“I will not be long.” Reena took the basket, smiled at Magnus as she rushed past him, and waved to Thomas, who was repairing the front gate. She brushed her long dark hair away from her face and hurried around the side of the cottage, only to have a gust of wind slip beneath her cloak and send it billowing out behind her. She laughed like a child at play, spread her arms as if she intended to fly, and hurried off, disappearing into the woods.
Magnus watched her as he walked over to Thomas, who kept his laughter low.
“You find this amusing?”
“Aye,” Thomas said with a good nod of his head. “I have never known a woman who did not find you appealing and make her feelings known. Now I know not only one.” He held up two fingers. “But two.”
“I admire Brigid, for she loved her husband, but I do not interest her, nor does she interest me. While she is a good woman—”
“A very good woman,” Thomas said firmly.
“Aye, a very good woman,” Magnus agreed with a nod. “She is not what I look for, though”—with a purposeful pause he stared at his friend—“she would be good for you.”
Thomas grew flustered, shook his head, and dismissed Magnus’s words with a curt wave. “Nay, I am but a friend to her; she has no other interest in me.”
Magnus placed a hand on Thomas’s large shoulder. “You say yourself she is a very good woman.”
“And what of you and Reena?” Thomas asked. “I see how you look at her and want to know her whereabouts, and how you provided her with large quarters in the keep. I know that you have sent for special drawing and writing materials for her, and that you have ordered Mary the spinner to spin a fine cloth for garments specially to be made for Reena.”
“She is my mapmaker and therefore I provide for her.”
“Really? Then why do I find you so often in her company and in conversation with her? And why did you grow so annoyed when she went off to speak with Justin?”
Magnus bristled. “I do not need to explain myself to you.”
Thomas laughed and placed a hand on Magnus’s shoulder. “Nay, my friend, you do not, but some advice. I would suggest you not harm that young lad Justin, who you obviously feel is interested in Reena.”
“They hugged,” Magnus said, his own irritation surprising him.
Thomas kept a restraint on his chuckle.
“You find this humorous?” Magnus asked, not at all amused.
“I find it humorous that you have denied your attraction to Reena.”
Magnus shook his head. “I have been trying to understand why I found her interesting ever since I first saw her. She is too thin—”
“She has gained some weight,” Thomas said in her defense.
“Not much, and her features are plain, though her smile is pleasant and she has no interest in womanly matters. She maps, draws and helps many in the village, and she does what she pleases without thought of seeking my permission.”
“And still you find her attractive.”
“Why?” Magnus threw his hands to the heavens.
“Why not find out why?” Thomas asked.
“A simple solution, you would think,” Magnus said with a shake of his head. “I need to clear my thoughts.”
“A walk in the woods,” Thomas suggested with a smile.
Magnus ignored him, since a walk in the woods had been his intentions, and he entered the woods deep in thought.
He had much on his mind of late, securing land being the most important. Then he had to find a good woman to make his wife and see to a debt owed to him.
He had been granted lands for his allegiance and service to the king. He had learned early on that a king’s wealth was more in land than in coin, so he’d made certain to gain his own wealth in more than just land. He’d made his wealth on foreign soil, and it far exceeded those in power, though he’d let no one know, for it would make him vulnerable for attack from the monarchy.
The monarch wanted his hired warriors loyal to him alone, and granting them land and securing marriages for them was one way of making certain they remained loyal. Magnus had accepted the land granted him, but a marriage contract he would not accept.
The choice of the woman he married would be entirely left to his discretion. He would not be locked into a loveless marriage as his mother had been, and he would not wed a woman who cared nothing for him but served him only out of duty.
Even with his thoughts heavily occupied he remained alert to his surroundings, and he caught sight of Reena climbing over a fallen tree and bending down, a wide smile filling her face.
He froze and stared at her, for her smile reflected her innocence. She shoved her long black hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ears, and her bright blue eyes shined with the eagerness of a child who had just discovered a treasure. She stared in awe at the ground where she bent down, and he knew she had found a feather that excited her, a feather that would make a good quill.