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“So? Tell me about this Finlay Begbie,” she said with a slow smile.
“As I said, there is not much to tell,” she replied. “He is… nice.”
“Nice?” Mira laughed. “Surely, he is more than just...nice.”
An image of Fin flashed through her mind, and she felt herself growing warm. She recalled his light brown hair and his smoldering dark eyes. Ivy thought about the tautness of his muscles and his chiseled body. To Ivy, he looked like he had been carved out of marble. He was a god made flesh. The thoughts brought a smile to her face and sent a quiver through her body.
“Judging by that reaction, I’d say what I heard was right,” Mira laughed.
Ivy quickly gathered herself and pushed all of those thoughts away. She cleared her throat and sat up a little straighter, doing what she could to preserve her dignity. Or at least, what remained of it.
“He is an attractive man, yes,” she said. “But nothing happened between us.”
Mira arched an eyebrow, a mischievous glint in her eye. “Nothing at all?”
“No. Nothing at all,” Ivy said. “We talked quite a bit. We shared a meat pie. But that was the extent of things.”
Mira scrutinized her closely, looking deeply into her eyes, searching for some sign of deception. Apparently, seeing none, she sat back and pursed her lips.
“Well, that is disappointing,” she said. “I was hoping for a story.”
“I’m sure you have plenty of your own,” Ivy replied wryly.
A salacious grin crossed Mira’s face. “Well, now that you mention it, there is a new house steward who showed me how to polish…”
“No, you can stop right there,” Ivy burst into laughter and playfully slapped her arm. “You are incorrigible.”
They laughed together for a moment, leaning into one another. But as their laughter faded, Mira looked closely at her again, a glint of curiosity in her eyes. Ivy felt like she was probing deep into her soul, laying her bare, and seeing her true thoughts and emotions. It always disturbed Ivy that Mira seemed able to do it with ease. Ivy had always been discomfited by her ability to lay her open like that. No secret was safe around Mira, and Ivy hated it.
“You fancy him,” she said, that smile returning to her face.
“I do not,” she gasped.
“You do,” Mira pressed. “I can see it in your face.”
Mira obviously found it humorous and needled her about it as badly as her brother would if he knew. She leaned closer to Ivy, squeezing her hand a bit harder, the questions in her eyes more than clear.
“He is attractive,” Ivy finally admitted. “And he is not what you would expect at first glance.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just that he is intelligent and articulate,” Ivy said. “He is kind and has a compassionate soul.”
“So, he is not the savage Scotsman you feared he might be?”
“He was not. He was something very different than the stories I have heard about his people,” Ivy said, a note of wonder in her voice. “He was very different than what I had been told the Scots were like.”
“Right,” Mira said. “So, you fancy him.”
“You are awful,” Ivy laughed.
She looked down at the stone floor beneath her and thought about what Mira said. She did not know if she fancied Fin exactly, but she definitely felt something unexpected for him. It was one of the reasons she had wanted to stay at York to see if she could determine what it was she felt. She was confused about the things she thought and felt about Fin, and she sought clarity. And the only way Ivy thought she would attain that clarity was spending more time with him.
Of course, now I may never receive that clarity. I may never see him again, thanks to my brother.
“It seems as if you feel something for him to me, Ivy,” she said. “I know you better than anybody, and I can see it in you.”
“I do not know what it is. Fin is - there is something about him that moves me,” Ivy said. “There is something about him that intrigues me.”
