It wasn’t that it was difficult to accept she was married. After all, she was to wed today. It was who she had married she found so difficult to grasp. Also, the reason why he married her, which Willow had insisted was because he loved her. That was simply impossible. She didn’t want to think on the many times he had told her he would never take her as a wife. So why had he?

He had not spoken up about being in your bed until he discovered you were to wed. There would be no other plausible reason for him to marry you unless he couldn’t stand the thought of another man having you.

Her sister had repeated that again and again and coming from Willow, a person who saw reason in most everything, it would make sense. But Willow hadn’t been privy to the various times Tarass had pointed out that he would not wed a blind woman. And there was that time in the cottage when he stopped himself from saying, though she had finished it for him, he wouldn’t poke a blind woman.

Did that mean he had no intention of sealing their vows? If that was so, then again she had to ask, “Why did you wed me?”

She hadn’t planned on speaking her thought aloud, but she was glad she did. She raised her head, hoping she looked him in the eye as she waited for his response.

“Why did you agree to wed Lord Polwarth?” he asked, failing to keep a biting anger out of his voice.

She thought to tell him that it didn’t concern him, but then she hoped if she answered him, he would in turn answer her.

“He was a friend of my da’s and offered me a chance of having what I’ve always wanted… a caring husband and family.”

Tarass was glad she couldn’t see him cringe with anger at the thought of Polwarth coupling with her. It sent a rage through him that made him want to beat the man.

“What about love? I thought you wanted a husband who loved you.”

Her soft laughter was filled with sorrow. “Who would love or even wed a blind woman? You certainly made it known you wouldn’t, so why did you wed me?”

“Did you even give your decision to marry Polwarth thought?”

She was wise to the way he ignored answering her question and she wondered why.

“Not at first,” she admitted honestly. “With my sisters wed and James and Eleanor planning their wedding, I suppose I felt a burden to them all. Lord Polwarth’s offer lifted that burden.”