“Eirik, let us go inside and speak on this. There is a misunderstanding here that I can surely—”
“Nay, the only misunderstanding here is yours. I warned you afore the wedding that I would not tolerate falseness in a wife.”
Wilfrid stepped up then and put a hand on Eirik’s arm. “My lord, ’tis unseemly to carry on this conversation in front of all your servants and retainers.”
Eirik looked around him and shook his head as if just coming to his senses. Still holding onto Eadyth’s arm, he began to pull her into the keep.
“Wait,” Eadyth said, digging in her heels. “I have to help unload the carts first.”
“Why?” Eirik asked suspiciously. “Are there gifts from Steven you wish to hide from me? Or mayhap a special poison you plan to put in my mead?”
“Steven?” Eadyth asked, stunned to realize that it was the Earl of Gravely he accused her of consorting with. In those few moments that she hesitated in amazement, Eirik had stormed down the steps and proceeded to throw the specially woven, conical beehives to the ground, cursing roundly as he searched for some hidden item to prove her guilt.
He was about to open one of the boxes when Eadyth screamed, “No!” But his eyes locked with hers contemptuously, and Eadyth realized that her protest only prodded him to do the opposite.
Then it was too late.
Eadyth moaned and rushed forward as he opened the first box and hundreds of angry bees burst free, swarming all over his face and neck, under his loose tunic, over his tight leggings.
“Oh, my God! Stand still, Eirik. For the love of heaven, I cannot help you when you jump around like this.”
Eirik cursed loudly and fluently in several languages, using words that turned her face bright red, as he tried to slap the stinging insects off his body. But there were too many of them, and his actions only agitated them more.
She called to Edgar and Oslac, two of the drivers of the carts, who were protected with beekeeping veils and leather gloves, to help her. Eadyth picked off several of the valuable queen bees, easily recognizable by their color and shape, and put them back in the bee cases. Then her two beekeeping assistants used smoking torches to chase the remaining bees off her husband’s body and back into the box.
When they were finally back in the case or lying dead on the ground, Eadyth looked back at Eirik. Tears rolled down his face from the smoke, and tiny white marks covered his face and arms and undoubtedly all his skin under the tunic and hose.
Eadyth gave quick instructions to the men who had come with her about where to place the hives and bees, telling Girta, who had just come outside to investigate the commotion, to show them the way. She told Bertha to send up to Eirik’s bedchamber a tub of hot water, several crocks of salt and a handful of raw onions.
“Eirik, hurry! I must remove the stingers as soon as possible afore the bites swell and perchance fester.”
Eirik just stared at her, in shock. Then he said with dead seriousness, “Eadyth, I am going to kill you.”
Chapter Eight
“Kiss me, dearling, Awk.”
“Kiss my arse.”
“Would ye like to see… awk… me arse?”
“Would ye like to have your feathers plucked and stuffed down your bloody throat?”
“Show me yet legs. Awk.”
“Go bugger yourself.”
“Kiss me, dearling. Kiss me, dearling. Kiss me, dearling.”
Snorting with disgust, Eirik threw a wool cloak over the bird’s cage, muttering something very foul. The squawking stopped immediately.
Eadyth stood stunned in Eirik’s bedchamber doorway. She could not decide whether she was more amazed by the sound of her husband arguing in a vulgar fashion with a witless bird, or by the sight of Eirik standing in the middle of the room with his back to her—totally nude. The latter won out.
Truth be told, this devastatingly handsome man, her husband, stole her breath away.
Her eyes skimmed the sun-baked bronze of his skin from the wide shoulders, to the supple back muscles, to his tapering waist and deliciously narrow hips. She licked her suddenly dry lips. Even his powerful thighs and sinewy calves were sun-darkened, she noted. Apparently, he must wear only a loincloth when exercising with his men or when on shipboard. The skin of his firm buttocks was the only part of his body that remained light.