Marriage - Married In Haste Part 42

When at last the dragon was in place, Brenn stood, balancing himself on the line of the roof. He batted the dragon and it swung free on its pole. The crowd below him cheered.

And this should have been enough-but it wasn't.Standing where he was, he could see the whole valley-the lake, the mountains, the people. But herealized that none of it meant anything, not even the house, if he could not set things right with Tess.

With her red-gold hair, she stood out from all the others. Little Vala held her hand while she shaded her eyes with the other to look up at him.

He ached with wanting her.

A wind came up. The dragon turned on its own and Brenn almost lost his balance. Laughing, he climbed down with the others.

Pughe slyly announced that after all that work, a man could use a drink. Brenn agreed and led the men, including the vicar and the workmen, back to the village and the local alehouse for a "wee pint or two."

With a heavy heart, Tess watched her husband march off. He was a natural leader and there wasn't anything the villagers wouldn't do for him, especially after having lived under the old earl. He'd brought prosperity back. Their lives were now full of hope.

Vala tugged at her skirt.Tess knelt down. "What is it, sweetie?""Mum says it's a fairy moon tonight.""A fairy moon?" Tess stood and, taking Vala's hand, walked over to Mrs. Brice. "Vala says you think it'

s a fairy moon tonight."

The woman didn't even blink. Tess's interest in Welsh lore was now accepted. "Aye. It's a full moonand I can tell by the air that it will have a ring around it. The summer is pa.s.sing. The time has come.""But will there be fairies?" Tess asked.Mrs. Brice looked to Mrs. Pughe and the other women gathered around her. Tess didn't always know if they were teasing her or not.

"One can never tell," Mrs. Brice said.

"But you have a fairy ring," Vala said.

"That's right, I do," Tess agreed. Vala had been the first to point out the pattern of weeds growing

through the stones in the main entry of Erwynn Keep. It had almost formed a circle and all the children were convinced fairies must dance there. Tess was determined to find out for herself and had ordered Gerald and the other workmen to not touch the ring until she gave them permission to do so.

"So are you going to keep a watch for fairies, my lady?" Banon asked. She stood next to her mother, bouncing her latest brother, eighteen month old Clyde, on one hip.

"I think I will," Tess said, and knew they all thought her a bit odd.The truth was, she'd always be an outsider, a Saxon, and yet the villagers admired her. She knew she'dfound something special here, something that had been missing from her life in London. She'd found herplace in the world.

Now, if only Brenn loved her.

He wanted her. He would like to sleep with her. He was happy to give her things...but that wasn'tenough. Not anymore.She wanted love. Not just any love, his love.And if she couldn't have it?

She didn't know what she'd do.

Brenn stayed longer than he should have at the alehouse. John Carne knew how to brew ale.

Plus, after years in the military, Brenn enjoyed male camaraderie. It helped him somewhat-though notentirely-to take his mind off of his wife.He turned to Cedric Pughe. "Mr. Pughe, do you understand women?"The man broke out into a great hearty laugh. The others wanted to know what Brenn had said. Pughe repeated it in Welsh and they all joined in the laughter.

"Not one of you knows?" Brenn questioned with a grin. "Are we all baffled?"

One of the sheepherders responded. Pughe translated for Brenn. "He says that men are not meant to

understand women or women men because if they did there would be no adventure. And it is the adventure that gives marriage spice." He added, as if to himself, "Aye, it was a bit of that spice that led to my last young one." He grinned. "And Rufus is right, it was an adventure. May even have another adventure tonight!" He smacked the table, laughing heartily.

The conversation turned very bawdy after that. Even knowing little Welsh, Brenn could tell. He rose from the table, signaling to Carne to keep the ale flowing and that he would pay the tab. They started drinking to his health then, and his wife's health, and the health of the house.

Brenn said good night when they started to drink to the health of the new weathervane.

It was a bit past eleven. The moon was silvery full. Its light gave the village an ethereal quality. As he crossed over Tess's fairy bridge, he could almost imagine he heard the sound of fey laughter.

The walk up the drive leading to Erwynn Keep cleared his senses of the potent ale. When he came

around the bend not far from the cottage, he had to stop and look at the manor.

Moonlight s.h.i.+mmered off the lake and gleamed on the tiles of the new slate roof. If Brenn moved a foot or two off the path, he could see the dragon weathervane silhouetted against the lake.

It made him proud just to look at it.

The door to the cottage opened. To his surprise, Tess walked out dressed in her gold riding habit. Her

hair was pulled back into a simple braid and her feet were bare.

He was about to call out to her when he noticed that she held her copybook in one hand and an ink pot and pen in the other.

What the devil was she up to?

Throwing the long train of the habit over one arm, Tess started walking toward the house.

Brenn followed her. He wasn't really quiet about his movements but she was so intent on her mission she

seemed completely unaware of him. And that, he realized, was the crux of the matter. She had the ability

to ignore him while he was completely, almost painfully, aware of her.

She picked her way along the drive toward the house, cautions of her bare feet. There was a rustling in the bushes off to the side. She froze, listening.

Jealousy raised its ugly head inside Brenn. Could it be that she was sneaking off to meet a lover? He thought about his jealousy over Draycutt and refuted the idea. Tess would not do that. She believed in honor. She'd made a mistake agreeing to keep Neil's secret but she had an honorable reason to do so.

Miles pounced out of the bushes. Tess gave a start and then laughed. "I should have known it was you."

The cat turned and gave a welcoming purr to Brenn but Tess was so fixed on her purpose she didn't notice, even though he was no more than ten feet behind her. She continued on her way.

She started up the front steps of the house. The hastily erected scaffolding rested to one side of the door, listing a bit. The workmen had started to take it down but hadn't finished once tonight's opportunity to drink ale arose.

"Tess," he said, meaning to end the game.

She turned, startled by the sound of her name, just as she'd been earlier. But before she saw him, her foot stepped on the edge of her train. It pulled and she almost upset the ink pot. Trying to save it, Tess lost her balance and started to fall. She reached out to break her fall and grabbed the scaffolding by mistake.

To Brenn's horror, the scaffolding began to fall on top of her.

Chapter Eighteen.

With a strength Brenn didn't know he possessed, he leaped for Tess, tackling her just as the heavy

timber came down.

She fell forward, the ink pot and copybook flying, and landed on the hard uneven rocks of the front hall.

One of the timbers whacked against his booted calves and then bounced off the wall and down the front steps. Brenn landed heavily on top of Tess.

The wood scaffolding finished cras.h.i.+ng to the ground with a splintering sound.Brenn yanked Tess up by both shoulders. "Are you all right? I didn't hurt you, did I?"She stared past his shoulders to the scaffolding lying outside the door. Closing her mouth, she swallowed."Brenn?""Yes?""Did you have to be so dramatic?"He couldn't help laughing. "I wanted your attention."She shook her head, her eyes still dazed. "You have it."He sat down beside her. Moonlight poured through the gaping holes of windows and pooled all around them. It turned her red hair black and her eyes s.h.i.+ny. Just like the diamond G.o.ddess of his dreams.

He brushed a lock of her hair, which had come loose from her braid, out of her face. The moment of danger was over and he felt a rush of relieved anger. "What were you doing stalking around in the dark?"

"I wasn't stalking. It's fairy moon. I'd come out to record what would happen in the fairy ring."

"You and your fairies! What's this about a fairy moon?"

"Mrs. Brice told me that when the moon has a ring around it, portentous things are about to happen. She'

s heard people can see fairies on a night like this. Since we have a fairy ring here, the children wanted meto watch and see if the fairies came out to meet this night.""The fairy ring?" His wife babbled about things he'd never heard of."Yes," Tess said with conviction. "We're sitting in the middle of it.""The middle of what?" He could see nothing prophetic about where they sat.She leaned across him. "Look. See that dandelion and the one next to it? And the one after that? There's enough of them to form a ring, or, well, an oval."

Brenn studied the stones around them. They had s.h.i.+fted and moved so that a rather lopsided ring had

been formed. The cursed dandelions had stuck their impudent stems and leaves up through those cracks.

Some even had yellow flowers that would turn to seed.

"Is this why you wanted to delay the repairs on this floor?"

"For the children. They want to know if fairies can do magic. Of course, you and I have probably

frightened them off."

"Tess, you don't honestly believe in this nonsense?" He raised a hand in exasperation. "When I saw the

scaffolding start to fall, I thought I was going to lose you. Why, I'd rather have my heart torn out of mychest than go through that again!"She blinked. "What did you say?"He frowned. "I said I don't want you traipsing around in the dark anymore."Her hand grabbed his arm. "No, not that. About the other.""What other?""Oh, Brenn!" Now it was her turn to sound frustrated. "About your heart in your chest," she said, enunciating each word."I said I'd rather have my heart torn out of my chest than see anything happen to you."She searched his face. "And why is that?""What do you mean 'Why is that'? Because I love you!"If he'd punched her in the nose, she could not have looked more startled. She came up on her knees.

"Say it again."

"Say what?"

She rolled her eyes heavenward. "Why are you so exasperating? You know what you said. Repeat it!"

"Repeat what? That I love you?"

She rocked back on her heels. "You do?"

"Of course I do."