, I've got a lot of explaining to do.
"Yes, you do."
Wait, did I say those words out loud? From the look on his face I did, and I shut my eyes once more.
"Don't you dare, kitten. I know you're awake. Can you try and sit up for me?"
I open my eyes again and grab the hand he's offering me. When I'm in a sitting position someone offers me a bottle of water to drink. I gulp as the cool liquid goes down my throat. Is my family gone for good? Or will they try to take me by force again?
Connor is watching me intently, and I try and give him a smile but it fails.
"Can we go home, please?"
He still looks angry, but a moment of relief passes through his face before it's gone. I would have missed it if I hadn't been looking at him so intently. Before I know it, he's picked me up and is placing me on the passenger seat of his truck.
The drive up the mountain is silent, and my brain is going a mile an hour. I need to tell my fiancé everything. Will it matter that I didn't want to do what my family wanted to force me to do? Will he understand? We arrive home, and he goes back to carrying me as if we were just married.
Inside the house he takes me to the bedroom and starts taking my clothes off. I thought we were going to talk, but perhaps my mountain man needs another type of reassurance. When my arms are uncovered, there are deep purple bruises on both of them and Connor growls. Yes, growls like a feral animal.
"I'm going to kill them. I'll hunt them down and kill them myself."
I reach for his face and make him look me in the eyes.
"No, you're not going to do that, my love. I don't want you to go to jail."
"How could your family treat you like this?" He hesitates, "You know what? It doesn't matter, I want you to get into a hot bath so you can relax."
He helps me out of all my clothes and covers me with a terrycloth bathrobe. Then he leaves me sitting at the edge of the bed as he runs the bath for me. When he comes back, he leads me towards the bath and I get in. The hot water immediately loosens up the knots I have in my back and in my arms.
How does he know exactly what I need, when I need it? This man. I love him so much. And I need to tell him, but first he's got to know about my family.
"Will you sit down and listen?" I ask him.
"I will listen to everything you have to say."
That's how I start my story about how my father decided it was my time to marry and found two of his businessmen buddies that wanted me in exchange for high quantities of money. How I looked into the dating site with the goal of getting away, and finding him gave me hope.
"Connor, I don't know if this is the last we'll see of them. He was going to make a lot of money from those business partners."
"Freya, I love you. What do you want to do? I'll follow your lead."
"I love you, too, Connor. I want us to get married as soon as possible."
"Then that's what we'll do. A ring. We need a ring."
"That's okay, we can go ring shopping after we're married."
"No, I've got one. Wait for me here."
He rushes out of the bathroom and goes to his bedroom, or at least that's where I think he's going.
After a few minutes he comes back with a lovely ring box and opens it in front of me.
A simple band with a pear shaped diamond rests on the box as he looks at me as if I'm the most beautiful woman in the world.
"Freya, kitten, will you marry me?"
"Yes! Of course I'll marry you. When did you get this?"
I offer him my hand so that he can place the engagement ring on my finger, and after he places it, he kisses my hand as if I were royalty.
"Come here and celebrate with me, Connor."
He takes off his clothes at record speed and joins me in the giant tub. Water splashes everywhere when he gets in but we don't mind the mess. We'll clean it later. What we need to do right now is to seal the deal. We're getting married and nothing or no one will stop us.