Zia leaned her head back to look up at Artair. “Let me see to your mother’s hand first, and then we can go.”
Love.
The thought smacked him suddenly between the eyes, hit him in his gut, and caused his heart to thump madly. Is that what he felt—love? Did he see the same in her eyes? Could love’s arrow have struck them simultaneously?
“Artair?” Zia said.
He shook his head, regaining his wits.
“It’s not all right?” she asked hesitantly.
He went from shaking his head to nodding while trying to recall what he was agreeing to.
“Good,” Zia said with a smile. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll meet you outside the keep.”
As he walked to the door and he fought to remember why he was meeting Zia outside, Cavan slapped him on the back and said, “Thanks for waiting with me.” Then, in a hurried whisper, his brother said, “Biddie’s cottage.”
It all came rushing back then, along with the color to his face. He could feel his cheeks blotch red, and was glad no one could see his discomfort.
“Love really has you by the…” Cavan did not finish the thought, but laughed as he walked away, to return to his wife.
Artair didn’t find Cavan’s teasing amusing, and in an effort to further pull himself together, left the keep, intending to camp beneath a large pine tree. The needles it had dropped provided a cushion for him to sit, but he hadn’t sat there in thought for long when Zia plopped down beside him.
“That was fast,” he said, taking hold of her hand. He liked the warmth and softness of her skin, and he loved when their fingers entwined, locking together, keeping hold of each other.
“It was a minor abrasion and should heal well now.”
She didn’t appear in a hurry to see the cottage, and neither was he. He preferred to take a few moments and sit here under the shade of the tree with her and talk.
“I can see there is something on your mind,” she said.
She waited, not insisting or pouting or demanding that he tell her what it was. She simply waited to see if he wished to share it, a reasonable approach that left him confident in discussing the matter with her.
“You have repeatedly told me you wish to marry for love,” he finally said.
“Yes, I have, and that has not changed,” she replied.
“What if I loved you? Would your thought on wedding me change?”
She appeared startled. Was it because he had shocked her silent, or that she wasn’t sure how to answer him? Either way, he didn’t think it boded well for him.
“If you loved me?” she snapped. “Are you trying to decide if you could love me? If there’s even the remotest chance?”
“You misunderstand me.”
She yanked her hand free of his. “I think it is you who misunderstands. Love comes from deep in here,” she said, resting her hand to her chest. “It can strike in an instant or develop slowly, but whichever way it arrives, it comes from the depth of the heart, and nothing—nothing at all—can stop it, not even logic.”
“Let me explain—”
“No,” she said curtly. “I will ask someone to show me Biddie’s cottage, and get busy staking my claim on it while I’m here.”
She stumbled to her feet, and he quickly stood to help her. He knew her stubbornness had taken hold and if he wasn’t careful he would make the situation worse, though he wondered how much worse it could get. He did not want to find out.
“I will take you,” he said.
“No, I prefer to go alone.”
“How will it look to others if I let my wife find her healing cottage on her own?” he asked.
“That your wife is angry with you, and deservedly so.”
Artair kept his patience. It would do him no good to argue with her; that would only fuel the disagreement. So he did what was necessary and sensible. “I am sorry.”
“Why?”
“Why am I sorry?”
She nodded. “Yes, why do you apologize? Do you truly mean it or is it the logical thing to do?”
Her intuitive response caught him unprepared and he hesitated.
“I knew it,” she said, throwing her hands in the air. “Your apology meant nothing. You simply did it because it appeared the logical course of action.” She grunted angrily. “You are impossible. You wouldn’t know love if it struck you straight in the heart or punched you in the gut. You see only reason, and being in love is far from reasonable. I doubt you will ever fall in love.”
She turned and marched off, and he almost followed, but stopped himself. She needed time to calm down, and then he would speak with her.
His brother Lachlan approached. “You should go after her. She’s very angry. She didn’t even acknowledge me when she passed.”