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)
“I think on my parents.”
“The ones you are to meet?”
“Both,” she said with sadness.
“You loved the parents that raised you.”
She smiled. “Oh, yes, very much. They were so good and so loving to Aliss and me. And they taught us the value of family love.”
“I envy you.”
She stared at him perplexed.
“Why do you envy me?” she asked. She caught uncertainty in his eyes and reminded, “Last night you asked me to share with you my feelings; you must then do the same if we are ever to build that bridge to meet in the middle.”
“You are right. I cannot expect you to give and me not to return in kind.” He acknowledged his own words with a sanctioning nod. “There was a distance between my father and mother that I thought common for married couples. I came to think of marriage as a duty with love far removed from it.”
Fiona shook her head and tore a piece of the bread off, suddenly feeling hungry. “Marriage is made stronger by love.”
He hesitated. “I am beginning to realize that.”
Fiona took a swallow of the cider, the piece of bread caught in her throat, though perhaps it was his reply that had lodged the lump there. Was he implying that he had reconsidered his concept of love?
He continued. “I admit, though reluctantly . . .”
She smiled.
“That love could prove to be a mighty weapon.”
Fiona chewed her bread heartily while nodding rigorously.
“It is forged with patience, consideration, kindness, and most of all unselfishness.”
Fiona wanted to sigh at his loving and tender words, but she remained wide-eyed and alert as if his every word was a declaration, but then was it not? Had he realized what they shared? Did he know that their souls were one and that their hearts beat to an exact rhythm? Or was he placating her to convince her he loved her so that they could wed?
“I admit there is much I do not know, but I am willing to learn,” he said, and reached out to take her hand sticky with honey. “Tell me your thoughts on your parents.”
He unselfishly maneuvered the conversation to her concerns, and it more than touched her heart, tempted her soul.
“I do not think of them as my parents.”
“I would feel the same.”
“You would?”
“Of course. Suddenly you learn that you were abducted from parents who loved you, yet you were raised by people who also loved you. How do you love strangers who love you?”
“I have thought on that all night. Am I expected to love strangers, to feel for them as I felt toward my parents, the couple who raised me? And yet it was not their fault Aliss and I were abducted. How, then, can I blame them, for they must have suffered greatly.”
“It will take time,” Tarr said.
Do we have time? Fiona thought. He allotted her time to visit with her parents, but then she would return home with him.
Or would she?
If she did, it would be as his wife.
“Time seems to be my enemy of late.”
“Your enemy is my enemy; we will combat it together.” He raised her hand and licked at the honey on her finger. “Sweet. Is it Fiona I speak with?” He teased with an endearing smile.
“You have tasted, you tell me,” she challenged, while her stomach suddenly flip-flopped and her arms crawled with gooseflesh.
“I must taste again.”
Not a good idea, Fiona.
She ignored her own warning, smiled, and wiggled her finger in his face.
His laughter was barely audible as he brought her finger to his lips and licked slowly, as if savoring the flavor of her. Several long lingering licks later he said, “There is a tartness there.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, her flesh tingling at her finger, up along her arm and crawling slowly over her neck.
He leaned over the table. “If I dare taste you again, it will not be your finger my tongue licks.”
Fiona yanked her hand free as if his words scalded her.
“We will join.” He stood and spoke before she could deliver her usual response. “It is your choice when.”
He delivered a stunning blow to her without raising his hand. She was too shocked too move, too shocked to watch him walk away. His words stirred in her mind like a whirlwind unable to settle.
He had suddenly changed the tactics of their skirmish. It would not be he who forced their union but she. So he thought.
He was an idiot.
Or was she?
Would she finally surrender to him?
Or would it be what she wanted?
“Are you all right?” Aliss asked, taking the seat where Tarr had sat.
Fiona nodded, shook her head, nodded again then shook her head adamantly.
“Tarr passed me in the same confused state,” Aliss explained. “His response, when I expressed concern for him, was identical to yours.”
“Really?” Fiona asked, perking up.
“He shakes his head harder than you.”