She halted in the yard. "I... am away from Innisfarna for now. And Colin Campbell is not my husband—yet," she said bluntly. "We are betrothed. He was in France also, for a while."
"Ah," he murmured. "So when is the wedding?"
She hesitated, wishing she did not have to answer that. "When he returns to Argyll. He is away."
"Ah," he said again, just that.
"He is an ambassador to France. Did you see him there? My cousins said you were a guard in the French court."
"I never saw him. I was at court only a short while. After that I rode with a special company. If you are not at Innisfarna, who is? I saw horses in the stable there, when I went past," he said abruptly. "Whose are they?"
"The king installed a garrison there, but I refuse to stay at the castle, one woman among so many men. The soldiers came here just before my father—" Her voice wavered.
"I heard." His voice gentled. "I am sorry, Eva."
She drew a shaky breath. "There is food and water stored in the stable for your horse. Come this way."
He led the horse inside and Eva followed. While he found an empty stall, she went down the aisle and lifted one of the large buckets of water placed there. Lachlann came toward her.
"Let me take that," he said. "It is heavy."
"It is no trouble," she said, but he took the bucket. "I am accustomed to hard work. Since I have been here, I have been fetching water, hoeing the garden, tending livestock, cooking and brewing, weaving baskets and mats, even cutting peat."
He carried the bucket into the stall and emptied it into a low trough for the horse to drink. "I expected to find you the spoiled lady of a wealthy man, not doing the work of a farmer's wife."
She bristled. "Spoiled? You know me better than that!"
"Do I?" he murmured. His gaze met hers, held it. Then he turned away to remove the horse's saddle.
Her cheeks heated again. "I will go back to the house and prepare you something to eat," she said stiffly. "Tomorrow I will find another place to stay."
He set the saddle down. "Why would you do that?"
"We cannot stay here together, and alone!"
"I will not toss you out. It is your house now. My mother left it to you. She thought—I was gone." He began to brush the horse's back. "I will sleep in the smithy, as it was once mine, and no one is using it now."
"Will you take up blacksmithing again? And sword making? We could use both here."
"I do not think I will stay long."
Disappointment plummeted through her. Wanting to know more of his plans, she waited, but he only tended to the horse. She studied his armor, the good leather harnesses for the horse, the carved and padded wooden saddle, the scabbarded sword and other weapons.
"That is fine gear for a Highlander," she said. "My cousins said you did well in France. They said you rode with the Maid, the one who tried to save her country. We heard of her even here," she added. "Such a one!"
"I was one of her guards. There were several of us assigned by the French king to watch her back."
"You knew her!"
"So I did."
He said nothing, bending to lift one of the horse's back feet to examine the hoof. His hands were knowing, his voice quiet as he murmured to the animal. Eva watched, her thoughts tumbling, but one question burned within her.
"Do you have a wife?" Her heart thumped hard.
"I do not." He did not look up.
His terseness frustrated her. "Why do you come back here so sudden and covert, armed like a king's man?"
He straightened. "You were ever a curious girl, with a nimble tongue for talking. I see that has not changed much."
"Not much," she said testily. "And you were ever given to secrets. I see that has not changed either."
"No secrets worth telling. I simply came home."
"I suspect you intend to do more than smithing here." She folded her arms. "I know you."
"Used to," he said. "I have a letter for Simon," he admitted as he settled a blanket over the horse's back. "From the king."
"If you are here to arrest him, you will not find my brother easily."
"I am a messenger. Just that." He glanced up. "Eva, it is late. Tomorrow I will look for your brother. For now, all I want is a bed. And just for tonight, I would like to sleep in the house."
Her heart bounded, but she looked at him as calmly as she could. "A pallet by the hearthside will have to do."
"Of course," he said. "Did you think I meant with you?"
She sucked in a breath sharply. Yearning, loneliness and disappointment swamped her. Lachlann MacKerron was not the tender, loving man she remembered, the one who haunted her dreams. He was cool, snappish, reserved, nearly a stranger. She could not expect anything more from him, after so long.
But oh, how she wanted more. Instead, she whirled and fled the stable.
The Sword Maiden
The Celtic Nights Series
Book Three
by
Susan King
~
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The Sword Maiden
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Susan King is the bestselling, award-winning author of 22 historical novels and novellas praised for historical accuracy, master storytelling and lyricism.
As Susan King and Sarah Gabriel, she has written several historical romances for Penguin Putnam and Avon; as Susan Fraser King, she writes historical fiction, including Lady Macbeth: A Novel, and Queen Hereafter: A Novel of Margaret of Scotland, from Random House.
A former college lecturer and founding member of the popular Word Wenches blog, Susan holds graduate degrees in art history and lives in Maryland with her family.
Learn more about Susan's books at www.susanfraserking.com, www.susankingbooks.com and www.wordwenches.com.
Table of Contents
Cover
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Epilogue
Author's Note
Excerpt from THE SWAN MAIDEN - The Celtic Nights Series, Book 2
Excerpt from THE SWORD MAIDEN - The Celtic Nights Series, Book 3
Meet the Author