Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
He drew them into a small alcove off the hall and took her hand. “I love you.”
Fiona stared at him and shook her head. “You love me?”
“Aye, I love you and thought it time I told you.”
Her eyes crinkled at the corners. “You have only suddenly realized this?”
“I am not certain when I realized I loved you.”
“Yesterday you simply cared for me,” she reminded. “Now suddenly today you love me?”
“You do not believe me.”
Fiona folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.
“I do not lie,” he said vehemently.
“No, you conveniently discover you love me just before my parents arrive.”
He gritted his teeth. “I love you.”
“Simple enough words to say. Why do you love me?”
“Why?” Tarr threw his hands up. “I have no idea why I love a bullheaded wench like you.”
“Oh, you give me gooseflesh when you talk that way to me,” she mocked.
He grabbed hold of her good arm. “How does this sound? I love you in spite of your pigheaded nature and I am determined, in spite of your pigheaded nature, to love you until the day you die.”
He kissed her before she could speak, forceful and hungry as if he were trying to solidify his words by his actions.
He pushed her away when he was finished and stomped off.
Fiona stood alone for a moment, her fingers faintly tracing her swollen lips. They pulsed from his kiss and ached for more.
“Damn him,” she mumbled, and marched into the great hall in a fury. She looked around, and catching no sight of Tarr she hurried over to the dais where her sister sat alone. “Where did Tarr go?”
Aliss pointed to the door.
Fiona debated. Did she follow him? Why, though? What else could she say to him that she had not already said?
She looked to Aliss.
“The decision is yours,” Aliss reminded.
Fiona sighed and hurried out the door.
She looked over the village, trying to see where Tarr had gone. She finally spied him talking with one of his warriors.
She had responded badly to his declaration of love, though she could not help question it, coming so soon after their discussion. How could she believe he truly loved her?
She kicked at the stone near her foot. He had expressed several times how he had not felt love was necessary to marriage, so why should she believe his change of heart now?
This love thing was not what she had expected. She had expected to meet someone, fall in love, wed, and be happy. She had suffered nothing but angst since meeting Tarr. But then she had not expected to fall in love with him.
“Have you chased after me to apologize?”
Fiona looked up to see Tarr standing a few feet away. She was about to snap at him when she thought better of it. She held her tongue.
“Love is new and strange to me, Fiona. It caught me off guard, quaking the ground beneath me, and I am still trying to find firm footing. It makes no sense to me, and the more I attempt to define it the more confused I become. So all I can say to you is that I love you and I’ll keep saying it until you finally believe me.”
Fiona stared at him.
“Do not tell me that I have struck you speechless?” Tarr asked with a laugh.
“I think you have,” she said surprised.
“Good, then you will think on what I have told you and hopefully reach the same conclusion that I have—that I love you.”
He had declared his love for her several times in a short span of time. Did he truly mean what he said?
“Doubt it if you will,” Tarr challenged, “but I do not.”
A shout drew their attention and Raynor waved to them. “Our parents have arrived.”
Chapter 24
“I do not know if I am ready for this,” Aliss said to her sister while they stood on the steps of the keep watching a procession of impressive warriors enter the village.
Fiona took her sister’s hand. “We have each other. That is all that matters.”
Tarr walked up from behind. “You also have me.”
Raynor paced at the bottom of the steps, looking about ready to burst with excitement. Though he appeared a potent warrior in a dark brown leather tunic and leggings, he seemed more a young boy eager to reunite with his parents.
The warriors divided to the left and right before reaching Raynor. Then finally, two horses approached and on them rode a man and woman. The woman’s eyes rounded when she spotted Raynor, and she rushed to dismount.
Raynor hurried forward and helped her, though she needed none. She was on the ground, her arms stretched out, before Raynor could reach her.
The woman was stunning, her height equal to Fiona’s. Her hair was dark like her son’s and plaited in a braid that hung over her shoulder. She wore a simple though elegant gown of a heather color with a rich purple cloak draped over her shoulders. She was slim, and though she had to be at least twenty years older than Fiona, she showed little signs of an aged woman.