Chapter Fifteen
Raindrops continued to hit my face as my annoyance increased.
We wouldn’t be able to travel if such weather continued, but there was no way I could afford to delay an extra day with Aleixo.
Things between us were changing, and if I wanted to remain in denial about such things, I couldn’t remain with him longer than absolutely necessary.
“I think there’s an inn up ahead.”
He was right, of course. “The Cosy Lamb,” he muttered. “Well, that sounds downright jolly.”
“We will not be stopping.”
My feet sloshed through a puddle, and I bit back a groan as water seeped into my boots.
How completely and utterly miserable. I hadn’t changed my clothing in four days, my hair no longer trailed like a beautiful stream down my back, and I felt in such disarray that I was certain even my pointy ears were sagging a bit.
This was what it felt like to be a sopping wet dog… no offense to sopping wet dogs.
“What do you mean, we will not be stopping?” Aleixo mimicked my voice, and I glared at him.
“I don’t sound anything like that.”
“Perhaps not, but you do sound ridiculous. It’s pouring rain—”
“It’s not pouring rain.” A torrential downpour started just as I spoke, and I heard clicking from under my cloak.
“Even Dewdrop is complaining, and she’s the happiest creature I’ve ever laid eyes on!”
“Hey,” I started. “She could take offense to that!” More clicks sounded and a head popped out with a little smirk. “Okay, okay, fair enough. She might not, but I do.”
“It’s not as though you’re a particularly happy creature.”
Grumbling as more water stuck my hair to the back of my neck, I stomped onward. “Never mind that.”
“So we’ll stop, then?”
“We don’t need to spend the night here. We’ll make a burrow.”
He swung his pack, which was getting heavier from the water with every passing second. “Oh yes, a sopping wet burrow. Just what I’ve always longed for after walking through a river falling from the sky.”
“We will manage.”
His eyes narrowed as he walked closer to me. “Why? Are you scared of spending a night with me?”
Suddenly fuming, I spun around on my heel. “Allow me to make one thing clear, Aleixo.” I jabbed my finger into his chest to punctuate every word that followed. “There will be no spending of the night together, I fear very little, and,” one final jab, “you are not on that list.”
“That’s just what I needed to hear.” Before I could protest, he turned me in the direction of the inn and we were suddenly walking into a foyer with a smiling innkeeper looking between us. I could kill this man, and the innkeeper, for that matter.
Her gray hair sat atop her head in a neat bun, and her blue eyes sparkled with delight.
She was a self, which I was certainly not in the mood to deal with today.
A riddled self was quite possibly the worst sort to come across when one was in a mood such as I was.
They could speak for miles and never grow weary; they could riddle until they were blue in the face.
Another strike against Aleixo and his silly inn obsession today.
What harm could a little rain do, after all?
My squeaking boots on the floor was something I was attempting to ignore as I pondered that.
“Hello, and welcome! My name is Suzette, and I run the Cosy Lamb. Would our darling little traveling lovebirds like a room together?” she began. “We have the honeymoon suite, we have the bridal suite, we have the family suite, which has an adjoining door if you’ve got any children in tow; we have—”
Fearing she’d run out of oxygen if she continued, I cut her off, “The family suite will do.”
“Oh, you do have children! How wonderful!” Before we could correct her, she took a key from the hooks behind her and led us up the stairs. “Now for our meal options as you stay here, we have lamb and potatoes, we have chicken and carrots, we have rice and…”
“Say something,” I whispered to Aleixo. “Anything.”
“Why should I?” he whispered back intensely as we turned a corner to follow the self down the hall. She was laughing at something she’d said, although we had no idea what.
“Because I interrupted her last time!” I elbowed him a second time. “Say anything.”
“I don’t want to. She seems nice.”
“She’ll never stop talking if you don’t,” I hissed through gritted teeth.
She spun around and faced us with a beaming smile, continuing on like nothing, “Of course that option is also available for your children, once they join, and we also have roast beef and potatoes if lamb isn’t really your type.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it awkwardly. I couldn’t even recall half the foods she had listed. Was it lamb and rice? Or had she mentioned chicken and potatoes? Oh dear, I truly could not recall anything.
“I will have the chicken and carrots, please.” His arm wrapped around me, and when I began to pull away, it tightened. “And my wife will have the roast beef and potatoes.”
“Oh, you two make such a fine couple,” she gushed as she unlocked the door before us, holding it open so we could enter.
Aleixo pulled me in closer, pressing a kiss to my hairline. I wanted to deck him, but I leaned in, forcing a smile. “We certainly do,” I murmured through the false smile.
“I’ll leave the key for the adjoining door here and send your meal up shortly. I hope you enjoy your stay here at The Cosy Lamb. When I first opened this inn so many years ago—”
“I’m sure the story is a lovely one, but I really must get my wife some rest. She has been working so hard to reign in the little ones, and she is exhausted and quite a sopping mess.
” He held her arm and escorted her out of the room, talking over her with excitement and platitudes.
“Thank you so much for such a warm welcome; we will certainly be down some other time to hear this fascinating story. Thank you, yes, and goodnight.”
He closed the door swiftly as I watched, admiration clear in my eyes.
He flashed a quick wink in my direction as he turned the lock.
Walking across the room, he opened the door to the next room.
“Knock when you look half decent and dinner has arrived. And let Dewdrop out from under your cloak, our hostess is long gone.”