By Love Enslaved (22 page)

Erik raised himself up slightly, wanting to look at her as they talked, but the dreamy light in her eyes fascinated him, so he lowered his mouth to hers, wanting only to make love to her again and again until neither would ever want more. But he knew in his heart that day would never, ever come.

Not wanting to intrude on Erik and Berit, Dana rode a long way before turning around and retracing her path. When she came to the edge of the forest, she found them seated together, talking earnestly about the home they hoped to build. It wasn’t until they rose and Erik kissed the pretty blonde good-bye that Dana noted how easily they went into each other’s arms. There was nothing hesitant about their embrace, but instead it was a joyful celebration of love and life that made her heart ache with longing.

Afraid she might sound jealous of their happiness, Dana kept her thoughts to herself as she and Berit returned to her home. Berit was not in the mood to talk either, but her unusual silence didn’t trouble Dana. She could understand how her cousin would want to savor whatever memories she and Erik had created that morning.

When they reached her home, Berit insisted Dana come in for something to eat. “My mother will think it very strange if you don’t, and I don’t dare let her suspect where I’ve really been.”

While that was certainly true, Dana encouraged her cousin to be herself. “That you love Erik will come as a shock no matter when your mother finds out, but if you’ll simply calm down, she’ll not guess anything is amiss.”

Berit placed her right hand over her heart. “I’ll try, but that’s why I need you. My heart is still beating as rapidly as when—” The lively blonde caught herself and demurely lowered her gaze. “As when Erik kissed me.”

Dana regarded her cousin’s appearance with a more thoughtful glance, and while Berit looked as pretty as when they had left to go riding that morning, the high color in her cheeks and bright sparkle in her eyes made Dana wonder just what Erik had done other than kiss her. “Were you two making love?”

“Dana! How can you ask me such a thing?” Obviously horrified, Berit turned to look toward her house and was greatly relieved her mother was nowhere in sight. Certain they would not be overheard, she replied more honestly, “You won’t tell, will you? Promise me you won’t tell.”

Dana watched as huge tears formed in Berit’s eyes, but she quickly reached out to pat her hand sympathetically. “Of course I won’t tell. Your secret is safe with me, but I think Erik better get that house built as soon as he possibly can.”

That the half brother who had always been so sensible had lost his head completely and become involved in a passionate love affair shocked Dana far more than she let Berit see. Berit was a wildly romantic child, but Erik was a grown man! Taking her own advice, Dana discussed nothing more important than the mild summer weather while she enjoyed refreshments with Grena and her charming but secretive daughter. It wasn’t until she rode home by herself that she realized just how deeply Erik had drawn her into their intrigues. She loved Erik and wanted him to be happy. She would not complain.

By the time she got back home, Dana was tired. When Freya again invited her into her sleeping chamber to talk, she would have much preferred to take a nap instead.

Freya’s expression bore the same worried frown as during their last private conversation, but her concern was a far different one now. “I stepped out the door this morning in time to see Brendan place that adoring kiss in your hand. To say I was shocked that he would take such liberties with you does not even begin to describe my dismay. That you did nothing about it will only encourage him to display more affection the next time he has the chance. You are not leaving this room, Dana, until you tell me why you let him believe he has that right. I don’t think I need remind you that if it had been your father who had seen what I did, Brendan would no longer be alive.”

Because Dana knew that ghastly prediction might well be correct, fear encircled her throat with a suffocating grip. When it came to describing her complicated relationship with Brendan, Dana didn’t even know where to begin. Her life had become a tangled web of deceit beginning with the hour they had met, but straightening her shoulders proudly, she decided another lie or two couldn’t hurt her now, and she would not let anyone harm Brendan either.

Chapter Eleven

Attempting, for Brendan’s sake as well as her own, to project a confidence she didn’t feel, Dana sat down on her mother’s bed and made herself comfortable before replying to Freya’s startling accusation. “I think Brendan must have been badly abused before coming to us, Mother, because he reacts to our smallest kindness with an extraordinary show of gratitude. I’m so sorry you were upset this morning because I had merely thanked him for saddling Dawn’s Kiss, and you saw how moved he was. Except for the fact he didn’t throw himself at my feet, his gesture was no different than when he kissed your hands. I’m sure had Father been here that day, he would have been as touched as you were by Brendan’s humility, not enraged by it.”

Taken in by the calmness of her daughter’s manner, as well as the reasonable nature of her explanation, Freya was deeply embarrassed by how quickly she had leapt to a shockingly erroneous conclusion. Going to Dana’s side, she sat down and slipped her arm around her waist.

“Before you presume to predict your father’s reactions, which is a grave danger in itself, you must remember that if he were, Brendan would not be. I think you might be right about Brendan, because when I gave him some new clothes yesterday, he appeared to be overwhelmed. The problem is he is young and very handsome. Had someone else observed him kissing your hand, they would also have been shocked. They might even have suspected he is your lover, and that’s a risk you simply must avoid.

“Everyone knows our menfolk amuse themselves with attractive thralls, but women are never permitted that same privilege. Your reputation would be irrevocably damaged should there be rumors about you and Brendan. Your father, or Jarald for that matter, would undoubtedly react to that disgrace by killing the Celt rather than investigating the source of the lie. I will have to speak with him about confining his expressions of gratitude to words.”

Dana dared not provide her mother with the opportunity to discover Brendan was not at all the man she had described him to be. “No, I think I should be the one to do it,” she insisted, “because the problem concerns his behavior with me.” When her mother didn’t instantly argue, the relieved redhead pushed their conversation in a new direction. “I did speak with him about Moira, but he has no interest in marrying while he is a thrall.”

“But he should be able to earn his freedom soon.”

“That would be true if he belonged to us, but he doesn’t. I didn’t dare promise him something so important as his freedom when I can’t be certain Jørn will grant it. That would be cruel.”

Impressed by her daughter’s insight, Freya’s fears for her reputation were laid to rest and she let the matter drop. “You’re right, of course. We’ll not mention marriage to him again, but it does seem that he would be perfect for Moira.”

Since Dana had done her best to make her mother believe Brendan was as mild an individual as their shy maid, she didn’t dare contradict that opinion, but she knew Moira was no match for a man with the Celt’s violent temper. Eager to be excused, she covered a wide yawn as she rose to her feet.

“Berit and I rode farther than we had planned today, and I’d like to rest awhile. Was there anything else?”

Freya found it difficult to recall when she had been Dana’s age, but she was certain she had not been nearly so mature and confident, despite the fact she had married at sixteen and borne a son ten months later. “No, but you must caution Brendan about his behavior at your first opportunity. Scandalous talk about what occurs between you two would be ruinous to you, but might well cost him his life. I think once he understands that danger, he will avoid touching you ever again.”

“He’s bright,” Dana reminded her mother. “He should have no trouble understanding what I mean.” As Dana left Freya’s sleeping chamber to go to her own, she carried a heavy burden of guilt for again having lied to her mother. She had had such good intentions in the beginning. She had wanted only to spare her mother the distress of Brendan’s abusive ways. Somehow that noble cause had gotten completely turned around until it was now Brendan that she was protecting. What a ridiculous happenstance that was.

Brendan would surely laugh at her, if not far worse, for what she had done. She sat down on her bed and, thinking of him, rubbed her palms together slowly, creating the same subtle warmth as Brendan’s kiss. It had been such a tender gesture, filled with the sweetness he let her see all too seldom. Now she would have to tell him she did not want to see it ever again, but she knew she would be lying to herself as well as to him.

Once assured he would not be whipped, Brendan had little time to contemplate how greatly he had misunderstood Dana’s intentions, for that afternoon Erik took him out to the meadow where they had gone hunting and announced his plan to build a house there. The spot was attractive, the soil rich, and the perceptive Celt felt certain the man’s sudden interest in farming had to be connected to his high regard for Berit.

Erik had brought two hunting dogs and one of his falcons, and as the bird soared above them, Brendan tried to make tactful comments. Because his impressions had never served him as well as he had expected with these Danes, he had begun to think what he saw were such tiny glimpses of their lives that he would never fully understand them.

“The summer is a good time to build a house,” he finally remarked, hoping to inspire Erik to reveal why he wanted to begin the project.

Erik, however, was busy watching his falcon as he walked about judging the gentle slope of the meadow. “I want to make it large enough to begin with so that we don’t have to add on to it later,” he called over his shoulder.

“Have you ever built a house?”

Erik walked back toward him, his smile still as wide as it had been when he had kissed Berit good-bye. “No, but we employ others who have. It isn’t difficult, although the work will be hard. I’m going to put the boys who handled the stable before you back to work there so you can help me out here. In fact, we probably ought to live out here while the construction is going on.”

While it would not be the first time he had slept under the stars, Brendan’s immediate concern was the distressing one that he would be unable to see Dana. The high-strung beauty had caused him nearly endless torment. Why would he want to see her? he asked himself accusingly. He knew the answer to that question, but he had found that wanting a desirable woman and getting along with her were two entirely different things. Because the possibility he had fallen in love with her was something it was painful to admit, even to himself, Brendan decided it would do him a tremendous amount of good not to have to be near her.

“I like that idea,” he agreed enthusiastically. “It will save us the effort of going back and forth each day, and it will take us much less time to build your house.”

“Have you any skill at carpentry?”

“I am good at everything,” Brendan boasted proudly.

“Somehow I knew that you would be,” Erik replied with a chuckle. Eager to begin work, as soon as the falcon had returned with a pheasant, he hooded the bird and left it perched on the back of his saddle. He had brought along two shovels, and after he had tossed one to Brendan, they began to dig up the lush wild grass to mark where he wanted his new house to be.

Berit’s shoulder brushed Dana’s as they peered through the leaves. Hidden by the dense foliage at the edge of the beech woods, the pretty cousins were observing closely as Erik, Soren, Brendan, and the dozen men working with them raised the last in the double row of posts that would support the roof of the new house.

“Just look how well they’re doing,” Berit exclaimed excitedly.

The men had been hard at work for more than a week, first felling trees and then sheering away the branches to prepare the sturdy posts needed for construction. Dana knew Berit had every reason to be excited about the fine house Erik was building for her, but she murmured only a distracted word of agreement as she continued to give Brendan her full attention. While all the men had muscular builds, none of the others caught her interest. The Celt had been tan, but working without a kirtle had made his skin even more deeply bronzed. Yet even from a distance the sight of his badly scarred back made her shudder.

Dana had not seen Brendan since the morning he had demanded the whipping she had not planned to give, but knowing he thought her so cruel a mistress pained her still. As before, the time they had spent apart had not lessened the man’s appeal in the slightest and Dana did not understand why. She had hoped seeing him again would put her restless heart at ease, but now she feared her weakness for him was an affliction from which she might never recover. Whether she saw him or not, thoughts of him filled her days with longing and her nights with indescribable torment. It was humiliating to admit that she found a thrall who despised her the most attractive man she had ever met. It made no sense, but it was not the practical side of her nature that ached with desire.

Erik was expecting them to arrive around noon, and when the men paused to rest after completing their task, Dana stepped out into the sunlight. As soon as Erik had seen her and waved, she turned back into the shadows. He would know Berit was with her, but it would have been far too dangerous for anyone else to suspect how he planned to spend his time while the others stopped to eat. That Soren might grow curious about his absence concerned them, but the youth enjoyed the company of the men with whom he had been working, and Erik hoped he would stay with them as he usually did.