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down the trail. Licking his lips, he turned his attention back to the fruit, then slid to his knees before the
bush and leaned forward to catch one ripe berry between his lips. Paen tugged it from the bush, almost
moaning as the fruit burst in his mouth, spraying its sweetness over his tongue and the top of his mouth. It
was a taste of heaven, the finest nectar, and he was leaning forward to catch another before he had even
swallowed that one. Paen knelt there for quite a while, gobbling up the berries one after the other like a
bee sucking the nectar from a flower& until he heard a crackling in the bushes to his right.
Pausing, he peered along the trail in that direction, his eyes narrowing. There was nothing to see, but
Paen could still hear something moving about in the brambles, something large. Some sort of animal? He
briefly forgot about the berries as he spied a bird through the branches. Its stocky body and brown and
buff coloring made it recognizable as a quail before it slid back into the brambles and out of sight.
Still on his knees, Paen started to follow with some idea of catching the animal for a meal later in the day,
or perhaps following it to its nest to see if there were any eggs there. It might be nice to wake his wife
with a hot meal to break her fast with.
He moved slowly and quietly on his knees, following the sound of breaking branches now. When he
spied a flash of brown through the branches ahead, he judged himself close enough to catch the bird and
lunged forward, bandaged hands outstretched in the hopes that he could capture it between the cloth
stubs. As it turned out, however, his target was much bigger than he expected. This became clear as he
fell through the branches that had been barring his view. By then it was too late he was already landing
on someone's back and derriere covered in a long brown wool skirt.
Paen grunted at the impact as the body collapsed beneath his weight, the sound almost drowning out the
surprised squeal of the woman he'd landed on. He rolled off of her at once, and she thrashed away from
him before rolling onto her side to gape at him.
"Husband?" She stared at him with amazement.
"Wife." Paen stared at Avelyn in bemusement, trying to reason what she was doing there. Then he noted
her damp hair and his eyes narrowed. "You were swimming."
Avelyn blinked, then nodded slowly. "Aye. I bathed in the river."
"After nearly drowning yesterday, you thought you should go swimming this morningby yourself ?" Paen
glared, furious that she had risked herself that way when he had nearly lost her the day before. Where
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was her sense? How had he ended up married to a woman so beautiful, but so dense? It was bad
enough that she was weak and frail and untutored, but how disheartening it was to find she was
completely senseless as well.
"I___"
"Avelyn," he interrupted sharply. "You could have drowned again, and this time I would not have been
there to save you." He struggled to his feet in the bushes, then reached down, waited until she caught his
wrist, then tugged her to her feet.
"I did not drown "
"Nay, and I am grateful for that," he interrupted again. "But since God did not see fit to bless you with
common sense to match your beauty, in future you will never go anywhere or do anything without asking
my permission first," he ordered grimly, then frowned even harder when he noted the state of the front of
her dress. The skirt was mud-covered, but the upper torso of the gown was covered with a slimy mixture
that was yellowish in spots and clear in others. Her face and neck also carried the shiny goop. "What the
devil is that all over your face and down the front of your dress?
"Quail eggs," she admitted on a sigh. "I spotted a quail as I was about to return from the river and
thought you might like a treat. I was collecting the eggs when you leapt on me."
Some of Paen's anger faded at her explanation. Whether it was because she'd had the same thought as
he and had hoped to present him with the same tasty gift, or because he was responsible for the mess
now coating her front, he couldn't say, but most of his anger slid out of him on a long sigh and he
swallowed the rest of it as he noted the disheartened expression on her face.
"Eggs would have been nice. I thought of them myself when I saw the quail, 'tis how I ended launching
myself upon you. Now come," he said gruffly, offering his hand before he recalled the stubs they
presently were.
Avelyn simply placed her hand on his arm and ignored his hand.
Grateful that she did not make a big deal of his temporary handicap, Paen led her out onto the trail and
down to the river's edge. He waited patiently as she waded into the water, then scooped up handfuls of
silt and small pebbles and used it to scour the egg off her face, neck and the front of her gown. Paen had [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]