Heart of Honor (9 page)

K
rista dressed for supper that night in the same dark-blue silk gown she had worn the night Matthew had proposed. She wasn’t quite sure why. Perhaps to remind herself that she would soon be announcing her engagement.

She found her father and Leif in the study, poring over a stack of books. They had changed into evening clothes as well, Leif dressed now in a black frock coat, silver waistcoat and gray trousers. She remembered choosing the material for the garments that day at Stephen Ward, but she couldn’t have guessed how good Leif would look in them.

Her father rose when she walked into the room. Leif flicked him a glance and imitated the movement, rising to his full height beside him.

“You look lovely, my dear,” the professor said.

Leif’s gaze ran over her, returned to her bosom, displayed modestly but stylishly by the gown. A slow smile spread over his lips. “Even Freya would be jealous of your beauty,” he said.

Krista blushed. Freya was the Viking goddess of sex, more beautiful than any of the other female deities. She was wildly passionate and completely insatiable. Krista wasn’t sure the comparison was actually a compliment, though clearly Leif believed it was.

“Thank you.” On the chair back next to him, she spotted the tiny monkey, Alfinn, and couldn’t help a smile. “I see you brought your friend back with you.”

“He would have been bored in the country,” Leif said, sounding surprisingly urbane.

Krista cast Leif a glance. “Yes, I’m sure he would have been. Life in the city, even for a monkey, is so much more exciting.”

A corner of Leif’s mouth edged up, but he made no further comment. The monkey was his friend. Where he went, Alf went. It was as simple as that.

They were still in the study when Aunt Abby arrived, having changed into a gown of gold brocade edged with flounces of dark green taffeta across the bodice and around the hem. “Good evening, everyone.”

“Good evening, Abigail,” her father said. “You know Mr. Draugr, but I don’t believe you have yet met Alfinn.”

Aunt Abby’s pale eyebrows rose at the sight of the tiny monkey. “Oh, my. Isn’t he cute? Wherever did you get him?”

Leif’s jaw subtly tightened. Krista could see that the days he had spent as a captive still bothered him.

“Alf is a friend of Mr. Draugr’s,” her father said diplomatically.

The tiny monkey tilted his head, giving Aunt Abby one of his long, endearing stares, and she smiled. “Well, isn’t he just a treasure.” She leaned over and stroked her gloved hand over his small furry head, and Alf leaned into her palm.

“Treasure or not,” the professor said, “it is getting on toward time for supper. Jamie will be looking for Alf. Leif, you had better take him back out to the stables.”

“Jamie?” Krista asked.

“Alf made a friend at Heartland,” Leif said.

“The Suthers boy,” the professor explained. “You remember him, worked out in the stable? Boy’s an orphan, you recall. Grew rather attached to the monkey. I thought he could be useful here and also keep an eye on Alf.”

The monkey jumped from the back of the chair onto the study table then and crossed over to where Krista stood. He stuck out a tiny hand and she reached toward it, let him take hold of her finger. He had the biggest, darkest eyes, and they seemed to have a way of looking into you.

“I think Alf is very good at making friends,” she said.

“He likes you,” said Leif. “You saved him that day and he remembers.”

She looked up at the tall Norseman. There was something in his eyes that said,
You saved me, as well, and I also remember.

She turned away from him, her heart beating far too quickly, and smiled at her father. “I am completely famished. How about everyone else?”

“Fam-ished?” Leif said from behind her. “What is this word?”

“It means hungry,” the professor said.

“Fam-ished,” Leif repeated several times as Alfinn climbed up on his arm and they headed for the door on their way to the stables. Every time he said it, his pronunciation improved.

He was an amazing man, Krista thought, just as her father had said, and handsome as sin. She looked down at the dark-blue silk gown she wore and firmly fixed Matthew Carlton’s image in her head.

In celebration of the men’s homecoming, Cook had prepared an extravagant meal of roasted ribs of beef, baked halibut in oyster sauce and venison pasties. Leif consumed a goodly portion, even eating small amounts of potatoes and carrots, which Krista was certain didn’t really appeal to him. He seemed to particularly enjoy the fish, and she asked him if the ocean provided a large part of his diet back home.

Leif swallowed a bite of halibut and nodded. “On Draugr, we mostly eat the sheep, cattle and goats we raise for food, but there are also deer on the island, which we hunt for meat and hides. We eat fish and the sea animals you English call seals. Every few years, a creature you call a walrus washes ashore. We make use of its meat and tusks.”

His manners had improved, Krista noticed, as he waited for a servant to refill his plate with another helping of meat. But he still seemed to think it was a man’s place to walk in front of a woman. Though he no longer bolted his food, he still used only his knife and spoon.

Krista caught a glimpse of Aunt Abby, who was watching him with fascination. If she noticed his lack of sophistication at table, it didn’t seem to bother her.

Abby smiled in his direction. “You have quite an appetite, Mr. Draugr.”

Leif nodded. For an instant, his glance strayed to Krista. “I have always been a man of strong appetites.”

Aunt Abby’s gaze followed his and her eyes widened. Faint color crept into her cheeks. “Yes, well…I can imagine.”

The professor cleared his throat. “What Mr. Draugr meant was a man of his size must eat heartily to keep up his strength.”

Indeed,
Krista thought. He looked as strong as an ox, even in his perfectly tailored black coat and gray trousers, in which, she grudgingly admitted, he cut a very dashing figure.

Determined to direct the conversation back on a proper course, she took a sip of her wine, then set the goblet back down on the table. “You said your island has no wood. Without boats, I would think catching fish would be a problem.”

“We have boats—small boats made of reeds. But they are not big enough for sailing any distance. In olden times, there were forests on the island and the men built ships, but over the years, the people used up the wood and the ships became old and rotted.”

“You said a foreign ship crashed onto the rocks. Is that how you were able to construct the boat that brought you here?”

“The boat broke up, but most of the timbers were still good. Some of the men survived, Englishmen, and they were eager to return to their homes.” He ignored the wine and instead took a drink of the ale her father had provided him. “We had drawings of the ships our warriors sailed in ancient times, and that is the sort we built. There were those of us who had prayed to the gods for years for an opportunity to discover the world outside our island. Finally our chance came.”

“Do you have family there, Mr. Draugr?” Aunt Abby asked.

“Aye. My father is there, my sister, Runa, and my brothers, Olav, Thorolf and Eirik. My father didn’t want me to leave. I am the eldest, the son whose duty it is to take his place when he journeys to the Otherworld. It is a responsibly I cannot ignore and the reason I must return.”

His jaw was set with iron determination. It was obvious Leif Draugr was not a man who took his responsibilities lightly.

They talked a bit more about life on the island, the months he had spent at Heartland and how much he had learned.

“You are quite an amazing young man, Mr. Draugr,” Aunt Abby said. “I cannot think how difficult it must be to assimilate an entirely new culture in so brief a time.”

“Assimil-ate?”

“Absorb,” Krista said, and he nodded.

Her father smiled. “Leif worked extremely hard in the time we were gone. You can’t imagine the number of books he has read, and he continues to expand his education every day. Now, however, it is time he learned to move about in society. In this regard, I am hoping the two of you will be able to help him.”

A light went on in Krista’s head. So this was what Leif had been talking about.

Aunt Abby’s eyes twinkled. “My, that sounds like a great deal of fun. I’m sure Mr. Draugr will be a very apt pupil.”

“I don’t know how much help I would be,” Krista countered, searching for a means of escape. “I am scarcely an expert on the social graces. And I am kept quite busy with the gazette.”

“You are home in the evenings and at week’s end,” her father said. “Surely helping someone make a fresh start in a completely foreign country isn’t asking too much.”

She felt guilty. Her father and aunt were right. Leif had studied hard. He deserved this chance to better himself. She just hoped she was up to the task.

She pasted on a smile. “You are right. I would be happy to help Aunt Abby teach Mr. Draugr whatever it is he needs to learn.”

“Oh, I won’t be able to help,” Abby said. “It is past time I returned to my home in the country. I have obligations there, you know, though I shall be very sorry to miss out.”

“But you said—”

“I said it would be fun, and it will be. Imagine the joy of teaching Mr. Draugr to waltz. And he’ll need to know how to make a proper introduction and how to escort a lady. You will have to take him to the opera and the theater, of course, and perhaps he should learn how to ride a horse. A man should be a proper horseman, and you could help him, Krista. You are a very proficient rider.”

“Leif rides very well,” the professor said. “He rode a good bit at Heartland.”

“We have horses on Draugr,” Leif explained. “They were brought to the island by my ancestors.”

“Krista is also an excellent rider,” the professor said proudly. “And I am sure she will be a very competent teacher of the social graces.”

Inwardly, Krista groaned. She thought of the items her aunt had listed and knew there were countless more things Leif would have to learn. At least riding lessons weren’t necessary. She managed a polite response. “I’ll be happy to help in any way I can.”

“Capital!” Her father beamed. “Then it is settled. Oh, and there is just one more thing.”

She eyed him warily. “What is that?”

“Leif has expressed a desire to pay his own way.” A conspiratorial glance passed between the men. “He doesn’t wish to be a burden. He has asked for a job and so, as owner of
Heart to Heart,
I have hired him to work for the gazette.”

“You what?”

“I don’t see any reason for you to object. Surely you can use a big, strapping fellow like Leif to help you around the office.”

Krista held on to her temper. She wasn’t a fool. After the fire, her father was worried. He wanted a watchdog, someone to act as her protector. Though she actually ran the day-to-day operations of the paper, her father was officially the owner. He usually left employment decisions to her, as publisher, but he had the right to hire whomever he wished.

“We are fully staffed, Father. I don’t see what use—”

“I am sure you will think of something.”

She gritted her teeth. Leif wanted to work. Well, she would put him to work, all right.

Krista took a sip of her wine, eyeing the big blond man over the rim of her glass. She would see that Leif Draugr regretted the day he had ever heard the name
Heart to Heart.

The weather turned hot that Friday, the air thick and muggy, only a faint breeze moving the leaves outside the windows. As Krista left her bedroom and headed for the door, she spotted Leif waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Good morning. I gather you still wish to go to work with…” Her words trailed off as she noticed the heavy sword he clutched in his hand. The weapon in its leather sheath was the one he had retrieved the day he’d left the circus. “What on earth are you planning to do with that?”

“You have had trouble.” He drew the sword partly out of its scabbard. “This is good for trouble.”

She shook her head. “People here haven’t used swords like that for several hundred years, Leif. Men use guns now, pistols and muskets.”

He shoved the sword back into its scabbard, causing a metallic ring. “Your father showed me those things. We used them to hunt birds at Heartland.”

“Well, then, you can see how ridiculous it is for you to take something so outdated as—”

“I will take my sword.” With that he started for the door, paused a moment to look back over his shoulder. “Do you come with me?”

“I…” She took a step, then stopped. “Not quite yet. Since you and Father have assigned me the task of teaching you proper etiquette, we might as well start right now. In England, it is the custom for a gentleman to allow a lady to precede him. That means from now on I walk in front of you, Leif, not behind.”

He frowned. “A man walks
behind
a woman? Why would he do that? A man is stronger and he is her protector. He should lead the way in case there is danger.”