Page 23 of Highlander’s Forbidden Fruit

“Really?” John looked surprised. “What exactly were you pondering? As a man, I can provide answers.”

“It is nae just the nature of men but the duality of how we treat men and women.” Evanna spread her hands as she tried to explain her muddled thoughts. “Women are expected to marry and have children. That is the highest accomplishment of a woman’s life. Women who are unable to secure husbands are saddled with the milestone of spinster around their necks and regarded with pity for the rest of their lives. Men, however, can pursue nobler paths in life. They can become priests, monks, sailors, or soldiers. They can choose not to marry and be adored as bachelors all their lives.”

She was breathless after her speech, and she was aware color had suffused her cheeks. I must look a sight, she thought as she glanced at John who was looking at her with a strange light in his eyes.

“Not every man can have the privilege of bachelorhood,” he said. “Some must marry to continue the line. Can you imagine if His Majesty had decided never to marry and have children? It would have put his royal line at risk.”

Evanna sighed. “Duty. Men must marry for duty, and women must marry to secure better futures. It all sounds so…”

“Loveless?” John suggested. He had an odd smile playing around his mouth. “Yes. And it’s a pity. But,” he suddenly knelt down on the ground near a nest of exposed tree roots and plucked something Evanna couldn’t see, “we can try to make the best of friendship, can we not?”

He stood up and offered her a bunch of bluebells.

“Something blue,” he said, a twinkle in his eyes.

“Only four more treasures left to seek.” Evanna inhaled the scent of the bluebells.

“Four more?” Mr. Merton exclaimed, looking like a petulant child that has been denied a treat. “I beg your pardon, Miss MacLeod, but I shall see you back at the house. The sun, it is unbearable!” Dabbing at his drenched brow with a silk handkerchief, he marched off, with Mr. Prewett looking longingly at his receding back.

“I will have to take my leave as well,” Mr. Charity said sheepishly. “I had business to attend to this afternoon with my solicitor.”

“Indeed?” Mr. Prewett inquired. “That reminds me, I needed to see my banker. A grave matter of misplaced funds. May I accompany you? I do beg your pardon, Miss MacLeod.”

Evanna bade the gentlemen farewell, and had a hard time concealing her relief to be rid of them. They were fine gentlemen, no doubt, but they were too old, too dull, and too delicate for her taste.

“That’s us rid of them,” John congratulated her. “Now for the real fun to begin.”

John placed a single bluebell in her hair. “To match your eyes. I must say, I have never seen such a shade of blue.”

“I get them from my mother. Or so I’m told,” Evanna gracefully accepted the compliment. “Look there! Mushrooms.”

“They weren’t on the list.”

“Nae. But where there are mushrooms, snails mustnae be far behind.”

“What if we were to find snails very much attached to their shells?”

“We pocket them, nonetheless. Nae sense making them part from their homes for a silly game.”

John laughed. “You are remarkable, Evanna MacLeod. You’re unlike any woman I’ve ever met.”

“Mustnae have met many fun ones then.”

She was finally enjoying herself. She bent down to survey the toadstools and mushrooms that grew in abundance in this part of the woods. Sure enough, she found a few snails. She picked one up delicately by its shell and presented it to John, who tried his best not to grimace.

“You know,” he said, providing a handkerchief for their spoils instead of picking up the snail, “snails are a delicacy in France.”

“What? Like they eat them?”

“With butter and garlic.”

“Ye must be really pleased yer in England, eh?” Evanna said to the snail before she gently tucked it in the handkerchief.

She looked up to see John looking at her with that same strange look in his eyes.

“What? Have I got something on my nose?” She touched her nose just to be sure.

John chuckled, an endearing sound, and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ears. “You puzzle me, Evanna MacLeod.”