While Chadwick was collecting his things, Sean went to the door and opened it to find Sloan standing there. Sean immediately stiffened. He didn’t like the man or anything about him.
“What do you want?” he growled.
Sloan lifted an eyebrow at the enormous knight. “I came to see how Lady Barklestone is faring,” he said. “I came a little while ago but was sent away. Has she given birth yet?”
Chadwick heard him. “She has given birth to a daughter.”
Both men were snappish, unfriendly. Sloan eyed the pair. “And Lady Barklestone is well?”
“Well enough,” Chadwick said. But then he came to a halt, facing off with Sloan. “Tell the king that if he wants her to dance for him again, she cannot do it. She needs rest and cannot entertain him any longer. You can tell him that I said so.”
Sloan shook his head. “You misunderstand,” he said. “I did not come on behalf of the king. He has some round servant girl to entertain him at the moment and has not asked about Lady Barklestone. I have come to see how she fares because I promised her father that I would help him take her back to Cerenbeau Castle. The lady, and now her child, would be much safer there.”
Chadwick eyed him suspiciously. “Since when do you go against the king’s wishes?”
Sloan shrugged. “Mayhap I have grown a conscience,” he said. “Or mayhap, I am more loyal to my old friend Bradford than I am to John at the moment. But I had better not say too much else de Lara will tell the king of my subversion.”
Sean wasn’t going to rise to what could be considered an insult. “I would not waste my time with you or anything about you, de la Roarke. Your words, and your loyalty, mean nothing to me.”
Sloan smiled thinly. “I believe you,” he said. Then, he noticed that Chadwick had his bag and both men looked as if they were preparing to leave. “Where are you both going?”
Sean stared at him, as if the sheer force of his omnipotent gaze would cause him to wilt and blow away. Chadwick was slightly more tactful, but only slightly.
“We have wounded to attend to,” he said.
“Both of you?” Sloan asked. “Both of you leaving Lady Barklestone unprotected from the king should he decide to come and see her for himself?”
Sean and Chadwick hadn’t thought of that. In their haste to get to Cullen, they’d neglected one very large issue – the king’s obsession with Lady Barklestone. Sean sighed sharply.
“I will send someone up to guard her door,” he said. “Now, get out of my way.”
Sloan put up his hand. “A guard will have to acquiesce to the king, de Lara,” he said. “It would do no good to post him at the door.”
Sean was growing increasingly annoyed. “Then I shall simply have the lady bolt the door from the inside and not answer it. Now, move.”
Sloan backed up, but not all the way. He was still standing mostly in the doorway. “I will sit with the lady while you are away,” he said. “As I said, her father and I are old friends. Besides, if John comes calling for the lady, I will be able to talk him out of it. For now, anyway.”
Unfortunately for Chadwick and Sean, they didn’t have much of a choice. There was the very real possibility that John would come to Lady Barklestone’s rooms while they were away and having Sloan there to deter him was only marginally better than if the lady had no protection at all.
But some protection was better than nothing.
“Why would you offer to do this?” Sean wanted to know. “You are a lap dog of the king, just like all of his other advisers. Why should I not believe that you will simply open the door for him and let him in? The lady is defenseless, de la Roarke. She cannot fight him off.”
Sloan thought that perhaps it would be best for him to show de Lara some honesty. “You want to know why I am offering?” he said. “I will tell you, then. Brafe de Rivington and I are old friends, but the man knows me well. He has offered me money and lands should I help him take his daughter home, and help him I shall. Is that what you want to hear? It is purely mercenary, but when it comes to money, I never waver. I can promise you that I will do everything in my power to send the king away should he come to see Lady Barklestone.”
It was a truthful answer and, strangely enough, Sean believed him. Sloan de la Roarke was many things, but a liar wasn’t one of them, especially when it came to coinage. He’d seen enough of the man over the past several months to know that. There could be no better motivator as far as Sloan was concerned.
Besides… it wasn’t as if they had any other option.
“Very well,” Sean said. But then, a big hand shot out and grabbed Sloan around the throat. “But if Lady Barklestone and her child are not in excellent condition when we return, I will find you and I will kill you. Is this in any way unclear?”
Sloan wasn’t frightened, but he knew the man meant what he said. “She will be in excellent condition.”
“Swear it.”
“I do.”
With that, Sean and Chadwick quit the chamber, heading down the darkened corridor. Sloan watched them until they faded down the stairs before shutting the door and bolting it. He’d meant what he said; if there was money involved, he could be the most reliable person in the world. And as long as he knew Bradford would pay him well for helping him with Teodora, Sloan was as loyal as a guard dog.
Even if it was bought loyalty.
Unfortunately, the situation was already out of Sloan’s control. Unbeknownst to him, or Sean or Chadwick, during the course of Sloan’s conversation with de Lara and Chadwick, Teodora had risen from her bed and dressed in a heavy cloak to the muted protests of Norma. She hadn’t been as weak as she’d pretended, mostly because she was trying to throw Chadwick and Sean off of their guard. She knew that Chadwick would not let her ride with them, but nothing on this Earth was going to keep her from seeing Cullen – if, in fact, it really was Cullen. She had to see him for herself, and there was no force in Heaven or Earth that was going to stop her from going to the man, not even the fact that she’d given birth that morning.
It wasn’t the wisest thing to do, but she couldn’t help it. It wasn’t the safest thing to do, but that was of no consequence. The idea that Cullen was alive had fed Teodora’s spirit as the sun feeds the Earth. But even more than that, the fact that he was gravely injured drove her to do something she wouldn’t normally do –
Risk her own life to see him.
Therefore, as Sloan settled in for a long wait, a misplaced protector over Lady Barklestone and her new baby, Teodora slipped from the second entry to her suite of chambers, following Sean and Chadwick at a distance as they headed from Rockingham. It wasn’t easy, nor was it particularly smart, but nothing could stop Teodora from following.
The lure of Cullen was too strong.
Once the two men had ridden from the gatehouse, Teodora followed, riding sidesaddle because any other position was excruciating. In fact, riding a horse was excruciating, but it couldn’t be helped. Cullen was alive.
And she had to get to him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The army had returned.
Barric knew that because he’d seen the evidence in the bailey, of the army returning and settling in, and he had seen Sean enter the keep in search of Chadwick and then leave with the man, presumably to tend the wounded.
But that meant Chadwick wasn’t guarding Lady Barklestone.
They all knew how protective the man was over her, which made him the leading candidate for the father of the woman’s child. But John was still convinced that any child the woman gave birth to would be Preston’s and, therefore, valuable to his plans.
Barric had been waiting for this moment.
With Chadwick off tending the army and the king bedding a servant, Barric made his way up to the second floor of the keep. Sloan was supposed to have seen to Lady Barklestone, but the man had never returned with any information. So as Barric made his way to the second floor, he was moving slowly and cautiously – slowly because he was unable
to move too quickly and cautiously as he kept an eye out for Sloan.
He didn’t trust the man.
True, they had been constant companions for the past several months but, very early on, Barric came to see that the man was as great a manipulator as Barric himself was. If it benefitted Sloan, then he would do it. If he thought, at any point, it would enrich him in any way, then he was loyal or willing, or whatever else it took for his gain. Therefore, Barric had spent much of their time together guarded, watching Sloan as he tried to make his way into Barric’s good graces. Barric had what Sloan didn’t – a title and lands – and Sloan was envious. He’d stated that plainly.
Therefore, Barric was on his guard with the man, in all things.
The second floor of the shell keep had a few staircases leading down into the courtyard in the center of it, and there were at least six big rooms on the south side, two of which Lady Barklestone inhabited. Barric made his way to her door, a big and heavy thing, knocking on it softly at first, but with more force when he wasn’t heard.
Sloan answered the door.
Barric stood there, surprised to see the man. “Well?” he hissed. “What are you doing here? You were to see to Lady Barklestone and report back to the king.”
Sloan didn’t move. “I am sitting here whilst Lady Barklestone sleeps,” he said. “You may tell the king she gave birth to a healthy girl-child.”
Barric was greatly confused by Sloan’s presence in the chamber. “Why are you here?” he repeated. “Lady Barklestone has maids to see to her needs. Surely you are not needed.”
Sloan was calm as he faced him. In fact, he was coming across as very nearly annoyed by the man’s arrival.
“The maids are tending to Lady Barklestone and the child,” he said. “I am tending to any visitors who may want to come and harass the woman. She must be left to rest, Barric. I will tell the king the same thing if he comes, so it would be in your best interest to discourage him from visiting her any time soon.”
Now, Barric was becoming outraged. “Who are you to speak to me like that?” he demanded. “Let me see Lady Barklestone and her child immediately or I will bring a herd of soldiers who will force you to let me in. Is that what you want? Because you cannot fight off twenty armed men.”
That was true and Sloan lost some of his annoyance. “The woman should not be bothered,” he said, trying to play the sympathy angle now. “Would you truly come in here just to harass her? She cannot dance for the king in her condition. Why should he even bother with her now?”
Barric was seeing something very quickly now; he was starting to see Sloan as a barrier between him and the child he’d vowed to confiscate. He thought this would be an easy task with Chadwick and Sean out of the way, but now Sloan had, for unknown reasons, appointed himself Lady Barklestone’s protector. It was unexpected, but not insurmountable.
Barric changed his manner.
“No one wants to bother her, Sloan,” he assured him, trying to push into the room. “Let me see for myself that she and the child are well and I shall tell the king. I will tell him to stay away and allow her to recover, though it will not be an easy task. Just let me see the woman.”
Sloan was essentially pushed out of the way as Barric entered the chamber. He frowned at the man. “Then if you just want to see her, be quiet about it,” he said, pointing to the closed chamber door. “She is in there.”
Barric went to the big panel, quietly lifting the latch and pushing it open. The first thing he saw was a big, mussed bed that was empty. Curious, his gaze moved across the room, across the fine furnishings that he himself had purchased for Lady Barklestone, before coming to rest on a serving woman seated next to what looked like an infant’s bed. Barric continued to peruse the room only to realize that Lady Barklestone wasn’t in it. Concerned, he looked at the servant.
“Where is Lady Barklestone?” he asked.
The woman looked at him with big eyes and immediately burst into tears. “She is not here, my lord.”
Barric stepped into the room with Sloan right behind him. They were both looking somewhat bewildered.
“Not here?” Barric said. “What do you mean by that? Where did she go?”
The woman wept into her apron. “I don’t know, my lord,” she said. “But she left.”
Barric rushed to the child’s bed only to see a small infant sleeping peacefully in it. “But the child is still here,” he pointed out. “She left without her child?”
The maid continued weeping. “She will be back soon, I am sure, my lord,” she said. “She would never leave her child. Her business must have been very important.”
Barric was shocked. He whirled to Sloan. “And you were supposed to be watching over her?” he said. “The woman slipped out and you did not even know it!”
Sloan was stunned. “I never heard anything at all,” he insisted, noting the second door in the chamber that opened up onto a platform outside. “She must have gone that way!”
As he rushed to the door and threw it open as if to see Lady Barklestone somewhere outside, Barric was thinking very quickly about the situation – certainly, the lady would return to her child. That was a fact, no matter where she had gone.
But the child wasn’t going to be here.
Barric eyed the babe and eyed the maid, his mind working. It would be a simple thing to take the child from the maid, but with Sloan here – that would be an issue. John wanted the child, and he wanted the mother, and Barric intended to provide him with both. But first, he had to get rid of Sloan. Or, at least, move the man out of the way.
He had an idea.
As Sloan came back into the chamber from the outside and shut the panel, bolting it, Barric wandered back into the sitting chamber. At his belt, he had a couple of daggers, things he always carried with him, but one of the daggers had a golden hilt, as heavy as a brick. He would have use for that dagger where it pertained to Sloan.
But he had to act fast.
Unaware that Barric had wicked intentions toward him, Sloan came back into the sitting chamber as well, baffled by the disappearance of Lady Barklestone. He moved back to the chair he had been sitting in, scratching his head.
“It seems to me that for the lady’s protection, we must search for her,” he said. “But I am at a loss as to where she could have gone.”
Facing away from Sloan, Barric was fingering the hilt of his dagger. “Since you were supposed to be watching out for her, I should think you would be frantic to find her,” he said. “Mayhap she has gone to the kitchens. Or mayhap she has gone back to the solar for some reason. In any case, if I were you, I would search for her immediately. The woman has just given birth and surely it cannot be good for her to be running about.”
Sloan nodded as he turned for the door. In truth, he was feeling rather embarrassed that Lady Barklestone had escaped him, not to mention what would happen to the riches Bradford had promised him should she come to harm. Unfortunately, he failed to see Barric coming up behind him with the hilt of his big dagger in-hand. By the time Sloan reached out for the door latch, Barric brought the hilt down on the man’s skull.
He was out in an instant.
With Sloan now sprawled on the floor, unconscious, Barric sheathed the dagger and stepped over the man on his way to one of the lancet windows, which had a cord on it used to tie it back when the weather was good. Barric collected the cord, which was quite long, and made his way into the bedchamber, where the maid gave him a surprising fight before he managed to tie her up. He gagged her for good measure to make certain she couldn’t scream for help.
Rather exhausted from his exertions, Barric scooped the newborn infant into his arms, being very careful with the child because a dead or injured child would be of no use to anyone. It was in his best interests, and the king’s, to keep the baby safe and well. With a smile of victory, he slipped from the chamber and took the infant with him.
He had no doubt that the child would draw the mother to him like a moth to f
lame.
PART FOUR
PROMISSIO (THE PROMISE)
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Blackthorn Forest
It hadn’t been difficult to track Chadwick and Sean through the trees, as they were being led by a man who seemed to know where he was going. Teodora stayed just far enough back that they really couldn’t see her, but she could hear their muted voices in the density of the forest. Among the sounds of the trees and animals, there was an occasional human voice that told her she was on the right track.
But it was miserable and exhausting travel. Everything below the waist was a throbbing, painful mess, made worse by sitting on the exact area that had received so much trauma. At one point, she thought to get off the horse and start walking, but she was certain that she didn’t have much strength for that, so she remained on the horse, following the voices and signs of the men who had so recently passed through.
Blackthorn Forest was, if nothing else, a very large timberland and it literally went on for miles and miles. The southern end of it was a royal hunting forest, as Barric had once told her during one of the many conversations they’d had when he did all of the talking and she did all of the listening.
About an hour into her journey, Teodora ended up next to a bubbling brook and realized she’d lost the sound of the men she had been following. Now, all she could hear was the water and she began to grow concerned. She didn’t know these woods, and she hadn’t marked her trail, so she wasn’t even sure she could get out should she retrace her steps. She was just about to cross the stream when she heard a voice off to her left.
“Christ.” Came the deep, rumbling voice. “It is you. Damnation, lady, you nearly got yourself killed.”
Startled, Teodora turned to see Sean and Chadwick emerging from the bushes off to her left, followed by another man she didn’t recognize. The man was skinny, with a mass of curly, dark hair, and quite young. He didn’t even introduce himself. When he realized there was no danger from the person who had been following them since they entered the trees, he simply leapt across the stream, waving his arm at them.
Noble Line of de Nerra Complete Set: A Medieval Romance Bundle Page 41