Cait placed a stack of books on the desk. “With these until we find something about selkies.” She then pulled the chair to him. “And you need to sit.”
“I am not going to sit in the presence of a lady when she does not have a chair for herself.”
Cait blew out a sigh. “I am not a lady, simply a miss who teaches, and you have an injured knee.”
He truly would like to sit, but it would be impolite.
“You forget that I am the teacher and I decide what is allowed and what isn’t, and I am insisting that you sit.”
Julian settled into the chair not at all bothered by being ordered about by a miss. Would she be so bold as to do so in a more intimate setting such as a bedchamber? If so, he would willingly comply.
“Do you find humor in me ordering you about?”
Julian hadn’t even been aware that he had laughed, nor could he confess what he had been thinking. “Not at all. Only that it has been so long since I have received orders from anyone who was not a superior.”
“It is for your own good.” She placed a stack of books in front of him.
“Now you sound like my former housemistress while I was at Eton.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Cait asked.
“No.” He looked up into her green eyes. “You are much prettier and younger than she had been.”
If he wasn’t mistaken, Cait began to blush before she quickly looked away.
“We must hurry before we are missed.”
Julian opened the first book and quickly scanned the content, and then the next, and the next. What if there wasn’t information on selkies.
Except, the students had to have come by the information somewhere.
“I found something,” Cait announced,
He studied her as she bent over the book and read.
“Oh, my goodness.”
“What?” he asked in alarm.
“It is the story of Thady Rua O’Dowd. This is the story that my mother told me when I was a child. I cannot believe that I had forgotten the details.”
“Tell it to me.” He closed the book, his heart warming at the delight in her green eyes and the soft smile one often gets when a fond memory comes to mind.
“Thady Rua O’Dowd was the chieftain of his clan and needed a wife, but he was having difficulty choosing one. Then one day he was walking along the beach and noticed a beautiful, unclothed maiden combing her hair.”
“I would certainly take notice if I came across such.”
“As would any man,” Cait snorted. “Anyway, he saw that she had a magical cape or coat next to her, and as he knew of the sea people, selkies, he snatched it up and professed his love. Without her fishtail, the selkie could not return to her sea form and had no choice but to return his love and marry him.”
“Perhaps all bachelors in search of a wife should wander beaches in search of unclothed women.”
“You are assuming the story ends well,” Cait countered.
He had, but he was reminded that not all myths or legends do.
“The couple ruled the lands and raised several children, but his wife always longed for the sea. Without her cloak, which O’Dowd had hidden away, she could not return. Then one day, one of her children found it and told their mother. With the return of her fishtail, the wife could not resist the temptation of the sea.”
“She left him?” Julian asked. “Did she come back?”
