“Because you intrigue me.” The bow cut through a swell. On a soft rumble, salty spray curled into the air. “I tend to be good at evaluating people, but every time I think I know who you are, you show me a side that Ididna expect.”
“I am a simple warrior.”
A smile curved her mouth. “Naught about you is simple. Few knights earn the trust of their king. Fewer still are assigned a mission of such importance. In truth, I expected the Bruce to choose a war-seasoned man of nobility to sail with my father to bring back thearms he needs.”
If not for his and the king’s Templar tie, a choice Rónán believed the Bruce would have made. “I am humbled by my sovereign’s trust.”
“But not surprised?”
Her intuition caughtRónán off guard. Though he’d seen Lathir in King Robert’s presence, he’d believed that he’d kept any hint of a deeper relationship with his monarch hidden beyond that of a knight who served him. Yet she’d picked up on their unusual bond. What would she think if she were to learn that he, just as Scotland’s king, was a Knight Templar?
On a slow exhale, she lifted her face against the soft breeze. “You didna reply.”
“And what would you have me say?” he asked, curious of where her questions were leading.
“Mayhap”—her eyes danced in delight—“that in truth you are a pirate. And when the Bruce went into hiding during the winter of 1306, he hadna escaped to Ireland, or to an island off the coast of Antrim as many speculated, but that you stowed him aboard your ship, and he helped you as you marauded the English.”
At the mental image, he grinned. “I have seen my sovereign wield a blade, and if he stepped into such a position, I believe he would make afine brigand.”
“But,” she said, her gaze riveted on his, “noton your ship?”
“Nay.” Never before had he found importance in material possessions, but for the first time, Rónán wished he indeed captained a ship, or held something ofsignificance.
Stunned by the notion, refusing to examine the reason it’d slipped into his mind, he dismissed the unwanted thought. Nay, he was happywith his lot.
At least he had been until this moment, when the difference between their lots in life seemed glaring, at least to his eyes. “I own naught except a horse, a broadsword, andasgian dubh.”
“Mayhap, yet they are things one can replace, but not the caliber of a man.”
“Indeed.” With the cool tang of salt and the night filling the air, he gave a slow exhale, finding himself at ease in her presence, realizing he would like to learn more about her, assuring himself ’twas not due to her beauty, or how he could lose himself looking in her eyes, but to bide the time. “I have decided that we should be friends.”
Lathir arched a brow. “Have you, now? And why do you think I would be interested in accepting such?”
“Because Iintrigue you.”
Her smile when it came reached her eyes and made his gaze linger and wish that it was within his power to keep it there. Foolish thoughts. Her life was spent in noble circles, his on the battlefield.
“There is that. You are fortunate,” she teased, “I can overlook your surly nature, which I owe to youryears at war.”
He chuckled. “I do not believe that I have ever beencalled surly.”
“Probably not to your face because your presence intimidated anyone from saying something so foolish.”
“Youarena foolish.”
“Aye, as you deemed moments ago, I am your friend.”
A fact that set well with him. Though he wasn’t searching for a woman in his life, her strength, honor, and courage drew him. And he’d shared more of his past with her than he had with many of the Brotherhood.
With a yawn, she stepped away from the rail. “I am going to check the rudder.”
“I will be there shortly.” For a moment, regret weighed heavily as he watched her amble toward the stern. For a knight with a future filled with naught but wielding a blade, ’twas best to push any such thoughts of herfrom his mind.
* * * *
Above the thin veil of fog hanging over the sea, streaks of amber smeared the sky, framing a dance of low clouds to the west. Spearing a bit of meat on her fishhook, Lathir dropped the line over the rail. The wind of two days past had lessened to a breeze that did little more than ripple their sail and allow them to meander forward.
Still, they were headed west. For that she was thankful as it took her closer to finding her father.
