Kingdom Come (31 page)

“Now?”

He nodded, his gem-clear brown eyes glittering at her. “I wish it.”

She had to chuckle at him; he was very decisive about his wishes.  So she thought a moment, the smile on her face broadening as she sang the words softly.

“I made it through the wilderness; somehow I made it through…

Never knew how lost I was until I found you.

I was beat, incomplete

I was had, I was sad and blue…

But you made me feel

Yeah, you made me feel

Shiny and new….

Like a virgin, touched for the very first time; like a virgin, with your heartbeat next to mine….”

Kieran was enjoying the sweet, gentle words in her seductive voice until she came to the last strain.  Then his eyes flew open wide and his jaw went slack when he understood what, exactly, she was singing about.  When Rory saw his reaction, she shut her mouth and began to giggle uncontrollably, falling back against the back of the cab.   Kieran reined Liberator next to the cab and stuck a massive arm inside the open window.

“Come here, you naughty wench,” he growled. “I am going to blister your backside.”

She screamed with delight, scooting to the other side of the cab as he grabbed for her.  Her giggling turned into loud laughter as he made another swipe at her through another window. David, inside the cab, tried not to get run over by Rory as she moved around. He sat against a corner and grinned.

“Kieran, stop!” she commanded after a good deal of chasing. “You’re scaring David.”

Kieran leaned low on Liberator, sticking his head in one of the windows to see if what she said was true. But David was grinning, squealing when he saw Kieran reaching for him.  He grabbed the boy by the foot and David giggled hysterically, clutching at the seat to prevent being dragged out the window.   Rory leapt to the rescue but the moment she came close, Kieran let go of David and grabbed her by the wrist.

“Ah
ha
!” he boomed. “Now I have you.”

“You cheated!” she beat at his hand. “Let me go!”

He shook his head. “I will not,” he said. “Kiss me and I may consider it.”

“I’m not going to be blackmailed into kissing you.”

“You have no choice. Do as you are told.”

“No!” she refused, even as he pulled her to the window and tried to kiss her. She put her free hand out and pushed his face away. “You’re not getting a kiss.”

Kieran was having a hard time keeping a straight face. When Liberator startled because of all of the struggling going on, he was forced to release Rory to regain control of his charger.   She stuck her head out of the window as he was struggling with the horse and stuck her tongue out at him.

“Them baggy sweat pants and those Reeboks with the straps,” she taunted him with a fairly riskè rap song. “She turned around and gave dat big booty a slap! Hey! She hit the floor, next thing ya know, Shawty got low, low, low….”

She made sure to turn around and slap her rump so he could see it. Then she started doing some crazy dance in the cab. The boys were laughing at her, as was Yusef; no matter what he thought of the bold and aggressive Lady Hage, she was quite funny even if he had no idea what she was singing about. Only Kaleef seemed to be oblivious to what was going on, driving his pony cart ahead of the group and singing to himself.When Kieran regained control of Liberator, he dismounted the charger and tied him to the back of the wagon. His wife was still inside, bopping around to a rap song, when he threw open the door and yanked her out.

Rory screamed as he threw her over his massive shoulder. He planted a trencher-sized hand on her backside and she howled, banging on him. He held her so her belly wasn’t against his hard armor, which made it rather awkward to maintain his hold on her once she started fighting back.  He was about to smack her again when they heard sounds of distant thunder.  The humor on his face abruptly vanished and, alert, he stopped the horseplay and turned in the direction of the coming sound.

Rory heard it, too, and slithered to the ground, still in his grasp.  She looked up at him and, seeing his tight expression, began to feel some fear.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, pressing close against him. “Who is it?”

He shook his head. “I do not know,” he turned her around, quickly, for the cab. “Get inside and stay there.”

She resisted slightly. “But, Kieran, if it’s….”

He grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look at him. “With God as my witness, if you argue with me about this, I will lock you up once we reach Southwell and throw away the key. You will listen to me and you will do what you are told for once in your life.  Is this in any way unclear?”

She gazed up into his eyes, knowing that she needed to comply. The last time she resisted his attempts to get her to safety, he had been caught in a brutal fight. She knew that next time, he might not be so lucky. She needed to trust him and do what he told her to do so he was distracted arguing with her when people were out to kill him.  So she fought down her natural instincts and nodded obediently, patting him on the cheek.

“It’s perfectly clear, baby,” she murmured. “I’ll get back in the cab and stay there.”

His hard expression wavered somewhat. “Thank you.”

She smiled at him and quickly scooted to the cab, jumping in and slamming the door. Kieran, rather shocked that he hadn’t had to bully her into submission, was better able to focus on the coming thunder.  As he made his way back to Liberator, he could see many, many horses and men in armor approaching from the north.

He mounted Liberator and rode out to meet them.

***

Kieran knew the identity of the army within the first few moments of his approach. Although they were well on the horizon, he could see the blue and gold as he drew closer.  When three knights broke off from the cluster of mounted men and charged toward him, he knew his brothers on sight and his heart began to race. He actually had a lump in his throat.  As the chargers drew near, he suddenly reined Liberator to a halt and bailed off.  Dropping the reins, he began to walk, very quickly, towards their approaching trio.

In rapid succession, the knights pulled their chargers to a halt and began to jump off.  The first man to reach Kieran threw him in such a bear hug that he nearly sent them both toppling.  Suddenly, the other two knights were upon them and arms were going around everyone.   They were hugging and slugging and somewhere in the middle of it was booming laughter.

Rory saw her husband being mugged by three other knights, not particularly concerned about it because no one seemed to be drawing weapons.  They were slapping each other around and hugging, and she could hear the laughter as she approached. Yusef called a halt to their party when they drew close, watching Kieran from a short distance away as he was greeted by people he apparently knew.  Kieran was suddenly ripping off his helm and his smile positively lit up the sky; Rory could see his joy from where she remained in the cab and it made her smile as well.  But there was no way she was leaving the cab until he told her to.

Yet in spite of his joy, he hadn’t forgotten about her. He grabbed the two nearest men and began dragging them over to the carriage.  The third man followed, slapping Kieran and grabbing him around the neck joyfully.  By the time the four of them reached the cab, Rory was smiling broadly. She had never seen Kieran so happy.

“Lib,” Kieran yanked open the door to the cab and nearly ripped it off its hinges in his excitement. “Come out, sweetheart. I want you to meet my brothers.”

Rory climbed out of the cab; clad in a silky red surcoat and her hair in a couple of sweet-looking braids, she was utter eye candy for the Hage brothers. One by one, the helms came off and she found herself gazing back at men that, to varying degrees, looked like her husband.  They were studying her quite intently and she tried not to look at anything other than their faces, although the lure to inspect their armor and weapons was nearly too much for her to take. She smiled at the curious, friendly and joyful faces.

Kieran went to her and put his massive arm around her shoulders, presenting her for inspection to his brothers. “Gentle knights,” he gazed down at her, relishing the particularly important moment. “This is my wife, the Lady Rory Elizabeth Hage. She will answer to Libby.  Lib, meet my brothers; Christian, Sean and Andrew.”

He indicated right to left and Rory smiled broadly at the Hage brothers; Christian was a little taller than Kieran, rather slender as compared to the other three, and with a head of unruly bright red hair and Kieran’s gem-clear brown eyes. Next to him was Sean; Sean was built like Kieran, extraordinarily handsome, with cropped light brown hair and clear brown eyes.  The man was definitely a looker.  Last was Andrew; he was stocky, broad, with nearly-shaved auburn hair. 

“It’s wonderful to finally meet you,” she said. “Kieran has told me a lot about you.”

Her accent threw them for a loop; they looked at Kieran in surprise and he understood their silent questions.

“She is from the west of Ireland,” he told them, eyeing Rory. “She knows that she sounds odd. I am endeavoring to break her of the habit so she can speak normally.”

Rory scowled at him. “That’s a terrible thing to say in front of your brothers,” she hissed. “They just met me and you’re telling them I’m odd?”

He grinned at her, hugging her. “’Tis well enough that they learn it right away,” he said, winking at his brothers. “But they should also know that I worship and adore you, Lady Hage. You are most worthy to be part of this family and due all respect.”

Sean was the first one to push forward, taking her hand genteely. “Welcome, Lady Hage,” he said; he had a wonderful deep, soothing voice. “We are honored.”

Rory’s smile was back; Sean was an absolute doll and she liked him right away. He wasn’t nearly as tall as Kieran, perhaps three or four inches shorter, but he was big and muscular like his brother was.  He also seemed genuinely sweet.

“Thank you,” she said sincerely.

He smiled at her and moved aside as Christian, the taller brother, stepped forward. Rory had to crane her neck back as she looked at the man; Kieran was six inches over six feet and Christian was taller than he was, so she guessed the man was somewhere around six feet eight inches. He was extraordinarily tall, with a rather lanky body, but he had that Hage square-jawed look.  He smiled at Rory and dipped his head.

“Lady Hage,” he had the deepest voice she had ever heard. “It is a pleasure.”

Rory nodded in acknowledgment as the last brother approached. Andrew seemed to be quite a bit younger than the other three; upon closer inspection, she noticed that he had very dark hazel eyes and pale skin with freckles on his face. He was a good looking man but when he smiled, she saw a big chip on his front tooth.  He took her hand as Sean had done.

“Lady Hage,” he actually kissed her fingers. “I wish you and my brother much happiness.”

Rory smiled at the man. “Thank you,” she said, looking around the group. “I’m very happy to be here.”

They were staring at her, inspecting her, as new family members often do. Christian finally snorted and turned to his brother. “She is far too good for you,” he slugged Kieran on the arm. “I will make it my goal in life to steal her from you.”