When his lips curved and his eyes smiled she very nearly sighed like a teenager faced with a rock star. “I’m from Mayo, but I’ve had this place as mine for nearly a year now. My cabin’s less than a half mile from Belinda’s.”

“You know her, then?”

“Aye, well enough. We’re in the way of being relations, distant ones.” His smile was gone now. Her eyes were as blue as the wild bellflowers that grew in sunny patches of the forest in high summer. And in them he found no guile at all. “She didn’t tell me to expect a neighbor.”

“I suppose she didn’t think of it. She didn’t tell me to expect one, either.” Her hands were free now, though she could still feel the warmth of his fingers, like bracelets around her wrists. “What do you do up here?”

“As I choose. You’ll be wanting to do the same. It’ll be a good change for you.”

“Excuse me?”

“You haven’t done what you pleased often enough, have you, Rowan Murray?”

She shivered once and slipped her hands into her pockets. The sun was dipping down toward the horizon and was reason enough for the sudden chill. “I guess I’ll have to be careful what I talk to myself about with a quiet-footed neighbor around.”

“Nearly a half mile between us should be enough. I like my solitude.” He said it firmly, and though it was ridiculous, it seemed to Rowan he wasn’t speaking to her, but to someone, something, in the darkening woods beyond. Then his gaze shifted back to her face, held. “I won’t infringe on yours.”

“I didn’t mean to be unfriendly.” She tried a smile, wishing she hadn’t spoken so abruptly and irritated him. “I’ve always lived in the city—with so many neighbors, I barely notice any of them.”

“It doesn’t suit you,” he said, half to himself.

“What?”

“The city. It doesn’t suit you or you wouldn’t be here, would you?” And what in bloody hell did it matter to him what suited her? he asked himself. She’d be nothing to him unless he decided differently.

“I’m … just taking a little time.”

“Aye, well, there’s plenty of it here. Do you know your way back?”

“Back? Oh, to the cabin? Yes. I take the path to the right, then follow the stream.”

“Don’t linger long.” He turned and started down, pausing only briefly to glance up at her. “Night comes quickly here this time of year, and it’s easy to be lost in the dark. In the unfamiliar.”

“No, I’ll start back soon. Mr. Donovan—Liam?”

He stopped again, his gaze clear enough that she caught the quick shadow of impatience in it. “Yes?”

“I was wondering … Where’s your dog?”