Viking's Love (37 page)

He kept staring at her breasts during the
ceremony, which were quite pronounced during her pregnancy. She
gestured to the girdle at her hips where she had a blade in a
scabbard in the side.

Her violet eyes met his meaningfully when she
promised until death do them part. Fitzhugh swallowed hard, and
once they were man and wife, he took his leave to give the news to
Alfred. He stopped her in the hall, and her gaze narrowed as she
took in his obvious smug countenance.

“
You must pack yourself for the journey
to London, my dear.” Robert looked dumbfounded when she shook her
head defiantly, and chuckled at his confused look.

“
I will reside at Lockwraithe,
husband,” Allisande said cuttingly and glared at him. “You may have
a way to shield yourself from Ivar’s vengeance, but I have no wish
to live with you. Bother me no more this day, Lord
Ulsted.”

“
You are my wife now, Allisande,”
Robert was livid she would refuse to accompany him. “Enough of this
insolence and prepare yourself to leave!”

“
Come meet my blade, Lord Ulsted, and
we will decide this here and now!”Allisande withdrew the knife from
her girdle so quickly; the priest and Collin were taken aback. She
held the point of it to his throat, and smiled up at him as she
pressed the point until a drop of blood ran upon his ivory linen
tunic. “What say you, husband? Do not let this be our first
quarrel, and on our wedding day too!” She chuckled evilly. Robert
swallowed hard and stepped away from her.

“
No wonder you got on so well with the
Vikings!” Robert rubbed the bloodied cut at his throat. “Your
nothing more than a damned barbarian yourself, Lady Ulsted! I shall
remember that in the future when I come to claim my
heir.”

“
You will not have my child, Ulsted!”
Allisande held the knife in front of her threateningly. “It is best
you leave while I have my savagery under control, and don’t seek to
cut your heart out to feed it to yon swine.”

Robert backed away. He met Collin’s grin with
a look of mottled rage as he spun on his heel and left as quickly
as he had come. She eyed the scandalized priest with a demure smile
as she sheathed the weapon and suggested they all retire for
refreshments.

The priest gazed down at the diminutive lady
and swallowed hard and nodded. Collin chuckled as he approached
her, and whispered low enough for her to hear out of earshot of the
priest. “Well done, sister. Ulsted has a hollow victory this day.
He will come back for the child, you realize?”

“
I will kill him myself if he tries,”
she snapped under her breath. “He would use my child to hold off
Ivar, and I will not have it. Ivar would not care, for he is named
Ulsted’s heir now.”

“
What of Ivarsson? He will learn of
this.” Collin saw the pattern of emotions cross her face before a
hardened mask slid into place

“
Joran sent me away and believed the
child wasn’t his,” she said coolly. “He has no claim on me or my
child now,” she said carefully, not wanting him to know the
particulars, for he had trouble enough dealing with his sister’s
ruination by a Viking.

Collin said nothing as they withdrew to the
solar for refreshments. He shivered as Meghera entered with his
mother. She was looked angelic. He found it hard to ignore the
panic in his breast when he remembered what the girl could do by
pointing her finger at one. He stayed a fair distance from her. It
was amusing to watch him ducking his bride as she sought to come
near.

He deftly slid behind the priest, and smiled
as Allisande looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Collin, what in
God’s name has come over you?” she asked as the priest left to
speak with his mother. Meghera retreated to the farthest corner of
the room, a look of such misery upon her face, Allisande felt it
necessary to take him to task for his treatment of the girl.

“
I told you she is a witch! Fire comes
out of her fingers!” Collin snapped under his breath. “You think me
crazed? Than go anger the girl, and she will light you on fire! I
saw it!”

“
I think you are looking for an excuse
to push the girl away! For shame, Collin, look at how you have
upset her?” Collin ducked behind a chair as Meghera looked over at
them, and Allisande made an exasperated noise. “You are acting like
an ass, come out from behind there! She will not light you on
fire!” He glared up at her before he rose to his full height, and
smiled broadly at his mother. The priest looked confused by his
actions. Meghera left the room when Collin took such pains to get
away from her. Allisande sighed and glowered up at him. “She is
gone! You have injured her feelings now.”

“
I am more worried about being burned
alive should I anger my own wife, and you worry about the child’s
feelings? I am married to a damned witch! A witch, for pity’s sake!
Can you not have a might more compassion for me?”Collin grumbled
under his breath.

“
I am married to a traitor, a thief,
and possibly a murderer,” Allisande said with a rueful grin and
Collin chuckled at her words.

“
You have me there, Sister. While I
admit to a healthy bit of fear of our Meghera these days, I have to
say you have the worst spouse of the two of us, no question of it!”
He raised his cup to toast the absent Earl of Ulsted.

****

Joran arrived in York on Ivar’s heels as the
city was taken under control. He found his sire drinking to his and
his brother’s successes before an audience of warriors in the home
of a noble they ousted. Ivar was reeling in heady pleasure of the
victory. Joran grinned when the Vikings began to howl as he took
his place at the former Lord’s high table.

It was a rowdy affair. Joran already noted
Wulfstan and Rowan’s presence with displeasure before he took his
seat beside his sire.

“
York fell too easily this day,” Joran
mused and chuckled at the antics of his comrades as they celebrated
their victory. “I am on my way to Lockwraithe on the morrow if you
have no further need of me.”

“
Why in Thor’s name would you want to
do that, my son?” Ivar asked with an angry look in his eyes and a
malicious gleam Joran didn’t recognize. “The wench carries Rowan’s
bastard, does she not? I would say you forget her, my
son.”

“
The child is mine.” Joran eyed his
father with a scowl. “She lied about it so I wouldn’t seek to keep
it. I plan on reclaiming her until the birth. If she wishes to stay
on, so be it, but either way my child stays with me. I will not
have my son raised as a damned Englishman.”

“
You are too late,” Ivar said silkily,
and his pale eyes glittered. “She married Lord Ulsted a fortnight
ago. He has claimed her child as his heir.”

Joran gazed at his father as the shock of his
words hit him full force. Allisande was married to Ulsted. He
opened his mouth, but no sound emerged. He couldn’t breathe. The
thought of her with the Englishman who caused so many to die made
him feel slightly ill.

He wanted to kill Ulsted. Common sense told
him Allisande would not have willingly wed the man knowing what she
did about his involvement with Ivar.

Something wasn’t right here. He eyed his
father with an accusing look. “You knew this would happen, did you
not? You do not seem surprised at all,” he said in a low tone,
seeing his father’s shrug and air of innocence. Ivar was up to
something, it was obvious.

“
I told you the wench wasn’t to be
trusted. She was Ulsted’s betrothed when you took her, did you not
know that?”Ivar looked disgusted and shrugged dismissively. “Forget
her, Joran, and seek out another worthy of you. As for my grandson,
do not worry, for Ulsted’s days are numbered in the stars. He
married her just to hide behind the child, and for no other reason.
We will regain your son when we raid Ulsted’s lands.”

“
She didn’t mention she was betrothed
to Ulsted.” Joran seethed and smacked his hand on the table. The
damnable lying little shrew had known all along and said nothing of
that. He glared down at his tankard of ale and his jaw was set. “It
is of no importance. I will still reclaim her, and Ulsted can pay
to get her back, but I will keep my child.”

“
Very well, but do not say I didn’t try
to assert some fatherly influence here.” Ivar sampled the food in
front of him and nodded to his son. “She is worth more now, by all
accounts. What say you, my son, five hundred pounds of silver
now?”

Joran was still reeling with the news of
Allisande’s marriage. His heart was constricted, and the thought of
Ulsted’s hands upon her was far worse than Rowan’s. Speaking of his
rival, he looked across the room to where Rowan sat, and thought it
was time he have a talk with him. He rose and approached the man.
Rowan was wary at his arrival. His hand went to his sword hilt, and
he eyed him in amusement.

“
The last time I saw you, we met upon
the sea. You retrieved your fair slave from me. The next I learn,
you send her back to her brother, without even a ransom for your
trouble,” Rowan scoffed in disgust and his green eyes glowed with
mirth. “You have me confused, Joran. You claim the woman is yours,
and none can have her, yet you reclaim her and send her away in the
next moment. If you have come to challenge me for helping her leave
you, I warn you; I am in no mood for it this night.”

“
I would speak to you privately,
Rowan.” Joran eyed his companions until they rose and moved away.
He sat and a serf came forward and filled his tankard of ale. He
glanced at the man beside him and was disgusted to see him ogling
the former lord’s daughter-in-law.

The girl was chained to the wall with the
rest of the residence’s former inhabitants. She appeared to have
been beaten, but judging from the look of loathing on her face as
she watched the Vikings cavort in her hall, she hadn’t been
vanquished. Rowan eyed the platinum-haired beauty with a grin. She
noted his interest and sent him a look launching daggers at
him.

”
I would hear the truth from your lips
this night,” Joran said impatiently as Rowan reluctantly tore his
gaze from the chained woman. “How did my slave come to be in your
company in the first place?”

Rowan crossed his arms across his muscled
chest, and smiled widely. His delay in answering made a growl
escape Joran’s tightly compressed lips. Rowan relented baiting him
any further over it, as enjoyable as it was. ”I will not lie to
you. It was her wish to leave you, Joran. She did not ask me to
take her though. It was your father who paid me to see her safely
home, and no more. I did not force her to my bed, if that is what
you think,” Rowan’s gaze again strayed to the wall where the girl
was chained. He frowned when he saw Wulfstan rising to approach
her. His gaze reluctantly swung back to his companion, though out
of the corner of his gaze he saw Wulfstan was taunting the girl. He
chuckled when she aimed a kick at him and Wulfstan drew away from
her a safer distance.

“
Can I have your full attention, or
should I go fetch the wench for you first?” Joran snapped,
frustrated by Rowan’s lack of focus as he watched the captive in
the corner. “She is with child, Rowan!” That succeeded in getting
his full attention. Joran saw the dismay in his gaze and it
alleviated his dark thoughts. “She let me believe it was yours, but
the serfs knew different, and said nothing of it,” Joran said
stiffly and his eyes narrowed as they met the green ones that
seemed to laugh at him now. “She let me assume what I would. I
would hear the truth of it from you. Did you lay with her while she
was aboard your ship?”

Rowan knew whatever he would say would not
likely be believed. He rolled his eyes and gazed at Joran with an
inscrutable expression. She loved Joran, and the man deserved to
know the truth. “No, I did not. She refused me, if you must know,
several times, and threatened to stab me should I press the issue.
Why would you care if I had? You have no right to ask that at all.
You hardly earned the girl’s trust, Joran. You enslaved her, beat
her, forced her to your bed, and hardly deserve any faith from
her.” Rowan eyed him with compassion at last. “You obviously care
for her a great deal. I think she feels the same for you, but
refuses to admit it. I make no apologies, but she offered me
nothing to take her home, and that is all I will say of it. Had she
offered herself to me under different circumstances, you would have
to challenge me now to get her back. She is a beautiful woman. I
admit that I wanted her for myself. Do not ask me to speak ill of
Allisande, Joran, for I will not. A woman like her should be held
and treasured, not locked up and beaten. You lost her on your own
with no help from me, I assure you.”

“
Did you pursue my wife when I was
away?” Joran met the candid green stare without a hint of malice in
his gaze. “I would know how you came to be her lover, Rowan, with
no more lies between us.”

“
No, I didn’t seek out Aelynn. She came
to me.” Rowan pushed his tankard away, growing angry Joran would
ask after so many years. “Why do you ask me this now? The time to
have asked would have been back then. You were content to believe
whatever lies you were told and pushed your wife away. I did not
pursue your wife at all, Joran, quite the opposite. I found her in
my bed one night. I told her to leave. She made it very clear she
wasn’t happy in her marriage to you. I apologize, but she was quite
persistent in her desire to share my bed. You made your scorn for
her too unbearable, I believe, were her words.” He was satisfied to
see the self-loathing in the other man’s gaze to know he abandoned
his wife when he found out she had been with others while he was
away, never asking her why.