Mari ran until she was sure she was out of sight and had not been followed. Then, slowing her pace, she tried to sort through what had happened. “When will you learn?” she scolded herself. She had always been prone to dreaming. She had been told often enough to resist such sinful imaginings, but she had persisted. Love was one such dream for which she would pay dearly. She had longed for what Jamie and Ellen had shared. Thinking she had found it, she had been fooled into a love that was false. It taught her that love could not be trusted. Men could not be trusted. She had too easily given her heart. That was a mistake she could not make again. If she ever gave her heart to another, it would take a long time before he earned her trust. And yet, before she gave her heart and body to the bair
