Chapter 1
Black Poole, England 1075
Sean of Drogheda was mad enough to spit. Anger squeezed his gut, snaking around any clear thinking he might have managed and choked it until it was good and dead. His fisted hand clenched against his thigh. He urged the horse forward.
His mount reared slightly, pitching its head left then right, nearly unseating Sean. The round, wooden shield secured to his back shook with the movement. Like an arrow, understanding shot through Sean’s rage induced state. He immediately loosened the rein from his iron grip and righted the deer hide brat draped over his shoulders. The beast need not suffer from his ill temper.
“Easy, Roana.” Sean spoke through gritted teeth. The courser jerked its head in response. “Easy, lass.”
Calum Rua pulled up short in front of him and turned his horse about. His sparse red beard did little to hide his scowl of anger and irritation. “Sean! Ye’re being an arse.”
Sean exhaled slowly, methodically. Heat surged through him. He narrowed his eyes at the man blocking his path. Beating his friend into the ground would be a fine way to release this fury burgeoning inside of him.
Calum’s mouth tightened and his nostrils flared as if sensing the unspoken threat. “Damn it. Let. It. Go. ’Tis done. She’s wed.” He rolled his eyes and tugged the animal to face front and continue forward. “I’ll not be yer lackey to be kicked around nor pick ye up when yer mount drops ye on yer arse. I’m for the boat.”
Sean watched his friend’s retreating back as he galloped away. The tension didn’t lessen. The anger didn’t lessen. The feeling that his life had been ripped away from him didn’t lessen.
Closing his eyes, Sean could again see Brighit’s laughing face, her cheeks lightly reddened from the exertion of running up the hill. Nigh on four years ago now but the memory still burned.
He’d let her get ahead of him and believe she was beating him. All so he could watch her fine backside displayed in her brother Tadhg’s tight trews and too short leine as she raced ahead. Tadhg would have taken a strap to her if he’d realized she’d dressed that way. Sean selfishly encouraged her rebellion. He’d been stiff as a board when he finally reached her and they collapsed on the hill, side by side, laughing and breathing heavily.
The intensity of emotions flooded back. He’d needed to touch her. Needed it more than his next breath. Anywhere. Caressing. Squeezing. Kissing—that had been what prompted the slap. He’d worked his way closer, covering her with an arm. They’d both grown quiet. And that wide-eyed expression of surprise when his face hovered above hers.
“What are ye about, Sean?” Her eyebrows slashed down, her tone accusing. “Don’t ye even—”
But he was way past “even” and her lips were tender and supple. He thought he’d died and gone to heaven. An innocent kiss.
The club to his ear made him cry out in pain.
“What to hell?” Sean said, gripping the side of his head with two hands.
Brighit pushed him away from her and stood, towering over him as he lay at her feet. “Sean! How dare ye take liberties with me! I’m like yer sister.”
He cringed inside. Why did she always insist they were like brother and sister? Sean certainly didn’t feel that way. He wanted to marry her but she shunned all his advances.
Her hands on her hips, she narrowed her eyes. “I won’t tell Tadhg what ye’ve done here so that ye may continue to live.”
She was right. His best friend would kick his arse from here to the Hill if he found out what just happened. He stood, slowly. She took a step back, keeping her distance. Like a fist to the gut, she acted afeared of him. Regret surged through him, dashing any lust-filled thoughts. He did not want her to fear him.
“Please, Brig, I dinna mean to—”
“Yea! Yea, ye did and ye ken it. As do I… now. This is done. I’m not for ye as I’ve told ye time and time again. Do not be coming around with yer pleas of friendship. I see yer heart clearly now and I’ll have none of it.”
He started toward her but she held up her hand to ward him off. “Nae! I mean what I say. Ye sit. Sit!”
Unmoving, she waited until he had again settled on the ground.
“I will return alone. Ye may not accompany me.”
“Shite! Tad will have my head if I let ye wander through the woods alone.”
“YE are what threatens me. YE!” She pointed her finger at him, her eyes bulging with accusation. “I will be safer alone than with ye.”
And with that she left him.
Sean sighed and opened his eyes.
And now the love of his life married to some Norman knight? Sean would never have his way with her. What to hell was he supposed to do when every waking thought, and many arousing dreams, had been spent lusting after her? If he were being honest with himself, he’d admit it was her fine body he sought to master. He never imagined her making his food or tending his children, just being betwixt her legs.
