She smiled up at him as she tested the strings with her hands.
“How much for it?” he asked the peddler.
Nora paused at his words.
“Five pounds, my lord.”
Ewan didn’t even quibble. He pulled the money out and handed it over to the peddler. “Have you extra strings?”
“Aye, my lord.”
“I’ll a take two sets of those.”
Her heart hammered at his kindness. Why would he gift her with such a thing? He barely knew her and she had forced herself rather rudely into his life.
He should hate her for what she’d done.
Instead, he gave her a present. One she had pined for every day since her father had destroyed her original lute.
Once Ewan had paid the peddler for the strings, the man took his leave of them.
Nora stood in the center of the road, looking up at Ewan in awe. At that moment, he was the sweetest man she’d ever known.
“Why did you purchase this for me?”
Ewan swallowed at her question. He still wasn’t sure why he did it. Other than the look on her face when she had seen it had struck him in the gut like a fist. It was obvious that the cheap lute would bring her untold hours of happiness and for some reason that didn’t bear thinking on, the thought of her being happy made his day brighter.
Unable to speak a word of that, he shrugged and headed back toward his horse.
“Wait!”
He turned at her call.
“Can we not stop for a bit and you show me how to play it?”
“Nora, we’ve still got...”
Her face fell.
So did his stomach.
“Very well,” he said.
She smiled a smile at him that dazzled his senses.
She rushed toward a fallen log and took a seat on it while he grabbed the horses’ reins and led them to an area where they could rest and graze.
Nora sat with the lute in her lap, held at an awkward angle. Seeking to correct her, he put his arms around her to show her how to hold it and was immediately assailed with the fresh, sweet scent of her blond hair. With the softness of her hands on his. The way she felt like heaven in his arms.
Deep seated need tore through him, making him so hard for her that he ached with it. He breathed her scent in, letting it wash over him as her hands touched his.
Och, but the woman felt too good in his embrace.
And she tasted even better...
Nora was all too aware of Ewan’s arms around her. Of his breath falling against her neck.
The way his strong hands led hers to the frets and strings to show her how to play.
