Page 49 of Blood of the Thistle

She nodded, surprised he’d returned to it. “I did. He was convincing, and I wanted to believe him. That helped.”

“Aye,” Bram said, a new hardness in his tone. “A lie finds easier purchase when it offers what a person already wishes to be true.”

Anna turned that over, disliking how precisely it fit. “Very true,” she allowed.

His arm shifted around her as he guided the horse between two trees, bringing her more firmly against his chest for a moment before the path widened again. “Ye are wed to this Aaron?”

“Oh, God, no,” she was quick to clarify. “We dated, that’s all—though for longer than we should have, considering what I suspected early on.”

“What is that? Dating?”

“Um, it’s like, I guess you would call it courting.”

“I see. So ye meant to wed him?”

She thought about this. “I mean, yeah, I guess—what’s the point of dating if you’re not considering marriage? And starting a family. Isn’t that what courting is? Determining, after time spent together, if this is the person you want to spend your life with?”

“Nae entirely.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “No?”

“A man may spend time in a woman’s company before deciding whether to pursue her, but once he begins courting her in earnest, his intentions ought to be settled. Otherwise he wastes both her time and her reputation.”

Anna frowned thoughtfully. “So... you don’t court someone to figure out if you love them?”

“Nae.” He sounded faintly puzzled by the notion. “Ye court because ye believe ye might.” “If I sought permission to court a lass,” he continued, “‘twould be because I’d already decided she possessed the qualities I’d seek in a wife. The courting itself tells me whether I was right.”

Anna hesitated, debating whether the question would seem too personal. Curiosity won. “Have you ever... courted anyone?”

Bram answered so readily she suspected he’d found nothing unusual in the question. “Aye.”

She waited, but when no further explanation came, she ventured, “And you’re married now? Or... what happened?”

He was quiet for a moment, as if simply gathering his thoughts before he answered.

“I discovered I admired the idea of her more than the woman herself.”

Anna smiled faintly. “That sounds... unexpectedly philosophical.”

“Merely truthful,” he stated. “She was comely enough, well spoken, from a respectable family. In truth, there was little to fault.”

“But...?” she prodded, desperate for details.

“She treated those beneath her station poorly.”

“So that was enough to end it?”

She thought she felt him shrug behind her.

“Why would I knowingly choose to spend my life with someone whose character I couldnae admire?”

“So... what do you look for? What qualities would you seek in a wife?”

“Good judgment, loyalty, kindness,” he answered without hesitation. “A willingness to shoulder hardship without complaint.”

Anna smiled and inquired, “Not beauty?”

Bram surprised her by snorting softly. “Beauty fades. Guid sense does nae.” After a moment, he added, “Beauty catches a man’s eye. Character determines whether he keeps looking.”