Brenna came up behind Garrick and pushed him gently into the room. She came around the side of the bed and sat down next to Kristen. She also had a stern look about her as her gray eyes traveled down Royce, stretched out stiffly in the bed.
“I realize you must enjoy my daughter’s pampering, Royce, but enough is enough,” Brenna told him with marked disapproval. “If my husband can manage to be up and about, so can you. I will see Kristen wed today.”
Emerald eyes flew to the Viking to see if he would disclaim that statement. When he did not, Royce relaxed. In fact his earlier resentment toward the man returned.
He managed to sit up without flinching once. “’Twas no more than a courtesy, madam. I did not want to force your husband out of his bed to attend the wedding, before he was able.”
“Royce!” Kristen gasped.
Brenna grinned, forming a retort that was cut short by her husband.
Garrick threw back his head and laughed. “Is that so, Saxon? If I had known that was your only excuse, I would not have let my wife coddle me for so long.”
Now Brenna gasped, and Kristen giggled. “Such baldfaced lies, from the both of you. What do we do with them, Mother?”
“I do not know what you will do,” Brenna retorted, “but if your father does not mind his tongue, he will find himself back in bed.”
“We just left there, mistress,” Garrick replied with a wolfish grin. “But if you wish to return…”
Kristen watched her mother blush and chided Garrick. “Father, please. Royce does not realize you tease. You shock him.”
“If I do, then I must needs apologize for the beating I gave him. But I could have sworn I was told you shared his bed this whole summer long.”
If Royce had not been shocked before, he was now. He noticed Kristen blushing and felt heat in his own cheeks. Garrick’s humor was flown. The man had become too serious of a sudden. And now he knew from where Kristen got her mercurial changes in emotion.
“You tried your best to kill me for that,” Royce reminded Garrick sharply. “If you still want to—”
“Do not be a fool,” Garrick cut him short. “I could not kill you after Brenna told me how our daughter feels about you.”
“You could have had Thorolf tellmethat!” Kristen cried.
“So you could tell him?” Garrick shook his head. “Nay, Kris, it had to be the way it was, to satisfy everyone. But he deserved the beating.”
Brenna sighed. “Your father forgets his own youth, love.” She gave Garrick a meaningful look before she smiled at Kristen. “But then, he is unreasonable where you are concerned.” Although she moved to stand by Garrick’s side, taking his hand in hers, Brenna still addressed Kristen. “’Tis not so much that you were bedded, but that you were not wedded first. We both object to that, and so we will see the matter corrected.”
Royce had yet to hear a confirmation from Kristen’s father. He demanded it now. “Do I have your blessing, then?”
Brenna jabbed Garrick in the side when he did not answer immediately. “Aye!” he exploded.
Royce began to laugh, having seen the flinch of pain cross Garrick’s features. But then he groaned, feeling his own, and it was Garrick’s turn to laugh.
“At least I do not have to prove myself this eventide,” Garrick could not resist saying. And for that he got a scowl that made him laugh the harder, which brought another jab in his ribs from his wife.
Brenna told her daughter, “His cousins have made all the arrangements, so I will take your father below if you will see Royce prepared.” Then she pushed Garrick, who was still chuckling, out of the room.
Kristen closed the door after them, then turned with a half smile toward Royce. “They take getting used to,” she offered.
He could see she was trying hard not to laugh. She had been bubbling with good humor ever since her parents had moved into the hall. Surrounded by her family and friends, she could not have been happier, and he was loath to spoil it by complaining about her father.
Hesitantly he asked, “You will miss them, when they sail?”
She smiled in earnest now, coming toward him. She moved between his legs, draping her arms loosely about his neck.
“Aye, but Father has promised to visit us. ’Tis not such a long voyage, to sail here for the summer.”
Royce groaned inwardly. “I suppose ’twill not be often?” he asked hopefully.
“Mayhap every other summer.”
