Page 49 of Bride of Fire
Alicia had been gone for but a quarter of a year. Yet even now, he was beginning to have trouble recalling her face.
Instead, his thoughts were full of images of flashing green eyes and a sultry smile, waves of bronze-colored hair and a body to put a goddess to shame.
The way the lass had held Miles…Allison, he corrected…seemed so natural, as if the bairn belonged in her arms.
With a silent curse, he shook the feckless thought from his head. The child had belonged to sweet and gentle Alicia, he reminded himself. Not a sword-toting warrior wench who would sooner hold the bairn up as a human shield than rock him to sleep.
Morgan sighed. The beguiling lass was trouble. He had to be rid of her as soon as possible.
Once the meal was over, he took a platter of food upstairs and sent the guard down to fetch more peat for their fire. Then he knocked on the door, realizing as he did how ludicrous it was to knock on the door of one’s own bedchamber.
“Finally!” Jenefer exclaimed as she threw open the door in dubious welcome. “I thought perhaps youweregoing to starve us.”
He gathered his brows. “Didn’t a maidservant bring ye a midday meal?”
“Aye,” she said, “but that was hours ago.”
She practically mauled the platter out of his hands and dove into the roasted chicken as if she hadn’t eaten for days.
“Leave some for me, brat,” Feiyan said.
Morgan was fascinated, watching Jenefer. There was something raw and sensuous about the way she ate. She closed her eyes, savoring every morsel and licking her fingers with élan.
Alicia had never eaten like that. She’d always picked at her food with mild distaste, more so when she was carrying their child.
But it was foolish of him to make such comparisons. They were two different creatures, Alicia and Jenefer. Alicia had been like a prize falcon, requiring gentle treatment and careful coddling. Jenefer? She reminded him of a woodland wildcat.
He cleared his throat. “I thought you’d wish to know about your cousin.”
“Oh. Aye.” Jenefer honestly seemed more interested in the coffyns than in her cousin. “What of her?”
Feiyan appeared slightly more concerned. “Did your man find her?”
He shook his head. “He hasn’t returned.”
He caught a quick glimpse of Jenefer. He would have sworn she smiled at that.
“I hope she’s all right,” Feiyan murmured.
Jenefer mumbled cryptically, “I hope your man is all right.”
“If they’re not back on the morrow by midday, I’ll send another man.”
Those were his words. But he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to do that. They needed every man they could spare if a siege was to take place. And the last thing he wanted was to give the Laird of Rivenloch another hostage to use.
He just hoped the king’s messenger would arrive before then to relieve him of all this complicated intrigue.
The guard knocked on the door to deliver a bucket of extra peat.
Morgan stirred the fire and added several thick black chunks. “Ye seem to go through a great deal o’ fuel.”
“No doubt we’ll go through a great deal more,” Feiyan said sardonically, “now that we have no coverlets.”
With that, she brushed past him to visit the garderobe.
Once she was gone, Jenefer confided, “I was watching your soldiers from the window.”
“Aye?” He hunkered down to poke at the glowing coals.
