Then suddenly she laughed, causing Garrick no small amount of confusion. “Good. I am glad that you can forget me so easily, Viking.”
“Why so?”
“Why not?” she countered, a smile on her lips. “You think I want myself bandied about in your thoughts? Nay, for I know not the direction of your thinking. Whether ’tis good or bad, I do not wish to weigh on your mind.”
He grunted. “You have odd ways of proving that, mistress, what with your behavior thus far.”
“So I have been on your mind?” she asked innocently, humor in her voice. “Iamsorry, Garrick. I suppose I will have to change my ways, then.”
He put down his food and looked at her hard. “What game are you playing, wench?”
“No game.”
“Am I to understand you will serve me now?” he questioned, bewildered by this sudden change.
“Aye, is it not what you wished? I bend to your will, Garrick. How does it feel, to win this victory?”
He felt the loser for some reason, but he would not tell her that. “I am glad you finally came to your senses.”
“Did you give me a choice, Garrick?” she replied, a slight note of bitterness in her voice now.
He watched her as she continued eating, her eyes averted from his. Still he could not fathom this change. After such stony resistance, after the way she would have defiantly faced a beating, he would have expected her to endure at least a few days without nourishment before finally giving in. Was it really just a test all along, as her sister had said, to see how much she could gain?
“Your chamber is in order, Garrick,” Brenna said, breaking into his thoughts. “And your robe is repaired.” She pushed her empty platter away and stood up. “If you have no further need of me this night, have I your permission to return to the women’s quarters?”
He hesitated before answering, his clear aqua eyes riveted to hers. “Nay.”
“Oh? What is there needs be done, then?”
“There is naught to do, mistress, but you will not stay with the others any more. From now on you will sleep in the room Yarmille uses when I am gone. ’Tis across from the sewing room.”
“Why?” she demanded curtly, her eyes darkening to a stony gray, her hands on her hips.
His brows raised questioningly, and there was a hint of mockery in his voice when he replied. “I thought you would bend to my will, mistress. Did you speak falsely?”
He could see her back stiffen, and her eyes sparkled with fury, but her voice was surprisingly calm when she answered. “As you wish.”
Then she left the room with cool dignity, leaving him to wonder at his reasons for wanting her near at hand.
Brenna entered the cooking area tired and blurry-eyed, for she had slept little during the night. Janie was busy at the table, cutting up a hind of beef for a stew. The young woman looked exceptionally lovely in a clean gray shift, her coppery hair tied back neatly at the base of her neck. She looked serene and fresh, which made Brenna feel even more tired. Dog perked up when he saw her and left his perch by the roasting pit. He came and nudged her hand until she petted him. Then, his tail wagging, the big animal returned to its resting place.
“Good morn,” Brenna said finally, to get Janie’s attention.
“Oh, Brenna!” Janie exclaimed as Brenna joined her at the table. “God’s mercy, we have been so worried about you. When the master locked you up, we did not know what to think. And we dared not ask him why, for he has been in such a mean mood of late.”
“’Twas only that my working with Erin did not agree with Garrick. Nor my long rides,” she added. “He would have me work here instead. ’Twas my own fault that he kept me confined to his chamber, because I refused to do as he wanted.”
“But you have agreed now,” Janie stated. “Master Garrick said this morn that you would help us henceforth.”
“Yea, I will.”
“You do not sound pleased,” Janie replied. “There is really not that much to do, Brenna.”
“’Tis not the work I am against, Janie, but that Garrick would have me serve him as a slave when I was prepared to serve him as a wife. This is what galls me, that I must bend to him without the benefit of marriage.”
“Pretend he is not the one you would have married,” Janie suggested.
Brenna grinned. “I doubt that would help very much.” She ladled herself a bowlful of oatmeal from a small pot over the fire and returned to the table. “You said there is not much to do. Why then were you so tired all the time when I first came here?”
