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“Are you right about keeping this from mum?” Duncan asked.
Reeve cringed. “She’ll have my hide.”
“She’ll have all of our hides since she knows we share everything,” Bryce reminded.
“It’s a chance we must take,” Carmag said.
Carmag’s serious tone had them all staring at him.
“Your mother has seen the effects of a curse. She believed that her best friend from when she was young had been cursed, the results devastating. She will not take kindly learning that we knew of it and did not share it with her.”
“Are you suggesting we confide in mum?” Reeve asked.
“Heavens no,” Carmag said, shaking his head. “I fear it would worsen matters since she would feel helpless to help Tara and would warn you against falling in love with her.”
“I’m not falling in love with her,” Reeve said quickly.
“On the verge then?” Duncan joked.
“Nowhere near it,” Reeve protested.
“I don’t know,” Bryce said, shaking his head. “He was standing in the hall with a mighty lost look on his face.
“I only met her four days ago. You can’t fall in love that fast,” Reeve said.
“It can start that fast,” Carmag said. “I knew I loved your mother the very first time that I saw her, and I still do.”
“Had you heard her sing yet?” Bryce asked with a laugh.
Carmag cringed. “No, she saved that surprise for me until our wedding celebration.”
The brothers laughed.
“Love knows no time,” Carmag said to Reeve. “It simply strikes.”
“I’m not in love with Tara,” Reeve insisted.
“I wager by the end of the month he will be,” Bryce said.
“I say two weeks, and he’ll be making a fool of himself over her,” Duncan chortled.
“I am not falling in love,” Reeve repeated more strenuously.
He wasn’t ready to fall in love. Didn’t want to fall in love. Wasn’t a good time to fall in love. And he’d be damned if he’d let himself fall in love.
Chapter 10
Tara woke the next morning with Reeve on her mind. Actually, he hadn’t left her thoughts since he had kissed her. She hadn’t expected it though she couldn’t say she didn’t welcome it. It had been far too long since she had been kissed and though it had been a mere peck, it had jolted her senses.
“Fool,” she whispered to the empty room. “You should have reprimanded him. You did nothing.”
She sighed heavily and drew the wool blanket up over her head, trying to escape her musings. It did little good, Reeve refused to vacate her thoughts. He lingered there like a ghost that haunted.
Whatever was the matter with her? She threw off the blanket and sighed again. She knew what was wrong. The last four days had been like a dream. Nothing horrible had happened to her or those around her whom she had come to care for, and it had given her hope. Hope that perhaps she could live a relatively good life. And yet she was afraid. Afraid that the curse would resurface, or her father would discover her whereabouts, and all this joy would disappear in an instant, and she would once again be alone.
The worst part, though, would be if something happened to Reeve. She could not live with the thought of her being the cause of him dying. And that could very well happen if she continued to have feelings for him. She had tried unsuccessfully to chase them away.
Last night, after he had left the bedchamber, she had chanted silently and endlessly that she did not care for Reeve,she did not, she did not.And each time she had, she had suffered a sting to her heart.
