The Wolfe (115 page)

Jordan was suddenly jealous of her
own cousin. So her husband thought she was pretty, did he? Well, of course she
was, but she didn’t want to hear that from him just yet, not when her rounded
tummy was becoming rounder and she was feeling more unattractive by the day.
And what if, perchance, William had met Caladora first? Would he be married to
her cousin now instead of her? She was daft with a humored sort of
pregnancy-induced jealousy.

Andrew D’Vant rode up at that
moment, his helmet off and his gorgeous auburn hair catching the bright
sunlight and sending off a myriad of highlights. It was the first Jordan had
seen of the mercenary soldier, and he was extremely attractive. After William
had briefly explained the situation, Jordan was expecting a man by the nickname
of the Red Fury to look like some wild red-headed monster. He was anything
but.

As the Red Fury rode up beside her
and William, her husband introduced them and Jordan saw an opportunity to
punish William for his comments about Caladora.

“‘Tis a pleasure to meet ye, Sir
Andrew,” she said as sweetly and as flirtatiously as she could. “I dinna expect
to find such a dashing knight riding to my husband’s aid.”

William cocked an eyebrow at her
tone and went stiff with jealousy when Andrew ate it up. Andrew’s brown eyes
met Jordan openly.

“Thank you, my lady, and may I say
you are indeed worth fighting for,” he said smoothly in his deep voice, tearing
his gaze away for a moment to glance at William. “My lord, my physician is
tending your wounded. Apparently your physician has more than he can handle. I
did not want to be concerned if you happened to glance back and see a stranger
attending to your men.”

“Thank you,” William said evenly.

Andrew nodded to Jordan as he dismissed
himself, and she smiled brightly at him, watching him as he rode back along the
column. With a dreamy sigh, she faced forward once again.

“What,” William asked deliberately, “was
that all about?”

“I dunna know what ye mean,” she
replied, bored, then turned around to seek out Jemma. “Jemma, did ye see the
Red Fury? He had the most gorgeous red hair I have ever seen.”

Jemma caught the twinkle in her
cousin’s eyes and immediately took to the game. She enjoyed teasing William
because he was ever so serious.

“Aye, I did.” she declared. “And
handsome, too. Lord, his skin is fairly borne of buttermilk and cream. He has a
better complexion than most women.”

“And his voice. Like the smoothest
wine.” Jordan agreed.

“Did ye see him off his horse?” Jemma
asked. “I shall wager he’s a tall one.”

Jordan opened her mouth but William
pulled her to face forward again, locking her into an iron grip.

“That will be enough from you,” he
announced quietly.

Kieran reined his horse next to
them. “William, I want that man banned from the castle.”

William nodded. “I have a better
idea. Let’s gut him now. He leered at my wife and I will not tolerate it.”

Kieran nodded sharply. “Agreed.”

“Ye’ll not gut him.” Jordan cried
defensively. “He is so handsome and there are very few handsome men in this
world. Leave him be, English. I demand it.”

“You do?” William was amused. “Did
you, perchance, enjoy his leer?”

She shrugged and didn’t answer,
glancing at Jemma with a smirk.

“I will kill him now and hear no
more of this,” William said decisively. “I would have no man steal my wife.”

She laughed at him, spoiling her own
joke. “As if he would want me. I am fat, pregnant, and already have two
children. What man would want me?”

“Me,” William said softly.

“And me,” Deinwald replied, a little
behind them. “Michael?”

“Aye, I’d have her,” came the
answer. “I’d have her with missing teeth and bald. Marc?”

The red-headed knight nodded
vigorously. “I’d take her with no legs and….”

William shut them up with a raised
hand. “Enough! No one will have my wife but me and I will hear no more of your lust
for her.” he bent down to her ear. “There, are you convinced that every man who
meets you would have you? Now, no more flirting with D’Vant or I really will
kill him. Understood?”

She turned slightly and flipped up
his visor, pecking him on the bridge of the nose. “I love ye, English.”

He squeezed her gently. “I love you,
too.”

CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT

The wall had been completely rebuilt
by the time they returned from Scotland, thanks to the peasants who had pitched
in and worked nonstop. Adam had been extremely pleased at the loyalty of his
vassals and promised a massive celebration feast in thanks.

The feast had been going on all day
and into the night. Countless pigs and sheep roast over open pits in the outer
bailey and in the outer village, feeding a multitude of peasants and soldiers.
Wine flowed and barrels of ale were continuous. There had been so very little
to be happy over as of late that Adam was going all-out to return Northwood to
a sense of normalcy, a sense of pride and strength.

Sylvie and Aloria, along with
Jordan’s Scot maids, were watching over Mary Alys and the twins while their
parents frolicked the hours away. William had had a hell of a time separating
his wife from the boys because she had missed them so, but he managed to
convince her to bathe and dress and join the merriment.

Her father had been even worse. The
man took one lad in each arm and had refused to put them down, even when they
began to cry because they were hungry. He was as content as Jordan could ever
remember seeing him and suddenly, he didn’t look so old anymore. He was happy,
returning to the Thomas she had known and loved all of these years. It warmed
her heart to see her father make her sons laugh or sing Scottish ballads to
them.

Matthew had taken to Mary Alys as if
she were his own daughter. She quickly got over her initial shyness and was
soon laughing and hugging her grandfather, as well as getting acquainted with
her two new uncles. Cord and Ian, thin and pale from their months in prison,
ate continuously upon reaching the castle and ignored Byron’s pleas to slow
down. Each man had lost a good deal of weight and seemed determined to make it
up all in one night.

Not one of the three men had said a
word to Kieran since he had broken the news to them, and Kieran was actually
apprehensive of their reactions. After seeing them to comfortable quarters, he
had purposely avoided them to allow them time to grow accustom to the idea that
their sister and daughter had married an English knight. He left his wife with
them, hoping she could convince them that he wasn’t such a bad person. Since his
brother died, Kieran had no other family outside of his aging uncle in
Nottingham and found that he truly wished to be accepted by Jemma’s kin. Thomas
was already quite pleasant to him and he liked the laird, but what he really
wanted was for Jemma’s father to acknowledge him as part of the clan.

His confirmation had come the first
night after their return. Entering into his apartments, he found Jemma and her
father and brothers seated around the hearth, playing with Mary Alys. With a short
nod to acknowledge those present, he proceeded to the bedchamber where he
stripped of his armor, took a short sponge bath, and put on clean breeches and
a tunic.

His wife came in when he was putting
on his boots.

“What are ye doing?” she asked
softly.

He glanced up. “Dressing for dinner,”
he let his huge leg fall back to the floor. “Are you going to change from that
dress?”

“Aye,” she went to him, wedging
herself between his legs and wrapping her arms around his thick neck. “What’s
wrong with ye? Ye’ve hardly seen us since we returned.”

He pulled her against him. “What do
you mean? I have had a lot to do and….”

She shook her head. “Not that much.
I know that Jordan and William have been together quite a bit. Ye’re not that
busy, Kieran. What is wrong? Dunna ye like my family?”

He looked a bit stumped, groping for
words. “‘Tis not that, Jemma,” he shrugged. “You have not seen them at all in
the past year and I just thought…well, I assumed they wanted you all to themselves.”

She ran her hands through his hair,
forcing his head back to look at her. “They think ye dunna like them,” she said
flatly. “They think ye’re an arrogant snob and that ye’re embarrassed to be a
kin to a family with only a burned-out castle to their name.”

His eyes widened. “They think that?
‘Tis not true, I tell you.”

“I know that, and I told them so,”
she smiled. “But they think it anyway. And I think they are a-feared of ye
‘cause ye’re so big.”

He shot to his feet. “Then I must
straighten them out immediately,” he said firmly, looking at his wife with
concern. “Me? Arrogant?”

She chuckled and he stopped a
moment, kissing her sweetly before quitting the room with her in tow.

Jemma’s brothers stood up when Kieran
marched purposefully before them. Matthew, still rather weak, continued to sit
but eyed the big knight warily. Kieran met every man’s eye before clearing his
throat.

“I understand you believe me to be ignoring
you,” he said. “And I must assure you that that is not the case. I was simply
giving you time to grow accustomed to the idea that I married Jemma. I never
meant to imply that I didn’t want to be around you.”

Cord and Ian looked at each other,
but Matthew gazed up at his son-in-law.

“Ye’re a busy man, Sir Kieran,” he
said after a moment. “We dunna expect ye to entertain us. And we are used to
the fact that ye married our Jemma. ‘Twas no great sorrow to overcome. Hell, I thought
she’d never get married.”

“Da!” Jemma cried softly.

“Well, ‘tis true.” Matthew insisted
to his daughter. “I dinna think there was a man in Scotland that could tame
your wild streak, much less an English knight.”

Jemma rolled her eyes in
embarrassment but her husband grinned. “I have not yet learned how to control
her, but I have learned that she can be managed when handled properly,” he said.
“Besides, I do not want to tame her. I like her just how she is.”

Matthew smiled and shook his head. “Then
ye are a better man than I, sir knight. I dunna know whether to thank ye or
give ye my condolences.”

Kieran laughed softly at his wife’s
misery. “She is really not so bad. It did not take me long to fall in love with
her.”

“Ye
love
her?” Cord repeated.
“God help ye, man.”

Jemma shot her brother a quelling
look. “Shut yer mouth, Cord Scott, or I shall punch ye silly.”

Cord grinned at her and made a face
and Kieran could see why she was so confrontational. With four older brothers
teasing her, she had had to defend herself.

“Sir knight, I am pleased my
daughter found a man that would have her,” Matthew said after a moment. “She
has grown into a happy woman and for that, I am grateful to ye.”

“Nay, sire, ‘tis I who should be
grateful to you for giving Jemma life,” he pulled her against him and gazed
down at her. “She has become mine.”

Matthew could see the love the man
held for his daughter and was amazed and pleased. He never thought he’d live to
see the day when Jemma would marry, much less marry a man who loved her.

“Jemma, did ye pay him to say that?”
Ian demanded, breaking the spell.     

“Nay, Ian, I dinna,” she replied
with a smirk to him.

Cord walked over and slapped Kieran
on the arm. “By damn, if ye aren’t the widest man I have ever seen. Does this
mean ye’ll beat us if we pick on Jemma like we’re used to?”

Kieran grinned. “Nay, I am sure my
wife would prefer to beat you herself,” he pretended to rub at his jaw. “I know
for a fact she can hit about as well as I can.”

“We taught her that,” Ian chimed in
with a laugh.

Kieran laughed, too. He could feel
the distrust and tension fading away and being replaced by a warm
understanding. God, he was almost weak with relief.

“Will you come downstairs and eat
with us?” he asked. “Dinner is about to be served.”

Cord and Ian readily agreed, arguing
over who was going to escort Mary Alys. Matthew, however, shook his head.