His intention was not to create problems between the two of them. They had just had a baby and everyone could see that they were a perfect match. But knowing she had married his brother in such a hurry only made him more eager to understand why she had not thought to act on what she had felt for him.
“I’m not worried about that. And Torsten knows.”
“Oh?” This was the last thing he had expected her to say.
“Yes. In fact, it was because I was attracted to you that the two of us ended up marrying.”
He could only stare at her, hoping she would explain what she meant because this was decidedly odd.
Aife deposited her basket on the ground and gave a sigh. “I began to feel attracted to you, as you say, the summer before I married Torsten. But I could see that you had no interest in me. I didn’t know what to do to attract your attention. Do you remember the day I told you about little Emma putting sand in my pottage?”
“Erm…yes,” he said, though in truth he could not recall. His niece was a veritable imp, like her mother, and he had been told many such stories over the years.
“Well, that day, Torsten was with us. You walked out in the middle of the conversation to go see Freydis, who you wanted to talk to, as you called it.”
Ah, yes.Thathe did remember. Vividly. It was the day he and Freydis had slept together for the first time.
“I still don’t see what?—”
“I got jealous, and thought that if you saw me kissing another man you might start seeing me as more than a friend, as a woman men were taking an interest in.” The color on her cheeks became alarming. “It was silly, of course, and I ended up hurting Torsten with my scheming, but he forgave me eventually and we…”
She bit her bottom lip, embarrassed. Sven could all too easily guess what was making her blush—and what form Torsten’s forgiveness had taken.
“Wait, was that why he challenged me to a fight one day out of nowhere?” he blurted out. He’d always wondered what had made his usually measured brother behave so rashly. “Because he wanted to impress you? Because he knew you were attracted to me?”
“No, it’s more complicated than that. Anyway, why are you asking me that now?” She seemed worried he was about to ask her to his bed, convinced as he was that she had once wanted to seduce him.
“I’m not about to pounce on you, Aife, don’t worry. I was merely wondering why you lost interest in me,” he said quickly, like someone swallowing a dish they knew would help satiate their hunger but was highly unpalatable. “Is there something about me that women sense is wrong, something that makes them doubt my ability to be a good?—”
“There is nothing wrong with you, nothing at all,” she cut in, all embarrassment vanishing in her earnestness to have him believe her. “You are a man any woman would be lucky to have. The problem was all mine. I was going through a bad period in my life at the time. I became attracted to you because…well, because I defy any woman not to be. But then, as soon as Torsten and I kissed, I knew he was the man for me. It was inexplicable.”
“Yes.” Odd as it was, he thought he understood exactly what she meant.
That first night with Eahlswith had been like that. Though she had hardly been his first conquest and he, unlike what people assumed, never bedded women he was not, at least in some measure, interested in pursuing further, what he had felt in her arms had been, just as Aife had said, inexplicable. He had known from the start that he would want more of her after that one night. He had known there was something worth pursuing.
But then she had disappeared, and for months on end he’d thought never to see her again. Had he not felt that strong, inexplicable pull, surely he would not have obsessed about her for so long? When Freydis had left, even though he’d been convinced that they could have had something together, after a few weeks, he had come to terms with the ending of their relationship.
His beautiful Alva, on the contrary, had stayed on his mind. He had not bedded another woman in months, not even felt he was missing out. Then, against all odds, they had been reunited. And yet this second chance at wooing her was being denied tohim, all because he was competing against a dead man who could do no wrong. Sven sighed.
In those conditions, he might never win.
“Forgive me, I have to go,” Aife said, picking up her basket again. “It’s getting dark and Thyra will need feeding soon.”
Above them, the winter sky had turned a heavy purple, ominous. It might snow again tonight.
“Of course. Go to your husband. You and Torsten are made for one another. And I’m sorry I never saw?—”
“No need to apologize.” She placed a hand over his arm and smiled. “We were friends. There was no reason for you to start seeing me differently. And I hope you find the woman who makes you as happy as Torsten makes me.”
“Yes, so do I.”
Except… He thought he already had.
He watched Aife walk back to her husband and daughter. The family that had been created because, too blinded by Freydis, who’d only been after amusement, he’d not seen that a good woman was interested in him.
Well, at least something positive had come out of the whole mess.
15
