Come the Morning by Heather Graham Read Free Book Online Page B

possible.
    â€œMy dear?” David prompted.
    â€œI understand your position, sire,” she said.
    Ah, yes. She understood his position.
    She didn’t agree with it a bit.
    Well, he understood her position as well. What she hadn’t completely comprehended as yet was that he was king . And, therefore, it was his position that must not just be understood, but obeyed.
    â€œYou do then accept my plans for your future?” David asked.
    â€œYou know that I have always been your most loyal servant. As was my father.”
    She paused. The king watched as she struggled with her emotions.
    Great Adin was not long deceased. He had been a bear of a man, tall as a god, gifted with a thick mane of red-blond hair, rich beard, and flashing, icicle eyes. Men had admired him, women had loved him. Yet, even after the death of his Gaelic lady, he had remained loyal to her memory. However the marriage had begun, he had loved her. After her death, his constant companion had been his daughter. He had ridden with her, read with her, practiced at arms with her, sailed the sea with her.
    Perhaps he had even taught her about going a-Viking. Raiding, plundering, seizing land that was not hers.
    Strangely, David had never questioned Adin’s loyalty once the Viking had come to him for term. But in the midst of what appeared to be incredibly robust health, Adin had died. Drinking with friends, jarls, and chieftains, he had suddenly constricted, turned white as snow, and fallen.
    All through the night, the king had heard, this daughter of his had sat by his side, clutching his great hand.
    She had continued to do so, even after his death. As he was shrouded for burial in the chapel where he had been baptized into Christianity himself, she had sat by his side.
    And even then, the king had heard, she had kept vigil, refusing to leave the chapel, to eat, to sleep, to cease her prayers, until Adin had been dead three days, and only then had friends and the strange Gaelic priest, Phagin, convinced her that she must leave him at last.
    Watching the king then, she cleared her throat. “I do repeat, sire, my father was your most loyal servant. I learned all that I know from him. I would always be your most loyal subject as well, ever more especially—with greater determination, care, concern and responsibility —were I granted faith and freedom to see to my own affairs. A husband of my own choosing, when I choose to take one, would be—by God, I do solemnly swear—a most loyal subject to you, sire, and to no other man.”
    â€œWell spoken, my lady—and with all the passion and fervor of youth. But you are a young, very beautiful woman, Mellyora. More temptation than you can imagine to those who would covet both your person and your lands.”
    â€œI have in my household the most able men—”
    â€œWho serve you. None who can claim to be lord.”
    â€œNone who rule me,” she snapped back, losing—if just briefly—her iron hold upon her temper.
    David lowered his head, smiling. He looked back to her gravely. “My dear, I am well aware of the power and strength of your will. However, it is the strength of your sword arm that worries me.”
    â€œI manage quite well,” she said evenly. “I have been taught by masters. Those incredibly skilled in the arts of survival.”
    And invasion! David thought, suddenly wary. There were more pressing matters than this of trying to convince a headstrong young heiress that she was not a power to stand alone—especially when he didn’t dare be anything but suspicious of her closest male kin. Admittedly, other Vikings had often interbred and made Scotland their home, as had Adin. But though Adin’s brother had sometimes fought with the king’s troops, he was a younger man, and the company he kept was not entirely trustworthy. Adin had married a Scottish heiress. Daro’s loyalties still remained in question. Not