The Warrior's Viking Bride. Michelle Styles

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СКАЧАТЬ seem. I was simply grateful of the opportunity.’

      ‘Why?’ She pressed her hands against her eyes. ‘Surely you have to know the fate of the other messengers. Why risk your life for the promise of gold? You had best tell me all the terms. My father can be trickier than Loki.’

      He gave a half-smile. ‘The fate of those other men was hidden from me. We wagered about a debt I owe him. I fulfil the wager and the debt is forgiven. Additionally I get an amount in gold equal to what I owe him if I return with you in the allotted time. He has kept hostages to ensure that I do as he commands. Time marches ever closer to All Hallows.’

      Dagmar winced. All Hallows was in a little over a week. She could begin to understand now why this Gael was willing to brave the marshes. ‘What happens if you return with me outside the time?’

      ‘I lose and become his personal slave and everything I own will belong to him.’

      ‘How came you to owe him the debt?’

      ‘It was my brother’s doing. I inherited it when he died.’

      ‘And you pay your debts.’

      ‘Being beholden to anyone causes difficulties particularly when they appear with longships, ready to raid.’ His face became grimly set. Dagmar silently cursed her father. Typical of the man. He used others to enforce his will. ‘I will not allow Mhairi or her brothers to remain enslaved.’

      ‘Who is this Mhairi?’

      ‘A woman I know.’

      ‘Your wife?’

      ‘I’m unmarried, but she volunteered to be a hostage rather than allowing Kolbeinn to make his choice from the women. Her brothers went along to protect her honour. You must admire her courage.’

      Dagmar nodded. This Mhairi had sacrificed herself for the Gael with the broad shoulders and the eyes to drown in, even if he refused to admit it. ‘I’d have done that for my mother. This woman has feelings for you.’

      He gave a harsh laugh. ‘Mhairi did it for her people, for Kintra, our home, and not for me. She has a deep abiding love for the place and wishes to keep it free from the north. It is what she proclaimed in front of everyone and I’ve no reason to doubt her.’

      She nodded again, seeing the sense of it but also knowing there was something that the Gael kept back. Once she had found that out, she’d use it. Right now, without a weapon to defend herself and an army searching for her, she required a protector. One man and his dog. The odds were less than brilliant, but she needed someone on her side and that someone had to be the Gael Aedan mac Connall.

      ‘My father wants me alive?’ she asked, hardly daring to believe it after so many years. It was only down to her stepmother’s death, but it was more than she had expected. She silently vowed that she would make him see that she would lead the life she had chosen, rather than following whichever path he had chosen.

      ‘Yes, he does. Very much so. Remember he arranged that sword signal with your friend to keep you safe.’

      ‘Good to know.’ Dagmar held out her hand. ‘I accept your protection. We travel together once the marshes finish. I will not allow others to be enslaved while I go free.’

      He put his fingers about hers—sure and strong. She felt safe as if someone had thrown a warm blanket over her. Dagmar rapidly withdrew her hand.

      ‘How fares your head?’ he asked. ‘It must hurt like the devil.’

      ‘It aches as though someone hit me with a very hard object, but I can keep going. I learned a long time ago that the world does not wait for my aches. There are far more important considerations than my discomfort.’

      The Gael...no...Aedan mac Connall grunted. It would be easy to start liking him. ‘Good.’

      ‘We have miles to go before we can sleep,’ she said quickly before she made a fool of herself and confessed how hard trudging through this ghost land was for her. She had to trust this Gael and his dog would find a way out and trust came hard for her as well.

      * * *

      Aedan glanced back at Dagmar. Her face was pale and intense. Against all expectation, she had trudged through the marsh with barely a murmur. She was far tougher than any other woman he’d ever encountered, and he included Mhairi and his former sister-in-law, Liddy, in that group.

      Liddy possessed a different sort of courage, one which he had not fully appreciated until after his brother fell in battle as he single-handedly charged the enemy line and the truth about the boating accident where his niece and nephew were drowned had been revealed. And he’d never thought much of Mhairi until she’d volunteered to be a hostage. But she had done so without shedding a tear or hesitation, declaring that her faith would keep her safe until he had completed his quest. To his eternal regret, he hadn’t appreciated the depth of her feeling for Kintra until that moment.

      ‘We will stop at the hut. I passed it when I travelled to the east. We still have a long way to go.’

      She shaded her eyes and squinted. ‘Are you sure it is there?’

      ‘I can make out the outlines. We can stop and beg some food.’

      ‘Steal it, you mean.’

      Aedan shook his head in mock despair. ‘Typical Northern response.’

      ‘You were the one who stole the horse.’

      ‘That was different.’

      She gave a pointed cough. ‘Different how?’

      ‘There wasn’t time to seek the owner and ask permission,’ Aedan said between gritted teeth. This infuriating woman had a way of twisting things and getting under his skin.

      She gave a brilliant smile which transformed her features. His breath caught in his throat. There was something about the hazy light, the damp cloud of golden curls and her smile which did strange things to his insides. His body, which had seemed encased in ice since his former fiancée Brigid’s betrayal, was starting to thaw rapidly. ‘I am very glad you did.’

      A strand of her hair touched his fingers. He cleared his throat. ‘The hut. It is where we stop tonight.’

      ‘I’ll race you.’

      ‘Mind the oozing mud.’

      He caught her arm and prevented her from slipping and falling. A jolt of awareness coursed through him. He released her abruptly.

      ‘Having come this far, I’ve no wish to lose you to a sink hole.’

      She put her hand over where he had held her. Her eyes grew wide. ‘I didn’t see it. I guess I need a protector in more ways than one.’

      ‘Next time look before you race off.’

      Her laugh rang out over the marshes. ‘Now you sound like my old nurse. She used to be always hauling me back from one thing or another.’

      ‘It has been a long day.’ A long day was reason enough for his unexpected reaction to her. Kolbeinn wanted his daughter СКАЧАТЬ