Och now, how could Catarina be like this after their discussion? The woman was a Judas. A tall, dark-haired, beautiful Judas who might tempt Ewan away from...
Me.
The single syllable hung in her mind.
It was true. She liked Ewan. More than she should and the thought of him with Catarina was enough to make her want to do something vicious to the woman.
But he didn’t belong to her. He wasn’t hers to control and she had no right to tell him who he could and couldn’t stare after.
Who he could desire...
Ewan could never be hers.
He wasn’t what she wanted for a spouse.
Why, he’d be just like her father, belching about the table, always off and practicing his sword. Gathering his friends around for boisterous nights of boasting and drinking while they retold the same boring stories over and over again.
She’d spent her life watching her graceful, dainty mother being dogged by her much larger father who would scarce let the poor woman out of his sight. He was always making loud demands for her mother’s time. Wanting her to partake of his less than refined activities such as watching him fight.
She couldn’t count the times her father had whisked her mother up in his arms and carried her to their chambers while her mother protested, telling him she had duties to attend.
And did he listen?
Nay, never.
While her mother preferred to speak softly, her father bellowed. Her mother loved poetry and music, her father liked caber tossing and stag hunting.
Nora had never seen two more mismatched people in her life. And while her father was a good man with a caring heart, he and her mother had nothing in common.
Why, they scarce spoke to one another. Her father demanded and her mother nodded.
Nora wanted more out of her husband than that. She dreamed of a man who could talk to her about science. One who could keep up his side of the conversation and not get irritable because she was asking too many questions.
There was nothing wrong with questions. But her endless inquisitiveness oft made her father lose his patience and order her from the hall.
“I love you, Nora-child, but one more word from you, lass, and I swear my humble brain will boil over until I’m as empty-pated as old Seamus. Now get to your room and give me peace afore I lock you in there for the rest of eternity.”
Nora winced at the words she had heard countless times.
Ewan was her father all over, she was sure of it. The only difference was their appearance. Her father was short and blond, not gargantuan and dark.
But inside, they might as well be the same man.
Yet as she watched Ewan play, she noted something odd about him. His eyes were brighter than they had been before. The corners of his lips turned up, almost as if to smile.
He loved music as much as her father despised it.
That was a little common ground between them. Something the two of them shared.
Och lass, what are you thinking?
You tie yourself to a man such as he and you’ll be gone forever.
Marriage was only good for the man. The woman lost all sense of herself. She became lady to his lordship. Forever docile to him. Forever deferring to him.
Just like her mother.
She didn’t want that. She wanted her own life, just like her aunt Eleanor.
