Loved By a Warrior (20 page)

“You don't win the wager,” Bryce reminded. “It's been over a month.”

“Why do you do this?” Carmag asked, looking to Reeve.

“He loves her,” Duncan answered.

“I didn't ask you,” Carmag snapped. “I want to know why. Do you love her, or is it for the good of the true king of Scotland?”

“I'm lucky that it can be for both,” Reeve admitted. “I do love Tara—”He stopped, hearing his declaration roll off his tongue so easily gave him a punch to the gut. “I have debated my love for her far too long instead of simply accepting it. I made it more difficult for myself than it needed to be.”

“True,” Duncan said, “though I think that time of doubt and questioning is needed to get a firm grasp on love.”

“You may be right,” Reeve agreed.

Bryce snorted. “Listen to you two. You make something that supposedly you admit is so simple so very difficult. If you love someone, tell them, wed them, and get on with it.”

Reeve and Duncan laughed again.

Bryce grew annoyed. “Wait until I find love. I will show you how it is done.”

Duncan and Reeve burst into a fit of laughter, and this time, Carmag joined in.

Carmag finally cleared his throat, more of laughter than anything else, and asked, “What of this curse on her? Do you not fear it?”

“Not truly,” Reeve said confidently, “but Tara is going to speak with Bliss and see if she can help with it. Regardless, though, I will wed Tara.”

“And you believe this will solve the problem?” Bryce asked.

“How would it not?” Reeve said. “Tara weds me, which makes me entitled to her bride price. Who can argue with it? The deed is done, and I'll make certain our vows are consummated. No authority would dare rescind the vows.”

“That leaves one problem left before all this can be done,” Bryce said.

“What's that?” Reeve asked.

“You have to get Tara to accept your proposal.”

Chapter 22

T
ara was relieved when she found that Bliss had time to speak with her. She was also remarkably surprised to see that the redness around Trey's wounds had diminished considerably. And that his fever hadn't returned since she had gotten there. If Bliss had such notable healing powers, then was it possible that she could help Tara?

“Is there a private place where we can talk and share a hot brew?” Bliss asked, as they left Mara to watch over Trey.

Not that Mara had wanted Bliss to leave, and Tara couldn't blame her. It had been only a short time since her arrival, and already there had been marked improvements in Trey. Tara had no doubt that Mara would find a way to keep Bliss with the clan until Trey was healed to her satisfaction and relief.

“My cottage is not far if you don't mind a brief walk in the snow,” Tara said.

Bliss smiled. “I love the way the snow paints the land in swatches of winter white. It's such a beautiful sight to behold.”

“I never thought of it like that,” Tara admitted.

“Because you have never taken the time to look.”

Bliss was right. She hadn't. She had been too absorbed in her lonely world to see beauty anywhere. Now, however, it was different. It was as if colors suddenly appeared brighter to her, scents richer, and touch simply divine.

She blushed, turning her head away, thoughts of touch producing naked images of Reeve that she was quite enjoying.

“You're afraid to love Reeve,” Bliss said, startling Tara.

Tara sighed and nodded, too taut with anguish to speak.

Bliss rested her hand on Tara's shoulder. “Get your cloak as you intended, and let's go to your cottage and talk.”

Tara was only too eager to obey, and it wasn't until they had left the keep with a sprinkle of snow falling upon them that Tara stopped abruptly.

Had it been a logical deduction that Tara intended to get her cloak? After all, they were going out in the snow.

Tara shook her head. “How did you know—”

“Sometimes I simply know what people intend to do, and other times I don't,” Bliss said. “It is a strange skill I have and one that I have still to make sense of.”

The two women were soon sitting at the small table in front of the hearth in Tara's cottage. Hot cider filled their tankards while a pitcher was kept heated on the hearth.

Tara didn't waste any time. “Can you remove curses?”

“Curses are a difficult lot.”

Tara's shoulders sagged, and she felt hope drain away.

“It depends on the curse and who cast it, but it's intention that matters the most.”

Hope returned, though cautiously, as Tara said, “I don't understand.”

“When curses or spells are cast, they are done so with intention. Whether it is to hurt, to harm, for joy, for love, for help, it is the intention of the caster that gives it power. If someone is angry and wishes harm or hurt to another, then the cast is made with the power of hate. If it is with annoyance or as a nuisance, then its sting is not as strong.”

“So the stronger the intention, the more difficult it is to be rid of the curse?”

Bliss nodded. “That is what I have discovered through the years.”

“Have you ever removed a curse from someone?”

“A curse or spell can only be removed by the person who cast it or one more powerful than she or he,” Bliss said.

“You are powerful,” Tara said, her violet eyes turning wide. “I saw how you have healed Trey and in such a short time.”

“Trey has yet to fully heal,” Bliss said. “I but help him along.”

Tara refused her explanation. “No, I have seen your remarkable power to heal. Trey's wounds were near to filling with poison. You stopped that and reduced the redness to almost nothing. That is power.”

“To heal,” Bliss reminded.

“You're my only hope,” Tara pleaded.

“Unselfish love is your only hope.”

“What do you mean?” Tara asked.

“An unselfish love in your life counters the curse, but only when you realize it.”

“How can that be when you just told me that a curse can only be removed by the one who cast it, or one more powerful?”

“I'm not sure what I mean,” Bliss said. “That is the problem with this knowing of mine. I don't always understand what it is I know.”

Once more Tara felt the heavy weight descend on her shoulders, which sagged from the burden.

“You should smile,” Bliss advised. “There is a way for the curse to be lifted; you must just realize it.”

“If I haven't realized it by now, how will I ever?”

“Love has a way of bringing to us what we need,” Bliss said, “especially when it is given as a gift from the heart.”

Gift from the heart.

The words resonated in her head like a bell tolling in the distance, a familiar bell.

“Think on it,” Bliss advised. “It will come to you.”

Peaceful warmth settled around Tara like the arm of an old friend wrapping around her, and she suddenly felt confident that Bliss was right. It would come to her. The problem was what would she do until then?

“You must trust in love,” Bliss said, as if hearing Tara's silent question.

“So far that has been dangerous for me.”

Bliss tilted her head and scrunched her brow. “I believe what it has done is brought you where you were meant to be.”

“You often speak in riddles.”

“That eventually make sense,” Bliss assured her. “But that doesn't help when you worry over what you can do now.”

“Time grows short.”

“Yes, I know,” Bliss confirmed. “But a solution will soon present itself.”

“It will settle the matter?”

“Only if you trust in love,” Bliss warned.

R
eeve was sitting at the family table in the great hall when Tara entered with Bliss. He had hoped to catch her alone so that he could ask her to marry him. His brothers and father had shared their thoughts on how he should go about asking her.

“Be honest with her,” Bryce had said.

Duncan had shaken his head. “Don't listen to him. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Tell her you love her before you do anything.”

“Isn't that being honest?” Bryce had argued.

But his father had given him the best advice. “Let your heart speak for you. It never lies.”

While Tara and Bliss approached, he wondered how he could politely get rid of Bliss.

She smiled at him as if she knew his secret, and said, “I'm going to visit with Mercy.” And turned and hurried off.

Tara eyed him strangely as she slipped off her cloak. “I've spent only a short time with Bliss, but I have come to know her way. She sensed something from you, and so she left us. Is something wrong?”

Reeve reached out for her hand. “Sit with me. I have something to ask you.”

Tara discarded her cloak to a nearby table and joined Reeve.

Different scenarios had run through his head, but he rejected most of them. They simply did not fit the situation, and theirs was a situation. There was so much more involved with a union between them than just love. But the biggest obstacle he knew he would face with her was that she believed herself a
death bride.
How, then, did he approach this?

“We agree that you cannot be sent to the king,” he said.

She nodded anxiously.

“But the problem remains that eventually your whereabouts will be found, and demands will be made by the king and your father, and you will have no choice but to obey—unless . . .”

Her eyes brightened, and Reeve was captivated by their color once again, deeper violet, almost purple, and her lips were a plump, soft pink, while her chilled cheeks shone a berry red. Damn, if she didn't tempt him.

“Tell me,” Tara urged, squeezing his hand.

He gave an inward shake, clearing his head and focusing his attention on the matter at hand. There would be time soon enough for intimacy with her.

“I want you to marry me, Tara,” he said bluntly.

Her hand shot out of his, and she scrambled to her feet and walked around the table away from him.

“Think on it,” he warned curtly. “I am not proposing a love match. I am proposing a union out of necessity.” He knew if he told her that he loved her, which he did more than he thought possible, she would adamantly refuse him. Approaching it this way, he felt he might have a chance of convincing her.

“You cannot wed me, you will die,” she reminded with a heavy sadness.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I've been thinking about the curse.” And he had been, trying to find a way around it.

“If it is a vow you make, death will visit again and take,” she said, repeating the relevant section of the curse.

“Right,” Reeve said, aching to go over to her and wrap her in his arms, but knowing it was best to keep his distance and not display any signs of affection while trying to convince her. “And it isn't vows we will exchange. It is a decision that will benefit all.”

He saw by the way her brow wrinkled, and her eyes narrowed that she was giving it serious thought. And he said no more, allowing his suggestion to take root.

“What of love?”

He had anticipated that question, and, wanting no untruths between them, he was careful how he answered. “What of it? We have touched on it, yet we have yet to fully express it? So it isn't relevant at the moment.”

His heart ached when he watched her quickly contain the cringe that surfaced, and he knew his words had hurt her.

She recovered with a brave smile. “That is true. We have declared no love for each other.”

“And with no vows, simply a decision to wed, the curse cannot touch us.”

“What if—”She paused, hesitant to ask.

Reeve knew the question, had anticipated it since he would have asked himself. “What if we find ourselves in love?”

“We have discussed the possibility.”

“And we have agreed that we weren't sure. We were still finding our way with it.”

Her eyes returned to their lovely lavender color though it was filled with sadness. “Then I suppose we should stop finding our way—with love.”

Reeve had to keep himself from doubling over, that was how hard her words had hit him in the gut. He knew she didn't mean them, but it didn't help. Hearing it aloud troubled him, and yet in order to get her to wed him, he had to make her believe that love had no part in the decision.

When his father had told him to speak from the heart, he hadn't realized it would cause him and her so much pain.

Bryce and Duncan entered the hall, preventing Reeve from responding, and he was glad for the interruption. It would have been too difficult to agree with her.

They were both grinning like fools, and since they knew that Reeve loved her, they could damage the progress he had made. He jumped up and went to Tara's side, slipping his arm around her waist.

“I convinced them that we were in love, or else they would have protested my decision,” he whispered.

Tara never had a chance to reply.

Duncan called out, “So we will have a new sister?”

Reeve grinned and hugged her close. “We wed as soon as arrangements can be made.”

Burly hugs and tender kisses were followed by a wrenching screech of delight as Mara came barreling into the hall, Carmag quick on her heels.

“Another daughter, how blessed are we?” Mara cried out, and flung herself at Tara, wrapping her arms around her. “I knew as soon as I saw you that you were just right for Reeve. He's not an easy one to deal with, but I could see you had the strength to handle him.”

“Mum, you wound me” Reeve said, feigning hurt though knowing his mother was right. Tara had handled him well from the start and continued to do so.

Mara brushed his protest off with a dismissive wave and continued fawning over Tara. “We'll have a grand feast. I'll cook—”

“No!” All the men yelled in unison.

Mara, her back to them, winked at Tara. “Come, we must tell Mercy and Bliss, and where has Willow gone?”

“I sent her to claim one of the empty cottages for herself,” Bryce said.

That had Mara swerving around. “By herself?”

Reeve and Duncan backed away from Bryce as Mara marched over to him.

Bryce's hands went up like a shield. “I had important matters—”

“Nothing is as important as seeing that one of our own is taken care of,” Mara said. “Now go find her, and then let me know which one she has chosen so that the women may help her settle in.”

Bryce opened his mouth, and Reeve and Duncan grinned at him.

He sent them evil looks, which made the men grin all the more.

“Go now!” Mara ordered, her arm outstretched and her finger pointing to the door.

Bryce mumbled beneath his breath and turned to do as his mother bid, though not before sending death stares at his two brothers.

“What are you two grinning at?” Mara said, turning on her other two sons.

“Happy. I'm happy, Mum,” Reeve said.

“And I'm happy for Reeve,” Duncan confirmed, draping his arm around his brother.

“Good, then you two happy men go hunt us something special for supper tonight,” she ordered.

“With pleasure,” Reeve said, Duncan nodding beside him.

“Can I speak with you for a moment, Reeve, before you go?” Tara asked.

He hurried to her side while Duncan made his way to the door, and Mara joined her husband by the hearth, affording the couple privacy.

Reeve stepped close to Tara, and she whispered, “Tell me that you don't love me.”