Page 108 of Come the Morning

“It’s quite a pity that he can’t.”

“Alas, most unlikely. It’s late, it’s dark, and Adin is gone, and you have guests in your hall, milady.”

“My hall? But I’ve been told that it’s your hall.”

He reached a hand toward her. “Come up.”

She backed away. “I think not.”

“Let’s not do this, milady.”

“Let’s. You’re the great laird, the mighty hero—I was expendable in it all. Sir Percy came to see you with news regarding the doom about to befall your very good friend. Go and discuss your gallant rescue with him. If I’m not there, you’ll need not take the least care with what is said. Sir Percy had tried so hard not to state the truth of why he has come. He will have a far more pleasant evening without me.”

“I leave tomorrow, and you are coming back with me.”

A strange ache twisted in her stomach. “Tomorrow? You leave tomorrow. And I find out here, now. As I see it, sir, you are gone now. Leave me alone, and have Blue Isle to yourself before you leave it on your great errand of mercy.”

“Mellyora, you fought me for this isle, and you married me for this isle. Alas, I would not be so cruel to forget that this is your isle. You’re the lady here—”

“Aye, fine. And when you’re gone, I’ll tend to domestics, Laird Lion. I know that you can suffice magnificently on your own. You are, after all, the king’s great champion. My father, the Viking, managed on his own for many years.”

“Ah, yes! Your father. The great man.”

“My father, aye, he was a great man, he served the king, but he didn’t bow so low to the floor that he could no longer see anything other than the dirt!”

“Mellyora, I’m sorry for your father’s death, but I am weary of hearing of his greatness with every move I make.”

“My father kept peace here, every move he made—”

“You think I should be more like your father? Kinder, more gentle, make every move as he made it?”

“You refuse to understand what I’m saying.”

“Damn you, lady, if you want me acting like your father, you shall have it.”

She started, backing away as he dismounted with determined anger, striding toward her. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing. My father was not a tyrant—”

“A tyrant. No?” Waryk demanded, striding toward her until she was backed against the large stone Celtic cross that bore her father’s name. “Dear wife, perhaps not—when you knew him. That was after he had come here, seized this land, then married your mother and made his peace with David.” He set a hand upon the stone, leaning toward her. “Adin was not always gentle in all things. He came here in a dragon-prowed longboat, the son of a jarl, come out a-Viking. And he raided this place, laid it low, and took your mother, and I’m delighted things went so well for them both, and he was blessed, surely, to have a child with his lady to so adore him, but my love, he came here just as Alexander came across Europe, he came, he saw, he conquered—”

“That’s history as you heard it—”

“That’s history as it happened!”

“You weren’t here!”

“And neither were you. In the flesh, of course. I’ve heard you were conceived during their very first encounter.”

“You’ve heard!” she cried. “So it is truth! Well, I’d heard that you were a Norman, an English upstart, grabbing up whatever crumbs you could gather from the Scottish king’s floor! I’ve heard this and so, indeed, it must be true.”

“Shall we stop now, milady?” he inquired tightly.

“Stop? I didn’t begin this fight. I came to this place to be alone. You intruded.”

“I came to bring you home, milady. It’s growing dark, and we’ve a guest who awaits, not to mention our own household.”

“I’m sorry. You so often accuse me of games. This is one I cannot play. If you’re going to your mistress, sir, don’t expect to visit first with your wife. Eleanora is Norman, I understand, and I’m sure you have much in common.”

He smiled slowly. “I’ve many different strains in my blood, so I’ve been told. Viking through both the Scottish—and the Norman. You want a man like your father, milady? Let me oblige. I’m terribly sorry, I must be disappointing you so, I have to change, I have to be the man you want me to be.”