“Ah, that explains why the mightyWyfyrnlooks about to drop to his knees,” Hereward chuckled. “Felled by the anger of a woman.” He shook his head. “Bloody shame.”
Gareth slid his gaze to Hereward, a wry smile creeping over his lips. “Look behind you, Saxon. Your own defeat quickly approaches.”
Hereward looked over his shoulder at the flaxen-haired Rebecca leaving the cottage and making her way toward them. His ruddy cheeks burned to match his hair. He straightened his shoulders and turned away from her when he heard Madoc and Cian snicker.
“Remember,” Alwyn shoved a slice of pear into his mouth and nodded toward Gareth. “Your wife’s a Norman. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”
“She’sCymrynow,” Gareth corrected him flatly.
“She’s always beenCymry,” Hereward pointed out to them all. “The Celts were driven out of Briton by the Saxons. Most of them migrated here, toCymru. Tanon’s grandmother was a Celt, from what I understand. The blood of your people flows in Tanon’s veins, along with Norman and Saxon.”
Gareth couldn’t have been happier with any bit of information more than that. He’d loved her without knowing it, and he would have loved her if he never found out. But knowing his people’s blood flowed through her veins seemed to melt his heart around his poor bones.
“Whatever she is,” Madoc looked up at Hereward from his trencher. “She’s fearless beneath her delicacy.”
“Aye,” the Saxon agreed, along with the rest of them. “A good combination, that. I remember a day when she was yet a child. I had traveled with the king to Avarloch to visit the Risandes after the birth of their son, Oliver. Dante Risande and his wife were there as well. Tanon wanted to ride her uncle’s mare. A magnificent white Arabian beast as untamed as the sea. Her father wouldn’t permit it. It was the only time she had ever disobeyed him. She stole into the stable and mounted the horse. Of course, she was thrown. For no one, I am told, was able to ride that horse but the Earl of Graycliff. Tanon suffered a broken arm and vowed to her father that she would never go near the mare again. She kept her word, and it was difficult, believe me. For every time she laid eyes on that glorious beast, those wide green eyes of hers lit up like the sun.” Hereward looked at Gareth. A faint, knowing smile curled his lips as Gareth fastened his eyes on the cottage. “She’s not as fragile as you think, Your Highness. She just hasn’t had a chance to prove it yet.”
“Hereward the Wake.” Rebecca’s voice pricked his ears. He pivoted slowly and was surprised to find her gaze as soft as if she were looking at another man with aqua colored eyes. “That was a very thoughtful thing to say about Tanon. You surprise me.”
His gaze swept over her face, potent and intent, and for a moment, Gareth imagined how fearsome he must have appeared to his Norman enemies when he fought them.
“Allow me, lady,” Hereward gave her a practiced courtly bow, “and I promise I will astonish you.”
Gareth, Cian, and Tomas shared a smile, while the others scowled at hearing the brutish Saxon warrior’s flowery words.
Rebecca raised a curious brow at him. A faint blush stole across her cheeks making her appear younger as years of stern resignation and loneliness slipped from her face. “Very well. I will allow it.”
Hereward slammed his trencher into Alwyn’s chest and crooked his arm at the maiden before him. When she slipped her hand inside, a warm grin spread across his handsome features before he led her away.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Rebecca said turning back to Gareth. “Tanon asks that Cian bring her three sacks of feathers.”
“Feathers?” Gareth stopped Cian from rushing off to do Tanon’s bidding. “What does she need feathers for?”
Rebecca smiled secretively then turned away. “She asked me not to say.”
“Another one lost to a Norman,” Alwyn muttered watching Hereward and Rebecca leave.
“She’s a Saxon, like him,” Madoc drawled and cast Gareth a look that said Alwyn had to be the dullest dimwit inCymru.
Gareth barely acknowledged him. Hereward was wrong about one thing. Tanon had proven her courage over and over again. First by facing a life with Roger deCourtenay, and then with him. Gareth knew what his wife had endured over the last few weeks. He had known how difficult this would all be for her since before they left Winchester. But she didn’t falter. She didn’t fall apart and weep. She was trying to adapt.
“Hell, I’ll see you bastards later.” He threw down his trencher and headed home.
*
Tanon smiled watchingHereward and Rebecca from the window as they left the field together. She prayed the powerful Saxon could persuade her nurse to give up her father and give herself a chance at finding real love.
Tanon cut her gaze to Gareth. She was still angry with him, but that didn’t stop her from sighing like one under a spell. She’d been enchanted by a handsome prince. There was nothing she could do about it.Enfer, nothing she wanted to do about it, save listen to his endless apologies. She’d been tempted to speak to him when she’d brought him his food. Either that, or hit him over the head with the trencher, which she came quite close to doing when he didn’t say a word to her. How could he ignore her all day? She was angry with herself for peeking out the window every time she passed it. He certainly wasn’t pining over her. She doubted she’d even crossed his mind while he plowed and smiled with his friends. She sighed, why did he have to look so marvelously fit and healthy out there under the sun. He… He was coming!
She spun around and looked for something to make her look busy. She had already emptied her trunk and made room in his wardrobe for her gowns. The cottage was spotless. Not a smudge of soot remained even on the walls. Her eyes dropped to three of the carefully tied sacks the villagers had given her the night before, piled in one corner.
The front door swung open and sunlight spilled into the cottage falling on Tanon, squatting beside a large bag, her fingers working diligently to untie the knotted twine.
“Oh, it’s you,” she said vaguely, glancing up.
Gareth stood in the doorway, his body outlined by light and shadows. He stepped inside and smiled at the two butterfly serviettes spread out on the table.
“I need to build another chair,” he said, his gaze returning to her.