Maeve’s brows knitted. ‘I do not take your meaning.’
‘Do you admire his character, virtues, temperament?’
Maeve just looked at her blankly.
Lowri shook her head and went back to her task. ‘Never mind.’
Maeve rattled on. ‘I would lie with him if he asked, but he is prideful. He will not touch me, and the more I pursue him, the more he pulls away. He thinks me a whore, and I suppose I am.But I deserve some enjoyment in this life. It cannot be all duty and drudgery, and who can live without love?’
‘In your situation, perhaps it is best to leave love behind and just use what you have to get what you want.’
Maeve stared at her as if she had said something blasphemous. ‘How strangely you talk, Lowri, as if your heart were a stone, and yet you are a lass.’
‘Save your love for your bairn when it comes, not some man who does not see your virtues. Love is a trap to fall into,’ said Lowri.
‘No. Love is delicious. I miss it – the closeness, desire, the feel of a man’s hands on me, flesh on flesh, the anticipation of it.’
Lowri had a feeling she was on dangerous ground. ‘Did you love the father of your child? Do you miss him?’
‘Heavens no! He was a handsome, ignorant dolt, a groom who could not read or write. But he worshipped me. He was awestruck by my beauty, he said. And when I let him put his hands on me, oh, it was divine. He was good with his mouth, too. I miss that. I want that again, the touch of a man, the feel of him inside me.’
Yet Maeve had said she was innocent, taken advantage of, and she did not seem to guard any of her thoughts, no matter how intimate. Lowri’s cheeks took fire. ‘You want that from Seamus?’
‘Aye. It is terrible to admit, but I do.’
‘Maybe in time, affection will grow between you.’
Maeve shook her head. ‘There’s no affection in that block of ice. Now, if it was Cullen, I was forced to marry, it would be a different story. He happens by sometimes and is always kind to me. They go carousing, he and Seamus, getting up to all sorts,but I do not hold that against Cullen so much, for there is a softness in his heart that draws a lass.’ She sighed. ‘Too late for me, but not for you. And he’s a fine figure of a man, built like a bull – a graceful, lean bull, that is.’ Maeve narrowed her eyes and said in a sly voice, ‘Given the way he looks, do you think he will be true to you?’
Maeve was a strange one – all smiles and warmth one minute, and stabbing with her words the next. Lowri searched her face, but there was no malice there. ‘Seamus says Cullen does not chase women, which makes them chase him,’ she said.
‘Maybe he despises women and wants nought to do with them,’ snapped Lowri, brutally tearing the skin off a rabbit.
‘Apart from his needs, that is.’
‘Needs?’
Maeve giggled. ‘You should know what they are, being newly wed.’
Lowri forced a smile. ‘Oh, aye. I do.’
Maeve narrowed her eyes as if she sensed a lie. Perhaps she was not as simple as she seemed. ‘Tell me how you and Cullen came to be wed, how he wooed you. I want to know what Cullen is like abed.’
‘No, you don’t.’
Both of them jumped at Cullen’s voice. He leaned against the door frame, arms folded across his chest. ‘Some secrets are best left to husband and wife,’ he said, and strode into the kitchen, giving Lowri a hard look. ‘I have been searching for you all over Graywell.’
‘Did you think I’d made a run for it?’ she said tartly.
‘No, for we had a bargain, did we not?’
Maeve took in the cold exchange between them.
‘I must claim my wife,’ said Cullen. He took Lowri by the elbow and drew her away from Maeve, who howled, ‘But she was going to tell me how you ended up wed.’
Cullen paused. ‘Tis a sad and sorry tale, Maeve. Go ask your husband. He knows it all.’ He steered Lowri outside with a firm hand on her arm.
‘Were you eavesdropping the whole time?’ she spat, breaking free of his grasp.
