Married in Haste (22 page)

She frowned, and then found him. The clearing sloped down to the stream that ran by the spot. Brenn knelt on the bank washing his face and hands.

Tess watched him a moment. Something warned her that this was not the time to disturb him.

He sat back on his heels, looking out over the swiftly moving water. His dropped his head forward and covered it with his arms, the position one of grief.

Tess stood in indecision, afraid to move because if she did, he would know that she had intruded on his privacy. And yet, she could not leave him, not now.

Taking one careful step forward and then another, Tess approached him. He didn’t seem aware of her presence.

“Brenn?”

He whirled on her. Even when he saw it was her, he didn’t relax.

She reached out and placed her hand on his warm skin. “Are you all right?”

He stared at her, almost as if he didn’t understand her words. Then he covered her hand on his shoulder with his own. “Tess.” He kissed the inside of her wrist. “Tess.” Her name sounded like a prayer on his lips. Another kiss, and another.

“I was worried.”

He nodded, his expression still distant. His head lowered and he buried it in the crook of her neck.

“Tess.”

She didn’t know what to do. Gingerly, she laid her hand against his back, feeling the strength in his muscles. Dear Lord, she was so glad to be alive.

He gently sucked the sensitive skin of her neck.

“Brenn—” she started but got no further. His mouth covered hers and he kissed her urgently. Using his weight, he pressed her back on the long, green grass along the bank. His hand pulled her skirt up.

She was aware of the dampness of the earth beneath her and the blue sky crisscrossed by tree limbs overhead. Birds sang and from some place overhead, a squirrel chattered.

He entered her without warning, without preamble. And she accepted him.

The force of his need caught her off guard. This was nothing like their earlier lovemaking. Before he’d been attentive, playful. Now he sought release.

Tess stared up at the sky and held him. An intuition as old as time told her that this was right. He needed her woman’s body to cast out his own demons…and when at last he came, it was with a great shuddering release.

His body fell heavily down on hers. He was spent.

Tears filled her eyes. She blinked them away, flattening her palms against his back. His heart beat as if he

’d just finished running a race. The air around them smelled of green grass and sex.

“Brenn?”

He raised his head and looked around as if just now realizing where they were and what they were about. “Oh, God, Tess.” He started to lift himself off of her but she held tight.

Laying her hand against the side of his face, she gently forced him to look at her. She found what she expected to see. There, in the inside corner of his eye, was a tear. She brushed it with the pad of her thumb.

“Why?”

He didn’t want to talk about it. His reluctance was plain to see. A dull stain edged up his face.

“Why?” she repeated.

“Because I’m an animal—”

“No! I don’t mind this,” she said slowly, realizing the words were true. Her body still cradled his. His weight felt good. “Just explain to me.”

“I’m tired of death.” The bleak expression on his face caught at her heart.

A lock of his hair hung down over one eye. She brushed it back. “You had no choice.”

“I reacted, Tess. I reacted like a soldier.”

“You may have saved our lives.”

“I took theirs.” He released a deep breath and gathered her in his arms, squeezing her close. “I don’t want to kill anymore,” he whispered. “I’m tired of fighting.”

Tess tilted his head to look in his eyes. “You don’t have to fight anymore,” she promised. “We have each other. Remember? Together. Your life now is with me.”

Her words echoed those he’d spoken to her at the church. Pressing the tips of her fingers against the lines on his forehead, she realized that in some way, they had crossed a threshold. “No more war. We’ll find peace at Erwynn Keep.”

“Yes. Peace.” He hugged her tight. “I don’t deserve you.” The conviction in his words made her nervous

—especially because she knew what he didn’t. She wasn’t everything he thought she was. She should tell him her secrets right now.

But she didn’t. Instead, she kissed him, thankful for the warmth of his lips and the strength in his arms. He

’d saved them today. She prayed he’d forgive her when the truth was finally known.

He smiled and, for the first time since she’d found him by the stream, seemed to relax.

His weight shifted. “Come. They’ll wonder where we are.” In one graceful movement, he came to his feet. He rebuttoned himself and then reached for her.

She used both hands to take ahold of his. He easily set her on her feet. Bending, he brushed the grass from her skirt. “I’ve made a mess of your hair.”

“I don’t care.”

He shook his head as if to say she were hopeless, and maybe she was. Something had happened between them, something more than the mere act of coupling while he put on his shirt and jacket.

She pulled the pins from her hair and quickly braided it. As they walked back to where the coach waited, their steps matched each other’s. Perfectly.

Brenn had tucked her hand in the crook of his arm, and again she marveled at his quiet strength. This afternoon, she’d learned the sort of thing only a woman married to a man could ever know. She took this piece of knowledge and pondered it, close in her heart.

They pulled into the yard of a farmhouse shortly before dusk. Dogs barked, heralding their arrival.

Tess looked out the window. “Where are we?”

Brenn spoke. “Duck Pond Inn. I hope you don’t mind. It is out of the way, but clean. I stay here every chance I can.”

She stretched. “Why is that?”

“Because there are some lasses here I can’t resist.” Brenn opened the coach door.

Tess froze. “Lasses?”

He laughed and jumped to the ground. “You must meet them,” he told her.

At that moment, high-pitched voices shouted joyfully, “He’s here! He’s here! You’re back!”

Tess poked her head out of the coach and the swift jab of jealousy vanished. Two precious little girls charged across the yard from the front door of the yellow brick farmhouse. They couldn’t have been more than eight and six. They were followed by a third curly-haired lass whose short legs couldn’t keep up with her older sisters.

All three girls hugged Brenn around the waist with unabashed adoration. The youngest one raised her hands and he swung her up into his arms.

“Marigold,” he said. “You have straw in your hair.” He pulled a strand from her dark curls.

A dimple appeared in the corner of her mouth. “Sukey has had puppies. Do you want to see them? We’

ve just come from there.”

“In a moment I will,” he said. “But first I want the three of you to meet someone special.” He led them over to the coach. “This is my wife, Lady Merton.”

“Oooo, she’s lovely,” Marigold said. The older two hung back, too shy to speak. They watched Tess with wide brown eyes.

Tess stepped down to the ground, thoroughly entranced. These three little girls in their homespun dresses and pinafores were darling.

Brenn introduced them, laying his hand on the oldest’s head first. “Tess, this is Amanda, and here’s her sister, Lucy, and, of course, Marigold Faraway. And this,” he said, moving toward the doorway where a woman stood, “is Sarah Faraway, the mother of this brood.”

Sarah turned out to be a lovely woman with snapping brown eyes, a cupid’s mouth the same as her daughters’, and a belly pregnant with another child. A sandy-haired man wearing an innkeeper’s apron come up behind her, resting his hand on her shoulder.

“Brenn,” the man said good-naturedly. “You didn’t spend long in London. You must have…” His voice trailed off into a low whistle as his gaze lit upon Tess.

“Darryl, this is my wife, Tess. Tess, Darryl is a gentleman who fancies himself an innkeeper,” Brenn said with genuine affection.

“We’re doing a fine business, thank you very much,” Darryl boasted.

Tess heard the conversation over her head as she knelt in front of the older girls. She held out her gloved hand. “I’m pleased to meet you,” she said to Amanda.

Amanda shyly took her hand, wiping hers off on her pinafore apron first.

Lucy, however, was braver. She dared to speak. “Are you the wife Uncle Brenn promised to fetch from London?”

Startled, Tess flashed a look up at her husband. Uncle Brenn?

He wasn’t paying attention. He talked to Sarah while bouncing Marigold on his arm.

She said to Lucy, “Did he tell you he was going to fetch a wife?”

“Oh, yes,” both girls assured her.

Brenn suddenly claimed Tess’s attention. “Lucy will give away the family secrets if we let her.”

“Is there a touch of nervousness in your voice, Uncle Brenn?” Tess asked archly.

He just laughed.

“I thought you said you didn’t have family.”

“Darryl is one of the sons of the family that took me in,” Brenn answered. “And he continues to take me in.”

Sarah said, “Come, you both must be tired from traveling.”

At that moment, the heavier luggage coach pulled up. Amidst the confusion and the dogs barking, Willa climbed out. “Merciful heavens, this can’t be where we are going to stay? This isn’t a decent inn. My lady doesn’t stay in hovels, especially after a day like today. Isn’t there something better?”

“Willa,” Tess warned. “Mr. and Mrs. Faraway are relations.”

Willa covered her mouth with her hand as if she could call back the words. Whirling around, she directed her sharp tongue at supervising the unloading of the coaches.

Tess turned to Sarah and Darryl. “I’m sorry. Willa doesn’t always know her place.”

Her apology was immediately accepted by the easygoing Darryl but not by Sarah—or by Willa, who huffed a response under her breath.

Marigold interrupted then, begging Brenn to go out to the barn and look at the puppies. Tess was aware that Sarah was taking in every detail of her appearance. She also sensed she was not meeting with Sarah’

s approval.

“Let me show you to your room,” Sarah said, adding stiffly, “my lady.”

“Please call me Tess,” she said, anxious to be included. “After all, we are like family.”

“Yes,” Sarah agreed, but there was no acceptance in the word. She showed Tess to an ample room in the back of the rambling house. A few minutes later, Willa led Tim, who was carrying in the luggage for the night, into the room and Sarah excused herself.

Willa started to say something about the furnishings in the room, but Tess quickly warned her, “Not one word.”

The dresser sniffed her opinion then, muttering something about doubting if they had decent accommodations for herself. Tess ignored her.

Instead, she removed her hat and gloves and went in search of Brenn. Outside, a line of baby ducks following their mother marched across her path. Surprisingly, the dogs—a yellow hound and a small terrier, both of doubtful lineage—let them pass. Tess watched them waddling, then heard the sound of laughter. She followed it and found Brenn standing by the side of a good-sized pond, throwing rocks to the delight of the girls.

Lucy noticed her first. “Come join us, Lady Tess,” she shouted with excitement. “We are having a contest to see who can skip a rock the most times.”

“Skip a rock?” Tess smiled. “Whatever is that?”

“You’ve never skipped a rock?” Lucy demanded.

“We can show you how,” Amanda offered.

“Like this!” Marigold exclaimed and heaved a rock into the pond where it landed with a plop.

“No,” Amanda corrected her. She started telling Tess how to skip a rock and in minutes they had Tess included in the game. She’d never done anything like this in her life and her rocks sank, but she had a good time laughing at her own mistakes.

She also found she enjoyed being in the presence of children. At first, she was a bit stiff. Children had never been a part of her circle. But these girls were delightful and she became more at ease with them.

And she liked watching Brenn handle them. He listened to what each girl told him, helping Marigold when she needed it, answering Lucy’s endless questions, and drawing Amanda into the conversation. This was how her father had been with her. No matter what he was doing, he always had time for her.

Too soon, Sarah called them to supper. Picking his jacket up off the ground, Brenn took Tess’s hand.

The girls ran ahead of them.

“Darryl and Sarah want to make this house into a successful inn,” he said.

“Have they been innkeepers long?”

“A year or two.”

Inside, the Duck Pond Inn had a small common room that was empty at present.

“Don’t have trade until later in the evening,” Darryl told them.

“But it is coming along?” Brenn asked.

“Aye, slow but steady,” Sarah answered for her husband. “We will make a success of it.”

The word “we” was not lost on Tess.

“I have your dinner set up in here,” Sarah said, directing them to a room off the main hall.

Brenn stopped. “What is wrong with the family’s quarters? That’s where I’ve always eaten before.”

“I thought it would be best to be more formal. You’re a lord now.” Sarah didn’t look at Tess but Tess knew she was the reason behind this change of tradition.

“Don’t be a goose, Sarah,” Brenn said. “I was a lord three weeks ago, too, and you fed me in the kitchen. Besides, Tess wants to eat with the family too. Don’t you, Tess?”

“Of course,” she agreed quickly.

The expression on Sarah’s face said that she didn’t believe her, but Sarah did as Brenn directed. She carried their plates back into the kitchen, where she practically threw them onto the table already set for the rest of the family.

Brenn and Darryl exchanged glances. Darryl shrugged. “She’s pregnant,” he whispered.

“It may be me,” Tess said in a low undervoice to her husband.

Brenn rested his hand against the small of her back. “Or me. Since Sarah married Darryl, she treats me like a brother. Which means she can get as angry as if I were her brother too. This won’t be the first time I’ve upset Sarah’s plans.”