“Aye, it will be nice, but I’m nae sure she’d agree. She’s quite shy with strangers and doesnae like to travel.”
“I’m certain she’ll come,” Megan said with an air of confidence that made Olivia look at her curiously.
“Why? I’m her sister, and I’m nae certain,” Olivia said.
“Because after it rained this mornin’, I saw a rainbow. That means good fortune is ahead, and I reckon it means yer sister is goin’ to say aye to yer invitation,” the maid declared, her eyes shining with excitement.
“Oh, Lord,” Olivia sighed, turning back to the letter.
A rap at the door startled them both. Olivia was immediately on high alert, thinking she recognized it.
Megan hastened to open the door, proving her right. Edan was standing there. Feeling her frustration rising, Olivia deliberately kept her face expressionless as she turned in her chair to look at him.
“Are ye ready for our third outing?” he asked without any preamble, folding his arms and leaning casually against the doorjamb.
Olivia bristled at his assumption that she would drop everything and go with him.
“Nay. I’m busy,” she replied.
He said nothing but tilted his head to the side and gave her such a commanding look that she quickly thought better of her refusal.
“All right. Give me a few moments to get ready.”
She jumped up and hurriedly motioned for Megan to bring her fur cloak and boots.
Shortly after that, she found herself riding her favorite mare out of the castle gates, with Edan next to her on his stallion.
“Where are we headin’?” she asked as they cantered across the open moorland surrounding the castle, bypassing the forest.
“I told ye before, ’tis a surprise,” he told her.
Considering what had been occupying her thoughts so recently, his refusal to tell her their destination niggled at her. It just seemed like another example of him not being open with her. But she knew there was no point in protesting and swallowed her frustration for the time being.
It was still very cold, though it had rained earlier that day, but the sky had cleared. The ground made for soft going, and the horses’ hooves thudded as they cantered along, throwing up muddy divots, going deeper into the moorland, with the low mountains topped with snow visible in the far distance.
The moorland opened out before them, with a ring of low mountains visible in the far distance.
Olivia loved to ride, and she enjoyed the breathtaking vista as well as the fresh breeze that caressed her skin and blew through her hair, sending it streaming out behind her. The sensation gave her a rare sense of freedom. As a result, her irritation gradually faded.
Looking for some way to engage with Edan, she soon had an idea.
12
“Shall we have a race?” she asked him, her competitive spirit rising to the surface. “To see who can ride fastest.”
He shrugged unenthusiastically. “If ye like. And ye dinnae mind bein’ disappointed.”
“Och, ye’re so certain ye’ll win, are ye nae?”
“Why nae? ’Tis obvious who’ll win. However good a rider ye think ye are, me horse is more powerful than yers,” he pointed out, pausing to pat the beast’s head in a rare show of affection.
Olivia silently wished he would show her some of the same fondness.
“Maybe so. Let’s race and find out, shall we?”
She knew she was a good horsewoman, and though he was undoubtedly right about his horse being more powerful than hers, she was determined to put up a good show and do her best to beat him.
“Shall we race to that old burnt elm?” She pointed to where the broken, blackened fingers of an elm blasted by lightning raked the sky about half a mile away.
