Loving the Norseman: Rydar & Grier (The Hansen Series Book 6) by Kris Tualla

Author:Kris Tualla [Tualla, Kris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

Little about Grier’s life was the same as it was before the twin debacles at the Mercat Fair. The most immediate change was the appearance of her new apprentice, Malise McKay. Logan rode into Durness after breakfast each morning to fetch his intended and deposit her into Grier’s tutelage.

Grier began to lead the young woman through the tasks required to assure the keep and castle were well run. Malise was obviously overwhelmed by the prospect. She repeatedly asked Grier, “But ye’ll be here, aye? To help me?”

“Aye,” Grier answered to calm the girl, though truthfully she was not at all certain of what she might yet choose to do.

After the midday meal on the first day, when Logan returned Malise to her home, Grier climbed the stairs and stood before the closed door of her parents’ bedchamber. She rested her hand on the latch, but could not force herself to push it open. In the face of her lost future, it was as if the door was solid stone, and her strength that of a gnat.

“Oh Da, Mam. I always thought I would bed my husband here,” she whispered. “No’ my cousin Logan and his child bride…”

Unable to move beyond her grief, Grier put off for a day the mournful task of removing her parents’ remaining presence there. Her father’s clothing, her mother’s jewelry, the coverlet and curtains that had always adorned their bed; somehow having those things in place made it seem as though her parents were only away. Not forever gone.

She was no more successful on the second day.

Grier stood in the hall and leaned her forehead against the wooden portal. She couldn’t resign herself to the rapidly approaching end to her life as she knew it. The prospect of living out her days as a servant to Malise seemed a dark cave that swallowed any light of hope.

“It might be I save this task for last,” she reasoned. “I’ll wait until Malise is able to do for herself a bit, and then I’ll take the time to prepare their bridal bed.”

Grier turned her back on the chamber door and went down the stairs to find another task—any other task—to occupy the rest of her day.

The more subtle change in her life encompassed the dooming shift in purpose for Rydar’s absences from the castle. On the first two days, he returned from his boat very late and very hungry. Though he tried to converse with her, exhaustion stole his English words and he fell silent, all but sleeping at the kitchen table when he finished his meal.

The third day, when he returned from hunting just after midday, Grier waited for him. She accepted the game he brought, then sat him down and fed him.

“Are ye no’ eating then, ye foolish Viking?” she asked as she ladled him a second bowl of fish stew. “You do no’ have weight to spare, ye ken! It’s my cross to bear to try and fatten you up!”

Rydar grinned with his mouth full. “I no’ take your food.

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