When he hesitated, she continued. “’Tis only for my own edification, to sate my curiosity. I assure you I have no intention of courting or marrying.” She felt a twinge of guilt at misleading him, but she wasn’t lying entirely. She had no desire whatsoever to marry.
Shedidwant to kiss Finn again, and she’d determined that staying away from him was more harmful to her than kissing him while knowing he could never be hers.
Cormac cleared his throat, looked around the room, then leaned across the table toward her. “Very well,” he agreed quietly. “I cannot speak for other men, but I find my own eyes drawn to a lady’s hair first.”
“You mean the way it is braided?”
He shook his head. “The way it moves and shimmers, like waves in the sea. I know ’tis the style to wear it up and braided, but men notice it far more when it flows freely.”
“Fascinating.” Nowthatwas something she could use. “Anything else?”
“Next would probably be the color of her eyes or the readiness of her smile.”
Hmm. She supposed she could smile more, but ’twas naught she could do about her eyes.
“And of course,” he continued, growing more comfortable with her questioning, “there’s the way she carries herself.”
Eva leaned forward. “How do you mean?”
“Does she walk with confidence and grace, as a woman who is certain of herself and her own abilities? As I said, though, those are but my thoughts. I cannot speak for all men.”
Even so, he’d given her quite enough to get started.
Eva thanked him and excused herself, heading to her quarters to prepare. Though she had occasionally peeked out to watch the men train, she had mostly made herself scarce and kept busy around the keep. Now that the kitchen was finished and she’d adjusted to her daily duties, Eva found herself with more time alone than she wanted. Especially without her evenings spent in Finn’s company, it grew more difficult to keep herself from falling back into the darker turns of her lonely mind.
Which was precisely why she needed to convince Finn to stop avoiding her. Though she had greatly enjoyed kissing him, more than anything she missed his company.
It took her quite a while to unbraid and comb her hair so that it laid nicely down her back. She hoped Cormac would politely ignore the fact that she clearly was acting on his insights from that morning.
Grabbing an empty basket, Eva strode out into the sunshine-filled courtyard. The men were already training in the field just outside the keep’s walls. She could hear the sounds of weaponry in use and a good deal of shouting as well. A light breeze played with her skirts and tugged at her unbound hair. The morning sun warmed her cheeks as it peeked out from behind a fluffy white cloud.
Entering the field, she pretended not to notice the men there, practicing with spears and shields. Instead, she walked slowly and confidently around the edge of the field, well out of their way, and began picking the yellow gorse flowers that had just started coming into full bloom. After several minutes of determinedly ignoring the men, she casually looked in their direction.
Only to find that she could not look away.
Finn, like many of the other men, had removed his léine. Wasn’t that considered sinful? She’d seen men working their fields do so in the heat of summer, but even that was rare. More often than not they’d roll up their sleeves or pant legs and carry on.
Yet here they were, a dozen or more men without a stitch of clothing on their upper half. And the presence of a woman appeared to have no effect whatsoever on their senses of modesty.
She spotted Finn instantly. He was easily the tallest of the men, and one of the broadest as well. In fact, she hadn’t noticed until now just how large he was in comparison with the other men. The muscles in his shoulders and arms rippled as she watched him raise his shield to block a spear. She suddenly wished she’d brought along a waterskin, for her mouth had gone terribly dry.
Eva watched his entire sparring match, ignoring the tightening in her belly every time Finn’s muscles moved. His motions held an ease that belied the hours he had likely trained to defend himself so capably. His strength, his agility, his masculine beauty took her by surprise, captivating her.
As his bout ended, his eyes caught hers. She’d been staring, and he’d noticed.
Eva averted her gaze as quickly as she could, but she knew he’d seen her looking. For all she knew, her mouth had been open as a trout’s as well. She’d come here to capturehisattention, not divert her own.
Not wanting to appeartooguilty at being caught gawking, Eva resumed her flower picking, glancing toward the men every so often to see if she’d finally gotten him to watch her. She stayed with the men for several hours, until she had to go oversee the preparation of the midday meal.
Not once did Finn spare her a glance.
Chapter Sixteen
“Something’s wrong withEva.” Dallan voiced Finn’s own thought aloud as they finished up their morning defense training. “She wasn’t out this morning.”
Finn nodded his agreement but kept his own counsel. “Perhaps they needed her in the keep,” he offered, trying to ease Dallan’s mind though he didn’t believe it himself. In the weeks they’d spent together, Finn realized that Dallan’s concern for his sister occupied much of his time that was not devoted to training—a fact that compelled Finn to keep his own suspicions regarding her behavior from Dallan.
In truth, Finn was relieved when Eva didn’t come to watch them train that morn. Oh, aye, he was no fool. She was playing some sort of game with him, but he wasn’t going to play along. Of course, he’d noticed that she wore her hair down now. How could he not?
