by Quinn, Paula
He swallowed hearing how she thought about not saying her vows. Then he nodded—and then shook his head. “Why would He not tell ye what to do? If ye are aboot to do somethin’ so terrible as to fall in love with me and anger Him…why would He need a priest to tell ye not to do it?”
He said she was falling in love with him. Was she? “Because I can pretend that I do not hear.”
He was quiet, searching her gaze. “I dinna believe it, Silene.”
“You are temptation of every kind, Captain.”
He scowled. “I dinna want to be a temptation fer ye.”
She smiled, loving his guileless nature. “You must realize that you are difficult to resist.”
“Then dinna resist. Let us go before Father Nate together—”
“And your betrothed? What of her?”
He barely missed a breath. “What aboot her? I never loved her. I dinna wish to marry her. I was doin’ John a favor and plan on breakin’ it off.”
“Oh,” she said, a bit taken aback by his response. Louise said he didn’t love the woman. “I see.” She felt better but… “Why did you not tell me?”
“I meant no—” he began but then stopped and began again. “I was afraid of speakin’ to ye aboot one more obstacle.”
“Aye,” she understood. “I do not know what the Lord wants from me anymore.” She wiped a tear from her eyes and smiled down at the kitten running through…daffodils. That was why they gave her the name.
“You truly do not mind having them with you?” she asked him.
He set his gaze on the children and shook his head. “No. They are no trouble.”
Oh, it was easy to like him.
“Captain?”
“Please, call me Galeren. Everyone calls me captain.”
She smiled. “Galeren. That is an interesting name.”
He took a moment to exhale. “My father does his best to live like the legendary knights of Arthur Pendragon. He named me after Sir Galahad—a knight perfect in courage, gentleness, courtesy and chivalry.”
Her smile widened. “I like those traits, my lord. They are good values.”
He nodded. “And even more valuable is the one who recognizes them.”
He was easy to like. Aye, to love. Did she love him? How would she know? She’d never been in love before.
“I have never heard of yer name before,” he told her.
“’Tis the name of a flower.” She smiled when his gaze went warm on her.
“You have a rare heart, Cap—Galeren,” she corrected and blushed a streak of crimson against walls of pure white. “You possess every trait I value.”
He moved closer, more aware of her then anything else.
“I want to close my eyes and listen to you speak,” she told him, and he smiled.
“I want to smell ye on my clothes.”
No. They had to stop. She marveled at how easy it was to slip right back into him and forget everything else.
“People cannot know that the man they follow fought against God for me or that I stole you from your betrothed. They will leave your side.”
He shook his head but didn’t look at her again. “I dinna care aboot their accolades. I am compelled to go home to Invergarry and leave everythin’ behind.”
She stiffened her spine. What should she say? “You should leave tonight then.”
He nodded and she was tempted to clutch his arm. She didn’t want him to go. He had to. One of them had to.
“I must go, Captain. I will see you again when I return home, I hope.”
He didn’t move.
She wished he would say something.
“My dear Captain, what is this?” A high-pitched female voice sounded close by. “You are the watcher of bratlings then?”
The woman was behind Silene and when she made herself known, the captain and the children balked.
“Is this why you did not have time for me? I was gone. Did you even notice, Captain?”
Silene turned to find a most beautiful young lady sauntering toward them. She had lovely golden hair and hazel eyes that changed beneath the sun from gold to green.
“Cecilia,” the captain drawled, clearly not happy to see her. “Is yer father here? We need to speak.”
Cecilia, his betrothed. Silene’s belly sank. Why should it? She was also betrothed. Had she forgotten so quickly…again?
“Sister Silene, may I introduce Miss Cecilia Birchet of Prestwick.”
“His betrothed,” Miss Birchet supplied quickly. She eyed Silene’s gray habit and veil suspiciously. “Well, are you a nun or are you not?”
“I am not,” Silene told her. “But,” she added when Cecilia Birchet looked about to tear out her own hair, “I will speak my vows in the spring.”
She’d meant to soothe Miss Birchet’s nerves. Silene was sorry for her. She imagined what it must be like to love him and not have his love in return.
But she didn’t think her promise would cause the captain to scowl so fiercely.
“Go away, Miss Birchet.” Margaret ran up to the captain and leaned into his leg. “Dinna touch Daffodil.”
“Margaret, ye are bein’ rude. What have we talked aboot?”
“But Captain—”
“Ask Miss Birchet’s pardon,” he demanded. “Now.”
“I ask fer yer pardon, Miss Birchet,” the little girl obeyed through clenched teeth.
Silene wouldn’t smile at her. Not now. She would not undermine what the captain said. Not when he was correct. He was teaching the possible king’s children humility.
“Granted,” Cecilia allowed then shooed her away. “Now, why do you not take your brother and your cat and go play?”
Margaret’s eyes filled with tears. She took Daffodil from her brother’s arms and ran off.
“I will see to her,” Silene offered and hurried off with Alex.
She heard the captain’s hard voice as he warned Miss Birchet never to speak to the children like that again.
She didn’t wait to hear anything more but rushed to Margaret. She found her sitting on a bench in her mother’s orchard. She clutched Daffodil and wept into the kitten’s fur.
Silene reached her but said nothing right away. Instead, she sat next to her and petted Daffodil. Finally, she spoke softly. “It takes great strength to apologize.”
“I dinna care aboot strength,” the little girl cried. “I just want her to leave Captain MacPherson alone!”
Silene remembered the captain mentioning the child’s jealousy. But Margaret wasn’t jealous of Silene at all. She wasn’t jealous of Cecilia either. Margaret didn’t like the captain’s betrothed. It wasn’t difficult to see why. Cecilia treated the children like pests, only giving them her attention if she had to. Who would want their friend to wed someone like that?
But it wasn’t about Miss Birchet. This difficult lesson was for Margaret.
“I agree with you,” she whispered to the girl. “I do not want him to marry her either.” She drew her finger to her lips and smiled.
Margaret smiled back. Soon though, it faded, and she tilted her lips to Silene’s ear. “I saw her kissin’ someone else.”
Silene closed her eyes and commanded herself to breathe. “Are you certain it was not the captain?”
“He was on his way to get ye,” Alex told her.
They loved him. If Cecilia was betraying him, it was perfectly understandable that they didn’t like her.
“Did you tell him? Or anyone?”
Margaret and her brother shook their heads. “He willna care,” Alex lamented. “He is only marryin’ her because my father wants him to. I have heard his conversations with my father.”
“May I come near?”
They all turned to see the captain paused a few feet away. They nodded and he took a step forward. How much had he heard?
“I have decided not to wed Miss Birchet despite what yer father wants. But I will be the one to tell him, aye?”
They grinned and nodded.
&
nbsp; He went to Margaret next. There being no room on the bench, he knelt before her. “I’m verra proud of ye, lass.”
She looked at him over Daffodil’s head. “I’m verra angry with ye.”
“I know,” he said softly, as serious and somber as she. “But I would have ye fit fer a noble court, my lady.”
Margaret smiled and handed him the meowing kitten eager to get to him.
“Captain,” Alex drew his attention. “We have something to tell ye.”
Silene rose from where she sat and refused the captain’s offer to stay. She didn’t know how he felt about his betrothed. The news was private, so she left them alone.
Imagine, she thought while walking to the castle, being betrothed to Galeren MacPherson and kissing someone else! She wondered who it was. Her uncle? No. The children would have recognized their own father.
She heard her name being called and turned to see Margaret and Alex laughing and calling while they raced to reach her.
“I win!” Alex shouted.
“Sister, why did ye leave?” Margaret asked her.
She wasn’t sure she—she heard his heavier footsteps approaching. She smiled seeing tiny Daffodil sitting on his shoulder and playing with the hair at his neck.
“They would run all day if they could,” the captain laughed, not out of breath at all.
“They never tire,” she agreed.
“Where are ye off to?” he asked.
“Prayers.”
“Oh.” He looked around and smiled at the children. “I was thinkin’, we are goin’ explorin’ tomorrow and we would all enjoy it if ye would accompany us.”
“What about—?” There were so many things to consider.
“We have agreed not to think aboot anyone else fer the day,” the captain told her.
She smiled. She wasn’t sure she could do it, but she would try.
Chapter Twelve
Galeren watched Silene chasing the children while Daffodil leaped through the grass like a ball of orange fur trying to keep up.
He smiled when she caught Margaret up in her arms and tagged a laughing Alex.
He wanted to join them when they collapsed onto the grass in a tangle of arms and legs.
Laughter filled the small, sunlit clearing and Galeren’s ears. It seeped into his heart and made him long for things he’d never wanted before. A loving wife…bairns.
They had met before breaking their fast. Galeren was early, as were the children. They hadn’t waited long for Silene. She was just as eager to start the day as they were.
She intelligently wore her hose and tabard instead of her novice’s robes. She did wear her wimple and veil though. Galeren wished any of it helped keep his mind on what she was going to be.
They started off with Margaret riding with Silene and Alex riding with Galeren, who also carried Daffodil in a small pouch at his side.
Their first stop had been the Firth of Clyde, where they explored caves hidden along the coast. They waited a bit while Silene prayed, and then they ate their first meal together.
He’d taken them along the coast to a long stretch of rocks and reeds and vendors set up with their banners snapping in the wind.
Soon, the vendors would be gone from here, not to return until next spring…when she was—no. He promised the children…himself, not to think on the future today. They rode to a small forest close to the castle, to a sunlit glade and ate their midday meal.
With a light step, he moved quickly now, scooping up Daffodil as he went. When he reached them, he knelt in the grass with them and laughed. They played a game where he was a mouse, hoping not to become a rat. They searched out edible berries and ate them while the sun warmed their chilly bones. Daffodil finally collapsed in the grass, asleep. The children were next with Margaret sleeping on Galeren’s lap under a nearby tree.
“This is not the first time you have kept the children with you,” Silene said softly, sitting next to him. “All of the steward’s children.”
Galeren shook his head. “I help Alex learn defense and good character.”
His hand lifted to the streak of scarlet burning from one of her cheeks to the other. “Ye blush.” He smiled. “Why?”
“’Tis nice to see a man of good character. He is pleasing to the eye.”
He raised a curious brow at her. “Is he?”
She nodded, appearing mesmerized by his full attention.
If she were someone else, he would have leaned in and kissed her. He’d stopped seeing her veil and wimple. He saw only her face. The face he was falling in love with. He couldn’t fight it. He knew it was wrong. He wished she didn’t wear it, but she did, and he still wanted to kiss her.
He felt the kitten’s sharp little claws in him and looked at his ankle. He smiled watching sleepy Daffodil climb up his thigh, his hip and then crumple up in his léine next to Margaret’s head and purr.
He should feel disgusted with himself for being so lost to a kitten and a soon-to-be nun.
But he didn’t.
He returned his attention to Silene, ready to apologize for being distracted. She was wearing a dreamy smile.
For a moment, he forgot to breathe. When he remembered, he wasn’t sure he wanted to.
“The hour of my prayer approaches.”
He nodded. What was happening to him? He had never felt this way about a woman. Why did it have to be her who stirred his heart and compelled him to change his path and lead him on one that would likely get him thrown out of John’s court and excommunicated? Not to mention what God would do to him.
He watched her rise up and brush grass from her hose. She made her way to a large tree and went to her knees.
There were women everywhere. Why was he allowing this one to claim what he’d given to none before her?
He wanted to tell her, to hold her.
Instead, he sat, watching her, praying with her that they be blessed in a union and not punished for this. Father Timothy would remind him that God was good.
He wanted to take Silene home to meet the old priest. He tried to stop himself from seeing her comfortable as his wife in Invergarry. But his mind wandered in the quiet of the forest where they played and slept the afternoon away.
When she was finished, they woke the children.
“They love you,” she noted with a tender smile when they clung to him and wiped their sleepy eyes.
“And I them,” he replied, rising up with two children and a kitten hanging off him.
What did she think about never having children? He wouldn’t ask. But there was something he would ask her. “Why are ye goin’ to say yer vows when ye are still so young? Yer prioress was married to a baron before he died and she gave her life to God, was she not?”
She didn’t answer right away and then waited while he set everyone and everything down.
When the children were out of earshot, she cleared her throat. “I have never met a man…like you before.” She looked down at the grass and lowered her voice when his smile deepened on her. “I never thought I would…want to meet a man like you.”
“And now that ye have?” he pressed gently.
She looked at him. “I…I do not know.”
He didn’t want to push her too much, or at all. He was falling in love with her. If she wasn’t falling for him naturally, he would leave her alone.
But the way she looked at him. It was the same way he was sure he looked at her. With delight and desire, respect and passion.
“Captain, we found a spider!” Alex called out from the huddle he was in with his sister.
The arachnid must have jumped in Alex’s direction because he yelped and leaped away. Margaret stood in her spot laughing at him.
“I think they had fun today,” Galeren told Silene while he laughed with them.
“’Tis important to you. Why?”
He thought about it for a moment. He knew things about the King of the Scots, just thirty-three years old and a prisoner of England. Things King David had
told him during their friendship. He was married, though in name only, at the age of four. He never played. He wasn’t allowed any friends. He grew into a somber man, awkward around others and probably perfectly happy alone.
He saw the same thing happening to John’s bairns. Friendships were important, but safety more so. Because of that, they were alone most of the time.
“They are children. They need to play.”
She nodded. But he saw the shadows cross over her eyes.
“Did ye not play as a child?” he asked her, drawing a little closer.
She shook her head. “I was the oldest. My mother was often ill, so I did much of the work. And then I was sent to St. Patrice’s.”
Galeren wanted nothing more in his life in that moment than to teach her how to play. “Ye are verra bonny, Silene.”
She had the most peculiar reaction. It was different from any he’d ever seen when he told a lass she was bonny. She covered her mouth and gave him a little laugh. He looked at her curled lips when she dropped her hand away from her face. He thought about taking her face in his hands and touching her beauty as if to convince himself she was real. Kissing her…
“Silene,” he whispered, then glanced at the children. They were busy tying leaves together and putting them around the horses’ necks. There would be trouble if one of them saw him and the novice kissing and told.
“Galeren,” she said on a siren’s breath. He forgot everything else and became captive to her alone.
She seemed to have trembled in her skin. He ached to hold her. He moved closer, dipping his head, tasting her sweet breath.
“You have me going in circles and I do not want it to stop.” She rested her palms on his chest, leaned up on the tips of her toes, and pressed her lips to his stubbled cheek.
When she withdrew, he took hold of her wrist and pulled her back to him with the graceful ease of a dancer pulling his partner back into his arms. He pressed his lush, sensuous lips to her mouth and covered her, engulfed her in strength and tenderness. She felt right in his arms, as if she belonged there. Could they stay like this forever, locked in each other’s arms, their mouths sealed in passion’s kiss?
No. If the children saw they would have to live with a secret.