“On the morrow?”Carenza asked.
Her first thought was that wasn’t enough time.
After all, she was Lady Carenza of Dunlop, daughter of the laird.She was representing the Dunlop clan.She had to look her best.
“The sooner, the better,” Hew said, gazing down at her with love.
She squirmed.She wore a nun’s gray tunic and a grayer scapular that was stained with leek pottage.Her once freshly bathed feet were caked with dirt.The pearls she’d pinned so carefully into her hair were lost.What remained of her braids had escaped her wimple in haphazard coils and springs.
Yet she knew he saw none of it.
He saw her shining eyes.Her gleeful grin.He saw The One he wanted to make his wife.The mother of his children.
And she knew in her heart of hearts that she would never be more beautiful to him than she was right now.
She gave him a smile so full of love, there was room for nothing else.
“What are we waitin’ for?”
Chapter 26
Summer
Carenza cast a last handful of grain to the three hens scratching in front of the byre she’d begun to think of as home.
Nearby, Hew sat on a stump, weaving wattle by the morning light, making more panels to protect them from the elements.
In a way, itwashome.This was the sagging byre with rotten timbers and a mossy roof where she and Hew had come long ago during the thunderstorm.The unexpected shelter at the edge of a forgotten jewel of a glen in the middle of the lush Dunlop woods.They’d made it their love nest that day.
Now it was a temporary refuge.
Remote enough to ensure their safety.
Close enough to her father’s castle if anything should go wrong.
It also served once more as a cozy trysting place when, as Hew liked to jest, they wished to “relive their carefree youth.”
In the several weeks since they’d hidden here, they’d swept out the byre and repaired the gaps with rough woven wattle, covering it all with camouflaging branches.They’d furnished their makeshift cottage with stumps and reed mats.Made a soft pallet of moss.Built shelves for the hens to roost in at night and hung fragrant herbs to dry in the corners.
Every day, Carenza collected the hens’ eggs, picked greens and berries from the forest, and fished for trout in the nearby stream.When they needed other supplies, Hew crept out at night to the homes of nearby crofters, leaving behind ample coin for the clothing, food, and tools he gleaned.He’d brought home embroidery thread, and Carenza had embroidered the leine she’d promised him with flames around the wrists.
She’d never imagined she could be so happy, living in rags in a ruined byre.But after the father married them, she would have followed Hew anywhere.And the fact he’d led her back to a familiar place where she’d be close to her clan—and the animals she loved—meant the world to her.
They still had to conceal their whereabouts, of course.After Hew left Darragh, he’d immediately written—to the Rivenloch clan, to Gellir, to her father—assuring everyone Carenza was safe and telling them she’d been happily reunited with her lover.
But no one knew the identity of that lover.Hew’s whereabouts were unknown, and by all accounts, he’d still broken the law.Any of the parties, including the parents and the king, might reasonably demand satisfaction and exact retribution for Hew’s devilry.
So they hid together in the least likely place.Right under her father’s nose.
Despite their proximity to Dunlop, clan news was hard to come by since they couldn’t interact with anyone.Everyone knew Carenza, so she didn’t dare stray from the byre.And a warrior of Hew’s size would be memorable, even in disguise, so he had to keep to the shadows.
It was hard not to grow impatient for the end of their exile.But they had to wait until Sister Eve arrived.She was the only person who knew where they were.The only person who could let them know when it was safe for them to emerge.
“Do ye expect we’ll hear from the sister soon?”Carenza asked, dusting the grain from her hands and rubbing a palm absently over her swelling belly.
“I hope so,” Hew said as he twisted the branches together.“’Tis been weeks.”
“Maybe she lost her way.”The byrewasquite secluded.
