“Are you kidding?” he asked incredulously. “It’s freezing out there and the snow has got to be at least two feet deep!”

“It’s nice! It’s fresh and clean and crisp outside. I love it after a snowfall like this.”

He looked entirely skeptical, but he said, “All right, if that’s what you want.”

And that was why she loved him so much. Because for him, it was always about what she wanted. And she knew exactly how lucky she was.

With the exception of eating a few more meals, Kat almost didn’t interact with her guest at all after their first meal together. Apparently his injuries caught up with him and all he wanted to do was sleep. Which she was completely fine with her because she didn’t think she could handle much more time in his presence what with him being all gorgeous and overwhelmingly sexy. It just wasn’t fair that he had it all coming and going like that. How was even the sanest woman alive supposed to resist that?

She wondered if he had always looked like that; if he had looked that way before he had been forged. Or had he needed to get used to seeing a stranger’s face and body in the mirror along with getting used to being a slave?

“The snow has stopped.”

Kat had been at the sink washing dishes when he suddenly spoke in her ear from behind her. She dropped her pot with a clatter and swung around to face him, unwittingly dripping water and suds on his feet. He was so close she could feel the inferno-like heat of his body flowing into her.

“I know. I peeked out earlier.” She lifted her hands, wanting to push him back a step and yet somehow afraid to touch him. As though if she started touching all that gorgeous male virility maybe she wouldn’t want to stop. And that just wouldn’t do. Not after spending the past few hours lecturing herself on all the reasons why it would be a bad, bad, very bad idea to get entangled with him any more than she already had. One: he was a Gargoyle. Two: he was obviously dangerous. Three: they didn’t make safety gear for battling back lusty Scottish men. Not since the chastity belt went out of style.

He seemed to notice her dilemma, because one of those heart-stopping smiles spread cockily over his lips. “Is there a problem, Kat lass?” he asked, the throaty rumble of his voice washing down over her as she cocked her head back and looked up at him.

“No. Nothing,” she said a bit hoarsely. And there was a gleam in his eye that told her he didn’t believe her for a single solitary second.

“Verra well then. Best be getting dressed. We’ll be leaving soon.”

“Leaving! We can’t leave! And if you hadn’t noticed you don’t have much in the way of clothes! I had to cut through your jeans in order to get them off you.”

“I was thinking maybe you know of a store in town that might have my size.”

“That’s open at eleven o’clock at night?” she countered. “Right after a blizzard? And town isn’t just a hop, skip, and a jump away. It’s miles between here and there and even with my truck we couldn’t make it through this snow.”

“I dinna say you were going tae buy the clothes for me.”

“You mean break in?” She gasped, utterly horrified. “That’s breaking the law!”

“Kat lass …”

“Don’t you ‘Kat lass’ me! We’re not breaking in … and the closest store that’s open twenty-four hours a day is forty minutes away! Walmart. But—”

“Then we’ll go there.”

“How?” she demanded to know. “We can’t drive! The roads are going to be impassable for days!”

“I noticed you had a coupla fine pairs of snowshoes in the front closet.”

“The front … when did you get the chance to look in the front closet?” she wanted to know.

“When you fell asleep earlier. Did you know,” he said, bracing a hand against the counter and leaning in even closer, “that you have the cutest li’le snore when you’re sleeping?”

“I do n—” Well, maybe she did. It had been a while since she’d actually fallen asleep with someone around. And even then they were at least polite enough not to mention it! “Yeah, well you snore like a freight train.”

“Aye. I likely do. I’m no’ used to sleeping in order to catch my rest. I’m used to being in the sun, baking the stone of my body while my touchstone regenerates me.”

He made it sound so beautiful, and she could hear the longing in his voice.

“But then that means you never get to sleep with …” She flushed. She had no right to posit about something so personal.

“No, lass. I only need tae regenerate a few hours every day. Four is well enough. So I can stay and sleep with you most of the day and go out into the daylight about four hours before dusk.”

“With me? I’m not sleeping with you,” she said, trying for indignant and achieving breathless.

“Well, for example then,” he said, his grin turning utterly devious.

“Oh. All right. But that doesn’t solve our problem. You have no clothes and you can’t walk forty miles naked in the freezing cold snow! And that’s if the Walmart is even open. The storm was very widespread and we still don’t have electricity. And I have a dog here. There’s no one to take care of Karma.”

At the sound of her name, Karma perked up from where she’d been having a nice long nap in front of the fire. However, she immediately put her head back down, clearly not interested in moving.

“She’s a breed meant for snow,” he pointed out, looking at Karma who immediately began to wag her tail in loud thumping sweeps against the floor. As if she understood everything they were saying. “We can bring her wherever we need tae go. But what we need tae do is get to a viable airport as soon as possible so we can fly out of here. We can take her with us if you want—”

“I am not flying Karma commercially! Do you know what they do to live animals on flights? They stick them in cargo holds that aren’t even climate-controlled!”

“Lass—”

“No! Don’t you ‘lass’ me! I won’t do it. And I’m not coming with you on this snow-covered Bataan death march!”

“She will no’ be flying cargo, Kat lass. She’ll be on a private jet in the cabin wi’ us.”