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“You deserved both, though I didn’t think you remembered it.”
Tarass laughed again. “That’s a memory you don’t forget. Your punch might not have had much strength to it, but where it hit, it didn’t have to.”
“My da yelled at me and Sorrell praised me.”
They both grew quiet.
Then Tarass asked, “Do you remember my features?”
“I remember your eyes. They were such a bold blue they frightened me. They reminded me of the sky when a storm was drawing near. And you were so tall.”
“You were petite then and still are. My father actually admired your courage, for one so small, to strike out at me.”
“That was the only time I saw your da and I was terrified of him. He was so big, a giant in my young eyes, and I feared he would devour me for hitting you and my sister for climbing the tree, and I worried my da would not be able to stop him.”
“Yet you defended your sister anyway.”
She smiled. “I was a fearless fool that day.”
“No,” he contested, “you were brave, though I don’t blame your da for not bringing you with him after that when he visited again.”
“I didn’t want to go with him, though Sorrell did, but my da wouldn’t let her go.” She laughed softly. “He had heard her plotting revenge against you.”
“Well after all these years she finally got her revenge by marrying Ruddock and the Clan Macardle claiming fealty to him instead of me.”
“You can blame that on fate and love. Fate brought Ruddock and Sorrell together and love did the rest.”
“Love does nothing but get in the way of things,” he argued.
“You don’t wish to marry for love?”
“A marriage’s sole purpose is for gain, whether to strengthen ties, expand holdings, or grow more powerful. That’s what a marriage will bring me.”
“I wish to love, wed, and have a bushel of bairns, but due to my blindness I never will. How sad that you have the chance to have it all, and yet you don’t want it,” she said, turning to look at him though she could only see a gray shadow.
“I don’t need love to have a wife and bairns. As I said, love gets in the way of things and I refuse to let it get in my way.”
“How would love get in your way?” she asked but didn’t wait for a response. “Love doesn’t hinder, it helps. You’re not alone. There’s someone there to share your smiles, your laughter, your tears, your sadness.”
“I need no such help,” Tarass said as if affronted that she thought he did.
She reached out, her hand touching his arm and traveling down it to take hold of his hand, her fingers wrapping around his to give a light squeeze. “Everyone needs help one time or another, whether if it’s just to hold someone’s hand or give a hug or a kiss. Or remind them that you love them.”
At that Thaw moved from where he laid curled by her side to her lap, placed his paws on her chest and licked her cheek.
Snow smiled and laughed softly as her hands went to capture his face and give his snout a kiss. “I love you too.”
Tarass watched the pair with annoyance. Or was he annoyed that she had let go of his hand? He grew even more annoyed at himself for thinking it. But he had enjoyed the way her small hand felt wrapped around his and how she had given it a squeeze as if saying, I’m here with you, you’re not alone.
It was an intimacy that was foreign to him, since it hadn’t stirred his loins… it had stirred his heart.
Thaw settled himself in her lap, curling himself in a ball and closing his eyes, completely content.
Snow yawned and turned once again to Tarass. “I never asked and I’m curious. What brought you out in a snowstorm and dressed in barbarian garments?”
“I was returning from meeting with some of my mum’s people. I honor her name and tribe by dressing their way when I visit with them.”
She scrunched her brow when another thought came to mind. “The blinding snowstorm must have confused us all. It threw Finn off course and yourself as well, the direction all wrong for all of us being in the area we were in.”
“I was to meet someone. That was what brought me to that area.”
“Someone you knew?” She gasped. “Could it have been the man who grabbed me?”
“No, I am familiar with this man. He had information I was looking for.”
Curious, she asked, “What information?”
“Information about the man who killed my parents. I intend to find him and kill him.”
Chapter 6
Tarass sat in a chair by the hearth staring at Snow sleeping, Thaw curled at her feet and his eyes opening now and again to look at him. The pup was keeping a cautious eye on him and he had to admire him for it.
