Page 34 of Viking in Love

His shoulders sagged with relief. But then, his still angry gaze stabbed her. “Who did you kill?”

“You rat! You told me that you already knew.”

“I knew that you had done something to annoy the king. How was I to guess your secret was murder?”

“Well, that is not exactly true.”

“Why is that not exactly true?” he asked wearily, pinching the bridge of his nose.

How to make our dilemma more palatable? Hmmm. I hate pleading our cause to this lout. “The king might not know…yet. Perchance, if the gods shine favor on us, he will ne’er know.”

“Firstly, who is ‘us’?”

“Me and my sisters.”

“What is it that you and your sisters have done?”

She mumbled her answer.

“What did you say?”

“I said we killed the earl of Havenshire,” she nigh yelled.

He put his face in his hands and appeared to be counting under his breath. When he raised his head, he demanded, “Tell me everything.”

Must I? “I would feel better if I were clothed first.”

“I would feel better if you had never come here.”

Me, too. She glared at him, then told him the entire story. By the time she was done, he appeared stunned.

It was a stunning story, she had to admit. “Someday you will tell this story to your grandchildren, and you will probably laugh about it.”

“I sincerely doubt that.” He stared at her, then shook his head with disbelief. “You put a Saxon nobleman at the bottom of a privy?” Then, “How did you fit him through the hole?”

Men! They homed in on the most irrelevant details. “It was a new garderobe, just being built.”

Caedmon smiled, then went serious. “This is the worst thing that could have happened.”

Dost think so, lackbrain? “I know!”

“I was not referring to you. My hold on Larkspur is tenuous at best. Edgar could take it away on a whim. My hiding the killers of one of his noblemen would constitute more than a whim.”

“I did not think of that.”

“I daresay you did not think at all.”

I wonder what would happen if I dumped a pitcher of water over his fool head. Oh, I forgot. I would have to get out of bed first. “There is no need for sarcasm.”

“M’lady, you have no idea—”

A knock interrupted what further vitriol he was about to hurl at her.

Wulf stuck his head in the doorway. “I was sent up by the three princesses. They are worried about what you are doing to their sister.”

“As well they should be.”

Wulf glanced her way and grinned his greeting, amused at her state of undress, no doubt. Then he arched his brows at Caedmon.