Chapter Sixteen #4
He shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “I simply told my men that it was an angel of mercy. I’m not sure how they would have taken it knowing a Scots, the very people we were fighting, had tended me.”
“And I never told anyone for the same reason,” she said. “It was bad enough that my kin believed I caused the battle. Had they known I’d tended an English knight, they would have run me through.”
He couldn’t tell if she was jesting or not. “That seems a little extreme,” he said. “They wouldn’t have really done that, would they?”
Her warm expression faded. “I would never have believed it before,” she said. “But since the battle at Etal, things have… changed.”
“How?”
She shrugged, setting her other shoe on the ground.
“I told ye that they blamed me for everything,” she said quietly.
“People who I thought were my friends began shunning me. Men who had been loyal tae my father for years began tae speak of him as if he were no longer the chieftain they trusted. And my father’s younger brother’s sons began tae speak ill of him, trying tae turn men against him. ”
War was looking at her seriously. “Did those men try to usurp him?”
“Nay,” she said. “Just talk. But bad talk.”
“And he sent you here because of it?”
“Aye.”
“Does de Wolfe know this?”
She nodded. “Aye,” she said. “I told him. He told my father that he would support him in the case of an uprising, but it has been quiet since I left. My father is a good man – I am sure he has been able to overcome those who have mistrusted him.”
War wasn’t so sure, but he didn’t say so.
Rebellious factions within clans weren’t usually easily pacified because it had more to do with simply one factor, in this case, a clan chief’s daughter starting a war.
More than likely, whatever movement against her father probably had to do with power or greed or envy.
It could be anything.
All War knew was that she was never going back.
“Let us hope wisdom and reason prevail,” he said after a moment. “But you’ve been happy at Castle Questing?”
“Very happy.”
His gaze lingered on her, clearly with something on his mind. “You’ll be happier at Bamburgh,” he said. “Your time at Castle Questing is only temporary, my lady. When I go on this tour with de Wolfe, I will ask him if I may court you.”
“Are ye going tae wait that long?”
He could hear the hope in her voice and it gave him joy because it reflected the hope in his heart, too.
“Mayhap not,” he said. “Mayhap I’ll ask him tonight, before we depart on our tour. I suppose I do not want to wait that long, either.”
Her cheeks flushed a sweet shade of red and that lightened his heart all the more.
He still could hardly believe this glorious creature was interested in him.
More than interested – accepting. Warm, open, and curious.
Everything about her connected with him on so many levels.
He was coming to think that meeting in the thicket near the river hadn’t been coincidence – it had been fate.
He was meant to be with her and she with him.
He couldn’t wait to start the rest of their lives, together.
“But after ye ask him and after yer tour with the allies, ye must return?” she asked, interrupting his reflections. “For how long?”
“Not long, I hope,” he said. “It is true that I must return to Bamburgh for a time once we are finished, but I swear that I will return as soon as I can to Castle Questing. And you.”
Annaleigh couldn’t help the smile on her lips. “It’s strange,” she mused softly. “When I first saw ye as ye came tae Castle Questing, I will admit that I was surprised.”
“Why?”
“Because I dinna think ye’d survived yer wound,” she said. “I tried tae help ye in that terrible hour, but I dinna know if I actually did. So it was surprising tae see ye looking so well. More than well, War. Ye looked glorious as ye rode in through the gates.”
He gave her a half-grin and bowed his head graciously. “You have my thanks, my lady,” he said. “I am deeply flattered.”
“What did ye think when ye saw me?”
“That you were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.”
She blushed sweetly. “’Tis kind of ye.”
“It is the truth,” he said. “But I also felt an attraction. I am not a man who becomes attracted to a woman in an instant, but with you, I did. I thought you were lovely the first time I ever saw you.”
She snorted. “I wouldna have known,” she said. “I believe ye said ‘if ye’ve come tae rob me, I shan’t give ye much of a fight’.”
He broke down into soft laughter. “You remembered that, did you?”
“Of course I did.”
“Then you have an amazing memory.”
She shrugged modestly. “I’ve always been able to remember the smallest thing,” she said. “That’s why ye must be careful what ye say tae me. I will remember.”
He rolled his eyes, but there was humor there. “God help me,” he said. “Thank you for the warning.”
She could tell that he was jesting so she giggled. “Are ye going tae say something tae me that ye’ll regret, then?”
His eyes glimmered warmly at her. “Never,” he said softly. “Everything I say to you, I mean it from the heart. Every word of it.”
Annaleigh could feel the sincerity from the man.
The warmth, the genuine interest and concern from him…
everything was washing over her, causing her heart to race.
It was true that she was weary, wearier still after the situation with Talus, but she couldn’t sleep.
She didn’t want to. She could have talked to War forever.
She was thrilled that she was going to have that chance.
“I believe ye,” she said softly. “But it has occurred tae me that ye’ve not slept all night, either. Ye came intae the hall tae eat and ye were pulled away from that tae help Talus. It was quite compassionate of ye tae do it, but I’d expect no less from ye. Ye’re a man of honor.”
A smile of appreciation tugged at his lips. “I would like to think so when the situation warrants it.”
“Ye must go eat something now.”
“Very well. I’ll go eat something if you rest.”
“Are ye making a bargain with me?”
“I’m trying to.”
She chuckled. She knew the man must have been terribly weary, but here he stood, speaking to her as if he had nowhere better to be. For his sake, she knew she should let him go about his business and for her sake, perhaps she did need a few minutes of rest before returning to Talus.
That was the reality of things.
“Well,” she said, standing up with her shoeless feet against the cold floor.
“I’ll agree tae it. But only for a few minutes.
I must return tae Talus and apologize for running away and becoming angry with him.
I suppose ye must understand how the man has tried tae woo me ever since I arrived and, at times, I’ve even hidden from him just tae avoid him.
But mayhap he was truly trying tae do something nice for me.
Or mayhap he’s still trying tae woo me.”
She was moving towards him and War couldn’t take his eyes off her. “That is a determined man if he is still trying to woo you from his sick bed,” he said. “But mayhap it wasn’t that at all. Mayhap he really did mean to leave you with his legacy. That may be how he looks at it.”
Annaleigh sighed faintly. “I suppose,” she said. She’d come to within a foot or so of him, gazing up into his handsome face. He was more than a foot taller than she was, by far, so she had to crane her neck back. “If the man truly is dying, then I shouldna have run out on him.”
“Do you think he is?”
She cocked her head thoughtfully. “I’ve seen many a man succumb tae a swift and terrible fever with a wound,” she said. “But ye dinna. And I think yer wound was worse.”
“It was,” he said. “But the reivers were using blades dipped in poison. That’s what’s killing him.”
Annaleigh knew that because she’d heard Kieran and Christian speaking of it when they first started bringing the wounded into the hall. She thought of Talus burning with fever brought on by a terrible poison, feeling increasingly guilty that she’d run from him.
But she would make amends.
“Off with ye, my handsome lad,” she said, a weary twinkle in her eyes. “Eat and rest. I will see ye after ye’ve done both.”
War smiled at her. She was too close, too tempting.
That beautiful face was upturned to him, the eyes glimmering.
He knew he should not touch her in any fashion but he simply could not stop his hand from moving to hers.
The moment he touched the soft, warm flesh, he knew he had to taste it.
Gazing into Annaleigh’s eyes, he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.
“You will most certainly see me after I’ve done both,” he said softly. “You are going to be seeing me, quite frequently, for some time to come.”
Annaleigh’s voice was caught in her throat.
No one had ever kissed her hand so sweetly.
In fact, no man had ever shown her such consideration and gentleness, at least a man whose attention she welcomed.
She could feel the fire in her cheeks spreading to her belly and her entire body began to tremble.
This was all so new and wonderful and exhilarating.
She wanted to take her hand away. She didn’t want to take her hand away.
War had been correct; if Jordan saw them, she would probably take a club to him.
But his lips were still on her flesh and she could feel the stubble of his face.
She could feel his hot breath against her skin.
She was so consumed by the sensation that she couldn’t manage to move her hand.
Awe and fascination were all she could manage to feel.
And War seemed to know it.
He was pleased when she did not pull away.
An impulsive gesture on his part had come to mean everything, as if his entire life and future with her hinged on this moment.
He didn’t know how she would react, but he wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d yanked her hand away. It was improper what he’d done.
But she hadn’t pulled away.