Dare he chance it?
Dare he not?
He stood before her, unsure of what to do. Unsure of what he should do.
But in the end, he had one truth that resonated inside him.
Nora deserved better than him.
After he bathed her, they dressed while he considered what he should do with her.
They made their way back to the gypsies who were up and cooking.
“Where have you two been?” Viktor asked.
For the first time, Nora was at a loss for words as she blushed and looked up at him with fear in her eyes.
“We got up early and went for a walk,” Ewan said.
If the gypsies didn’t believe it, no one said anything. They merely kept on with their various tasks, ignoring them.
Catarina approached them with two platters of sausage and hard bread. “I figured the two of you would be a bit hungry this morning.”
She cocked her head as she looked at Nora. “Though you be looking a bit tired, my lady. Did you not sleep well?”
“Very well, thank you,” Nora said, quickly, taking her platter and moving away from Catarina’s inquisitive stare.
“And you, my lord?’
Ewan forced himself not to glance over to Nora. “Quite well, thank you.”
They didn’t speak while they ate, cleaned their platters and then packed the wagon.
Nora found herself riding on the wagon at Ewan’s insistence.
“You don’t need to be riding a horse today, my lady,” he said under his breath to her. “It will only make you more sore.”
Then he had kissed her cheek quickly and set her up beside Viktor.
Nora was warmed by his thoughtfulness and so she spent the day chatting with Viktor as they rode north to meet the man who had paid the gypsies to abduct Ewan.
Ewan rode off to the side of the wagon and watched Nora, his heart aching for what he couldn’t have.
“Tell me,” Lysander said as he reined his horse to ride by Ewan’s side. “How did you manage to tolerate her chatter without stuffing a gag into her mouth?”
“I don’t mind her chatter.”
Lysander snorted at that. “Surely you jest. How can it not make your ears ring? I’m surprised poor Viktor hasn’t snapped at her.”
Ewan shrugged.
He kicked his horse forward so that he could speak with her. “Nora?”
She turned to face him. The breeze tugged at strands of her pale hair that had come free of her brat. Her cheeks were bright red and her lips moist.
How he ached to taste them again. To drink the delectable sweetness of her mouth until he was drunk from it.
“Aye?” she asked.
