AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She almost reached out to touch his face, but clasped her hands together instead. She wanted to make certain he was real, that she wasn’t dreaming that she was truly sitting beside a man in front of a hearth talking. It simply felt too surreal to be true.
“Now your turn,” he said.
“That was no answer,” she argued lightheartedly. “You claim you are irresistible to women and have known many, even noblewomen. Does that mean you are of nobility yourself?”
She detected a brief change in his eyes, as if a shield had been raised, and she wondered if he hid something from her as she did from him.
“I am of no noble birth, though my numerous travels have allowed me to meet people of all classes.”
Before she could probe for more, he was quick to claim once again that it was her turn.
She was reluctant to explain to him why she could bake bread. The less he knew about her, the better, though perhaps if he learned the truth, he would then be more willing to keep his distance from her. Then, if she should happen to fall again, he would not be so quick to catch her.
“I spent time in the kitchen with the cook who was a jovial and caring woman, and one my father favored, being her food was quite tasty.” She paused, not truly wanting to share the story, but knowing it was for the best. “Then, one day, her husband suddenly died. He was standing there one minute talking with her and on the ground next, dead as dead can be, and the following day he was buried.”
She continued not knowing if Reeve was too shocked to comment or that her revelation had left him speechless.
“Tongues started wagging, and, before I knew it, his death was blamed on me. The women believed that somehow I had infected the cook with my death bride curse, and from then on not one woman would speak with me or come near me.” She paused again, and when Reeve continued to remain silent, she went on. “Soon after, my food began to taste bad. Instead of complaining to my father, I took matters into my own hands and, with the knowledge I had acquired from the cook, I began to cook for myself in a tiny cottage that I had claimed.”
Tara hadn’t expected Reeve to respond, so she was surprised when he asked, “What about your father? What did he do?”
“He didn’t object to my actions.”
“Why not?”
He sounded affronted, and Tara was quick to explain. “There was no reason. I settled the problem for him.”
“No,” he said. “He should have defended you.”
“It would have done little good,” she said, pleased that he once again thought to protect her, even from her own father. “Not soon after I kept my distance from the cook, she met a man and married him. So you see the whole thing proved true.”
“Nonsense. Regardless, whether you had kept your distance or not, she would have met the man.
“You’re not superstitious, are you?”
“Superstition is just plain fear that breeds more fear,” he said. “Your father is duty-bound to protect you, and that duty comes before curses, hexes, or the like.”
His brief tirade startled her. “You truly are an honorable man.”
“A man has nothing if he has no honor.”
“You will make a fine husband and father one day, or are you already?” she asked, thinking how lucky the woman who was, or would be, his wife.
Reeve shook his head. “I have no time for such distraction. When I am free of present responsibilities, then I will find a good woman to love, wed her, and sire a gaggle of children, who I will raise with honor just as I have been.”
“You have many siblings?” she asked, recalling she had wanted the same, a good man to love and wed and to raise many children. That was the hardest part of this whole ordeal, realizing that she would never have children.
“I have three brothers, and though they are not by blood, they are my brothers nonetheless. We were all raised by Trey’s parents. He and I are of the same age, six-and-twenty years, while Duncan and Bryce are one year older. We are family. There is nothing I would not do for them or them for me. And what siblings have you?”
“I have none,” she said, though she did have three half brothers. They were simply not worth mentioning. They cared little for her and mocked her as much as others did, so she did not think of them as family. They certainly never defended her; they more tormented her when she was young.
“And what of your mother?”
“She passed on before I took my first step. I barely remember her.”
“I recall little of my own mother,” Reeve admitted, a bit of sadness in his voice.
The more she spoke to this man, the more she felt a kinship to him, which was why it would have been wise for them to remain strangers, knowing nothing of each other. For the little she had learned had her wishing she could be friends with him. Unfortunately, she couldn’t take the chance. She would not be the cause of another man dying.
