She too felt a change in the two of them. While she still teased him at every opportunity, she noticed a different look in his eyes and it perplexed her. It was the same look he had now, so when he put his hands on her waist, waited for her to put hers on his wide shoulders and slowly lowered her to the ground, she quickly let go. But he did not let go and she looked up at him. "Why do ye look at me like that?"
"Like what?"
She moved his hands away and slipped around him. "Like ye are seeing me for the first time."
"Ye have change, ye have grown up."
"I thought something was different, ye have not called me wee bairn in weeks."
"Perhaps because yer no longer a wee bairn."
She hid her smile and went to stand at the edge of the water. "Well, I am happy to hear it. I can hardly find a husband if ye keep calling me that."
He tied the reins of her horse and went to stand next to her to take in the beauty of the loch. "Then ye have found a lad ye prefer above all others?"
"Nay, not yet. I begin to believe only a laird will do. I want to be mistress o' all I see and am convinced only that will satisfy me."
"How many lairds are there for ye to choose from?"
She stuck her nose in the air and started to walk around the edge of the loch toward the two hills, "Ye need not remind me o' my limited opportunities. I intend to ask my father to find me one."
"I see. Will ye marry this laird even if ye dinna love him?"
"I can learn to love him."
"Ye will learn to love the power over others he gives ye, ye mean. But what if he be cruel?"
"There are no cruel lairds in Scotland."
He rolled his eyes, "Ye are not so grown up as I thought. There are many cruel lads in the world and some even become lairds."
"Then I will not learn to love him." She lifted her skirt a little, stepped over a log and then walked on around the shore.
"If ye dinna love him, ye will make him miserable. What will ye do if he beats ye for his unhappiness?"
She stopped walking to think about that and then turned around to face him. "I will send for ye and ye will come to save me."
Stefan laughed. "Am I expected to kill him for ye?"
"Of course," she said, and was on her way around the loch again.