Ewan felt sucker-punched as he looked up at her. “Would you care to ride with me for a bit?”
He saw the relieved look on Viktor’s face as the man passed him a grateful nod.
“Would that be proper?” she asked.
“Aye, it would, my lady,” Viktor hastened to assure her. He stopped the wagon.
Ewan helped her from the wagon to his saddle. He pulled her across his lap so that she sat sideways before him.
Nora gave him a suspicious look as she adjusted her skirt. “Are you doing this because you wanted me to ride with you or to save poor Viktor’s hearing?”
“Both.”
She smiled. “So you’re not concerned about your own hearing then?”
“Better I lose my hearing than Viktor rings your neck.”
She laughed at that. “Then I shall have to torture him more if it means I get to sit in your lap. I rather like it here.”
So did he. More than he should. Nora felt good in his arms and even better spread out in his lap.
Already he could imagine her as she’d been last night. Hot and welcoming to his touch.
“How much farther do you think we’ll travel before we break to sup?” she asked.
“Are you hungry?”
“Nay, not at all. But I grow weary of riding. How do you stand to be in the saddle for so long? Don’t you wish to be free to walk?”
Before he could answer, she went off on her own. “I think if we could travel by foot, it would be better. The horse would like it better too, I imagine. It must be hard on your horse for both of us to ride astride him.”
“You scarce weigh enough to bother him.”
“Aye, but you weigh at least twice the amount of a normal man I would think.”
Ewan grimaced at her reminder.
“Did that bother you? I’m sorry, Ewan. I should think you’d be proud of the fact that you’re so large. My cousin, Sean, often laments that he is shorter than most men. Indeed, he’s a full head shorter than I am. Why would your size bother you?”
Catarina answered for him as she rode her horse beside them. “I imagine ‘tis as big a curse to be too tall as it is to be too short. I am sure Lord Ewan lives in a world where nothing fits. Chairs and beds are ever too small.”
“Aye,” he agreed, “I’m forever banging my head, arms or legs into things that are designed for men half my size. I even had to have my horse specially bred to be larger too, else my knees would be dragging the ground.”
“I like your height,” Nora confided. “There is nothing about your size that I would change.”
Ewan stared at her, amazed.
“Catarina?” Nora called out. “Do you think we will stop where there might be fresh berries to pick?”
Ewan rode in silence as the women talked to each other. He couldn’t fathom why Nora’s tireless conversation no longer bothered him.
“Would you?”
He realized Nora was speaking to him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you. What were you asking?”
Nora laughed and looked completely unconcerned for the fact that his thoughts had trailed off from her conversation. “Catarina wanted to know if you’d pick berries with me. Will you?”
“I...” He frowned at the question. “Pick berries?”
