“We can all use some care now and again,” she said and joined him at the table. “Dawn, though, is one you would think needs much care when in truth she seems to give care to others.”
Sometimes Cree wondered if Elsa was a witch. She possessed an uncanny sense of knowing. “You know that I came to speak with you about her.”
“Tongues are busy this morning talking about what she did for Dorrie last night. Dawn is a brave woman.”
“Bravery and foolishness are closely linked.”
Elsa laughed. “Aye, it sometimes takes a fool to be brave?” Her laughter faded. “Then there are those who are born brave.”
“Or those made brave by circumstance.”
“Like Dawn,” Elsa said shaking her head. “To be born without a voice, to never utter a single sound is beyond comprehension to me and yet she has learned to communicate with others and to live with integrity. A remarkable feat.”
“She will never have a voice?” Cree asked not hearing the hopefulness in his tone.
“It is unlikely since she was born without one.”
“Why is someone born that way?”
“Most people would say that it is God’s will. But who is to truly say why?”
Cree asked the question he hadn’t thought would be relevant to him before last night. “Will she pass her affliction onto her own children?”
“I could not say for sure. Not having a voice, not being able to make a single sound is rare. Dawn is the only person I have met with this affliction that cannot at least grunt or groan. But having birthed many babes I can say there is much that parents pass on to their off springs. So if you wonder if there is a chance that Dawn could give birth to a child who would have no voice, then I would have to say that there is a chance, rare as it is.”
Cree cursed himself a million times over. He should have never allowed his passion to rule, never allowed himself to empty into her over and over. He could not take the chance again unless…
“Is there anything a woman can take to prevent getting with child?”
His question didn’t surprise Elsa; he hadn’t thought it would. She no doubt expected it and he hoped that perhaps this was one of those times that her witch ways could help.”
“There is, but if the woman is already with child and ingests the concoction then she chances aborting the babe.”
He hadn’t expected his stomach to clench as if someone had hold of it and was twisting it unmercifully. And that disturbed him. He had spent only last night with her, he reasoned with himself, one night. But how many times had they coupled? Still it was only last night and if she took something now… his stomach clenched again.
“Shall I speak with Dawn?” Elsa asked.
“That would be good,” he said and stood not wanting to discuss it any further and left without saying another word. His one and only thought… would she even want to bear his babe?
The horses were waiting at the front of the keep. William was there as well sitting atop his horse. Six of his men were also mounted and ready to go. He was glad for this time away from the village, time away to free his thoughts of Dawn, for she was on his mind much too often.
Cree mounted his stallion and from his impatient prance he could tell the steed was ready for a good ride.
Just like Dawn had been last night.
He silently cursed the thought and explicit visions it brought with it.
He gave a wave, anxious to leave and they rode through the center of the village, the villagers’ heads bowing in respect as they moved out of the way of the horses. He was surprised to catch sight of Dawn no doubt headed for Lila’s cottage. How had she gotten passed the guard? The window again? She had stopped like the others and bowed her head waiting for him to pass. He was annoyed that she had slipped past the guard, though he was more annoyed that the sight of her had grown him hard much too quickly.
Without thought to his actions, he spurred his horse and rode directly at her. He didn’t stop as he came within reach of her. He leaned over the side of his horse, swung his arm out, and scooped her up around the waist, planting her in front of him on the horse.
Chapter Twenty-five
Dawn was too shocked to do anything but throw her arms around Cree’s neck as he planted her sideways in front of him on the stallion. Her breath was locked somewhere in her chest and it took her a moment or two to find it and expel it. In the meantime her grip got tighter around his neck.
With a slight shift he tucked her solidly against him, his arm around her waist keeping her firmly in place. His chest was a wall of muscle and while rock-hard, it was comfortable to rest against. And she could certainly attest to that since she had rested against it most of last night.