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"Be that as it may, I am in the mood to give it. I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry I dragged you into
my problems when it is obvious yours are much worse."
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He tugged the ax free of the stump, then buried it into the wood again. "What do you know of my
problems?"
"Truly, nothing. You just seem incredibly sad and angry. I should have left you passed out in your cave."
He struck the wood again. "Aye, you should have."
Nora watched him with fascinated interest as he picked up the logs he'd made and carried them to the
large pile. Sorcha and Aenos were right. It was quite a mountain of lumber.
And he was quite a mountain of delectable male flesh. A man whose body rippled with every move he
made.
Ewan wiped his face with his arm, then retrieved the ax from the ground and headed for another tree.
She swallowed at the strength and sight of him working. The muscles of his back rippled and flexed,
making her body strangely warm and needful.
"Tell me," she said, "does it help? Does ale really alleviate your feelings?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"In the event I don't make it to England and am forced to marry Ryan, I was just wondering if that would
be way to ease the misery of the life I'm sure he'll give me."
With three strikes, he felled the tree.
He waited until it was down before he spoke again. "Have you ever met this man you are betrothed to?"
"Aye, many times."
"Is he truly insufferable, then?"
She shivered at the thought of Ryan. They had never gotten along, and in truth, she couldn't believe he
wanted to wed her given their mutual distaste.
"You can't imagine. He is beastly. He looks at me and sees nothing but my purse. I speak and he turns
away." She shook her head. "How I wish I were a man. If I were, I would never waste my life hiding
away."
"Judge not lest ye be judged."
"I know, but still it makes no sense. You are in complete control of your life and yet you do nothing with
it. I, on the other hand, must do as I am told. I can't just leave whenever I choose."
"Is that not what you've done?"
"Aye, and at what cost? My maid and servant will like as not be punished for it, and you would hand me
back over to my father in an instant if I told you who he was."
Ewan thought about that. He'd never given much thought to what it would be like to be a woman. He'd
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always taken his freedom for granted.
She was right; he answered to no one.
He was his own man with no ties to anyone except his family.
Ewan paused and looked at her. "If you were free, what would you do?"
She shrugged prettily. "I know not. Travel perhaps. I've always wanted to see Aquitaine. My mother has
such marvelous stories about the acres of vineyards there. She says there's not a more beautiful place on
this earth. Or perhaps I would go to Rome. Make a pilgrimage. Have you ever been to the Holy Land?"
"Nay."
Her face fell. "Oh. My aunt went. She had a marvelous time there."
She unpinned a brooch from her dress, then moved forward to show it to him. "She gave me this. She
said she bought it from a crusader who was selling items so that he could gain enough money to return
home."
Ewan studied the piece. It was a knight on horseback who bore a cross on his shield, and was indeed a
pilgrim's badge.
He tightened his grip on it.
Was it possible that she really could be who and what she claimed?
Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that it couldn't be. For all her sincerity, it wasn't possible for the niece
of the most powerful woman in Christendom to have shown up in his cave without escort. Eleanor's niece
would be a woman of unquestionable value.
Under careful guard at all times.
She would never be allowed to just leave her father's house on so foolish a quest. Not without every
member of the guard being raised.
He handed it back to her.
Her fingers brushed his, sending an unexpected jolt through him.
She was so soft and she smelled so feminine and warm. Closing his eyes, he inhaled her scent.
She was so tender.
Truly a morsel worth savoring.
Nora trembled at the look on his face. She'd been kissed only once before. It had been quick and rather
slimy. The event was so distasteful that she had never wanted to repeat it, and yet as she stood there
alone with Ewan, sharing her wishes with him, she felt a strange desire to taste his lips.
He bent his head down.
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Instinctively she rose up on her tiptoes.
He reached out with one large hand and tipped her chin up toward him. In one heartbeat, he lowered his
head and took possession of her mouth.
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