Page 51 of Dancing On Air

Chapter11

Albert had decided he wanted to go out and help harvest peas with the others, even if he had to sit on the back of a wagon to do it. So, they all left for the field, but Eleanor decided to stay back with Connor after all. Little Bertram had been helping to dig in the garden, but Eleanor sent him along with the rest of the children and adults to harvest peas instead, wanting to be alone with Connor.

“I would pick up a shovel and help you to dig if I didn’t think you’d stop me,” said Eleanor.

“You even try it and I swear I’ll tackle you, bringing you to the ground.” Connor thrust the end of the shovel into the dirt and reached up to remove his tunic.

“Y-you’re taking off your tunic?” she asked, staring at his naked chest once again, not able to look at anything else. He had muscles and strong forearms and a taut stomach. Little dark curls of hair splattered his chest, leading downward and disappearing under the waist of his trews. He looked so good and so sexy that Eleanor had to stop herself from running to him and rubbing her hands against him.

“I’m hot,” he told her, continuing to dig. “Why? Did you want me to put my tunic back on?” He looked back at her with hooded eyes that warmed her to the core. Did he look dark and dangerous, or was it just her imagination? She liked it. This mysterious side of Connor excited her.

“Nay, leave it off. I like looking,” she admitted with a giggle.

That got a smile out of him, and it did her heart good to see it.

“When you invited me here today, I didn’t think I’d be doing this,” admitted Connor.

“Oh. Did you want to stop? It wasn’t my intention to make you do manual labor.”

“Nay, I don’t mind,” he said. “It feels good and takes my mind off my troubles.”

“Speaking of that, how is your father?” She walked over to the far side of the garden, closer to the barn.

“Stubborn as all hell. But if you mean his health, it’s no better.”

“I can’t understand why Rose isn’t here by now. Something must have happened.”

“It’s fine,” he said, continuing to dig.

“What’s wrong, Connor? I can see it on your face. Something is really troubling you.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Please. You can tell me.”

“Oh, all right. I had a heated conversation with my father this morning and I’m still bothered by it.”

“Really? What happened?”

“My father wants to start taking Leoric to executions,” he said, digging even faster.

It seemed to Eleanor that the more he worried, the faster he worked.

“And that bothers you?” she asked, already knowing the answer, but wanting him to tell her.

“Yes, of course it bothers me. My brother can’t handle cleaning out garderobes without throwing up. What do you think will happen the first time he has to assist with an execution? It’s not easy you know.”

“Nay. I don’t suppose it is. After all, it is hard enough just to watch as a spectator.” She walked closer and sat on a log near him to continue talking while he dug up the earth.

“Connor, there must be a way to get you and your siblings out of this mess you’re in.”

“I don’t see how,” he told her. “My father sealed our fate the day he bartered for his life.”

“You need to forgive him for that. Any man would have done the same thing in his position. Especially when he had five children to support and had just lost his wife.”

Connor finished digging, throwing the shovel to the side, and wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of his arm. “He’s not the one I can’t forgive.”

When Eleanor realized he was talking about himself, she knew she needed to get him to a private place.