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“Pleasing?” He cringed and shook his head. “The dogs howl, the cats screech, and everyone runs for cover.”
Tara couldn’t stop laughing.
“It truly isn’t funny,” Reeve said though he grinned. “She would make us sit while she sang song after song. Then the stupid songs and her grating voice would be stuck in my head for hours, sometimes days, afterwards.”
“Does she still find reason to sing now?’
“Not much, but now and again she’ll break into song, and we run as far away as we can.”
Tara’s stomach hurt she was laughing so much. When it finally subsided, she said, “Now I’m going to have to hear her sing to see if you’re simply teasing me.”
“Please, I beg you, warn me first so that I can hurry off.”
Tara laughed again, enjoying hearing about Reeve’s family.
“I think we should stop shortly and give the horse and us a chance to rest,” Reeve suggested. “Then we can pick up the pace, and if all goes well, we can make it home by nightfall.”
“I could use a stretch,” she said.
They found a spot, tethered the horse to a pine branch, and Reeve spread his extra plaid on the snow-covered ground. Tara stretched the ache out of her back once off the horse and wished she could rub the soreness out of her backside.
Her ankle was feeling much better, and so, without hesitation, she lowered herself to the blanket. The added pressure produced a sharp twinge in her ankle, and she almost toppled over. Luckily, Reeve caught her around the waist.
“Too stubborn to ask for help?” he asked, bracing her weight against him.
She almost relaxed against him, as if it was the most natural thing to do, but caught her unwise reaction and steeled herself. “Too foolish for my own good.”
“A woman who can admit when she’s wrong, I like that,” he said, giving her waist a gentle squeeze and, with a supportive arm around her, lowered her to the blanket.
“Truth speaks wiser than lies. It’s just that no one truly listens to it.”
Reeve lowered himself beside her. “Perhaps lies are just easier to hear.”
“Not to an honorable man,” she said.
They stared at each other for a moment, and Tara had the urge to reach out and touch him as she had done once before, but, as before, she clasped her hands together, preventing herself from taking such liberties.
However, it didn’t stop Reeve. His hand reached out, and his fingers faintly brushed along the top of her cheeks just below her eyes. “I’ve never seen such beautiful-colored eyes.”
She yanked her face away. “No intimate touches.”
“I didn’t mean—”
She swung her head around to face him. “Don’t ever touch me like that again.Ever.”
Reeve nodded, and they remained silent while sharing the bread Willow had packed for them.
Tara nibbled at her share, no longer hungry. She wished that she could explain to him that it hadn’t been his gentle touch that had disturbed her. She had quite enjoyed it. It had sent a pleasant tingle through her, and she would have loved for him to have continued, dangerous though it was.
It had been when he had mentioned the color of her eyes. It had brought back the memories of the curse. Most assumed it had originated with Rory’s death on their wedding day, and so she had been deemed adeath bride, but the curse had come upon her many years before, and she would do well to remember it.
Tara turned her head away from Reeve when his hands went to her waist to lift her to the saddle.
“Don’t turn away from me.”
Though his remark was stern, there was compassion in it, and so she looked at him.
“I didn’t mean to offend, and for that I am sorry. I am, however, not sorry for letting you know that you have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen.”
