"Nay, not at all. My father loves me, and well I know it. I do talk too much. "Tis a fault I"ve had all my life. My mother claims it"s because I had no other sibling, and since she wanted to have a large family the good Lord gave her me. I might be a single child, but I make enough noise for several dozen."
Ewan snorted at that.
"Was that a laugh?"
"Nay, it was a noise of agreement."
"Mmm," she said as she stared at him. "You know, I"m thinking that must be why you"re quiet."
"What do you mean?"
"You have so many brothers, I imagine it was rather difficult for you to be heard over them."
"Believe me, I can make myself heard over them if needs be."
She came to ride by his side. "I don"t know," she said doubtfully. "Your voice is so deep that I doubt you could get much out of it in way of a shout."
Nora lowered her voice to a deep pitch that sent a strange s.h.i.+ver down his spine. "See how when I talk like this, it"s far too deep." She raised her voice back to its normal level. "Nay, no real bellow would be possible with that. Poor you, to be so cursed."
"Poor me, indeed," he said under his breath, wondering why he was unimaginably amused by her.
There was something refres.h.i.+ng about her now that he thought about it. She was rather brash and stood up to him in a way no one other than his brothers ever had.
Most women were intimidated by his height and scowl. He"d scarce had to do more than turn a glance to a maid to send her flying off in the opposite direction, or worse, have her start giggling at him.
He hated giggling.
Nora never giggled.
Her laugh was pleasant. Soothing.
Then she began to hum.
Ewan reined his horse in and stared at her.
She paused and looked up at him with large eyes. "Why are you scowling at me now?"
"You are interminably pleasant. How can you sit there and be so happy over nothing at all?"
"It certainly beats being sad over nothing at all. Don"t you agree?"
He stiffened at her implication. "I happen to like being sad over nothing at all. I find it suits me."
"A smile would suit you better. My mother always says that a smile is dressing for the face."
"And I always say the face, much like the body, is best left naked."
Her cheeks pinkened at his words. "Do you always speak so freely?"
"I thought you said I don"t speak at all."
Her face fair glowed with impish delight. She was enjoying their verbal sparring, and though he hated to admit it, there was a part of him that liked it, too.
"You"re certainly an interesting dichotomy," she admitted. "I will give you that. A paragon of contradictions."
"How so?"
"Well, you live in a cave, which suggests a rugged demeanor, and at the same time you made sure that you brought the comforts from home. You act beastly to people and you treat beasts with care. What say you to that?"
"I say that you have spent entirely too much time contemplating me."
Just as he had spent entirely too much time contemplating her and the way the breeze played through her blond hair that peeped out from under her brat. The way the curve of her lips looked so moist and inviting.
Lips that would probably be as soft as a rose"s petals.
Lips that would taste like heaven...
He shook himself from that mental direction. The last time he had thought such foolishness, he had paid well for it.
And so had Kieran.
"Do you like living alone?" she asked suddenly. "I"m not sure if I would like it or not."
Before he could respond, she added. "Of course, I talk so much you"re probably thinking that I could carry on a conversation with myself for so long that like as not I"d never miss anyone else."
He smiled in spite of himself.
Nora gasped. "Was that a smile?"
He cleared his throat. "Was what a smile?"
"That strange curvature of your lips. You know, the one where the corners are actually going up instead of down."
It was all he could do not to smile again. "I know not what you mean."
It didn"t work.
She sat back with a satisfied look on her beautiful face. "You have a most pleasant smile, my lord.
Perhaps "tis best to keep your smiles hidden. The rarity of them will make them all the more valuable. So I shall cherish that one until I gain another from you."
She was the strangest woman he had ever met. Quite daft, point of fact.
She continued to chatter, and he found himself listening to her in spite of himself. Listening to the cadence of her voice, the soft lulling quality of it.
There was something soothing about the sound and the fact that she didn"t really expect to converse with him, but was content just to prattle away on her own.
But what disturbed him most was the craving she awoke inside him.
He purposefully kept himself away from women. He"d been lied to enough to last out his lifetime, and he"d vowed long ago to let no other woman into his heart.
So he had kept all women at a distance. Both physically and mentally.
He hadn"t been lured by any of their kind since Isobail. But something about Nora made him yearn again.
He wanted to kiss her.
Tosavor her.
Worst of all, he wanted to hold her in his arms and let her sate the loneliness that lived inside him.
What strange thoughts were these? He needed no comfort. He"d proven that. He deserved no comfort after what he"d done.
Still, he took an odd pleasure in being in Nora"s company.
And before he even realized it, they reached Lenalor.
At least here he could seek a modic.u.m of peace from the lady at his side and the disturbing thoughts in his mind that she evoked.
"What a quaint place," Nora said as they entered the small village. It was long after dark, and most of the people were inside for the night. Firelight could be seen from the cracks around doors and through the open windows they pa.s.sed.
"Not particularly large," Nora continued, "but still wholesome and serviceable enough."
Ewan held his silence as they approached the brewer"s house, which was at the end of the line of cottages that made up the road that led through the village.
Old Aenos the brewer and he had a love-hate relations.h.i.+p. Aenos loved to see the only man he"d ever known who could drink him under the table, and he hated whenever Ewan had to leave.
Ewan stopped his horse and dismounted before Aenos"s door. He knocked on it.
"I be closed for the night," the old man snarled from the other side. "So whoever you be, you better well..." His voice trailed off as he swung open the door to see Ewan.
Aenos"s face and demeanor lightened immediately.
"Ewan!" He laughed, clapping him on the back. "Finished off my ale so soon, eh? Well, come in, my lord. I"ve plenty more to keep you happy."
Ewan had started to step inside when he realized Nora was not beside him. He turned around to find her still on her horse, looking down at the ground skeptically.
Growling low in his throat, he excused himself from Aenos and walked over to her. "Jumping wouldn"t kill you."
"Nay, but it might break my leg. Sprain my ankle. At the very least, soil my gown. Are you always so discourteous as to leave a lady to her own means?"
"I"m not used to being in a lady"s company without my brothers being present." Ewan clenched his teeth as soon as the words were out of his mouth. He couldn"t believe he"d said that to her.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked.
"Nothing." He helped her down from her horse and did his best not to notice just how pleasant she felt in his arms.
How good her body felt sliding down along his...
It was all he could do to not lean forward and breathe in the sweet, feminine scent of her. To let that pleasant smell wash over him and make him drunk all over again.
He"d no sooner set her down before him than old Sorcha, Aenos"s wife, came over to greet them. Part of him hated to see her joining them, but the rational side of him was grateful for the distraction.
Her long gray hair fell in braids down the sides of her face as she clutched a plaid shawl about her shoulders. Her gray eyes were happy and bright, just like the woman herself.
Ewan had known her all his life and ofttimes thought of her as another mother. He loved the old woman dearly.
"My lord." The older woman beamed. "Aenos didn"t tell me you brought company with you this time, and a lady no less. Have you finally gone and settled down?"
"Nay, Sorcha. I"m only taking her to my brother."
He left Nora to Sorcha"s care and led the horses around the cottage to deliver them up to Aenos"s apprentice, who also doubled as a stable hand.
Nora watched him leave and shook her head. "His manners are appalling," she said under her breath.
She turned back to the older woman. "I"m called Nora."
The woman gave her a chiding smile. "Don"t be so hard on the lad, my lady. He"s a bit gruff, but he has a good heart."
"He keeps it well hidden."
The woman took her arm as if she"d known her all her life, and led her inside the small cottage. "Shall I answer your question for you?"
"What question?"
"The one you posed to him just now about what he meant by not being around a lady without his brothers."
"Aye, please."
"Have you ever met any of his brothers?"
"Nay."
"Well, I"ve met them all. Wiped both ends of most of them back when I was a maid for his mother. They are a spirited bunch of lads to be sure. But Lord Ewan was always quieter than the others, and whenever a lady came near, his brothers would fair knock each other down in an effort to win the lady"s notice. I can"t tell you the times I saw him attempt to speak to a woman only to have Braden or Kieran elbow him aside. After a time, he quit trying to compete with them and simply ambled off to tend his own needs and ignore the others."
Thatwas interesting.
"Are his brothers as handsome as he?"
"Some think they are more so. But I think each one is handsome in his own way. The youngest, Braden, holds many of the same features as Ewan and is unearthly handsome, but is rather arrogant about it.
Lochlan reminds me of a golden angel, all fair, graceful and refined. The eldest of them, Sin, is like a fallen angel, dark in his ways and yet extremely compelling. And Kieran, G.o.d rest his soul, was what every woman dreams of, I think. He had black hair and eyes so pale they looked almost colorless."
Sorcha sighed wistfully. "Oh, those eyes of his. They smiled even when he was serious. He was a charming rogue who dallied with more women even than Braden. I tell you, the world is not as happy a place as it was when he was in it."
Sorcha glanced behind them as if looking for Ewan, then leaned forward and whispered to her. "You do know what day today is, do you not?"
"Tuesday?"