THE DREAM WOKESelig, causing him to sit up so abruptly, he disturbed Erika. It was not the first time he had had that dream, but it was the first time he recalled it so vividly. Even the pain in his head was back, as if he had just received the blow.
“What is it?” Erika asked sleepily.
“I have remembered where I saw Lord Durwyn.”
“Who?”
He threw off the covers to leave the bed. “I must speak to my family,” was his only answer.
Her eyes opened wide. “’Tis the middle of the night,” she pointed out.
He was already dressing. “This cannot wait.”
Immediately, her eyes narrowed on him. “You do not need an excuse to leave this bed. Just go.”
That got his full attention, the words as well as the caustic tone, and he would have had to be dense not to realize what she thought. “You are the most suspicious woman I have ever met.”
“With you, there is ample reason to be,” she retorted.
“Nay, there is no reason to be. Contrary to your opinion, dear wife, I donotmake a habit of lying. If I tell you I had no interest in Lida and never laid so much as a hand on her except to set her away from me, you can believe it. If I also tell you I have known so many women that I cannot possibly name them all, you can believe that. So why would I deny having one woman out of so many?”
“Because this one you hadafteryou married!”
He gave her a long, exasperated look before he said, “Get dressed.”
“Why?”
“Because you are coming with me. And I tell you now, I am seriously considering putting you back on a leash and keeping you with me for every hour of the day. Then, by Thor, you will not accuse me further of what I have not done.”
Considering that last threat, and that it was uttered with notable heat, Erika chose not to argue with him any further on the subject, or about going with him. She got dressed, and hastily, then met him out in the nearly enclosed bailey. She had only one more comment to make when she saw him lead just one horse forward.
“I have been in your stable, Selig. I know you have a great many horses available. Am I never to be permitted to ride one?”
That got a smile out of him at last. “I am a lecher, remember? Lechers prefer to have women cuddling next to them whenever the opportunity presents itself.”
“I do not cuddle,” she snorted, yet the urge was there to laugh.
Her brother had been correct about him after all, she was learning. When Selig wasn’t pursuing revenge, he could be very amusing and enjoyable to be around. And he had started using his sense of humor against her, just as he used those sensual smiles.
He had made love to her at the lake. He had made love to her again when he came with her to bed tonight. Obviously, he was still intent on a new beginning—or he was just enjoying the novelty of a new woman. There was even a worse possibility, that this was merely another form of revenge for him, that he wanted her to love him because that would give him new ways to hurt her once he was sure she did.
Whatever his motive, she was going to stand firm against him for her own protection. She was not going to let her feelings grow any deeper than they were. And she was going to try, desperately, to ignore those feelings she had already discovered. Hopefully, he would grow tired of having to coax her each time he wanted to bed her. And hopefully, she would not go berserk again when he did finally give up and seek out others instead.
There were a few hours yet before dawn when they arrived at Wyndhurst. Selig had changed his mind by then about waking hisentire family. Only Royce was summoned, and they waited for him in Selig’s old room so the servants sleeping in the hall would not be disturbed by their talk. Several candles had been lit by the time he joined them.
“You decided you like it better here?” were Royce’s first, dryly uttered words.
For once, Selig did not reply with a sally. “I regret waking you, but I felt you might want to act immediately on what I have to tell you.”
Royce’s expression turned instantly serious. “Then tell me.”
“The day I moved back to my hall, I noticed a man here who seemed familiar to me, yet could I not recall where or when I might have met him before. Kristen said he was Lord Durwyn, but the name meant nothing to me.”
Royce nodded. “He does not live near here, but I have known him for many years. Durwyn and his wife used to follow the royal court, until she died some seven or eight years ago. Durwyn retired to his estate after that, though he left his son at court in his stead. As I recall, the son, Edred, died in that last battle with the Danes, the one that also saw you wounded. Edred closely resembled his father. Mayhap ’twas he you remembered.”
“Nay, ’twas the older man, and only recently that I saw him. Royce, ’twas the day of the ambush. I saw Lord Durwyn cut down thatold bishop we escorted, just before I received the blow to my head.”
“You must be mistaken.”
