“I don’t understand it either, but there it is. I’ve fallen in love with you and not a simple fall, a hard one, if not harder than that tumble you took down that hill. It tumbled and stabbed at me until I was too battered to fight it.” It was Tarass’s turn to shake his head. “I told you that you wouldn’t believe it. I barely believe it myself. But how do I deny something that refuses to let go, that drives me mad with endless thoughts, that—” He shook his head again. “It’s done. I love you and that’s all there is to it.” He took a quick breath. “I hope someday, somehow, you might grow to love me, or at least grow fond of me.”

Snow smiled. “Strange, you had told me time and again that you would never marry let alone love a blind woman. I thought for sure my sister was wrong, and yet she had been right not only about you but about me as well.”

“What about you?”

“Willow told me before I would admit it to myself that I love you and though I fought it, like you, it wouldn’t leave me alone. The realization of just how much I love you hit me when standing before the cleric with Lord Polwarth. I couldn’t marry him when I knew I was in love with you.” When no response came, Snow smiled. “Did I strike you speechless?”

“Aye, you did,” Tarass said, his wits returning to him. “I feared you hated me too much to ever love me even a little.” He chuckled. “Not that I deserved your hatred, of course.”

Snow laughed with him. “There were many times I felt I did hate you, deserving of course.” Her voice turned soft. “Until I found something in you that I didn’t think existed… kindness. Though I daresay, you would not want anyone to know that of you.”

“You’ll keep my secret then?” he asked with another chuckle.

“I don’t think it’s much of a secret to those who truly know you,” she whispered close to his lips.

Her faint breath teased his lips and he didn’t hesitate to kiss her gently.

It was a tender, lovely kiss, but it wasn’t enough for her. She ached for much more, but she needed to remind him of something. “You once said you’d never poke a blind woman.”

He brushed his lips over hers and felt the light shiver that ran through her naked body before responding. “Aye, I did, and I meant it.”

Snow snapped her head back as if he had slapped her in the face, so great was her surprise. If he didn’t want to seal their vows, why claim he loved her?