009

Nial opened the door to his Inn to see the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was almost as tall as Nial with dark brown hair that fell loosely to her shoulders. She wore a pale brown riding dress that held close to her curves without reveling too much. Nial caught himself admiring those curves, held there by the soft riding dress, nothing revealed yet a promise hinted at.

He heard the scrap of the kitchen door behind him, and was reminded again of his wife and what he was doing.

"Welcome Madam, please come in." Nial winced internally at his formality, hopefully his wife had not overheard.

"Thank you." The woman smiled. She walked into the Inn passed Nial letting her hand briefly brush his chest as she entered.

Internally Nial melted and needed an extra second looking out into the evening light before he was able to close the door and re-enter his Inn. By the time Nial had turned around and re-entered his Inn he saw the woman sitting across from Reynard. The two appeared to be looking at each other intently without talking.

'Old lovers.' Nial sighed to himself. 'Now slow down.' Nial thought 'this is a good thing, you can stop being a moon-eyed fool and do your job. The days when you could compete for a woman like that are long gone. If they were ever here at all.' Nial admitted to himself.