Page 25 of The Shipwreck
He chuckled.“You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to protect me.”
It was useless to deny it.
He shook his head.“What a pair we are.”
What a pair indeed, Avril thought.By all rights, they should despise each other.The war between their people had been going on for more than fifty years.He was a bloodthirsty Viking, and she was the Pict who’d leashed him.She’d made the cottage that he’d come to conquer into his prison.And if they’d met on a field of battle, she would have readily drawn her sword and stabbed him through the heart.
But when she looked at his twinkling blue eyes, his enticing grin, his…formidable body, she found it hard to summon up a good loathing.
“Mama, did you smack his arse?”
Avril started.“Who, the neighbor?”She shook her head.“He wasn’t here to fight.He…came to see how Caimbeul was doing.”
“Oh.”
She and Brandr exchanged glances, and he gave her a subtle nod of thanks, something she wasn’t sure she deserved.She was making a mistake, not turning him in.The longer he was here, the more difficult it would become to get rid of him.Hell, her own daughter was already clambering onto the Viking’s lap as if he were her beloved grandfather.
Kimbery hopped up and down on her toes.“Mama, I want a giant cow!”
Avril eyed the Northman in accusation.What nonsense had he put in Kimbery’s head now?
Brandr reasoned with the little girl.“But how would you milk her?It would take all day.And your hands are too small.”
“You could do it,” Kimbery suggested.“You have big hands.”
Avril bit her lip.Hedidhave big hands…and big feet…and big shoulders…
He chuckled.“I’m not a milkmaid,” he told Kimmie.“I’m a warrior.”
His words suddenly touched a raw nerve in Avril.She wasn’t a milkmaid either.She was supposed to be the lady of a castle.But sometimes the world turned on people, and they had to do what was necessary to go on living.
“You know, not all of us get to choose our fate,” and she said with frost in her voice.“If you’re going to stay here, you’d better get used to tending animals and fishing and mending fences.It’s not an easy thing, surviving in…”
She broke off at his narrowed gaze, realizing what she’d just said—if you’re going to stay here.
What was she thinking?He wasn’t an animal she could tame and tether.He was a wild and dangerous beast who’d surely turn on her the moment he was free.
Still, he could have hurt Kimbery, but he’d chosen not to.Instead he’d told the little girl some fanciful tale about giant cows to keep her quiet and safe from whatever peril lurked outside.
Why?Did he hope to persuade her to let him go?She couldn’t do that.She might not deliver him directly into the hands of a neighbor armed with a spade, but neither would she turn a known marauder loose on her unsuspecting countrymen.
Kimbery waved her wooden blade through the air.“My mama’s a warrior,” she said.“And I’m going to be a warrior, too.When I grow up, we’re going to take back Rivenloch.”
“Kimmie!”Avril’s cheeks warmed.She didn’t need a stranger knowing all about her sordid past.“He’s not interested in—”
“What’s Rivenloch?”he asked.
“It’s Mama’s castle.I’m going to learn how to sword fight, and then we’ll get an army to take the castle back from my evil uncles who—”
“Kimmie, enough!Go take your nap.”
Kimbery scampered merrily off into the bedchamber.But the damage was already done.Brandr was staring at her with undisguised interest now.“Evil uncles?”
Though he’d entertained the remote possibility, it hadn’t seriously occurred to Brandr that the woman and her daughter were anything but commoners, outcasts on this lonely shore due to an unfortunate encounter with berserkers.
He perused her thoroughly now, imagining her in the rich garb of a noblewoman.It wasn’t difficult.
“It’s only a tale,” she muttered, “an invention like your giant cows and…and snow ogres.”
