Page 27 of Wolfehound
She rubbed her bum, instinctively. “Not really.”
He could see that she was humiliated more than anything else. “Mayhap he was right,” he said. “Mayhap I should not have shown you my scar. It was bold of me. Forgive me.”
Her features turned sympathetic. “I am glad you told me,” she said. “But you did not tell me how it happened.”
“I did,” he reminded her. “An angry Scotsman tried to impale me. He did a fairly good job of it, actually.”
“Did it hurt?”
“Of course not.”
She frowned. “I should think it would,” she said. “Getting stabbed by a sword is serious.”
He smiled at her. “It was a tickle.”
He wasn’t going to budge on the pain issue because he genuinely didn’t want her to worry about it, or him, but Cambria didn’t realize that. She thought he was simply being noble.
“Are the wars still going on in the north?” she asked.
He shrugged. “The Scots are unhappy right now,” he said. “They have a good deal of turmoil between the clans, but they also seemed determined to take Berwick and some other northern properties. It has kept us very busy, and with the death of the Earl of Warenton, we expect them to test the de Wolfe strength now.”
She looked at him seriously. “The Earl of Warenton?” she repeated. “Isn’t that William de Wolfe?”
He nodded. “Aye,” he said, his expression tightening with sorrow. “He was a very great man and I shall miss him, but with his absence, the Scots may see it as an opportunity.”
“To do what?”
“Try to fracture the north.”
“And you will be in the middle of it if they do.”
He nodded. He didn’t have to say a word. His expression conveyed how serious it was, and that didn’t do anything to ease her concern for it.
“Then you will be leaving soon,” she said solemnly.
“Aye,” he said. “I cannot stay long. I only came to deliver news of Warenton’s death and to see to your health.”
Gazing up at him, she pushed some stray hair out of her eyes. “When will you return?”
His green eyes glimmered. “As soon as I can,” he said. “Will you miss me?”
“Nay.”
She said it quickly,tooquickly, and turned away from him so he wouldn’t see the smile on her lips.
His grin was back.
“If I said I will miss you, would it matter?” he said.
“Why should it?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “You know that we are to be married in a few years,” he said. “It is time you start showing me some regard. Youdolike me, don’t you?”
Cambria’s head was still turned away, but her cheeks were flushing madly. “I do notdislikeyou,” she said.
He burst into soft laughter. “How good of you, my lady,” he said. “I do not dislike you, either.”
“That is good,” she said. “For we cannot get rid of one another.”
