Waking was a slow process, the cold that numbed her nose and the tips of her ears the strongest prompts to pull Lydia from sleep. Blankets bunched tightly around her body and past her neck, and as she opened her eyes, she had to poke her head out from her warm cocoon in order to see where she was.
It was still the cabin, she was still bundled in Del’s bed, and there, amidst the golden glow coming from the fireplace, slept the man in question.
She regarded him without moving, grateful for the chance to do so without impediment. He had stripped out of his shirt at some point in the night and stretched out on the floor on his back, a gray wool blanket loose around his legs. His lashes were dark shadows against his cheeks, but it wasn’t his boyish features that made her lungs tighten. The ab
