A Chieftain's Wife Read online

  “Come in, Eireen!”

  “Milady, do you need assistance with dressing this day? I might secure the fastenings for you, if you need?”

  “I am capable for now, Eireen, but stay and speak with me awhile; keep me company if you’ve time.” Alainn called out as she stepped behind the partition in her chambers. Alainn had turned down Killian’s offer to employ a handmaid, for she did not desire assistance with menial matters of a personal nature, but Alainn recognized Eireen’s caring, motherly nature and knew she hoped to dispel some of this afternoon’s displeasure.

  “Aye, I’ve time if you wish it, milady!”

  “You know you can call me by my given name, Eireen. I feel old and matronly when people refer to me as milady. Sure you’re not more than a dozen years older than I am and I consider you my friend.”

  “Oh, milady, it would not be proper of me to speak to you in such a manner, and my husband would disapprove entirely.”

  Alainn did not actually dislike the woman’s husband. It could not be disputed that he was a diligent and loyal servant to Killian and had always been completely respectful of Alainn, but she was not always pleased with how he treated his wife. She was considerably younger than the man and was his second wife. The couple had no children, and apparently his first wife had died in child bed. However, the child of that union had lived and was now a grown woman and married to Killian’s carpenter. Alainn had never met the young woman for the man lived miles from the castle in a wooded area necessary for his trade.

  Alainn knew through her abilities as a seer that Eireen and her husband’s daughter did not see eye to eye on much. And because Alainn liked Eireen so well Alainn had already formed an unfavorable opinion of her stepdaughter, Ciara, without ever having met her.

  Alainn donned her chemise and then pulled her pale green gown over her ever-growing body. She had employed the tailor to create a handful of new gowns for her, for the ones she’d worn only weeks earlier were no longer capable of being fastened. As she glanced down at the lovely soft gown, she saw the movements clearly visible even through the fabric. She smiled at the sight and was certain she could almost make out the outline of a wee foot. She rubbed the location and was rewarded with a swift response. How she adored the wee babe within her, her darling son, and she couldn’t wait to look upon him and to hold him in her arms, to rock him and sing to him. How could she possibly feel shame at the treasure she carried within her or how he’d been created?

  “Are you quite well, milady? You’ve been unusually quiet this afternoon. Don’t allow that spiteful gossipmonger of a woman and her unfeeling comments color your elation in carryin’ a child. It is the greatest of bestowments to carry your man’s child and I would give much to have a child of my own. It was apparently not meant to be for me. I have conceived many times, but only carried for but a few weeks and then lost each one. It was a grievous loss to me each time, and now I am not likely to carry another for ’tis only on the rarest of occasions does my husband ever care to share my bed any longer.”

  Alainn stepped out from behind the partition and caught the notable sadness in the other woman’s eyes and in her tone. She looked empathetically at the woman.

  “Forgive me, milady, I have truly misspoken, I should not be relating such intimate information with another, I don’t know what’s come over me. I do not share such talk with anyone much less my chieftain’s wife! I have felt at ease with you from the time you came to this castle, but I cannot say why that information just slipped so readily from my mouth.”

  Alainn smiled and sat upon the settee. She turned her back to the other woman so that she might fasten the lacings to her gown.

  “I am pleased to have you speak to me so candidly, Eireen. It is a great relief to have a woman to speak with. My mother lives far from here and we have never had a close relationship. Although my cousin’s wife, Mary, and I have become fast friends, she is off in Scotland visiting her kin. She was dreadfully homesick for her family and her land, though in her most recent letter she says she will return to Ireland soon. So, you may feel free to speak of whatever topics you desire for it is a great pleasure to have a female friend to converse with.”

  “I do feel as though we are friends, milady!”

  “We are friends, Eireen.”

  The other woman gently fastened the lacing of the gown and then helped brush out Alainn’s full lengthy golden tresses.

  “Would you like me to plait it for you, milady?”

  “Aye, I would appreciate it, for when it is damp and placed within a plait when I remove the plait this night it will appear to have many curls. I have always greatly desired to have curly hair.”

  “Oh, not a word of it, milady! You have the loveliest hair I’ve ever seen; my husband has even made mention of your hair, and he never notices anything of that sort. It is the shiniest, softest hair I have ever seen and so full and radiant. And you may not have curls but it is abundant with lovely waves.”

  “Aye, that’s what Killian says. He adores my hair. He says when it falls upon his chest when we make...”

  She stopped mid-sentence and her cheeks blushed a warm pink, the other woman questioned.

  “What were you about to say, milady?”

  “It was something not meant for ears other than my own. I was thinkin’ aloud I suppose. I have missed being with my husband in an intimate fashion and I am eagerly awaitin’ this night!”

  The woman’s eyes grew wide and round as she spoke. “You and your husband continue to be partake in such activities so late in your term? Oh, milady, that was horridly improper and disrespectful of me to ask such a personal question, and sure it is none of my concern. I just, I’ve never... Is it even possible when you have blossomed so much and so quickly?”

  Alainn smiled at the other woman’s discomfort and embarrassment.

  “Aye, we do. Well, we did only weeks ago, sure my belly has grown, but my husband is a most imaginative man and a gifted lover, sure we’ll find a way.”

  “Oh, milady!” The woman tittered at Alainn’s bold talk. She placed her hand over her mouth but couldn’t conceal her smile. Then she added a comment that Alainn would not have expected from the usually quiet, reserved woman. “Perhaps your husband might offer mine a wee bit of advice.”

  Chapter Three

  Killian rode along side his cousin, Riley, and Riley’s grandfather, Niall O’Rorke. The day had been long on horseback for they’d started out before dawn and now dusk was approaching. Niall appeared visibly weary and earlier Killian had encouraged both the men who accompanied him and the guards who rode with them, to take a room at an inn along the way. He’d assured them he would be safe enough traveling the remaining leg of the journey alone, but they would hear none of it. They knew he was eager to get home and rather than have him travel alone or with a guard, they pushed on as well.

  Niall assured them he could rest for days once he made it to his own castle, and that his granddaughter would soon prepare an elixir to ease the tired ache within his bones, and so they had continued on. But now by the look of exhaustion on the old man’s weathered face, Killian felt he should have stopped as well, and spent another night without Alainn. The very thought made him feel empty inside, for this time apart from her had seemed insufferably long.

  He’d found the council meetings tedious and often proved little for sometimes it was liken to dealing with unreasonable children, listening to the bickering and disputes between the clans. And the arguing had led to more than a few fistfights and the drawing of swords had been commonplace. How were the clans ever to come to any agreement in how to deal with the English if they couldn’t even put away their differences of opinion for the good of Ireland? Some of the chieftains were so damned long-winded he’d wanted to shout in frustration. And the entertainment had been hardly necessary and much of it unappreciated, though he thought he was clearly outnumbered in that opinion for the majority of the chieftains were a raucous lot. He glanced at Niall once more and sl
owed his horse.

  “Are you well, Niall? You look sorely tired and you must accept my apology in forcin’ the long journey this day.”

  “Ah, Killian, I’m most weary, ’tis true enough, but you hardly forced me. Though in light of the recent battle with the damnable English, I’d not have wanted you to travel without kin or clan, sure I could have chosen to stay at an inn as you suggested. I well know how eager you are to get home to my granddaughter, especially in her increasing term.”

  “Aye, you know me well, Niall. Though my wife would hardly thank me for getting’ home a day earlier if it causes her grandfather any ill effects, I’d suggest!”

  “Oh, cousin, you can do no wrong in Alainn’s eyes, you know that by now, and I think it would have taken more than the armies of our clans combined to keep you away from your wife another night.”

  Killian smiled at his cousin, Riley, and nodded his head. In truth he could scarcely contain the urge to gallop the few remaining miles to his castle. The elderly man glanced at him and smiled.

  “Oh, be off with you then, lad! Go on to her, let your steed run wild, for he’s clearly not been worn out by this day’s journey. We’ll stop by soon enough to speak our greetings to Alainn, but you go now.”

  He smiled at the older man and was thankful for his druid ability of hearing his thoughts. He nodded to Riley, who smiled back, but shook his head at how his cousin appeared unable to get to Alainn fast enough.

  “Go on then, you haven’t been able to keep up a decent or stimulating conversation in the past few hours at any rate, so go and give your woman a warm embrace for me as well, if you can still manage to get your arms around her.”

  “Cousin, if you say one unkind comment to my wife regardin’ her lovely growin’ belly, I swear I’ll kick your arse or blacken both your eyes! Riley O’Brien, you would think you’d never seen a woman with child, the way you carry on about her lovely wee belly.”

  “Because she has a slender frame, I’m only concerned she’ll not be able to walk soon enough if she gets any larger, and I’ve not seen her in these two weeks.”

  “Not a word!” Killian sternly warned and then he could wait no longer, he turned his immense grey stallion homeward and galloped off at an uncommon speed.

  Alainn stood on the castle steps looking out at the sunset. It was beautiful and brilliant and the pink and crimson tones blended with the splashes of orange and gold in lovely contrast shining through the billowing cloud filled sky. She was so excited she felt as though she could leap with joy, if she could actually leap, that was. She could sense Killian drawing nearer to her and she closed her eyes to envision how near he was. She squealed in delight and the guard who stood nearest the drawbridge looked at her as though she was entirely daft.

  “You may begin to lower the drawbridge, Ian. My husband will be here by the time it is lowered in place!”

  “I’ve had no signal from the guards in the watch tower or on the other side, Milady!”

  “Tis true enough, but trust me, for it is as I have said. I am a seer, Ian, a druid seer, granddaughter to Niall O’ Rorke, a great chieftain, but also a noted druid priest.”

  “Aye, milady!”

  Though the man looked as though he wasn’t completely convinced, he gave the signal to the man at the levers and the large timbers and weighty chains holding the sprawling drawbridge, began to creak and groan under the enormous weight.

  The evening wind had grown cooler and Alainn pulled her shawl around her shoulders as she glanced up at the rustling leaves on the surrounding trees. Many had begun to change color and soon autumn would be upon them. It would be early this year, she obsereved, but had little time to dwell on that for she heard the thundering of a horse’s hooves upon the bridge. She squinted in the dusk to make out the outline of Storm, Killian’s huge steed. It was an unusually large horse, over seventeen hands, but Killian O’Brien needed a large horse for he was a man of grand proportions. He was taller than nearly all men and he towered over her when they stood together. He was muscular and brawny and entirely strong and stalwart.

  By now she could see Killian and she immediately began to move up and down on her toes. As a child, and even now as an adult, whenever she was excited beyond control, she would begin her “wee dance” as Killian had always referred to it Killian and her cousins Riley and Rory O’Brien had often taunted her about the unique habit. At present the guard beside her was looking at her like she’d lost her mind entirely. What a sight she must be so clearly laden with child, and squealing like a young child herself and now bouncing up and down. The man surely thought Killian O’Brien had wed an impulsive wee girl who was perhaps not quite right in the head.

  She started down the many stone steps and made it to the bottom the same time Killian pulled the horse to a halt. He leapt off the horse with grace and agility not expected from a man with such physical grandness. He dropped the reins and ran to her, scooping her up into his arms. She squealed again in complete delight.

  “Oh, Killian!” She gushed as she threw her arms around his neck.

  She inhaled his familiar masculine scent and felt his warm full lips upon hers. The kiss was lengthy and heated by the time it was through. When they finally managed to break from the kiss, he looked down at her with such intense happiness she placed her hands on his stubbled cheeks and her lips on his once more. This time she grew dizzy with how passionate the kiss was. And the guard who stood not far from them surely thought his chieftain might have his way with his wife there on the steps of the castle.

  “Oh, Lainna, my darlin’ Lainna! I have missed you so. I hope never ever to be parted from you for such an insufferable amount of time. My God, it is has felt like an eternity!”

  “Aye, Killian! I think it has been an eternity. How I have missed you holding me. This night I intend to spend every moment in these arms.” She caressed his muscular arms with alluring promise as he looked down into her eyes.

  “Aye, well, we can’t get to our bedchamber fast enough by my estimation, Lainna! But, let me look at you a moment!”

  “And, once you do, you might soon change your mind about headin’ to our bed!”

  “Not ever, my Lainna. You are an enchantment, a vision of loveliness and so beautifully radiant now that you are with child. I have missed you much and missed bein’ with you so, I want to love you as soon as possible. But, how is our son, then, is he well, are the two of you well? My messenger brought me your letters and I cherished them. Sorry, I am that I had to be away so long, my love.”

  “I know your presence at the council is necessary, Killian; I would never question that. I have known for very long you would be an important man, a respected chieftain and it is already so. I am proud of you, husband!”

  He beamed at her and even in the limited daylight his deep green eyes charmed her as no actual magic ever could. He finally released her from his arms and set her to standing on the ground beside him. He knelt down before her and placed his hands to her belly.

  “Ah, he’s grown much, Alainn, and how strong his kicks are now! Sure, that must be uncomfortable for you, for you’ve a slight build, and he’s clearly a sturdy wee babe.”

  “Like his father; and I don’t find his movements uncomfortable, Killian. I adore them; I revel in them. I love him so, and I love you, Killian. I am more blessed than any woman in all of Ireland.”

  He placed a soft kiss on her belly and Alainn happily sensed Killian was almost driven to tears at the complete joy and love he felt for her and their unborn child. He stood once more, gathered her in his arms and held her tight and before a moment had passed their eyes locked and soon after their lips followed suit, which was how Riley O’Brien and Niall O’Rorke found them moments later as their horses came across the bridge.

  “My God, Killian, have you not got done with the kissin’ by now, or at the very least not gotten on to somethin’ a little more pleasurable!”

  “You’ve clearly never kissed my wife!” Killian pulled himself fr
om the kiss long enough to respond to his cousin’s taunting.

  Alainn smiled at Killian and turned to greet her grandfather and her cousin.

  Riley O’Brien was cousin to both Killian and Alainn. Killian and Riley’s fathers had been brothers and Lady Siobhan, Riley’s mother, was sister to Alainn’s father, Teige O’Rorke. Alainn had never met her father and only learned of her paternal connections recently. In truth, Teige O’Rorke had not been seen by his family since before Alainn was born. No one knew if the man still lived, and if he did, his whereabouts were unknown.

  Alainn smiled at the two men and stepped closer to them as they dismounted. Her grandfather hugged her to him affectionately and smiled.

  “You look lovely and radiant, Granddaughter, and very happy, considerably happier I am certain now that you are reunited with your husband?”

  “Aye, much happier, Grandfather!”

  With that she smiled up at Killian and when their eyes met, she was by his side, in his arms and sharing another kiss before she could greet her cousin.

  “My God, Killian, just take her to bed then!”

  “Aye, sure I plan to, Riley; never you doubt that!”

  When Alainn finally left his arms and went to embrace her cousin, he seemed dumbfounded as to what to say after he’d actually viewed her.

  “By God’s bones, Alainn, your belly is apt to burst if it grows any larger. And Killian tells me you’ve nearly another two moons till your term is through and your time is here. You’ll surely not be able to walk, I’d wager, and you might forget about the beddin’ Killian, for I doubt you’ll actually be able to accomplish it!”

  Alainn stood staring intently at her cousin, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. Killian noticed and he threw his cousin a displeased look. Through the years, there had been many times that he had been forced to act as peacekeeper between these two and it was often not an easy or desirable task.