Viking's Love (60 page)

“
When you see the amount of the man’s
belongings, you will agree it is best they stay in our new
chamber!” Joran snapped and shook his head. “We need him and his
men now, Allisande. I predict now that the weather clears and the
ice has melted, we can expect Wulfstan soon.”

Allisande was glaring as they made their way
down stairs and her mouth dropped as Rowan’s belongings were
brought in. His men walked by with bags, crates, an enormous chest.
A bed walked by and a bath tub made of copper. She was speechless
as she saw he even had a cage with a strange looking bird in it
that mocked her.

“
Give us a kiss, Wench! Give us a
kiss!” It squawked and its large beak opened and it spewed such
profanity, her eyes grew round when she noted the presence of the
children eyeing the colorful bird with wide eyes. She reluctantly
concluded Rowan could keep their new room for the time being. The
foul-mouthed bird being on the second floor with the children was
out of the question.

Lady Ambryn looked relieved at the sight of
her, and she approached and looked at the continued procession of
Rowan’s things in bemusement.

“
Dare I hope any of those things are
yours, Lady Ambryn?” Allisande muttered dryly as a large looking
glass went by and reflected both their disgust.

“
No, it is all his,” Ambryn said
contemptuously and pointed to her own small bundle sitting on a
chair near the fire. “Those would be my things. Did they bring in
the statues yet?”

Allisande sat down as several Roman busts and
assorted sculpture filed past and her look of amazement turned to
annoyance at once. “It is a wonder his ship even stays afloat with
all that weight aboard!” She glared as more sculptures filed past.
“What on earth does he need with all of these things?”

Lady Ambryn’s lips twitched as her silver
eyes met hers, and they dissolved into peals of laughter as they
saw more of Rowan’s things were being brought in. The squawking
bird made the wolf bark. The din was unbearable.

Allisande grimaced and led her to the high
table where they sat out of the way as the things were moved into
her and Joran’s new chamber. She looked aggrieved as she realized
the pair would be staying longer than Joran told her. Lady Ambryn
began upbraiding Rowan’s worst qualities to her, him being a lowly,
displaced Viking only one of them.

She was horrified to know that they had been
living aboard Rowan’s ship when they weren’t following the army, or
taking refuge in whatever hall Rowan could find for them. Lady
Ambryn looked wretched when she declared them vagabonds with no
money, no means, and no home.

Her smoky silver gaze narrowed as the source
of her displeasure was striding towards them, grinning as his
collection of tapestries was carried past. He frowned when he saw
both women glowering at him. “See, Ambryn, did I not tell you my
friends would welcome us,” he declared warmly and his green eyes
seemed to mock his lady. “It as if they built the room just for us,
for I believe most of my things will fit.”

“
You have more?” Allisande gave an
outraged squeak.

“
That is only half of it, I fear,”
Ambryn said coolly and flicked him with a look that made him
stiffen in outrage. “Some men buy property with the spoils of a
lifetime of victory. Our Rowan here buys pretty things, lots of
pretty things. Is that not so, Rowan?” she said in a disgusted
voice that caused him to flinch and grow visibly angry at her
disparaging ridicule of his vast collection of
belongings.

“
I cannot carry a home aboard my ship!”
Rowan eyed her as though she were an idiot and stalked
away.

“
Do you see what I have had to
endure?”Ambryn said with a disdainful sniff and sighed, her silver
eyes following the man everywhere about the hall despite her claims
to detest him. “He has turned us into beggars now, very
well-dressed, many-bagged beggars, but beggars
nonetheless.”

“
It wasn’t safe for you to remain in
York,” Allisande said in defense of Rowan. “You know the fate of
your king, do you not? His nobles fared no better, the ones that
didn’t escape, that is. Rowan cares for you, Ambryn. He will
provide you a home, do not worry over it.” Allisande saw the way
the girl never took her eyes from the incredibly handsome Viking.
For someone who claimed to not care about the vagabond Viking, she
certainly showed a fair amount of interest in him attaining them a
home. “I think if you were honest, you would admit you care for him
as well. I can see it in your face.”

Ambryn said nothing, her silver gaze
softening a bit before her expression became frosty once more. She
laughed sarcastically at her words. “Care for him? That is
ridiculous! The man is so full of himself; he certainly does not
need another to care for him! I should be relieved if he sails away
and leaves me somewhere.”Ambryn seethed and stared at the object of
her misery with disgust. Allisande looked liked she didn’t believe
her words, but let the matter drop. As Joran would say, it wasn’t
her business.

Allisande and Joran lay together in their old
room and laughed over the bickering couple. When he thought she was
unaware, Rowan eyed his noble lady with longing. When she believed
herself to be unobserved, Ambryn devoured him with her eyes.

They retired earlier than everyone else.
Allisande was sure the only place they got along was in their
bed.

“
Do we tell him about Ewan, Joran?”
Allisande bit her lower lip thinking of the baby they had come to
think of as their own. “With Grogan and Janna gone now, he deserves
to know Ewan is his.”

“
I think Rowan needs to find a home
before we land him with a child, Allisande,” Joran said tightly and
rubbed his eyes. “Lady Ambryn is not even his wife! No, we say
nothing until he settles down. I do not want to think of Ewan
living that sort of life aboard a ship, going from place to place
with no home. It is not what they would have wanted for
him.”

“
I hope you are right.” Allisande
snuggled up to her husband. “In the mean time, it will be
considerably more entertaining around here. Did you see the look on
her face when he pulled Britta into his lap earlier? Ambryn looked
like she wanted to scratch her eyes out!” She buried her face in
his chest and chuckled.

Joran laughed and his shoulders shook as he
was remembering how his friend had arrogantly informed him Lady
Ambryn was stubborn to admit her vast affection for him as the lady
skewered him with her gaze, and accidentally dumped a tankard of
ale into his lap.

It reminded him of his early days with
Allisande when she fought him tooth and nail. He held his wife
close and was dearly glad they had found each other after all of
their adversity.

****

“
What are you playing at now, Ambryn?”
Rowan said harshly and rolled off her. “You will regret letting me
give you my seed, Lady,” he growled low in a seething voice at her
ear and nipped it softly. “You do not want my bastard growing
inside you. There are reasons I cannot tell you.”

“
It is not fair you make choices for
me,” Ambryn cried softly and reached for him, but he moved away. “I
should like to have a choice for once! I have been married three
times to men for my father’s gain, and you would deny me the right
to choose now!”

“
You would use a child to hold me to
you! What choice have you given me?” He eyed her contemptuously. “I
will not allow it. When I leave you, a child will not deter me. You
only trap yourself.”

Ambryn felt tears at burn at the corners of
her eyes at his words. He always withdrew at the last moment to
avoid the trap of a child. He told her bitterly he wanted no child
to bear his same fate, being unwanted, and unloved. She learned the
truth of his past from Ulrich and longed for him to confide in
her.

She closed her eyes and fought the need to
hold him to her, but he rolled away and was breathing raggedly as
he stared at the ceiling in silence. She bit back a cry of denial
as he gave her his back, and closed her eyes in shame. She could no
longer bear his indifference. She had been with him for well over a
year now since he rescued her from Ivar’s men.

She had no choice but to go with him wherever
he led her. So she went, following him from hall to encampment to
stronghold, sleeping on the floors of rotting monasteries, and all
the while being hunted. She had long given her heart to him, and he
gave her nothing in return, informing her he would leave her one
day and she would be better off for it.

Her heart had frozen at his words. He
reminded her that this was a temporary arrangement. He did not need
her love, or even want it. She felt bitter tears in her eyes as she
heard his deep, even breathing.

Rowan would not allow himself to love her.
She closed her eyes with bitterness that she, Lady Ambryn of
Whiltshire, should be brought so low. The invasion of York had
changed everything.

The life she once knew was forever gone. Her
gaze hardened. She had been used to further the ambitions of men
since she was fourteen, when her father first married her off to a
man so old, he was unable to consummate their marriage. He had been
kind to her, but had died within a year.

Her father had taken her noble husband’s
wealth, and soon secured for his daughter another marriage to an
invalid. Lord Dannuth had been bedridden from a fall from his
horse, and lived four more years before he too, had died, leaving
his young, virginal wife with another fortune and at the whims of
her ambitious father.

Lord Whiltshire decided to find his daughter
another husband. Ambryn had been forced to wed Alton of York, the
ill heir to the earldom there. They had only one month to know each
other before the Vikings interrupted the ceremony, and now Alton
was gone too.

Much happened to build the chasm that lay
between her and Rowan. She closed her eyes and thought of the
sleeping man next to her. Rowan promised her nothing but the sweet
pleasure they both found in his bed. He pushed her away often
enough to keep her from getting too close to him. She often
wondered why he kept her at all, and tears of self-pity threatened
to spill again.

If not for her, he could have remained in
York, or in Denmark with Queen Grunhilde. His sword arm would have
furthered him within Ivar’s ranks, but instead, her took her with
him, and became a hunted man with no home, until Joran the
Stonehearted took them in.

She doubted Rowan informed his friend of the
truth of all that had occurred this last year. She cringed, for
Rowan had been dodging swords every since he took her from York.
She shivered at the thought of what the Ivarsson’s would think if
they knew the truth about Rowan’s true lineage.

She snuggled against Rowan’s back and tears
slid out of her eyes. If he would but love her—but no, he wouldn’t
do that. She sighed. Rowan would never allow himself to love
anyone, and she knew she mattered little to him.

He wanted her, but the moment she tried to
get close to him, he pushed her away in the end. She did not know
what the future held for her, but she knew she would follow him
wherever he went. She closed her eyes and allowed sleep to claim
her, praying for Rowan’s child to take root at last.

****

Allisande enjoyed having Lady Ambryn’s
company and they grew to be close in the coming months. Rowan
seemed distant towards his lady. Allisande knew it hurt Ambryn.

The lady said nothing of it, and she did not
ask. She was growing so large she could no longer see her feet or
rise from her chair without Joran’s assistance.

The babe moved vigorously and often, and she
knew with the advance of summer that her time grew near. She was
watching the children play in the warm sunshine when the storm blew
in from the south so suddenly they fled in haste to seek shelter
from it.

The winds picked up and their group was
pelted with fat raindrops as they hurried into the hall. She felt
her time had come. Elwynn and Cordella attended her and her husband
proceeded to get roaring drunk once more with Rowan and Oram as he
cringed from the screams coming from their room.

The birth was shorter than the first had
been. Elwynn came down and showed him his son. Joran was loudly
saying that only a man could decide such things and held his son
for all to see arrogantly.

Elwynn returned a short time later with
another bundle, his daughter, to his own shock and later amusement.
Allisande was exhausted after the birth of the twins, Wynde and
Raine, and remained abed far longer than with her firstborn.

Nursing two newborns proved daunting and once
she got the hang of it, she was able to feed them at the same time.
Meghera was enchanted with the twin babies. The two infants were
quieter than Storm and less demanding.

She touched the tiny dark heads in wonder and
was often seen holding either one or the other. Joran adored his
daughter, seeing how closely she began to resemble her mother in
looks, and was relieved of her lack of fiery temperament.

Joran and Rowan fortified his stronghold and
with the additional men from Ivar’s residence. They trained daily
and were prepared when Wulfstan would make his move. Another
courier pigeon arrived with the news that Ivar marched on East
Anglia and King Edward had been killed.

The king had been blamed for conspiring
against his father, Ragnor Lothbrok. Ivar had disappeared after,
and was assumed dead, but Joran knew he lived to fight another day.
He would have liked to believe his father took his lady-love and
fled the conflict. He realized sadly, he would never know.