“Are you well?” the man asked, passing only a quick glance to her to catch her nod, before continuing to keep Joshua before him. He held a dagger in his other hand.
“I do not slaughter unarmed women, especially those heavy with child,” Joshua said, annoyed. They held as many untruths about him as he did about them eating horseflesh. Although he was responsible for their mistrust by encouraging the wild rumors of his warring feats and brutality for the last three months. His intimidation had been honed to perfection over his score and seven years.
Brenna frowned and looked behind her. “There are no women heavy with child here. Just us maidens.”
“Maidens?” Joshua looked to Kára who was very much not a shy, innocent virgin and then to Brenna. “Ye are ripe enough for us to worry that a bairn will drop out from your skirts any moment.”
She gasped, and Joshua heard Kára’s brother snort.
“Maybe your husband should explain this to ye,” Joshua said, indicating her protruding belly while meeting the man’s gaze.
“Calder is not my husband,” Brenna said.
“God may disagree,” Harriett Flett said.
Brenna blushed. “It is not God who needs convincing.”
Calder tried to hold her hand, but Brenna yanked it away. “I have not been wed, asked to wed, or barely wooed,” she said. The woman’s face had turned red as she snapped angry eyes toward the slack-jawed man. “Not a peep about wedding me. So I am a free, foolish woman who acted without a care because I drank too much mead.” She turned in her seat as much as her middle allowed to point at Joshua. “I could drink some fine whisky and bed him next.”
“No,” Kára said.
“No,” the bairn’s obvious father said at the same time.
Joshua looked between Kára and Brenna. Brenna’s brows raised high as she stared back at him, her lips pressed tightly together. She nodded, tipping her chin up and down slowly.
Joshua blinked, turning his gaze to take in the people surrounding him in the room. Even though his instincts bellowed that this was some type of trap, he was not about to draw his sword against an old woman and a pregnant lass who could possibly be mad. His gaze stopped on Kára. “What exactly am I doing here?”
Chapter Five
“Victory comes from finding
opportunities in problems.”
Sun Tzu – The Art of War
A blast of cold air funneled past the bedroom door flap seconds before a man threw it aside to enter. Tall and broad, he looked like someone who could be trained into an effective warrior. Light-colored hair was tied at the back of his head, making him look as if he could be another of Kára’s brothers.
“Kára,” the man said, pinning her with a frown that quickly moved to Joshua. He then rattled off a question in their Norn language.
“’Tis none of your concern,” Kára answered, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Whitna whalp!” the man yelled, turning his glare on Joshua before rattling off more in Norn. He had the obvious look of a wooer who’d been scorned. This was Torben.
“The lass said it was none of your concern,” Joshua said, his voice low in warning.
The man met his stare with a sneer. “You are the enemy.”
Osk rubbed his chin, looking between the man and Joshua. “Perhaps that is something my sister already knows, Torben.” He tipped his head, brows raised high in a comical frown at the man.
Silent communication seemed to ping about the cramped room. It was obvious Kára had a mission of her own, one that involved more than carnal bliss. His chest tightened. I care not.
The pregnant woman, Brenna, whispered something into her mate’s ear. He took two steps to stand in front of Torben. “Come away, friend,” he said, clasping the jilted suitor’s upper arm to pull him back out the door.
“Leave off!” Torben yanked away to dodge around Calder, going straight toward Joshua.
Brenna squealed and climbed awkwardly onto the bed. The spry elderly woman followed her, throwing out her arms to shield Brenna.
“Torben,” Calder yelled, and Osk leaped forward to stand next to Kára. But Torben was going for Joshua. The fool. Joshua kept his stance ready. The man probably had a blade on him, and the space was too small for Joshua to pull his own sword, but he, too, had blades about his body.
Torben came within a foot of him, staring hard into Joshua’s face. Although he looked strong, he had no scars that Joshua could see. Inexperienced young fool.
“Your services are not needed here, Highlander or Horseman or whatever you bloody call yourself,” Torben said, his words seething. Services?
Joshua took in all the details of the man, letting his gaze move back up to meet his. Joshua tipped his head slightly to the side, his eyes narrowed. “If my services are to expertly coax moans and screams of pure carnal bliss from that bonny lass over there, I believe I am the only one on Orkney who could do that.”
Brenna gasped from the bed, balancing there with both hands over her mouth. Kára made some sort of noise, her hands going to her cheeks.
“You son of a whore!” Torben yelled and lunged, grabbing Joshua’s tunic at the neck. With his hands full of linen, it was easy enough for Joshua to send his fist upward into the man’s jaw. The surprise made him stumble back, hands going to his face. Joshua took aim and punched him in the nose, sending him sprawling backward where Calder had to jump away to miss being hit by Torben’s large body.
Joshua reached down,
