Timothy was sincere. Even I could read someone’s face enough to check for earnestness. “That is marvelous, actually, that it’s in your nature to do good. That’s not why you fastened on me, is it? Was I sending out alarms of unhappiness?”
“Not at all. Your presence flooded my system with, first, the recognition that you were the one, then a tidal wave of commitment, followed by a need so great, so vast, I was almost speechless with the urge to sweep you into my arms and carry you back to my house. Of course, I knew not to do that. It would have destroyed all my chances for happiness, but the instinct was there, and also the fear that you might disappear, might choose someone else, or even worse perhaps, might reject me as Andrew’s wife did.”
“I haven’t rejected you. I’m just unsure about things,” I said, feeling slightly nauseated from being unsettled and suspicious of pookas, Fairie, and the idea that real magic existed.
“I know. I understand. As I’ve said before, I will be patient. But please don’t turn away from me or reject me for being what I have no control over. I would never discard you for being a brunette. (Your hair is lovely, by the way. Blondes are not to my personal taste.) I would not fling you away for being too young for me, or not being able to dance . . .”
He added the last with a wry curl of the lip which told me he was kidding. But he was right. If he didn’t hold it against me that I was a mere human, should I cast him aside for being a pooka?
“Yes, please don’t. I would be a pooka with a broken heart, not a pretty sight since I’d weep and wail for at least a century.”
“Only a century?” I said, smiling back.
Chapter Ten
That night, I slept in the room I’d been given and no wild stallion or pooka entered my dreams. I think I was rather disappointed, but also, glad, if that makes any sense. I guess it was like my mind in general. Completely and totally mentally disarrayed.
In the morning, when I woke up, I thought I’d grab a swim in the pool that Timothy had shown me. I slid into the most modest of all the bathing suits, a one piece that looked perfect for lap swimming. Bless Simone for not expecting me to wear a bikini to do serious swimming.
I grabbed a towel, then ran downstairs without making any noise. I was tempted to pass through the kitchen and see if someone had made coffee, but it was better to get right with the exercise rather than sit down and luxuriate with a hot cup of the nectar of the gods.