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Avelina wore a different gown than she had the day before, this one a deep blue that complimented her well—though he suspected any color would do as much. Niall was surprised by the rapid beating of his heart as she turned. This was no battle he was about to enter that he should feel such. . . unease.

Or perhaps it was. One without swords and bloodshed, with the wounds they would create deep inside hurting nearly as much. He’d been in love once and did not recommend the state. His wife, when he found a woman suitable for the role, would care for him, aye. As he would her. But love? Nay.

“Have you changed your mind?” he asked, approaching. “Or will you still speak with me today?”

She turned.

Dammit, the woman was beautiful. A MacKinlay. The MacKinlay’s sister. Of all the women he should wish to speak with, she was not the one he’d have chosen.

“’Tis you who have avoided me,” she said, her assessment correct.

“The daggers in your brother’s eyes prevented me from seeking you out sooner.”

She glanced in her brother’s direction, though he seemed to be remaining in place near the horses. At least, for now.

“You do not strike me as a man to let such a thing deter him,” she said as he sat on the other end of her rock.

“I am not,” he admitted. “But if your brother is deterred for any reason from learning why his cattle graze on our land, I fear naught I can say will prevent the beginnings of a renewed feud.”

“I fear this”—she waved her hand between them—“could do such a thing.”

“Aye,” Niall agreed, “it could.”

“So it was likely a good enough idea that you should avoid me, and I, in turn, should do the same.”

“It was.”

“And yet, here we are.”

“Indeed.”

Niall had never been a man to be anything but direct. “I enjoy speaking with you, Lina,” he said. “’Tis why I am here.”

“I enjoy speaking with you,” she said immediately, leaving no doubt that her words were true. “Though I should not.”

“A fact we’ve well established.”

“Look,” she exclaimed as a fish leaped from the water and dove back into the river. “I’ve not seen such a thing in all my life.”

“Nay? Keep watching and ’tis likely you will see it again. They are quite common here.”

She did but nothing emerged. If Niall could have reached into the water and forced the fish to leap above it simply to see that expression of wonder again, he’d have done it.

“You are a beautiful woman, Lina.” The words spilled from his lips without warning. “Though I’m certain you’ve been told so many, many times.”

“None by a man who. . .” She stopped abruptly. Lina looked down to her lap, where her hands were suddenly clasped. ’Twas a gesture from her that Niall did not expect. Her boldness seemed to have entirely disappeared.

“Who?” he prompted. Though perhaps ’twas not gentlemanly to do so, he wanted to know her response.

When Lina glanced back to her brother, who had still not moved to remove Niall from her presence, he knew the direction of her thoughts, ones he had previously only suspected.

“I cannae.”

“Aye, lass, you can.”

Her eyes met his. Niall willed her to continue.

“’Tis not appropriate for me to say.”