Pendragon

"Particularly that middle finger of yours-it's rather long-goodness, I remember just a couple of hours ago when you-"

"Yes, yes, Meggie, I remember everything about that finger. Now, do you hurt?"

She nodded, and that small movement nearly sent her into oblivion. She managed to hold really still until the pain let up. She said then, "You shouldn't have left me. I was kissing you all over your face, and you told me you wanted to sleep in your own bed. Why did you do that, Thomas?"

"You want the truth? No, don't frown like that, you'll just scramble your brains. Lie still and relax. All right, I'll spit it out. I left because I'm afraid of storms, have been since I was a little boy. I didn't want you to see your strong manly husband cowering when lightning filled the sky and thunder sounded like ca

"It's not all that bad. Whatever happened when you were a boy, I'll make you forget it. I'll hold you close. You can cower all you want."

"You'll pat my back?"

"Oh yes. I could even sing you to sleep. Just don't leave me again, Thomas."

"I won't. Now that you know about my weakness, there's no reason to go hide." He stood. "I'm going to get the physician."

"Will I have to walk on his back?"

"Dr. Pilchart? Why no, his back is in grand shape."

"Will I have to lose flesh?"

For a moment, he didn't know what she was talking about, then he remembered Aunt Libby saying that to Lord Kipper.

"Actually, you need to gain a bit of flesh, not much, mind you, I've always liked ski

"I'll tell you if you don't get Dr. Pilchart."

"But you might be seriously hurt."

"But what could he do? Would he break open my head and look inside? Even if he did, would he know what he was looking at?"

"I guess not. All right, for the moment, I'll stay right here with you. Now, do you remember anything more?"

"Oh yes," Meggie said, "I remember everything." She stopped every few moments, closing her eyes against those slashes of pain in her head. Finally she said, "It was the lightning, the thunder, I heard him draw in his breath, really sharp. It scared him. When I turned about, then he struck me."

"You know it was a man?"

"No. But whoever it was wasn't small. All in black, Thomas, he was all in black, his head, everything, covered." She cocked an eye open. "Please don't fetch Squire Billings to assist you in finding the culprit."

He smiled. "I won't. Actually, I'm the magistrate around here."

"I made you smile," she said, and brought up her fingertips to lightly touch his mouth, "but I didn't really mean to."

"Meggie, I want you to stay awake a bit longer. Head injuries are unpredictable."

"I'm really tired, Thomas."

"I know, but hold on." He took her hand and said, "I'll help you stay awake. Listen to me now. Let me tell you about my first ship, mostly financed by the earl of Clare, which went all the way to India. It was due back the first week of October. It didn't come. I tell you, I was down at the harbor in Genoa at dawn every single morning, sca

"Adam stood over me, hands on hips, and said, 'All right, you young fool, enough is enough. If the bloody ship has sunk, you will simply raise money to finance another. Get up or I'll knock you in the head.'"

"What happened?"

"I got up and jumped on him."

"You hit him?"

"I surely tried. I wanted to kill him, at least maim him. It was a very good fight, until he got me in the stomach and all that brandy-I thought I was going to die there for a while."

"What happened?"

"The Star of Genoa arrived in Genoa the following Tuesday afternoon. As I recall, I think I kissed her hull. There'd been a vicious storm just outside of Gibraltar, but she'd managed to survive it. I immediately financed another ship. I've lost only one ship in the past three years. I have three ships out right now and, thank God, excellent men in Genoa I trust to oversee things."

"What did the earl of Clare have to say about the one lost ship?"

"He bought me a case of brandy, said he didn't want to see a single bottle drunk for at least six months or he'd hit me in the belly again."

Meggie laughed, she just couldn't help it even though it made her sure her brains would rattle right out of her head.

"Did you wait six months?"

"Actually, the entire case is still intact. I haven't had any brandy since that night."

"Oh Thomas, that's a wonderful tale. Our children will enjoy it. Did you sail one of your ships here to England when you came back to Glenclose-on-Rowan?"

"Yes, she's in between trips right now. We decided some English goods bound for the West Indies would be an excellent thing. She's being fitted and goods bought as we speak."

"What is the name of your ship?"

"The Hope."

"I can't wait to see her. How much longer will she be here?"

"Another week, in Portsmouth."

"I am so very proud of you."

He flushed, just couldn't help it.

"You will see, everything will be all right. Oh dear, please find the person who struck me on the head."

"Yes," he said slowly, giving her some laudanum now in a glass of water, "I will."

Chapter 25

WHY IS WILLIAM here?"

Thomas said, "I asked him. He said he'd heard that I'd married and he wanted to meet you."

"What does he want to meet me for? Perhaps to seduce me?"

"Meggie-"

"He's a rotter, Thomas."

"He's young, Meggie, very young."

"So are you and so am I, and I know that neither of us would have never done something as dishonorable as what he did. Just imagine, he let you shoulder all the blame for getting Melissa Winters with child. He probably fully expected you to shoulder all the blame. I'm afraid it will be difficult for me ever to come to accept him, Thomas."

He looked bemused, and said slowly, going to what was the most important thing to him, "You really believe I'm honorable?"

"Well, of course. I wouldn't have married you otherwise. Would you ever, Thomas, let someone else accept the consequences for something you did?"

He said, his voice still deep and slow, "No, I don't believe I would ever do that."

"He doesn't know that I know what he did to you? To Melissa Winters?"

Thomas shook his head.

"Who hit me?"

He sighed. "I don't know. Everyone claims to have been sleeping until the storm started last night. Everyone also claims to have woken up when the lightning and thunder struck and the rain started coming down in torrents. It was so heavy, a couple of windowpanes were blown in. No one heard anything at all. What would you expect, Meggie?"

"Why would someone want to hurt me, Thomas?"

There it was, stark and clear, in the open, heavy and frightening, deadening the air between them.

Thomas rose from her bed and began pacing the White Room. He looked back to see his bride sitting up, white covers pulled to her waist, a white nightgown spilling lovely lace from her shoulders, and a white bandage around her head. And she was in the middle of a stark white room. He shook his head. "You look like a virgin who protesteth too much."

It took her an instant to understand him, and then she laughed, raising a hand to hold her head because laughing made it hurt. "Too much virginal white, I guess you mean. The good Lord knows I'm not a virgin anymore. Did I tell you that I'm pleased not being a virgin anymore, Thomas, in fact-" She paused a moment, and he knew, just knew all the way to his boots, that she was thinking about him kissing her, probably on top of her, going wild, and he shook with it.