TWENTY-FIVE
Day after day, the snow fell, building up deeper and deeper in the courtyard until Ursula had to take up a shovel to find the woodpile again. And still the snow fell, until it stopped.
She should have known the true winter freeze had set in, really, for that's what it felt like every year when the fire in her tower room was no longer enough to keep the cold at bay. But waking up in Bernard's arms, her face pressed against his chest, confused her more than she was willing to admit.
She lay there a moment longer than she should have, enjoying the warmth, before she'd forced herself to move away. She tried to tell herself that he must have grabbed her in her sleep, but she knew it was a lie. Such a shared embrace showed she'd sought him out, as much as he'd wanted her to. It wa
