She narrowed her eyes.
He shrugged. “Stop moaning. Your discomfort’s nothing compared to Kit’s suffering.”
Heloise cursed him to the deepest bowels of hell.
The cheep of crickets was an endless racket. The waves of sound rose to a screeching crescendo then fell again, like a throbbing headache, and a heat haze wavered above the parched landscape, distorting the perspective. There was no discernible trail. They were probably lost and Raven was too proud to admit it. They were going to be eaten by wolves. She hoped they ate him first, so she could watch. At least she’d die happy.
He glanced over at her and chuckled. “Poor little Hellcat.”
“I wish you wouldn’t call me that.”
“What?” he asked, all innocence. “Hell-cat? Hell-oise.” He deliberately put the emphasis on the first syllable just to provoke her.
“Yes. And it’s the French pronunciation. TheHis silent. I’ve told you a million times. Ell-oh-ease.”
—
Raven watched Heloise’s lips form the three distinct syllables of her name and cursed the way his body tightened in response. At the “ell” her tongue peeked out and licked her even, white teeth. The soft exhale of the “oh” pursed her lips forward as if she were waiting for a kiss. And the final “ease” stretched her mouth into the same wide, satisfied smile she’d wear after exhausting, mind-altering sex.
Holy hell, it was a provocative name. Everything about the bloody woman sent him into an agony of lust. Hell-oise was apt; he burned for her hotter than the fiery pits of Satan.
What kind of a ridiculous name was it, anyway? It was a houri’s name, a courtesan’s name. She ought to be in some Persian seraglio, not flitting about the lush English countryside driving people mad. Raven grimaced. Her father might be an English lord, but her mother was quintessentially French. That parental dichotomy surely explained the warring sides of her nature; reserved and composed on the surface, wayward and unruly beneath. It was a lethal combination.
Chapter 14
Heloise almost cried when Raven stopped and tied the horses—whom she’d secretly named Hades and Persephone—to a scrubby tree. She slid off Persephone and had to clutch the stirrup for support when her knees gave way. Her thighs protested as she walked slowly around the clearing.
“Don’t go wandering off,” Raven warned. “You have the survival instincts of a day-old kitten.”
“I’m perfectly able to fend for myself.”
His derisive snort was far from complimentary. “If I left you alone for five minutes, you’d be in trouble faster than you can say ‘hieroglyphics.’ ”
Patronizing ass.
Heloise turned away to study one of the trees at the edge of the clearing. She plucked one of the long, brown withered beans that hung from the branches, snapped it in half, and sniffed. It was rich and fruity, and she smiled in sudden recognition.
Raven marched over and snatched it off her. “Leave that alone.”
She snatched it back. “It’s a carob. I recognize it from my research on Ancient Egypt. The bean itself,” she waved the brown stem at him for emphasis, “is a hieroglyphic symbol, although no one’s quite sure what it’s supposed to mean.” She studied the wizened fruit with a sense of wonder. “I’ve only ever seen these in illustrations. Did you know that carob seeds were traditionally used by people in the Middle East as a unit of weight? That’s where we get the term ‘carat’ for weighing gold and gemstones.”
“You are a fount of useless knowledge.”
She ignored his sarcasm and took an experimental nibble. It was sweet and chewy, not entirely unpleasant.
“Don’teatit!” Raven’s face was the picture of horrified disbelief. He grabbed her jaw and squeezed. “What are you doing? Spit it out!”
Heloise swatted his hand away. “It tastes a lot like dates,” she mumbled. “Stop being ridiculous.”
“What if the hieroglyphic symbol of a carob turns out to denote instant, horrible death? What if you’ve made a mistake and that’s some look-alike relation that’s deadly poisonous? Christ, Heloise, there’s a big difference between book learning and practical experience. Spit it out.”
Heloise shot him a look of pure defiance and swallowed.
He watched her with an expression of fatalistic dread.
She couldn’t resist. Adopting a look of surprised horror, she clutched her throat, staggered a little for dramatic effect, and bent over, gasping.
Raven’s brows shot together. He stepped forward just as she straightened up and grinned.