Before Ellise?
What had life been like then? More simple, for certain, but less entertaining.
They worked their way through the main street, bypassing the villagers who nodded a greeting. Ellise smiled and spoke to some even as a light sheen of sweat graced her forehead. God’s teeth, would the lass never cease to amaze? In spite of her discomfort, she still took the time to be gracious to others. It struck James what a shame it was that she wasn’t better connected or wealthier. She was certain to make a fine wife to someone.
But not him.
Hell, he hated the thought of her being a wife to someone else, though. A man with lesser responsibilities might happily marry her. But how could he? He was expected to expand his lands, increase his wealth, and gain more influence in England. His father had even hoped for him to gain connections to royalty, though he doubted that was likely, and he hardly relished the thought. With politics the way they were, anyone caught in the middle of it all risked death.
Why did he even think of marriage anyway? It was not as if Ellise had shown any intention of wanting him to court her. Aside from that one kiss, it seemed as though she tried to avoid him, and her reticence should have been enough to dissuade any notions of… of anything between them. She certainly was a mystery.
The clatter of hooves across the drawbridge drew him from his thoughts as they moved through the shadows of the gatehouse into the bailey. James quickly dismounted and threw his reins into the hands of a stable boy before helping Ellise down. She sagged against him, weariness stamped on her features and he kept an arm around her as she rested most of her weight on him.
“Forgive me,” she murmured.
He ignored her apology and concentrated on getting her to her chamber. With encouraging words from him, they climbed the spiral staircase. Her breaths came heavily by the time they reached the top.
“God’s blood, I should have carried you,” he muttered but she made a sound of complaint as he tried to force her into his hold and he had to content himself with allowing her to rest against him once more.
After he shoved the door open, she flopped onto the bed and closed her eyes. James grimaced as he noted the red soaked linen around her hand. With no white visible, he concluded she had lost a lot of blood. He’d seen before how people had died after a severe blood-letting and had little intention of allowing Ellise to meet the same fate.
She remained motionless but as he turned on his heel to fetch the physician she called out to him, her voice tremulous, “I-I have some cream. For infection. ‘Twill clean the wound.”
“I need to get the physician.”
“Nay,” she protested breathily. “There’s no need. Just the cream. And some thread and a needle.”
James clenched his hand around the door handle and considered her. “You’ll not be able to stitch it yourself.”
“You can do it.”
He stared at his hand, his knuckles white. “I cannot. My hands are too big. I’ll fetch Winnie.”
“Nay! ¡Por favor! Pray, I do not wish to be a bother. I feel a fool enough already.”
Releasing the handle, he blew out a breath. “Aye, as you will. I’ll be but a moment.”
She didn’t respond as he left and he wondered if he should even leave her alone. With torturous thoughts in his mind, he stormed down the stone steps of the tower and marched across the bailey to the armory. A few medical supplies were kept there, considering weapons practice was when they were all most likely to be injured.
Pushing past a guardsman with a grunt, he yanked open a drawer in the supplies chest and dug out a needle and thread as well as more linen strips. He wasted no time in hurrying back to Ellise, his heart beating a tattoo in his chest.
Ashen skin and closed eyes greeted him and he threw down his supplies on the carved side table next to the bed, sending a candle toppling. Bile welled in his throat as he flattened the back of his hand against her forehead. Her skin was clammy.
He should never have left her alone. “Hell’s teeth!”
Her lids jolted open and a dark, clear gaze met his.
“What is it?” she whispered.
He dropped to the floor beside the bed and gripped her uninjured hand in his own slightly trembling ones. “Dear Lord, I thought I’d lost you.”
“Lost me?” A faint smile stretched across her lips. “James, I was merely resting.”
With an inward groan, he forced himself back to his feet as heat rose in his face. Och, what a fool. Acting as if Ellise even had a part to play in his life. But the fear of losing her still resounded in his mind.
Aye, he was a fool.
“Where is the potion of yours?”
“You shall have me accused of witchcraft with words like that,” she teased, her voice hoarse.
She struggled to sitting, the bed creaking and the canopy juddering. Ellise’s beautiful big gaze peering around at him from behind the pale blue curtains sent a thunderbolt to his chest. Hair awry and skirts splayed around her legs, she made an enticing image. Lord, he sickened himself, lusting after an injured woman. Words of how she had bewitched him sat on his tongue but he held them back.
“Over there.” She pointed to the chest tucked in one corner. “‘Tis in a small silver pot.”
James turned away, grateful to be free from her alluring gaze, and bent to rummage through the chest. She had little. A few gowns that he recognized as Lucy’s and that God-awful apron she’d worn when they had first met. He also noted she had kept the simple gown he had bought off the serving girl for her. For some reason, it made him smile to picture her wearing it and hopefully thinking of him.
Gaze alighting on the silver pot, he scooped it up and settled on her bedside, wincing as the bed dipped under his weight. “‘Tis a fine trinket,” he muttered as she offered him her hand and he unbound it. Fresh blood pooled in her palm, though it did not flow as steadily as before and he felt some of the tension leave his stiff muscles. The salve would likely hurt, so he spoke again, “Is it yours?”
Her gaze hardened. “Aye, ‘tis mine. I have not stolen it, if that is what you fear. It belonged to my mamá.”
“Nay, you mistake me, Ellise. ‘Twas not my intention to accuse you of thievery.” She hissed as he rubbed the balm across the lesion, the scent of lemon pervading the air. “I see the Lady has been generous with her gowns.”
“Aye,” she said stiffly. “Lucy knows of my predicament but I intend to pay her back for the gowns.”
“I do not doubt it.”
Something in his serious tone made her expression soften and a small smile slid across her face. “Do you not? ‘Twas not long ago you were ready to drag me to the sheriff.”
James shook his head as he readied the needle and thread. He tried to ignore the slight tremble in his hands. He should have insisted on fetching one of the women. They were well-practiced with needles. He was used to stitching up wounds in desperate times when it mattered not if the scar was pretty.
“I had little intention of dragging you to the sheriff. I would not have wished to see you in the stocks.”
“Then what was your intention? To shame me?”
Gulping, he made the first stitch, fighting the desire to turn away, unable to answer her question due to the tightness of her throat. She gasped at the prick of the needle and James wished to God he could take away the pain, absorb it into him somehow and suffer it instead.
“Good girl,” he murmured. “‘Twill be over soon.”
She whimpered and shook as he drew the needle through, and he cursed to himself over and over, promising never to let her come to harm again. With the last stitch made, he pulled out his wretched dagger and cut the thread. Ellise studied his work with a shaky smile and watery eyes.
“You sew well for a knight,” she commented.
James coughed to clear his tight throat and proceeded to dress the cut, skimming his fingertips over her slender fingers. They were still rough from work, but to him they were perfect. So
elegant yet so unique. Just like Ellise.
Tucking in the loose end, he managed to stop himself from kissing her hand and instead settled for an awkward pat. “You’re a brave lass.”
She laughed. “I could do with a drink!”
“Aye.” And I. “I’ll have Winnie bring you some wine. I have to return to my duties.”
“Forgive me for taking you away from them.”
“You are my duty, Ellise.” He shrugged. “Just as everyone in Thornewall is,” he added swiftly. Spinning on his heel, he paused as she called out to him.
“You never told me why you let me rob you that night. You did allow me to take your coin deliberately, did you not?”
“Mayhap I thought I was saving you.”
“From what?”
“The fate of a common criminal.”
“Ah, a noble cause, but pray tell why did I not deserve such a fate?”
“You deserve much more than that, any fool can see that.” Silence hung in the air at his admission and he watched the darkening of her cheeks. “Well, I will bid you good day. I shall have Winnie sent to you shortly.” He dipped his head and turned away before she could delay him any longer.
Aye, Ellise deserved so much more than she had in life. But it would never be up to him to give her that, he thought sadly.
Chapter Five
Enjoying the feel of silk beneath her fingers, Ellise carefully laced up Lucy’s gown as they sat on the elaborately carved bed. Winnie had let the gown out and added extra fabric but it was becoming tight again.
Lucy giggled as Ellise fought to tie the ribbons. “Och, I’m too fat, Ellise.”
“You are not fat, my lady. Just carrying two big healthy babes.”
Dominic glanced up from his papers as he sat at his desk. “Aye, listen to Ellise. You are not fat. You are b—”
“Buxom?” Lucy interjected and Ellise heard the smile in her voice.
Dominic looked affronted. “Nay! I was going to say beautiful. No woman has ever carried babes so well.”
Ellise noted the way Dominic’s hungry gaze trailed over Lucy and fought the twisting envy in her stomach. Only one man had ever looked at her that way.
“There,” she declared as she finished the lacings. “Shall we do your hair, my lady?”
“Aye, something simple. ‘Tis too hot for long tresses. Though I must look presentable for we may have a visitor today.”
Ellise followed Lucy as she eased herself into a chair in the far corner of the solar. The room was already warm, the morning light streaming in through the wide windows. The Lord and Lady’s chambers spread across the top of one side of the hall building and spoke of their great wealth. Though not unaccustomed to such displays—her late husband had been wealthy—the lush red fabrics and stunning carved furniture were beautiful and elegant and more tasteful than she’d seen in many a wealthy home. Dominic used it both for sleep and work and scowled as he leaned over the papers on his desk.
Combing out Lucy’s long, fair hair, she worked it into several braids. “Who is this visitor you speak of, my lady?”
“A Lord Wighthurst.”
Rigid, Ellise darted a glance at Dominic as he grunted from behind his desk. An expression of discontent come across his face. Surely it could not be—?
“My husband,” Lucy continued, “is apprehensive. I have not made the acquaintance of the Earl of Wighthurst but Dominic says he is not a pleasant man.”
“He is downright wicked,” Dominic declared.
Ellise clenched her hands around Lucy’s braids to prevent them shaking. The Earl of Wighthurst. The man who had her son. Why would he be coming to Thornewall? Did he know of her presence here? Did he wish to taunt her? Or mayhap just check up on her. To see how far she had fallen since she’d declined his offer of marriage. Some days, she wondered if she should not have accepted the brutal man’s hand, for at least she would still have access to her son.
Clearing her throat, Ellise forced her hands to work at Lucy’s fair hair. “Do-do you know why he wishes to stay?”
Dominic waved a hand. “Something to do with the border reivers, though I trust him not. The reiver threat is minimal and hardly warrants a visit.” The chair screeched across the wood as Dominic stood, strolled over to the windows and peered out. “James will be uneasy. The Earl is known for his plotting. ‘Tis said he took lands that should have belonged to his late-brother’s wife.”
Focus remaining on Lucy’s hair, Ellise nodded. “Captain James seems to be sure danger lurks around every corner.”
“Aye, and he believes it is up to him to thwart it.” He looked to Ellise, a twinkle in his blue eyes and she couldn’t help but meet his gaze. “Mayhap you can teach my captain not to shoulder the burdens of the entire population of Northumbria.”
“Me, my lord?”
“Aye. It seems he listens to your word more than that of his lord.”
Ellise’s cheeks heated furiously and she stared at the braids in her hands. “You are mistaken, my lord. Captain James listens to none but himself. The word of a woman has little sway over him.”
Lucy laughed and peeked at Ellise over her shoulder. “You should listen to my husband, Ellise. He is wiser than he looks.”
Gaze narrowing, he stalked over and planted a kiss on her cheek. “You shall pay for that remark later, Luce, but sadly I have duties to see to. Good day to you, my ladies.”
“Good day, my lord,” Ellise muttered as Lucy blew a kiss toward him and he offered her a wink.
She tamped down on the pang of envy and concentrated on carefully pinning up Lucy’s hair as she took a few long breaths to ease her embarrassment. Had everyone noticed the attraction between them? Or was it only Dominic who had? She didn’t relish being fodder for gossip.
And now Edmund would be visiting. The man she hated most in life. It was unbearable to think on. She had not seen him many years, since he tracked her down and took her son from her.
“Gentle, Ellise,” Lucy scolded softly and Ellise realized she’d been jabbing the pins into Lucy’s hair furiously.
“Forgive me, my lady.”
“Is all well? You are quiet this morn. You do not take offence over Dominic’s teasing, do you? I would not have thought you the type to take gossip seriously.”
“Gossip, my lady?” So people had been talking of her and James.
“Do not fear. If you have no interest in James, I hear tell of a wealthy lord from the south courting him for his daughter.”
“Oh.”
“Have a care, Ellise. It almost sounds as if you do want him for yourself. You’ll not calm the gossips’ tongues with behavior like that.”
Ellise swallowed, urging her twisting stomach to stop its jealousies. How much should she admit to Lucy? They were growing close. How could they not when she would be delivering her babies before long? But she was still her mistress and still a high bred noblewoman. Surely the idea of she and James together was laughable to her? Anyhow, it mattered not. It was an impossibility, even if their circumstances were not so far apart.
“Captain James is a good man, my lady. I value his friendship.”
“I suppose you do not value his handsome looks then?”
Ellise couldn’t resist laughing and Lucy giggled. “He is fine looking indeed, and I will say that I do not mind looking upon him, but that is all.” She tucked in a strand of hair and leaned back to admire her work. “There, all done.”
Lucy twisted to face her. “Oh, you are close-mouthed. Do you not know that I need some excitement to fill my days with? Dominic would have me confined already if he could and, as it is, he still will not allow me to do much. I may well die of boredom.”
“You should relish it. ‘Twill not be long before your babes are with us and keeping you busy.”
“Aye.” Lucy patted her stomach. “I am impatient to meet them, though I know the longer they remain, the better.” She jolted. “Oh, feel them kick, Ellise. They are strong, are they not? It must surely mean
they are healthy?”
Ellise pressed a hand to her belly and smiled as a foot jabbed her hand. “They are indeed strong. It bodes well for you, my lady.”
With some effort, Lucy got to her feet. “I am to visit the chapel. Will you come and pray?”
“In but a moment. I must see that your gowns are washed.”
Lucy nodded. “My thanks.” She threaded her fingers together and eyed her for a moment. “Is all well? You look saddened.”
Ellise forced a bright smile across her face. “Not at all. I am just… just trying to recall what must be done today. I believe I have a need of some more lemon balm. The men used most of it after weapons practice yesterday.”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “Aye, they are a careless lot.”
“That they are.”
“Well, I shall see you shortly, Ellise. If you are busy, I should have no more need for you until supper.”
She nodded with a small smile as Lucy left the chambers, her footsteps soft on the balcony stairs. Running her fingers across the comb in her hand, Ellise sighed. Was Edmund truly intending to come to Thornewall? Could she even face the man? The last time she saw him, some six summers ago, he had threatened her with death and her baby son with a life not worth living. It would take all her willpower not to jump on the man and beat him herself. But she also wanted to hear of Arias. Mayhap she would at least learn how he was doing.
Swallowing the ache in her throat, she jumped from the bed and gathered the gowns for washing. She could not wallow in such thoughts. She must continue to work hard, earn her coin and get her son back. Perhaps Edmund’s visit would be useful. If she learned of his plans for the next few months, she might find a way to gain access to Arias. Edmund had kept on most of her late husband’s servants and they were loyal to her. When she had been caught, beaten, and banished by Edmund after trying to make an escape with Arias, they had taken care of her and sworn to watch over Arias. Hopefully their loyalties remained and they would help her smuggle him out.
The Borderland Legacy Page 37