Page 26 of Viking in Love

The widow of Heatherby must be resisting their wooing efforts, if they had to stay an extra day. Smart woman. Or mayhap she was enjoying their favors too much.

Taking a candle into the small, dark room under the staircase where Caedmon kept his castle records, she searched for parchment and encaustum. There were several used pieces of vellum on which a strong male hand had written various tallies regarding livestock and household provender. She turned one of them over, then dipped her pen into the treacly liquid. How should she address her missive? Dear Loathsome Lout. Dear Rude Oaf. She opted for graciousness and wrote:

Greetings M’lord Caedmon:

My regrets on interrupting your most important courting. Alas, you are needed at Larkspur.

Return at once. You may resume your wooing at a later date.

Sincerely,

Breanne Fionadottir

It was only after sending one of the grumbling guards with the missive that she realized that she had not told him why he was needed. Well, he would find out soon enough.

His first reaction would no doubt be, “Why is she still there?”

When clueless men go a-courting…

Caedmon held the letter in his hands, and still, after five readings, could not believe the nerve of the Viking wench.

How dare she order him to do anything!

How dare she mock his efforts at courting! And there was no question in his mind that she was getting joy out of his predicament.

How dare she still be at Larkspur when he had ordered her to leave!

Geoff grabbed the missive out of his hands. After reading it, he passed it to Wulf. The two of them just smirked at him.

“Are you sure that you must leave today?” Lady Moreton asked, coming up to them as they stood at the entrance to the Heatherby great hall. “You have been so helpful.”

It was true. They had aided her in establishing authority with the restless knights who were unsure of what to do now that their leader was gone. They had also straightened out some misunderstanding with her castellan over the disposition of livestock that had been intended for market.

As she spoke, Sybil’s eyes kept going to Geoff, which was a relief to Caedmon. “I wish you joy of her,” he whispered, to which Geoff just rolled his eyes.

Having a friend at Heatherby was almost as good…in fact, better…than being here himself. Although he had to admit that Sybil was an attractive package. Young…no more than twenty-four…she had been married to the much older earl by her impoverished family in need of the significant bride price. In fact, this had been her second marriage and widowhood to an older man. Not an unusual happenstance. And she was comely, with raven-black hair and gray eyes. Her front teeth were a mite crooked, giving her a lisp, and her hips were a bit wide, but those were mere trifles in the scheme of things. He and Wulf had teased Geoff about the beautiful children they would have, whereas Geoff had teased them back about all the fun he would have in the making.

Caedmon knew what it was like to be a landless knight, and he was happy for his friend if he was able to succeed with Sybil. They had been right in coming so soon. Already three other men had come sniffing after her, and more would arrive in the days ahead. Geoff surely had an advantage, being young and handsome.

“I must needs return to Larkspur. Some emergency has arisen,” he told her.

“Mayhap Geoff could stay behind,” she suggested, batting her long eyelashes. “Just for an extra day or two.”

The three of them could scarce keep from whooping their joy.

“Are you sure you could spare me?” Geoff inquired of Caedmon, playing the innocent.

“Well, it will be difficult.” He tapped his closed lips with a forefinger.

Geoff kicked him in the shin when Sybil’s attention was diverted elsewhere.

“Ow!”

Sybil glanced up at him in question.

“A kink in my knee,” he explained.

“Would you be able to stay?” Sybil did her eyelash batting at Geoff again, as if he needed any convincing. The two of them…Geoff and Sybil…made a great pair in the mock innocence arena.