chapter one

"You'll never believe who just moved into town!" Branna's big hazel eyes lit up as she turned to her childhood friend Aine, who was working with a cash book behind the counter, she ran a floral shop and her sister of the heart had dropped by to 'say hi.'

"Who?" She asked, looking up from her cash book, a hint of a smile playing at her lips. So much for wanting to just 'say hi.'

"The Maher's son. They're only son, and word is, he's hotter than burning coal." Aine merely rose her brows and snorted, her friend tended to be a bit boy crazy at times. But burning coal? That one was new. And a part of her, the nosy part of her that wagged it's little head whenever she was around this girl purred with curiosity.

"What's his name?"

"Bryan, or was it Brody?" This time Aine gave a little chuckle.

"So, you know of how hot he is, but not his name?" She added emphasis on the 'hot' and made Brianna grin.

"Hey, I know his last name, don't I?"

"Of course." She rolled her eyes at her friend and shook her head. "But, at this rate, you're going to loose him if you can't remember his name."

Branna tossed back her head, black long mane of hair flying and laughed, and Aine watched her with a grin on her face, her heart warmed at the sight of her friend.

"Ah Aine darling, I brought news of him to you, for one purpose." Aine rose a brow.

"Which is?" And now her friend smirked,

"Go grab 'em." it was her turn to laugh, and they both did, bone deep, wild and hysterical and anyone who saw them would have thought they'd lost it.

*****

Bryan Maher put the saddle on the horse and rubbed it's head tenderly.

"Ready for a ride, sweetheart?" The horse gave a soft neigh as though in response to his question. He patted her head and walked her out of her stall through the door of the shed, past two more horses both of which were eating.

He would check on them again once he came back from his ride, he thought to himself. There was a pregnant mare he had to tend specially. Yes, he'd a have to check on them.

Sweetheart gave a louder neigh as they stepped into the evening light, making Bryan chuckle.

"Aye, it's my favourite time for a ride as well." He got on, and so it began. A slow pace at first, even as they turned turned around and past the shed into the woods not so far off.

He sighed, couldn't help himself, He loved to ride, had been riding since he was a little boy. Now he owned horses of his, tended them, sold some, earned his keep. But he could never sell his precious sweetheart, it was like selling a part of his heart. He could sense her need for speed, her need to go fast. But, this evening wasn't for speed, No. He needed the slow pace, needed to go through his most urgent thoughts.

And what were they?

He passed a hand beneath his chin, feeling a week's stubble of beard. There was an unease in his soul. Mild, but however, pesky. Like some fly that wouldn't stop landing on your skin.

He wanted so much to understand it, find the root of it. And wasn't that why, after so long, he'd come home, settled?

He passed a hand over his face, and sweetheart, sensing something, or someone, reared. He made her come to a halt and squinted, looking around him.

"See something?" She let out an huff.

"I'm sure you did, but what?" He looked around again, and on a second thought came down. He took a few steps forward and caught sight of something, No, someone through a small hole in a cluster of branches.

It was a woman, the most beautiful sight he'd ever laid eyes on, she was bent over, plucking what seemed to him like berries and placing them in a basket she held in her right hand, and a massive black dog lying at her heel. She was slender, and something about her was familiar. The black mane of curly hair, the endless legs, and then she straightened and turned around and stared right at him, and he was sure his heart stopped. She had the most beautiful eyes. And then it clicked, he'd seen those eyes before.

He didn't know what came over him, but he began making his way through the cluster of branches , the dog stood on its paws and growled, but she put a hand on its collar and said something to it but he didn't quite catch it and then he was standing before her, staring at her and she staring at him, her eyes wide, his tongue in his throat, the dog, he realised was really big.

" hello." He managed to say.