Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Knox shook his head. “I don’t even know what love is, what it feels like.”
“Aye, but you do, Knox. It’s there every time you look at your wife, when you take her in your arms, when it pains you to leave her. It is far too obvious to deny.”
Confused, Knox shook his head again. “How could it happen? I barely know her.”
Brother Ewan laughed. “An age-old question many wish to know. Love arrives when we least expect it and can be delivered with a wallop, or it can creep up on you.”
“Does it leave the same way?” The thought of never seeing Dru again tearing at his heart.
“A strong love, a love that is true, can not only bear life’s burdens but grow stronger in spite of them.”
Knox’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve been in love.”
“Aye, I have,” Brother Ewan said with a soft smile and a nod. “And it was a strong and true love and when I lost her to an illness, I knew I’d never find another like her. So, I turned to the church, and I do my best to help others until the day I am reunited with her.” He rested his hand on Knox’s back. “Trust me. Yours and Dru’s love is strong enough to survive the worst of life. You both will do well together. Now you best get some sleep with that early start you want to get in the morning.”
Knox nodded, swallowed the last of his wine, and stood. When Brother Ewan remained seated, he asked, “Morning will come soon enough for you as well, Brother Ewan.”
“I sleep little most nights, my son. Now go and be with your wife and cherish the moments you have with her.”
Knox’s mind was chaotic with thought as he walked to his room, and he fought to make sense of it. He stopped abruptly before reaching the door. He had to put the mission before anything else. Whatever was between Dru and him would have to wait. Besides, if what Brother Ewan said proved to be true then he needed the land so that he and Dru would have a place to start their lives together. The mission suddenly became even more important to him. All else would have to wait—if it could.
He already felt like kissing her again and that wouldn’t be wise because it was obvious he wanted to do more than just kiss her.
With a gentle turn of the latch, he opened the door and slipped in, closing it quietly behind him. He walked over to the bed, seeing his wife curled around a pillow, sound asleep. Was the pillow a substitute for him? Did she miss him there with her? There was no room for him unless he took her in his arms and wrapped himself around her.
A quick arousal alerted him to the problem with that and he turned around and left the room.
Tonight, he would bed down where it was safe—with his mare.
Knox reached up and lifted Dru off Star. “Take a drink from the stream then we’ll be on our way.”
Dru nodded, her head filled with endless things she wanted to ask him and even more things she wanted to say to him, but she remained silent.
Silence had been between them since this morning when she woke up alone and even when she did find him, he had not spoken a word to her. Oddly enough, she held her tongue, something she rarely did, though she wasn’t sure why.
She was still trying to comprehend what had happened last night between them and the consequences if it should continue. Fear warned her to keep her distance. Love, which was what she thought she was feeling, told her otherwise. And warnings hovered in the middle that she couldn’t ignore.
She also couldn’t ignore this silence between them any longer. “I don’t like this discomfort between us.”
“Better than it be otherwise,” he said briskly.
His cold, stoic manner annoyed her, but then he had been clear. She wasn’t what he was looking for in a wife and yet he had kissed her three times. And hadn’t she made it clear as well, telling him she wanted no husband?
She sighed heavily as she walked to the edge of the rippling stream. She dropped down, eager for a drink. She had barely drunk a handful when she thought she heard her name called. She turned and saw that Knox had led Star downstream for her to drink.
A quick glance around proved she was alone. It had to have been her mind playing tricks on her. She scooped up another handful of water and barely got it to her mouth when she heard it again. This time stronger.
She tilted her head away from Knox to where she believed the sound came from and she spotted a familiar face peeking through bushy branches. She got up slowly, glanced at Knox, turned away from her, and slipped past the bushes.