To be honest, part of her was intrigued by that.He was clever.And mysterious.And enticing.In some ways, she felt as if she’d met her counterpart.
But she also felt threatened by his secrecy.And frustrated that she couldn’t see through it.
Still, on such a beautiful day, it was hard to stay irritated.
Around them, the calm silence of the trees was broken by the chirrups of sparrows and wrens.Startled lizards skittered beneath rocks.A mouse scampered through last year’s leaf fall while butterflies floated through glades of sun-drenched cowslip.A pair of red squirrels made chase up the trunk of an oak.
Spring was a time for fresh beginnings, and the forest was alive with the gift of resurrection.The sun dappled the path with light.Bright green leaves sprouted from winter-black limbs.Blossoms of yellow and violet popped up through the verdant glen.
Eve took a deep breath.The earthy scents of moss and lichen mingled with the heady fragrance of woodbine.The breeze was warm.And ripe.And inviting.Whispering through the pines like a man summoning a lover to his bed.
She’d just begun to drift toward sinfully sensuous musings when she heard a sudden, loud rustle from the meadow beyond the trees.
She froze.
Adam stopped beside her.
Was it more thieves?A pack of wolves?A boar?
The rustling continued, and she peered between the trees to see a tumbling ball of brown fur in the midst of the grass.
“Hares,” Adam decreed.
She saw them now.A pair of hares rolled and wrestled and romped in the grass.But they weren’t young leverets playing with their siblings.These were grown animals.Which, since it was spring and mating season, meant they were likely two males fighting over a female.
While she watched, they reared up on their hind legs and began to pommel each other with their front paws.It was both comical and vicious.
She clucked her tongue at the fierce fighting.“Such a pitiful waste, two lads quarrelin’ o’er a lass.”
“I don’t think—”
“But alas, it seems to be the nature o’ the male animal ofallspecies.”She winced as she watched a tuft of fur fly free.“’Tis self-destructive and pointless.Yet they’d rather suffer bites and breaks and bruises than settle for not gettin’ what they want, whether ’tis a hare or a dog…or a man.”
“Is that so?”
“Aye.Like those two Rivenloch men at Perth who nigh started a clan feud o’er love o’ the same lady.”
“Rivenloch men?”he said.
She blanched.She’d said too much.
“What do ye know about Rivenloch men?”he asked.
She shrugged.“Just somethin’ I heard at the tourney.A Rivenloch man will draw his sword o’er who gets the last oatcake, am I right?”Then she turned her attention to the battling hares once again.“’Tis foolish.’Tisn’t as if there’s a dearth o’ oatcakes.Or females.”
“Right.As I started to say—”
“Oh.They’ve stopped.”She looked over at him, pleased.“Perhaps they’ve listened to my sage advice and seen the error o’ their ways.”
Before she could fully enjoy her smug satisfaction, he cleared his throat and nodded toward the hares.
One of the hares had leaped onto the back of the other and was now rapidly pumping away in what was clearly fornication.
“Oh.”Her jaw dropped.Her face flamed.
The idea that the second hare was a female had never occurred to her.But it had to Adam.
She heard him snicker beside her, which made her blush even more.
