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treating backs as they left her alone in the large, intimidating room. |
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Oh, she'd been a Girl Scout once, for a short while, in one of the many places she'd lived as a child. Had it been Albany? Alabama? She couldn't remember. But it was one of the happier memories of her childhood. |
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Now and then, as an adult, she'd stayed in resorts where she had lit fires in her room. But many of them had been equipped with gas jets. Had matches even been invented in this time? What would she do if they hadn't? |
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She gamely approached the huge fireplace. Sure enough, a huge cauldron hung from a system of ornate metal bars right over a pile of ashes and half-burned wood. Interestingly, the support bar seemed hinged. Using a metal tool that looked designed for such things, Mariah pulled out the bar till it was perpendicular to its original position. The pot dangled from another bar hanging from the first, and heat radiated from it. The fire must not have been out for too long. Maybe there were some embers she could encourage to burn again. . . . But when Mariah prodded the ashes and wood with a poker, she saw not even the slightest glow. |
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She looked around. From a rack beside the stonework, she picked up first a couple of large pieces, then some smaller ones. Maneuvering around the hot wood still lying there, she laid a fire in the best manner she could remember. |
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Working in her long skirt was awkward at first, as she stooped, rose, then stooped again, but she soon forgot about it. She took her time and was finally pleased with the careful pyramid of wood. But now what? |
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Near the wood pile was a small metal box. Might it contain matches? No, just a piece of what appeared to be steel and a rock. She put it down again and, feeling frustrated, turned to hunt again for a way to light the fire. |
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She nearly bumped into Thorn's solid, muscular frame. "Oh!" she exclaimed, retreating a step, but not before she had taken a pleasing whiff of soft leather and wood smoke. She realized that was the closest she had been to Thorn since meeting him. |
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He'd crept up on her silently yet again, damn him! Any |
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