Chapter 15
Another fish was thrown into the basket.
Wolf shook his head in disbelief. He could not recall ever being so successful before.
His hands and feet had gone numb with cold but it mattered not.
He could get out of the river now because in no time at all he’d caught four trout, more than he and Merewen needed for their supper.
The fish had swam straight into his waiting hands, an unprecedented event which only served to highlight how well things were going for him at the moment.
He was married, and his wife was the most entrancing woman he’d ever met.
She was also the first person who had ever crawled under his skin in this inexplicable manner.
Now that she had burst into his life with the force of a torrent, he realized that timid Solveig had only barely scratched the surface.
The fiercer Merewen had hacked her way past all the barriers he had erected to burrow where no one else had gone before, so deep he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to root her out.
Not that he would need to, because after an all too understandable moment of panic when told about his past, she now seemed determined to stay and give their marriage a chance.
Tonight she would welcome him into her arms, and cause his body to erupt in ecstasy. And in a few months’ time, she might announce she was with child and make his heart burst with joy.
All in all, it was a dream come true.
He frowned. What if it was just that, a dream?
An illusion? Surely he did not deserve such luck and something was about to go wrong?
He’d been convinced for so long that he could not remarry that he found it difficult to accept he had found a wife, and was on the verge of having everything he had ever wanted.
A new, exciting chapter of his life was about to start.
Tonight.
The prospect of Merewen’s heat closing around him chased the cold from his limbs. The little Saxon was as fearless and bold in bed as she was in life. This lovemaking was going to be explosive. What had he done to deserve such a woman?
Nothing.
Had she got as good a bargain as he’d had?
Unfortunately, no.
He knew Merewen had had difficulty accepting her situation at first, and had only agreed to marry the man who’d bought her for want of a better alternative.
Then the day she had resigned herself to marry him, she’d found out he was accused of having killed his wife.
She had hoped to have found a protector, but she’d been attacked the day after her wedding.
She’d expected company, but she had to wait for him at the hut day after day while he saw to the villagers’ needs.
She’d craved a lover who could show her the pleasure she was after, but instead she had been hurt.
In the circumstances, he would understand if she felt cheated.
He would have to make it all up to her. Tonight, he would be the lover she deserved, from then on he would be the protector she needed, and in time, the companion she desired.
He would enjoy his marriage before… The niggling feeling was back, sending prickles along his spine.
Before something went wrong.
Wolf shook his head. No matter how much he tried to tell himself he was just being silly, he could not shake the conviction that he did not deserve such happiness and that sooner or later everything would come crumbling around him like a sand tower, exactly like it had two years ago.
A fish idly swam by, and came within catching distance.
Wolf could not resist and he closed his hands, deftly spearing his fingers into the gills.
Too easy! With a snort he threw it into the basket but, in his overconfidence, he misjudged it.
The trout landed slightly to the side, unbalancing the basket.
It overturned and all the fish were instantly released into the river.
Before he could blink, they had all swam away, leaving the basket completely empty.
He stared at it in disbelief. He had been too presumptuous.
He had tried to get more than he was entitled to—and here was the result.
He’d ruined everything. Another shiver of foreboding scuttled along his spine.
Was this a warning, a sign that he should not ask for more than he deserved, that he should count himself lucky to have had a fortnight with Merewen and leave it at that before he destroyed everything?
It was then that he heard the voice calling in the distance.
“Wolf!”
He turned to see Magnus the blacksmith running toward him. “What is it?”
Instead of answering, his friend asked, “Where is your wife?”
This time the ice closing around his heart had nothing to do with the temperature of the river. Wolf hastened back to the bank. “Why are you asking?” Wasn’t she at the hut where he’d left her? “Has anything happened?”
“No, not yet, but you’ll want to keep an eye on her.
I overheard a group of Saxon men at the market in the next village talk about you this morning,” Magnus explained, looking ill at ease.
“They were unhappy, saying you had prevented their friend from exacting his revenge on a bastard who had raped his daughter. I found that hard to believe so I told them you would never do anything like that but they wouldn’t listen to me. They asked…” A pause.
“What?” Wolf barked, shoving his ice-cold feet into his boots.
“They asked me how you would like it if a woman you care about got hurt.”
His heart stopped beating for just a moment. There was only one woman who fitted the description. The woman he’d married, the woman he’d fooled himself he could protect.
The woman who was alone at the hut.
Horror rooted him to the spot. There. There was the catastrophe he had feared only moments ago! What had he been thinking? Of course, he wouldn’t be allowed to have a peaceful life next to his wife, of course he would not be able to raise children with her and have a happy marriage!
What had he done bringing Merewen into his life?
His complicated, dangerous life, his life that was not his own, to echo her words.
He’d known all along it was a bad idea to remarry, so why had he not listened to his instinct?
Why had he not let reason guide his actions instead of his hopes and desires?
How could he have been so selfish! He was not free to take a wife, there was no place for a woman in his life!
His various commitments toward the community took him away from her night and day, often at the worst moments—their first lovemaking came to mind—and worse, they had now made her a point of pressure over him, a weakness his enemies would be able to exploit.
By defending the community, he had not only put himself in danger, but also made the people he cared for potential targets.
Three weeks ago, that wouldn’t have mattered, because he’d been alone.
But now it did, because now he most definitely cared for someone.
He had to go find Merewen now. Magnus was right, he could not let her out of his sight for a moment.
Solveig had been strangled when she had done nothing wrong, by a man who’d had no quarrel with her but wanted to get to him.
She’d been an innocent who’d paid in his stead.
He could not let the same thing happen to Merewen.
Leaving everything on the grass, he hurried toward the hut.
Where had she gone? He had to find her because the group of disgruntled Saxons was not the only thing he should be worrying about.
The man who preyed on the women of the village was still lurking about.
Not to mention that there was yet another threat hanging over her.
They still didn’t know who her enemy was.
For all he knew, the man who had sold her into slavery had watched him buy her and would sooner or later come to ensure she disappeared for good.
How had he not thought of that before? He should have insisted she never left the hut. How unforgivably remiss he’d been!
Merewen was three times at risk; for being his wife, for being the slave he’d bought, and for simply being a woman. And he’d gone to fish instead of guarding her. If anything happened, he would never forgive himself.
Just when he was about to enter the village, he saw her.
At the edge of the forest, next to a man who was not a villager. Before his mind could fully form any thought, his legs started to move.
He ran.
“Merewen? Is that you?”
Merewen dropped the mushroom into the basket and turned around. One of her old neighbors was staring at her in disbelief, a man she had last seen on the day of Leofric’s funeral, a man who belonged to her former life and she had never thought to see again.
“Alaric,” she greeted him. “Yes, it’s me.”
“But I… Everyone thought you were dead!”
“Yes, I can well imagine you did,” she said with a smile. She had disappeared off the face of the earth without a trace. What else were they supposed to think? But she had not died. Instead she had been rescued, in more ways than one.
“We thought you’d killed yourself in grief over your brother’s death.”
Merewen shook her head. She would never do such a thing after seeing how much Leofric had fought not to die. She owed it to her brother not to give up. What better way of honoring him than living the life he had wanted her to live?
“No, I didn’t die, but you wouldn’t believe what actually happened to me.”
Alaric eyed her speculatively. “I think I can hazard a guess, considering the way you look and where we are.”
It wasn’t hard to guess what he meant. They were in a village populated by Norsemen and, dressed in a simple gown with her hair loose and a bruise at her temple, she would appear like the ill-treated slave she could have been.
Which went to show how appearances could be deceptive, because she was not a slave but a married woman and she had never been happier.
“I am not here against my will,” she told him. “And I intend to stay.”
Yes, she was ready to start this new, exciting chapter of her life.
Alaric did not appear convinced. “No one is around,” he whispered, glancing about. “I could help you escape.”
Had he heard what she’d said? She didn’t want to escape!
Clearly, he wasn’t the brightest of individuals—or the best-looking of men.
The thought made her smile. That wasn’t fair.
Wolf was so stunning that he would make most men appear like ugly trolls.
Still, undeniably, Alaric was less well-favored than most. The purple stain covering his left cheek didn’t help, but even without it, he would never have been called attractive.
“I thank you, but I’m not going anywhere.” She was right where she wanted to be.
“If you’re sure…”
“I am.”
There was a pause.
“You know, it is propitious I met you today,” Alaric eventually told her, rubbing a hand over his chin. “Only yesterday, a man came asking for you at the house and I could only tell him that no one knew where you were or even if you were alive.”
“A man?” Merewen opened wide eyes. She could not think of a single person who might be asking after her. Her whole family was dead. Who could that visitor be? Her heart almost stopped. The slave trader? Had he found her again? Surely not! “Who was it?” she asked, heart in her throat.
“I had never seen him before. He said he was your father’s brother whom he hadn’t seen for years. Something about a feud that had kept them apart, and he’d come to regret.”
“Oh?” She had never heard of an uncle before! But, of course, if he and her father had fallen out before her birth, she wouldn’t have. Hope swelled in her chest. Perhaps she had been wrong, and she did have some family left! “Did he say where he—”
Alaric interrupted her with a small laugh. “Oh, I have no idea. You would have to ask him that yourself! Only… I’m not sure how long he will be around if he thinks you’re dead. He and his family might be gone by now.”
His family! That man had a wife and children with him?
Which meant she had a family! Joy burst through her.
Could this day be more perfect? Only this morning she’d realized that against all odds she’d fallen in love with her husband, that she could build a family, and now she was told she was not alone anyway.
“I… I need to see them!” She had to get to them before they disappeared. Without a name or any information about her uncle, there would be no finding him again if he left.
Alaric scratched his head. “Well, I’m heading back home now. I suppose I could take you on my horse. He’s sturdy enough…”
This offer was unhoped for, and exactly what she needed.
On foot it would take her a whole day to reach her home but on horseback she might well make it in time to catch her uncle.
Then a thought struck her. In her house, she could find an object to sell to repay Wolf for the sum he had spent on her…
How had she not thought of this before? It was perfect!
She would finally be free of the debt she was in.
Once she had given Wolf the money back, they would be able to start their marriage on a sounder basis.
She would be his wife, nothing more. Not the woman he had bought and then thought to marry to rectify the situation.
Now she knew she was in love with him, she needed to feel he was with her for who she was.
Surely he would understand this was important to her and allow her to repay him?
Yes, all in all, she needed to get home as soon as possible. There was only one problem.
If he didn’t see her at the hut when he came back, Wolf would think she’d left him. She could not have him go through this agony a second time, not after everything they’d shared.
Merewen looked around desperately. It was just her luck that there was no one in sight.
Once she had reached home, she would have to send a messenger to the village to tell him why she had gone and assure him she was coming back.
They had plans for tonight but perforce they would have to wait.
She had to reach her uncle before it was too late. Mayhap it already was.
“Would you take me home?” she asked, turning back to Alaric.
He seemed to hesitate then he nodded. “Let’s go.”