Page 29 of Bride of Fire
Jenefer gave him a smoky-eyed, one-sided smile. “Maybe Iama ghost, after all,” she slyly murmured, “and I floated through the air.”
He knew better. But rather than ask her questions she’d answer with lies, he swept past her to the window and peered out. A rope of knotted bedsheets flapped in the wind from the adjoining window.
He was so astonished, he almost hit his head on the window when he pulled it back in.
“Ye climbed o’er from the other window,” he guessed.
She gave him a cocky smile as she nodded.
“Are ye daft, lass?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “I made it, didn’t I?”
Suddenly, he looked at the beautiful, fiery maid with new eyes. He’d already experienced her hotheadedness and strong will. But now he saw she was clever. Brave. Daring. And brilliant. The combination made her a formidable adversary indeed.
“Someone had to do something about the infernal noise,” she explained. Glancing down at the bairn, who stared back at her with inquisitive eyes, she murmured, “What’s its name?”
“What?” he grunted.
“The babe. What’s its name?”
Morgan stared blankly at his son.
When he didn’t answer, Jenefer turned to Bethac.
Bethac worried her hands together and knitted her brows. “He hasn’t got a name yet, Miss.”
“What? Hasn’t he been baptized?” Jenefer glanced back at Morgan. “Whose babe is it?”
Guilt and shame tied Morgan’s tongue.
Cicilia began to answer. “Why, Miss, do ye not know? ’Tis the son o’ the lai—”
“The Lady Alicia!” he broke in before she could finish. He didn’t dare give Jenefer any more leverage over him. The lass might appear to have a way with infants. But if she found out this one was his son, he had no doubt she’d bargain with the bairn’s life to gain her freedom.
Jenefer smirked in disgust. “And where is this Lady Alicia, that she makes no effort to pacify her own babe?”
His eyes flattened. He’d tell her the brutal truth. That should shut her up. “Lady Alicia is d—” To his consternation, his voice caught on the word. It was too difficult to say.
Jenefer’s brow creased, and she turned to Bethac for an answer.
Bethac’s face fell. She murmured, “I’m afraid she’s no longer with us, Miss. She died givin’ birth to this wee lad.”
Chapter 16
Jenefer furrowed her brow. That made up her mind. She was definitely going to take the babe.
The wee thing was clearly too much work for the old maidservant. And the laird knew less than Jenefer did about dealing with infants.
She’d take him off their hands and find a wet nurse at Rivenloch to care for the child.
“You should at least name him,” she said, peering down at the newborn. Now that his face had paled from an angry, wrinkled red to a calm cream, she saw he was rather comely—for an infant. He had a sweet mouth, long lashes, and a fine dusting of dark hair covering his shapely head.
The maidservant exchanged a curious glance with her laird.
The Highlander scowled in irritation. “He’ll get a name in due time.”
Jenefer scowled back. It was ridiculous to put it off. And since she intended to take the lad with her anyway, she decided to name him herself.
