Blue Bonnets by Marie Laval

‘Calm down, sweetheart, I was just…’
    She stomped her foot on the ground again.
    â€˜Don’t tell me to calm down, and don’t tell me I am making a scene. And above all, don’t call me sweetheart! I wish you’d stop talking to me as if I was five years old. I wish you’d leave me alone and I’d never see you again. But most of all I wish I’d never met you.’
    â€˜You said that before,’ he remarked coolly. ‘Now, if you’ve finished your little tantrum, it’s time we went back to the cottage…’
    That did it. She didn’t remember raising her arm and taking aim but the next thing she knew she threw the snowball at him. It hit his chin with a soft thud.
    She let out a squeak, put her hand in front of her mouth and stepped back.
    â€˜You need to improve your aim,’ he said, deadly calm as he brushed the white powder off his dark beard. ‘It was off target if you meant to get me on the nose,’
    â€˜I – I didn’t mean to hit you.’
    â€˜Yes, you did. Let me show you how it’s done.’
    He bent down to scoop some snow and threw a snowball at her. She was so surprised she didn’t move and it caught her on the shoulder.
    He tossed another snowball. This time she ducked and it landed behind her.
    â€˜What are you doing?’ she asked.
    â€˜I thought it was obvious. We’re having a snowball fight, aren’t we?’
    He gathered a handful of snow, and shaped it between his hands.
    â€˜Come on, what are you waiting for?’ he called, a wide smile on his face.
    It took her a split second to make up her mind. If Lord McGunn challenged her to a snowball fight, then she would show him what she was capable of. She bent down, packed some snow between her hands and threw a ball but he dodged it and it landed on the ground.
    â€˜Is that the best you can do?’ The sunlight caught his eyes again, made them shine with silver sparkles.
    She hurled the next ball straight at his head.
    â€˜I got you! I got you!’ She cried out, jumping up and down when she caught him on the nose.
    â€˜Not bad, but a little weak.’
    â€˜Weak, you said? Then how do you find this one?’
    She hurled another snowball at him. It hit him hard on the chin, peppering his dark beard with white.
    â€˜That was pure chance. I wasn’t concentrating. I bet you can’t do that again.’
    â€˜Watch me.’
    She moulded half a dozen more snowballs and pummelled him with them. Every time they hit their target with a satisfying thump, she jumped up and down and shrieked with delight. In contrast, his aim was so poor he almost always missed her. It was almost as if he was doing it on purpose.
    â€˜I won! Look at you, you’re all white.’ She laughed as she pointed at his hair, face and coat scattered with fresh snow.
    Her foot caught a rock hidden under the snow and she stumbled forward, straight into his arms, making them both lose their balance. He swayed before falling backward and cushioning their fall with his body, and she found herself lying on top of him, his body hard and warm under her.
    He wrapped his arms around her, so tightly she stopped breathing, and the world became a blur – the snow fields, the dark green forest and the sharp, crisp blue sky all melted into a kaleidoscope of colours. Underneath her, he was no longer smiling, but tense and hard as steel.
    He slid her up along his body until their eyes, their mouths were level. Slipping one hand onto the nape of her neck, he pulled her down towards him, slowly, inexorably. Her heart drummed as hard as a bendir . She held her breath, waiting, willing for their lips to touch. Her mind shut down. Nothing existed, nothing mattered but him and the flame that danced and burned inside her, higher and stronger with every heartbeat.
    â€˜Damn it, graidheag , I want you and I don’t care who you are,’ he said in a hoarse voice