by Conn, Phoebe
"It was Erik leaving Berit's room," he whispered as he pulled the quilt away, at last giving Dana the opportunity to breathe more freely. "Won't they be allowed to marry soon?"
Not only too warm, but dizzy as well, Dana didn't want to talk about her half brother and cousin. Instead, she lifted
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her arms to encircle Brendan's neck and bestowed a kiss so full of loving passion he lost all interest in the answer to his question. She was far too enchanting a woman to punish for any reason, and he wanted her too baldy to punish himself by denying that fact. He had not forgotten how much her indifference had hurt him, but that sorrow did not begin to compare with the joy he found in her surrender.
Brendan did not attempt to dominate Dana even now, for she did not lie still and compliant beneath him. She met his deep thrusts not merely with a graceful acceptance, but with a wildness of spirit that demanded even more of him. His fingers woven in her tangled curls, he kept her mouth pressed to his, drinking deeply of her sweet taste as he increased the motion of his hips to speed them down rapture's path at an even more reckless pace. Using more restraint than he had thought he possessed, he held back until he felt her climax begin to throb deep within her before he abandoned himself to the soul-shattering fulfillment of his own release. It shuddered through his still mending body, but he felt only wave after wave of the most glorious pleasure and not a single spasm of pain.
Dana continued to cling to Brendan long after the blinding thrill of their union had diffused to a pleasant and lingering warmth. When he at last began to draw away, she complained inmiediately, "No, please, stay with me."
"It's nearly dawn," Brendan warned, but he kissed her one last time before leaving her to pull on his breeches. *'I should have awakened you earlier. I wanted us to have time to talk," he mumbled apologetically.
"You wanted to talk?" Dana found that remark highly amusing. "I have often asked you to talk, without success, but you made no such request of me when we left my sleeping chamber." Rather than rise to don her gown, she remained languidly curled atop his quilts. "We've a few moments still. What did you want to say?"
Brendan yanked on his kirtle, then combed his curls off his forehead with a hasty swipe of his hand. He didn't want to fight with her now, not when everything had been so perfect between them, but the longer he considered her question, the angrier he got. "I know you don't love Jarald,
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SO don't accuse me of being jealous, but in all the time I've been here, didn't you have a single moment that you could have spent with me?"
Unable to return his hostile gaze, Dana looked away, and seeing the spacious hall was growing light, she was instantly aware dawn was much closer than she had thought. While she was disappointed that Brendan would ask such a question, she was as anxious as he to avoid another argument. She rolled oflF the bench, plucked her gown from where he had dropped it, and hurriedly slipped it on.
"It's a matter of trust, I suppose," she began hesitantly. '*I thought you knew me well enough to believe my feelings for you could not possibly have changed, but my mother forbade me to tend you. I obeyed her because I knew if I sat with you, everyone would soon see how close we've become. It didn't occur to me that you would misunderstand." She was tempted to add he had had plenty of feminine company, so she had not known he missed hers, but with a valiant eflFort she held her tongue.
When she turned to face him, Brendan saw his question had hurt her far more deeply than any shouted accusations of neglect ever would. 'Trust?" he asked hoarsely. *'Is it always going to come down to that?"
Dana nodded. "Without trust, how can there be—" She paused, not wanting to mention love when he still questioned each of her actions. *'—^friendship, or anything more?"
Breildan did not want to discuss anything more, for as he saw it, admitting that he loved her involved far too many concessions on his part. As long as he was a slave, the only freedom he had was in his emotions. How could he give away the last of his independence by admittmg he loved her?
Instead, he spoke only about trust. "It will be impossible for either of us to trust the other until I am free and we are equals. I am well enough to go back to work for Erik, and I wanted to tell you good-bye. I won't demand that you meet me again at midnight, and if you care anything for me, you will not order me to meet you either. I think each of us would be wise to avoid the other for a while."
"You meant to say good-bye?" Dana asked in befuddled
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wonder. "But only after, rather than before, you made love to me again?"
Brendan stared at her, his resolve wavering dangerously as he saw the sparkle of threatened tears brighten her gaze. She had such lovely eyes, and he hated to see her cry. He knew there had to be some way for him to salvage his own pride without destroying hers, but before he could think of it they were interrupted by a loud pounding at the door.
**Who can that be?" he asked, fearing an attack of some sort.
**I have no idea," Dana replied, too hurt to consider likely possibilities. At that early an hour, their servants where all in their own quarters, and the knocking was so loud and persistent she knew it would soon awaken everyone in the house. If she were the first to the door it would cause no comment. Welcoming any distraction when she feared Brendan was about to say something she didn't want to hear, she hurried to admit the early morning visitor.
Not about to let Dana open the door to what he imagined might be a grave peril, Brendan overtook her and shoved her aside. He swung open ttie door himself, then staggered backward as a man wrapped in a hooded cloak stumbled across the threshold and lurched into his arms.
Dana recognized the flowing gray garment immediately as her father's, but since the wearer lacked his stature, she reached out to yank back the hood. **j0m!" she cried out in delighted surprise. Then, taking in his flushed complexion and glassy stare, she grew frightened. "What's happened? Where are my father and Svien?"
Brendan was equally shocked to see J0m, and he quickly lowered his grasp to the man's waist to help him over to a bench near the hearth. He could not bear to call the young man master, but he was as curious as Dana as to the cause of his disheveled state. Once he had eased him down onto a bench, he brought wood to build up the fire. Jarald joined them then, swiftly followed by Berit and Freya. The latter two rushed forward, intending to hug J0m, but, frightened by his alarming condition, the women drew back.
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Dana was grateful everyone's attention was focused on her cousin ratlier than on her and Brendan, for the Celt's scent clung to her every pore, but she had yet to receive answers to her questions and demanded them at once. Taking a seat at J0m's side, she tried to coax a response from him, but he seemed in a daze, and rather than speak, he covered his face with his hands and wept.
Seeing Brendan was dressed, Freya hurriedly gave him an order. "Go down to the dock and find someone from J0m's crew who can tell us what's happened. Perfiaps there was a storm last night, or—"
With a loud sniflF, J0m wiped his eyes on his sleeve and began to sob out an anguished tale. "What men I have left are coming. We have to collect silver to pay a ransom. We must hurry. Trom will kill them if we're late."
"Who must you ransom, J0m?" When he again dissolved in tears, Dana reached out to touch him, and just as she had suspected, she found his skin radiating an unnatural heat. "You have a high fever. Let's get you into bed and you can explain everything to us after you've rested awhile."
"No, there's no time," J0m insisted between racking sobs. He struggled to rise, but lacking the strength to succeed, he fell back to the bench in a clumsy sprawl. He tried to make the necessity for haste clear, but his pleas were incoherent ramblings.
Seeing another opportunity to ingratiate himself to Freya and her family, Jarald stepped forward, plucked the semiconscious J0m from the bench, and lifted him into his arms. "We can put him in my bed if you like."
"No," Freya said. "Take him into Soren's bedchamber. He's not here to use it and you'll need yours."
Dana rose and motioned for her mother to step back. "I don't want you anywhere near J0m. There's always the danger that those who tend him might fall ill, and we mustn't risk your health for any reason." She led J0m to Soren's chamber, and with the husky man's help, got her cousin into bed.
Berit followed them to J0m's bedside and leaned down to caress his cheek lightly. "He's never been so sick as this.
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never. We must send for my mother's servant, Olga. Her herbal remedies helped Aunt Freya last winter, and surely they would help my brother now."
*'You have no one here with the same skill?" Jarald inquired, disappointed that his plans to keep Grena away were being threatened.
*'No, unfortunately none of our servants have such a talent," Dana hurriedly explained. Seeing Brendan at the door, she went to him. "See what you can learn from J0m's crew, then go and get Erik. I know he must have been dreading J0m's return, but there's no need for him to worry he'll have to fight him now, and I want him here when we tell my mother what's happened."
Brendan stared at the young man on the bed. If J0m died, Grena would claim him as part of her son's property. Being a slave was a ghastly enough fate without having to belong to a vindictive bitch like Grena. That was a small problem at present, however. He knew Trom, and well, but he held back that valuable piece of information to bargain with later. '* Whoever is being held for ransom is in grave danger," he warned instead.
Dana swallowed quickly to force away the fear that filled her throat. *Tlease don't say anything to anyone until we've had the opportunity to question the crew. No matter whose life is at risk, we'll pay the ransom, but I don't want my mother frightened unnecessarily."
Brendan straightened his shoulders, thinking it had to be obvious to all that Haakon and Svien must be the ones taken prisoner, for J0m would scarcely be in such an agitated state had he only lost a few members of his crew. "I understand. Your mother's feelings are to be protected attdl costs." He longed to pull the distraught redhead into his arms for a comforting hug, but knew such a display would only worsen her problems. With no more than a brief nod, he turned and left, but he couldn't imagine J0m's crew having any news that would be good.
Jarald had observed the hurried exchange, and when Dana turned back toward the bed he scanned her expression for some clue as to what she and the thrall had been discussing, but she seemed interested only in J0m's welfare.
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Still, he did not like the fact Brendan had stopped to talk with Dana before running Freya's errand. Perhaps the striking redhead unknowingly encouraged the slave's attentions, but he had no intention of allowing that to continue. He might have failed once to get rid of the Celt, but he would make certain his second attempt succeeded.
In his haste to leave his bedchamber, Jarald had paused only long enough to yank on his breeches. As Dana returned to J0m's side, her gaze swept over Jarald's powerfully muscled arms and chest, but she found his impressive physique not nearly as handsome as Brendan's, for the Dane's body was as hairy as a bear's. When she realized he had noted the direction of her glance, she tried her best to smile.
What diflFerence did it make that Jarald's body did not delight her eyes and invite her touch as Brendan's always had? Brendan didn't want her affection anymore, and although she still did not understand why, she would not ask him to explain the reasons for his rejection when that would surely cause her further pain.
As Jarald broke into a wide grin, it was clear his interest in her had not wavered. While that thought brought absolutely no comfort, it forced Dana to take a realistic look at the future. She had not cared for any of the men who had courted her before Jarald, and she had to admire his persistence. Unfortunately, that was the only thing she admired about the man, but she had given him so little of herself she knew she had treated him unfairly.
"You are always so quick to help us, Jarald," she complimented him sincerely. **rm sorry I haven't told you more often how much that is appreciated."
'*It pleases me to be of service," Jarald was delighted to respond. Dana had always been polite, but this was the first bit of true warmth he had ever received from her. Maybe Brendan meant nothing to her after all. Thinking perhaps it was jealousy that caused him to see rivals everywhere, he decided to keep his eyes open to gather more evidence before doing away with the slave.
Brendan recognized several of J0m's crew as men he had seen at Grena's farm before they had left on their
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voyage. Those who weren't racked with fevers as high as J0m's were so exhausted he didn't see how they had managed to bring the others home. Sprawled about the dock where they had fallen, they begged for ale to quench their thirst.
He ran back to the house to seek more help, then returned to the dock and encouraged the healthy men to relate their story. After listening to several rambling narratives, he was forced to extract bits and pieces from each, but he finally had enough of the tale to be reasonably certain of what had happened. It wasn't until then that he saddled a horse and went for Erik.
Having spent an extremely pleasant night in the arms of his beloved, Erik was in high spirits as he greeted Brendan. When the Celt leapt down from his mount and pulled him toward the privacy of the woods, he realized the situation was an urgent one. "What's wrong?" he asked instantly.
"You just missed seeing J0m this morning," Brendan began, but he continued before Erik could reply. "He and most of his men are too sick to stand, but from what I can learn from the others, Haakon, Svien, and their crews were captured by one of the Norse pirates who control all the ports of Erin. J0m was sent back to raise the ransom for the others, but he and the majority of his crew are all too ill to stand, let alone sail."
Erik turned to look at the men working on his house. They were an industrious lot, but rescuing the twins and Thora had been a challenge to their seamanship, and Erin was a long way ofiF. "Was J0m's ship damaged?"
"No," Brendan assured him.
"Good, then we can leave as soon as we have a fresh crew.*^
*'You can't swim a stroke, and you'll probably be seasick tiie whole way. Are you sure you want to go yourself?"
"I'll not leave my father, brother, and their crews in the hands of pirates," Erik insisted, clearly insulted by Brendan's question. "Besides, there is no one else who can lead such a voyage."
Brendan flashed a knowing grin. "Yes, there is. I'll do it, but I must have my freedom before I set sail."
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*'Isn't there something else you'd like as well?" Erik eyed the thrall with an accusing glance, surprised he had not had the audacity to come right out and ask for Dana.
Stung by the taunt, Brendan's eyes narrowed slightly, for while he would not deny that Dana was definitely a prize worth bargaining for, he wanted to rescue Haakon before he mentioned her. "No, there isn't," he answered coldly. *'My freedom will be payment enough for the time being."
While Brendan had proven himself trustworthy in many respects, Erik considered this too much. "You must think me a great fool. Given a ship and silver to pay a ransom, you'd have no reason to save Haakon and Svien. I doubt you'd even make the attempt."
There had been a time when he would have killed a man for questioning his integrity in so insulting a fashion, but Brendan knew masters trusted their slaves no more than slaves trusted their masters. Each was forever trying to get the better of the other, and this situation was no diflFerent from any other.
"Call Soren and let's go home," the wily thrall suggested. "No decision needs to be made this morning, but I think you'll soon see I'm the best hope you have to set Haakon and Svien free."
Not about to debate the issue any further, Erik complied only with Brendan's request that they return home.
Once informed of J0m's return, Grena and Olga hastened to Freya's, but the clos
er they rode to her sister's farm, the more frightened Grena became. She had the right to demand Erik be kept away, but she dared not insist Jarald be banished as well. As desperately worried as she was about her eldest son, she was even more terrified of the man who had used her so badly. When she arrived and found him sitting with Freya, she quickly forced her eyes away, but it unnerved her to know he enjoyed such a close friendship with her sister.
Not bothering with a greeting, she asked quickly, "Where is my son?"
Freya came forward to embrace her sister, and thinking
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the coolness of her response only natural, she did not comment on it. ''He's in Soren's chamber. Berit and Dana are with him."
Eager to flee Jarald's presence, Grena immediately pushed by Freya. Olga followed carrying a large basket filled with the dried herbs she used in creating her potions. A tiny woman with a nervous temperament and the darting gaze of a bird, she gave Jarald a cursory and highly disapproving glance as she passed by him. The two women swiftly made their way from the large hall to the bedchambers that lay beyond.
Too distraught over the state in which she found her son, Grena wasted no energy berating Berit for leaving home, but instead simply ignored the girl and gave her full attention to J0m. When it became obvious to Berit that her mother's mood was not a conciliatory one, she drew Dana to the door.
"It's plain I'm not needed here, so I think after I dress I'll go see what I can do for J0m's crew."
"I'll go with you," Dana instantly agreed, and the two young women changed from their night clothes to more appropriate attire and left together. They soon had tents raised beneath the oak tree nearest the house so the ailing men could easily receive the care they needed. Moving those suffering from the fever required several trips, but they pressed the stable boys and shepherds into service and soon had the feat accomplished.