Part 28 (1/2)

Catarina smiled at that. ”Life is short, Nora. Like my mother before me, I believe in seizing what you want while you're young enough to enjoy it. All we have to console us in old age is happy memories, and I want my fair share of them. Ewan needs you. I can see it in his eyes. You make him laugh when nothing else does. How can that be wrong?”

Nora sighed at the thought of his deep, rumbling laugh. ”He has beautiful laughter, doesn't he?”

”Aye, and a smile to match it.”

Nora's heart fluttered as she remembered Ewan's tentative smile. The way his face looked when it softened.

He was a gorgeous man.

”Oh Catarina, I hope you are right. I never antic.i.p.ated liking him, especially not after the way I met him while he was drunk in his cave. I thought he was a great, nasty beast. But he's so much more than that.”

Catarina laced ribbons in her hair. ”What made you seek him out?”

”My maid suggested it. She said only a MacAllister would have the ability to get me to England. She said they would have the connections that would allow them to transport me to my aunt without my father's interference.”

”You must have been scared.”

”A little,” she confessed. ”It helped that my maid talked one of my father's men into going with us. He balked at first, then conceded. He said if I was bound to go, better he keep an eye on me than I be harmed. If anyone ever learned he'd known about my flight and I was hurt while escaping, they would hold him responsible.”

”True, no doubt.”

Nora stared at the floor as her mind replayed everything that had happened to her since she started her quest to flee Scotland.

The miracle she had found in Ewan. A man who listened to her.

A man who touched her heart and her soul.

Almost everyone else she'd ever known had merely humored her while ignoring her questions. She would start to speak, and a glazed look would quickly come over them.

Ewan never had that look.

He always appeared interested in her and what she had to say.

But would he ever allow her to stay with him? If what Sorcha said was true, he would spend the rest of his life alone, trying to make amends to his brother's ghost.

”Cat? Do you think it's possible to get Ewan to...” She trailed off, unable to say anything more.

The thought of losing him was just too painful.

”To what?”

”Nothing. 'Twas a bit of foolishness.”

Catarina stood back and looked her over. ”You're perfect. A complete vision.”

She handed Nora a handheld looking gla.s.s.

Nora stared at herself. Her hair had been swept up and left to fall haphazardly around her face. Catarina had added kohl to her eyes and henna to her lips.

She looked strange and ethereal.

”Think you Ewan will like it?”

”There's only one way to find out.”

Ewan lay in silence on the too small bed, missing the sound of Nora's voice. Strange that he should now find the quiet night oppressive when he had always taken solace in it.

The stillness rang in his ears and made his heart heavy as he imagined what Nora would be saying if she were there with him.

He held the lute in his hands and smiled at the memory of her practicing with it. She so loved this worthless piece of wood.

How he wished he could have bought her one worthy of her devotion.

A fine lute made of good rosewood and polished to a fine sheen with gold frets and beautiful carvings.

Listless with his want of her, Ewan idly strummed it. He'd tried earlier to give it to her, but Catarina had shooed him away from their room, telling him they couldn't be disturbed.

Somewhat stung, he'd left and had missed her ever since.

How could that be? He'd lived the whole of his life without her, so why now did he find an hour without her hard to bear?

He toyed with the strings, his thoughts drifting, his body aching.

A knock sounded on his door.

”Come in.”

He expected to see one of the men, but it was Nora who opened his door.

His heart stopped. She wore a s.h.i.+mmery pale gown that clung to her soft curves. The material was so light that when she walked, it slid up to reveal her bare feet and ankles.

Her pale blond hair looked sublime caught up on her head. It looked as if it were ready to tumble down around her shoulders at any moment.

He couldn't breathe as he stared at her, his mouth gaping. She looked like some fey creature come to capture him, and at the moment, he could think of nothing better than being ensnared by her.

”Play for me?” she asked.

Ewan managed to close his mouth and did as she asked.

To his dismay and delight, she began to dance to the music. And it wasn't just any dance. She rolled her hips and moved her arms like some Saracen courtesan.

She was all fluid grace as she spun about the room. The skirt of her dress flared out, showing her legs off to perfection. His heartbeat hinged on every move she made, every gesture.

His body erupted into fire as he watched her He needed her in a way that made him burn from the inside out.

”Where did you learn to do that?” His voice sounded strange even to his own ears.

Her face falling, she paused. ”Cat taught me Do you not like it?”