Aenos snorted. "Have no fear, lad. There be plenty more of that to be sure."
Ewan got up slowly.
"He doesn"t need to be drinking any more ale," Nora said, turning to Aenos. "He needs a good bath and a night of rest."
"And who are you to be lecturing me on what I can and canna drink?"
She thought about that for a moment, then seized on the one thing he couldn"t argue with. "Your responsibility."
Ewan"s face went from anger to shock in the span of a heartbeat. "Beg pardon?"
"I"m your responsibility," she told him, "and you can"t be watching after me while you"re knee-deep into your cups. I happen to be quite a handful and could get into any number of fixes while you"re off unconscious. So you see, it is my place to lecture you on how much ale you consume."
She watched as the muscle in his jaw worked furiously.
He glanced to the old man beside him. "Aenos, fetch me an ax."
Aenos headed off at his command.
Those words made her nervous. Especially since they were said with a mixture of anger and determination. "An ax? Why do you need an ax?"
His eyes blazed. "I"m going to take care ofmy responsibility so that it plagues me no more."
She gulped audibly. "Take care of me how?"
"I"m going to cut your head off and bury your body in the back."
She stepped away from him, unsure whether he meant that. His face was stern and serious enough.
"That is a jest, correct?"
"Mayhap. But if you don"t leave me be, woman, you"re going to find out firsthand why I choose to live alone."
Aenos returned with the ax.
Ewan grabbed it from him, cast her a menacing glare and handed Aenos the empty pitcher. "Take her inside to finish her meal, Aenos. I"ll be back later."
"Where are you going?" Nora asked.
He didn"t answer. He merely headed off into the woods.
"Leave him be for a bit," Aenos whispered. "He"s only going to work out some of his anger."
"How?"
"He chops wood. I"ve enough of it now to fuel the whole village through the harshest of winters. But it calms him down, so I never say anything. Come, my lady, let"s get you inside so that you can get dried off."
Nora followed him back to Sorcha inside their worn but cozy cottage.
"Where is Ewan?" Sorcha asked while she was cleaning Ewan"s trencher.
Aenos pulled his cap off and replaced it on the hook by the door. "The woodpile."
Sorcha sighed. "Poor lad. At the rate he"s going we"ll be able to build a castle."
Nora retook her seat. "Is he always so angry?"
"He"s a man in pain, my lady," Sorcha said quietly as she returned to the table to keep Nora company.
"He"s forgotten how to live without it. Forgotten how to find joy of any sort."
"Remember when he was a boy?" Aenos asked, retaking his own seat.
"Aye." Sorcha smiled as she wiped a cleaning cloth over her area of the table. "He was such a happy lad. He used to get up and stagger down the stairs asking, "Where"s my Kieran?""
She smiled at Nora and explained her comment, "He thought he owned his brother. And Kieran, bless his heart, very seldom ran out of patience with him. I don"t think I ever saw one without the other."
"Until they fell in love with the same woman," Nora breathed.
"Aye. Isobail was an evil la.s.s," Aenos said. "Turning them against each other so that she could get what she wanted. I know the devil"s saving a special corner of h.e.l.l for her."
"Aenos!" Sorcha gasped. "Watch your tongue before the lady."
"Sorry," he muttered. "But "tis truth."
Nora ate in silence as she thought about the lonely man outside in the woods.
What would it be like to live with such guilt?
She couldn"t imagine it.
Once she finished her meal and had changed her clothes, she left them and headed outside again to find Ewan. There was a small path that led from the back of the cottage into the woods.
It didn"t take long to find him. She could hear his chopping even from a distance.
What she didn"t expect was to find him s.h.i.+rtless. His body was covered in a fine sheen that fair glowed in the moonlight.
He was beautiful.
Manly.
Powerful.
And as soon as he saw her, he did what she expected. He cursed. It seemed to be the only greeting he could give her.
"Unless you come bearing more ale, I suggest you head back inside."
"And if I come bearing an apology?"
He didn"t even pause as he swung the ax. "I"m in no mood to hear it."
"Be that as it may, I am in the mood to give it. I just wanted to tell you that I"m sorry I dragged you into my problems when it is obvious yours are much worse."
He tugged the ax free of the stump, then buried it into the wood again. "What do you know of my problems?"
"Truly, nothing. You just seem incredibly sad and angry. I should have left you pa.s.sed out in your cave."
He struck the wood again. "Aye, you should have."
Nora watched him with fascinated interest as he picked up the logs he"d made and carried them to the large pile. Sorcha and Aenos were right. It was quite a mountain of lumber.
And he was quite a mountain of delectable male flesh. A man whose body rippled with every move he made.
Ewan wiped his face with his arm, then retrieved the ax from the ground and headed for another tree.
She swallowed at the strength and sight of him working. The muscles of his back rippled and flexed, making her body strangely warm and needful.
"Tell me," she said, "does it help? Does ale really alleviate your feelings?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"In the event I don"t make it to England and am forced to marry Ryan, I was just wondering if that would be way to ease the misery of the life I"m sure he"ll give me."
With three strikes, he felled the tree.
He waited until it was down before he spoke again. "Have you ever met this man you are betrothed to?"
"Aye, many times."
"Is he truly insufferable, then?"
She s.h.i.+vered at the thought of Ryan. They had never gotten along, and in truth, she couldn"t believe he wanted to wed her given their mutual distaste.
"You can"t imagine. He is beastly. He looks at me and sees nothing but my purse. I speak and he turns away." She shook her head. "How I wish I were a man. If I were, I would never waste my life hiding away."
"Judge not lest ye be judged."
"I know, but still it makes no sense. You are in complete control of your life and yet you do nothing with it. I, on the other hand, must do as I am told. I can"t just leave whenever I choose."
"Is that not what you"ve done?"
"Aye, and at what cost? My maid and servant will like as not be punished for it, and you would hand me back over to my father in an instant if I told you who he was."
Ewan thought about that. He"d never given much thought to what it would be like to be a woman. He"d always taken his freedom for granted.
She was right; he answered to no one.
He was his own man with no ties to anyone except his family.
Ewan paused and looked at her. "If you were free, what would you do?"
She shrugged prettily. "I know not. Travel perhaps. I"ve always wanted to see Aquitaine. My mother has such marvelous stories about the acres of vineyards there. She says there"s not a more beautiful place on this earth. Or perhaps I would go to Rome. Make a pilgrimage. Have you ever been to the Holy Land?"
"Nay."
Her face fell. "Oh. My aunt went. She had a marvelous time there."
She unpinned a brooch from her dress, then moved forward to show it to him. "She gave me this. She said she bought it from a crusader who was selling items so that he could gain enough money to return home."
Ewan studied the piece. It was a knight on horseback who bore a cross on his s.h.i.+eld, and was indeed a pilgrim"s badge.
He tightened his grip on it.
Was it possible that she really could be who and what she claimed?
Still, he couldn"t shake the feeling that it couldn"t be. For all her sincerity, it wasn"t possible for the niece of the most powerful woman in Christendom to have shown up in his cave without escort. Eleanor"s niece would be a woman of unquestionable value.
Under careful guard at all times.
She would never be allowed to just leave her father"s house on so foolish a quest. Not without every member of the guard being raised.
He handed it back to her.
Her fingers brushed his, sending an unexpected jolt through him.
She was so soft and she smelled so feminine and warm. Closing his eyes, he inhaled her scent.
She was so tender.
Truly a morsel worth savoring.
Nora trembled at the look on his face. She"d been kissed only once before. It had been quick and rather slimy. The event was so distasteful that she had never wanted to repeat it, and yet as she stood there alone with Ewan, sharing her wishes with him, she felt a strange desire to taste his lips.
He bent his head down.
Instinctively she rose up on her tiptoes.
He reached out with one large hand and tipped her chin up toward him. In one heartbeat, he lowered his head and took possession of her mouth.
Nora moaned at the intimate contact and at the taste of him mixed with ale. His tongue brushed hers, making her entire body quiver.
Of their own accord her arms rose up and wrapped themselves around his bare shoulders so that she could feel his muscles bunch and flex underneath her hands.
He was sweaty and hot, and she should be revolted by his smell, but she wasn"t. He truly didn"t stink. It was a pleasant manly scent, and the sensation of his wet skin only made her ache more for him.
Gracious, she"d never felt the like. No wonder some women turned wanton.
Who knew touching a man could be so pleasurable?