“I tend to agree with him,” Margery would say.
“Me, too,” Ada would add.
“No need for your input,” she said to her Scottish friend, chuckling. “I will talk to you aloud soon enough.”
Teagan merely smiled when she laughed for no reason. Like before, she got the sense he knew she was someplace else in her mind but didn’t make her feel crazed for it. Rather, his expression softened as if he knew precisely what she was about. Perhaps even understood.
“Thank you for that,” she said impulsively, mortified she had replied to her thoughts aloud. But she meant it. She was grateful for his kindness. For being the only other person besides Ada, and perhaps her own mother, who clearly didn’t see her as different.
He looked at her curiously. “Thank ye for what?”
“For helping my friends and me.”
“Quick thinking!” Margery would praise. “That makes sense.”
“Of course, lass.” He steered her around a root in the path. “Is that really what ye meant to say, though?”
How could he possibly suspect that? But then he did seem to understand her in ways most didn’t. Though it was on the tip of her tongue to say yes, she found herself saying no. More shockingly still, she was truthful. “Whilst, yes, I’m thankful for what you are willing to do for my friends, I’m even more grateful for your kindness when you need not be.”
“No need to thank me,” he replied. “Especially when I’m the reason ye have to break yer word to Bartholomew, however cruel he may be, and marry a perfect stranger. Ye do have my apologies for that. As to my kindness, ’tis just how ’tis supposed to be.”
Was it? She wouldn’t know.
She slowed before the woodland path ended. Though it seemed odd to say, she thrilled at saying it. “I will happen this way again in early afternoon.”
“I will be here.” He kissed the back of her hand; the contact and warmth of his lips startling her. More so, the way his gaze lingered on her face as though seeing her again couldn’t come soon enough. As if he genuinely enjoyed her company. Something he confirmed aloud. “And I look forward to it, lass.”
As it turned out, he was a man of his word, for he was there later.
Then later that day still.
Then again the next day and the twelve after that, each time more enjoyable than the last. Each one highly anticipated, every moment an absolute pleasure. Exciting and freeing.
It was the thirteenth day, however, that ended up giving her pause.
Chapter Thirteen
Teagan knew the moment he got detained that Greer would wonder what she had done wrong. Though she’d grown more relaxed with him over the past few weeks, she still wasn’t as comfortable as he wanted her to be. She struggled with speaking freely and feeling equal.
Yet beneath it all, another woman started to emerge. One with a mind of her own and a passion for life he hadn’t expected. Though still somewhat buried, it was there struggling toward the surface. In truth, he’d never been so determined to see anything freed in his life.
Which he would resume trying to do once he pacified Ada.
A man had arrived, who meant to purchase her son. So rather than meeting Greer at the river as promised, he was trying to calm her.
“We cannae wait much longer.” Fear flashed in Ada’s eyes. “Because he’s a man of means, Randolph has convinced him to spend the night, but first thing in the morn, he will be gone with my lad.”
“’Twill be all right, lass,” he replied, trying to soothe her. Edmund was still at least a day’s ride out, assuming all had gone well. “I will see us out of here sooner. Before the morrow. Just let me think, aye?”
“Think?” she exclaimed. “There isnae time to think!”
“Yet, I must just a wee bit longer.” He gripped her shoulders and kept her gaze with his. “Lest we act impulsively, and all goes wrong.”
“Nay, we cannae have that.” She nodded, blinking back tears. “Ye’re right. I know it.” She shook her head. “That doesnae make this any easier, though.”
“I know.” He squeezed her shoulders gently. “I’m due to meet Greer. Let me speak to her. See what she thinks.”
He’d been watching everything closely and had intended to share his thoughts with everyone later today anyway. Valuing Greer’s perspective, he had planned to share it with her first.
“See what she thinks?” Ada asked, almost as though she wasn’t sure she heard correctly but grateful she did. “Aye, Greer is thinking better by the moment, isn’t she? But then she always did when given half a chance.”
“Aye.” Once one took the time to get to know Greer and coaxed her out of her shell, she had a remarkably bright mind. But then that was clear in the tales she spun. He’d heard a few of them so far and enjoyed them immensely.
“Someone will let ye know once we’ve a plan, all right?” he went on.
“Aye.” Ada nodded, finally calming. “I will be waiting.”
“Ye will, right?” He tilted his head in question. “For we must all do this together.”
She nodded again. “I will wait.”
Content she wouldn’t do anything rash, he headed for the river, only to find Greer sitting on the shore with her feet in the water. When she smiled at him over her shoulder, he nearly lost his footing, for she looked so beautiful. Her cheeks were rosy, and she’d removed her coif, so her silky tresses blew in the wind.
“My apologies for the delay.” He removed his boots and sat beside her. “How are ye, lass?”
They had visited here a few hours before, but, as always, the time between felt far longer.
“I’m well. Though…”
When she hesitated, he gave her a look. “Dinnae hold back. Ye know better.”
They might not have known each other overly long, but she knew how determined he was about this. It wasn’t a matter of ordering her like men before him had but wanting her to be herself. Not hold back out of habit.
“Well, if I were to be perfectly honest,” she confessed, hesitating before continuing when he arched a brow, “when you were not here ahead of me, I wondered if perhaps you had grown tired of me.”
“I dinnae think ’tis possible,” he said just as honestly. “Ye are far too interesting.”
While most men might have flirted that she was far too beautiful to tire of, which truth told, she was, he found the beauty emerging inside her far more captivating.
“You flatter me,” she murmured.
“Aye.” And he intended to time and time again. “But ’tis true.”
When she eyed him for a moment, hesitant, he smiled and shook his head.
“Dinnae hesitate, lass.” He nudged her shoulder with his. “If ’tis on yer mind, then say it. Ask it. Dinnae let it fester.”
“If you insist.” She sat up a little straighter. “What if I grow uninteresting at some point?”
“Though I dinnae see that happening,” he replied with a teasing glint in his eyes, “if it does, we shall talk about it and find a way to make ye more interesting.”
She chuckled. “And how does one make someone interesting again?”