“Adair, I am afraid. So afraid.”
“Trust me.” He lifted her hands in turn, planted a kiss in each palm. Kissed each corner of her mouth, each cheek, and ended with a kiss on her brow.
A sigh escaped her, a sound of acceptance.
“I do trust ye with all I am. But I want ye more, and need ye most o’ all.”
When he spoke with Kendrick, he had no choice but to succeed.
His whole world, and hers, depended upon it.
Chapter Eighteen
Adair found norest for the remainder of the night. At first light he washed, dressed himself neatly, and walked to the main door of the hall, where Mistress Tavia’s woman let him in.
“Master Adair,” the woman complained, “’tis gey early yet. My mistress is scarce up from her bed.”
“’Tis your master I wish to see.”
The woman led him in to the hearth, where she’d just been laying the fire, and hurried off to inform Kendrick who came still fastening the ties on his tunic and with his hair tumbled, looking displeased.
“Uncle, forgive me for calling upon ye so early. I am aware ye have guests and important matters to which ye must attend today, but what I need to discuss is of equal importance.”
Adair had practiced the words there in his quarters after Bradana left, taking the hound with her. Despite the emotions surging through him, he must remain calm and winsome.
Kendrick waved a dismissive hand. “If ’tis about your father’s claim, I have no time for it now. We have a wedding tomorrow and my wife is unwell. Besides, have ye not spent all your words already in that regard?”
“Not quite. If ye will only hear me out now, before the day begins…”
Kendrick gave a tremendous sigh. “Verra well. Sit down. Genna, bring some ale and then leave us.”
When the woman had complied and gone, Kendrick took up the flask with a grimace. “I do no’ usually tak’ ale before breakfast, but I do no’ doubt this day will call for it. Will ye have some?”
“Aye.” Adair waited till the drink splashed into his cup before he said, “Uncle, I am willing to return to my father and argue to him that his claim upon your lands holds little value. Convince him to hold to his own lands and quit suing ye for a portion.”
Kendrick lifted a shaggy brow. “And why should ye do such a thing? Ah—having seen wha’ we own here, the beauty o’ it, ye want a share for yer own, is that it? Ye would ask me to grant ye a portion.”
Adair had seen the beauty of what was here, aye. “That is not it.” Here came the hard part. “I am willing to sail away—today—back to Erin. But not alone.”
Kendrick’s eyes narrowed.
“Uncle, your stepdaughter Bradana has come to mean a great deal to me, as I have to her in turn. I would spare her this marriage that looms over her head and take her back with me to my own land.”
“Ye be jesting wi’ me, aye? I am no’ amused.”
“’Tis no jest. I am in deadly earnest. Bradana is in earnest. She wishes to come wi’ me. To be wi’ me.”
“Well, she cannot. Her union wi’ Earrach enforces an important alliance.”
“I am aware of that.”
“If I am attacked in future, Mican will come to my aid, and I likewise to his. ’Tis my belief that only if we Celtic tribes hold together can we keep our toehold on this land. But why should he spill blood for me unless we share grandchildren? And in the future, how strong might not our grandchildren’s holding become, if united?”
“Bradana is not your blood daughter.”
“As good as! I raised that lass. I love her. Can ye say the same, who have scarce known her a day?”
“I can.”
