A Love to Discover (Loving in the Highlands 2)

I show him the stables. We are alone there. There is a pleasant silence between us. I turn to look at him – he is looking at me. I take a deep breath and wonder if I am falling in love. Then I realize that I am just attracted. I will know when I fall in love – Megan told me that.

I find my favorite brown horse in the stables. His magnificent white horse is also there. As I take mine out, he takes his, and we both mount our horses that are eager to get out of the stables and get into the nature.

'I love the nature around the castle,' I say, as our horses slowly walk us towards the gates of the castle.

'I know,' he says, ‘I knew it the second I saw you there yesterday. I saw you and at first I thought what a young and beautiful girl like you is doing so far from the castle or any villages. Then I realized that you just loved nature and wanted to be alone.'

I giggle. 'Yes, yesterday was an interesting day. Sometimes I love to be alone in the middle of the nature, with no one to talk to. It is very relaxing and soothing. Yesterday was one of those days. And when I saw you, I thought that you did not know the way,' I add, looking at him, as I want to speak about it with him.

'Lady Elsie,' he says and pauses. I think an emotional moment is coming. I blush and hope that it is not one of those emotional moments that I have read about in romantic books.

'Yes?' I ask him, looking at his bright blue eyes that are shining brighter under the sunshine.

'You were so beautiful yesterday. I wanted to talk to you, to be honest, so I…'

'I know,' I say quickly, interrupting him. I kind of feel awkward now, as I do not know where the conversation will take us if we let it continue. He falls silent. I hope that my interruption was not too tough. Part of me wants to continue the romantic conversation, but the other part is a bit awkward and thinks that it is best to leave this at it.

The sweet scent of the flowers, the vivid colors, and the warm breeze make the surroundings look like a fairy tale. We are alone in the nature, away from the castle, as the horses do not think that they should stop walking.

'Calem, please tell me a bit about yourself,' I say, feeling that I do need to know more about this fascinating person.

'I am the right-hand man to my Laird Darah McDougald,' he replies immediately, and I realize that he is also eager to talk to me about himself. 'He is grateful for my years of service and has promised me some land after I get married.'

'After you get married?' I can't help asking. 'Are you getting married?'

'No, I do not have a fiancée,' he replies quickly. I do not why, but I feel better after his response. He looks at me intently, but I cannot translate that gaze. 'He will give me the lands if I ever get married.

'Ah, I see now,' I say, feeling embarrassed. I hope he did not catch the note of panic in my voice the moment I asked him if he was married or not. I do not know why, but I was really afraid that he might be married. Even if he is leaving in two days, I still wanted him to be mine, even if for those two days. The thought that he might belong to someone else, made me sad, and learning that he did not belong to anyone, I start smiling again.

'Yes,' he says, as if nothing embarrassing has happened, for which I am grateful to him. 'And it means that I will have nice lands when I am ready to get married.'

For some reason, I feel that he is looking at me and wanting to ask me something, but I do not know what. He keeps looking at me, and when I turn to look back at him, he just smiles.

'And where is your home, lady Elsie?' He asks me. I was waiting for that question, and I have been waiting for that question ever since I mentioned that this is not my home.

'The castle of Bedigalhall is my home. Our parents are dead, so we have been staying here for a while. And then my sister married Sloan…' I answer. I do not feel like I want to tell him the entire story about my uncle, not yet. I do not want to reach those parts of my past, which are utterly unpleasant. Also, he would feel bad, and nothing would change. I do not want him to feel bad because of my sad stories.