“I think you do. I’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at yon lassie over there.”
Wallace coughed loudly enough for the captain to shush him. “I have not been looking at her any way.”
“You can fool her but you cannae fool me. It’s in your eyes whether you try to hide it or not. You should do something about it.”
“I have no feelings for her.”
“Suit yourself. I shall say no more about it other than to offer you this piece of advice. Dinnae leave it too late or you might just findyourself captain of a ship that has no port to call home.”
She heard Wallace stalk off, leaving the captain alone to emerge from the fog a moment later, walking over to join her. “I wondered where you were,” he asked. “Doing all right?”
“Cold but okay,” she replied. “Where are we?”
“Floating in the middle of the water. I’m trying to move us closer to land but until the wind picks up it will be slow progress. What? You look like you’ve got something to say.”
“I…I heard you talking to Wallace.”
“Ah.”
“About me.”
“Aye, well, the thing is, I know I shouldn’t have pried but I am too old to keep my mouth shut.”
“You think he has feelings for me?”
“I know he does. Don’t you?”
She frowned. “I don’t think so. I didn’t notice anything between us.”
“You mean apart from how worried you were when the arrow hit him, or how your face was lit up brighter than a beacon when you emerged beside him from the cabin.”
“I was just glad the wound was not too serious.”
The captain shook his head. “What a pair youtwo are. It’s a wonder you’re even capable of speaking to each other when you’re so deluded.”
“Look,” she snapped loudly enough for the captain to put a finger to his lips, “even if I was interested in him, it’s not going to happen.”
“Why?”
She was about to tell him she was from the future when she managed to stop herself. “He’s a MacGregor, I’m a MacCallister. It would never work.”
“Clans come together all the time. It’s called progress.”
She shook her head. “It would never work,” she said again.
“Do you like him?”
“Yes but that’s not the point.”
“You like him, he likes you. What more is there to this?”
“It’s not as simple as that. I could be madly in love with him, it wouldn’t change the fact we could not possibly be together.”
“Why?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“You should stop looking for reasons not to be together and think about what life would be like if you were together. I have seen true love twice in mylife and it is a rare thing indeed to find. You and him bluster and fluster all you like and spend your lives floating on the sea of loss if you wish. I have said my piece and I’ll say to you what I said to him, do not leave it too late.”
