Thus, he attempted to talk himself out of it—perhaps he’d imagined the flash of recognition there. There was the faulty light in the hall, and the distance…surely she wasn’t the woman from last night. The one whom he’d nearly trampled, insulted and then propositioned?
He’d lost track of what he’d been saying to Lord Merle and as she made her way closer to the dais, he found it impossible to look away. Whether it was because of the young woman’s beauty—which was undeniable, even from half across the hall—or because it was as if an impending doom was coming his way like a rolling black storm, Dirick wasn’t certain.
She seemed to sparkle gold: from the gossamer veil on her head to the long, wrist-length sleeves of her gown. As she drew closer, he scrutinized her closely—absentmindedly rejoining the conversation with Merle as he held onto the rapidly disintegrating hope that he was mistaken. But, no, the nearer she came the clearer his error was. A warm flush began to settle over Dirick’s features as he recalled the rude and angry words he’d shouted at her the night before. The fact that he’d nearly flattened her.
His next question—who was she?—was soon answered, but not before he privately agonized over whether he’d insulted his lord’s wife, his mistress, or—God help him—the daughter, Maris.
When she reached the dais, her gaze flitted over him with impersonal coolness before settling on her father.
“Ah, my love,” Merle stood to take her hand. His affection for her was evident in the tone of his voice as well as the gleam in his eyes.
That made Dirick even more uncomfortable. He rose stiffly beside his host, trying desperately to think of something to say in defense of his actions. After all, what the hell had a noble lady been doing dressed in peasant clothes, wandering through the town-alone—in the middle of the night?
Then the thought struck him. Mayhap she no more wished for Dirick to acknowledge their meeting than he did. What had she been doing out in the night alone?
“Sir Dirick de Arlande, may I present you with my daughter, Maris Lareux, Lady of Langumont,” Merle said.
His daughter. God’s teeth, of all the women he could have accosted….
“’Tis a pleasure, my lady,” he managed to say, pressing a light kiss to her fingertips, wondering what on earth had possessed Bernard to reject the beautiful creature standing before him. He noticed the stains and scratches on what should have been a lily-white hand with interest and wondered what she did other than embroidery.
“Good evening, Sir Dirick,” she said steadily.
Her refusal to meet his gaze fueled Dirick’s suspicion that she wished to ignore their previous meeting and he relaxed slightly.
As she took a seat on the far side of her father, Merle said, “Sir Dirick is lately arrived from France—Paris, I believe. I knew his father quite well, and he’ll be staying with us for some time.”
Lady Allegra, Merle’s wife, arrived at that moment. Dirick was immediately struck by the difference between the two women who now sat at the high table. Other than the same sensual shape to their mouths and a similar creamy complexion, ’twas hard to recognize that they were mother and daughter.
While the lady of the manor was certainly beautiful, it was in a soft, almost faded way that was only partly due to her age. Her daughter, however, sparkled not only through her choice of clothing and jewels, but also in her eyes and countenance. She was vibrant whilst her mother was soft-spoken and demure.
Dirick shared a bread trencher with Lady Allegra, and as his mind raced, he occupied his hands by serving her as elegantly as the fine courtier he was. No sooner had she sipped from her wine than he refilled it. Her meat was cut swiftly into bite-sized chunks with the knife that he kept at his waist. She had the choicest pieces of bread, the sweetest-smelling pieces of fish. And she had charming, lightly flirtatious conversation—something at which Dirick was highly skilled.
He didn’t realize until near halfway through the meal that he’d been holding his breath, waiting to hear the roar of fury from Merle as Maris told him of their encounter. When it didn’t come, he began to relax and enjoy Allegra’s company. Though she didn’t talk much, she asked several questions and giggled like a girl at his jests. Her eyes lit up a bit then, and she ceased looking quite as faded as he’d previously thought.
“’Tis said the king will cross the channel to deal with Geoffrey now that Christ’s Mass has passed,” Merle said to Dirick as one of the pages brought a new platter, this one with stuffed turbot.
Dirick nodded, chewing his bread slowly. While he had to take care what he said—after all, he was newly come from Paris, not from the king’s side at Westminster—much of what they spoke of would only be heard between the four of them. Neither of the ladies would take much from his words, so he needn’t be overly cautious.
“Aye,” he replied. “I hear that Geoffrey is stocking his estates for war—claiming that Old King Henry meant for his son to relinquish Anjou to Geoffrey when he succeeded the throne of England.”
“Matilda is still at Westminster with Henry?” asked Merle.
“Aye. ’Twas she that kept him from heading off to Ireland to conquer the lands for his brother William. With Geoffrey stirring the pot in Anjou, the king has trouble enough across the channel that he doesn’t need to make more war here. The rumors are that the queen’s vassals do not much like him either.”
Merle tsked into his cup of wine as he took a long draught. “The king has his hands full,” he said, wiping his mouth with the back of a hand. “But he is a man who loves his war and action.”
“Aye. And whilst Aquitaine seethes for her mistress, Eleanor, Anjou is about to be gobbled up by Geoffrey.” Dirick wiped his hands on a damp cloth proffered by a page. “And the queen is enceinte once again,” he offered in a low voice.
“Then she will not accompany her husband across the channel?” asked Maris, leaning around her father to look at him.
Dirick started, assuming that his conversation had been between himself and Merle, but he recovered quickly. “Nay, lady. She stays at Westminster—so the rumors say—because of her condition.”
Maris quirked her eyebrow in a most becoming manner. “It might be worthwhile for the king if her majesty visited Aquitaine if ’tis in such an uproar.”
“It’s not so bad as that…and Henry has enough problems with Geoffrey in Anjou. The king will cross the channel and leave Richard of Luci as official administrator of England. But the queen will still be here.”
Maris made a soft sound of comprehension. “The king might appoint Luci officially, yet the queen is certain to hold her own. She will be the one truly in control.”
Dirick almost choked on a chunk of bread, taken by surprise at her grasp of the situation, and her accurate assessment. Women didn’t talk politics—at least, women other than Matilda and Eleanor—and they were queens, for God’s sake. “Aye, my lady, I do believe you are correct. The queen stands back to none but her husband.”
Turning back to Merle, Dirick asked, “How fares the king’s chancellor? ’Tis said he takes the court by storm.”
“Aye, Thomas à Becket is the king’s friend as well as his chancellor. To think that it was the Archbishop who forced Henry to take him on as chancellor…now the two are nearly inseparable,” Merle replied.
“’Tis said the chancellor holds court rather than the king,” Maris interjected. “The king goes to Becket’s court, rather than the chancellor coming to his. Even the diplomats attend Becket, rather than the queen—which I cannot imagine she appreciates.”
“Nay, I would not expect it thus,” Dirick said. He cast a brief glance at his host, wondering whether the man was merely indulgent of his daughter’s vocal tendencies, or whether he encouraged it. And he wondered where Maris got her information—by listening in on such conversations, or from her father.
Or mayhap from whomever she was meeting in the village a night.
All at once, Lady Maris didn’t seem quite as naïve and innocent as one mi
ght think.
“Becket dresses in all frippery and serves the most gluttonous meals,” Maris continued. “’Tis said the king even rode his horse into Becket’s hall one evening for dinner!”
She paused to wipe daintily at her mouth, and Dirick’s attention followed her hand as it brushed over a pair of full, pink lips. He found his eyes caught there for a moment and his mouth went dry.
A surprise heat swept over him at the thought of tasting that sensual mouth—despite the fact that it hardly seemed to cease speaking. Tearing his eyes away while focusing on that wry thought, Dirick turned to his trencher and took a long swallow of wine. He had obviously been too long without a woman—a state he would rectify tonight. Until then, he would he would firmly steer his thoughts away from the daughter of his host.
“Maris, do you not carry tales,” Merle was admonishing her good-naturedly.
“Aye, Papa,” she conceded with a smile. “Though ’twas only yourself who told me the same story last night.”
Merle chuckled and changed the subject, continuing to speak to his daughter—which gave Dirick a moment to redirect his base thoughts from the lovely woman sitting next to her father. “How fare the cooper’s wife and babes?” Merle asked.
“The woman is a bit weak, for she has lost much blood,” she said. “The babes thrive, and I’ve sent Bernice, the smith’s daughter, to wet-nurse for them whilst Thomas’s wife recovers. Her own babe died this se’ennight past, and she was glad to do it.”
“Maris has the gift of healing and she spends much of her time in the village, caring for the people,” Merle explained to their guest.
“The cooper’s wife bore two babes?” Dirick asked, keeping his attention upon her hazel eyes instead of allowing it to drop lower.
“Aye. Both hale and hearty boys, though it was a horrific birthing,” she replied. “She was nearly lost herself and will have a long recovery.”
“You’ve done all you can for the cooper, and with the smith’s daughter to keep the babes, verily the mill will continue to function. I will visit him on the morrow to express my own felicitations,” Merle said as the last platters were cleared from the high table.
Dirick remembered how much it meant for him when his lord showed sympathy for his recent loss, and his admiration for Merle Lareux grew, knowing that he would do the same for a lowly peasant. Then all at once, a great yawn surprised him, nearly cracking his jaw with its violence. Dirick muffled it with a large hand and said, “Pardon, ladies, ’tis not your company which wearies me. I’d a long journey, and the day was even longer.”
“Of course,” Merle agreed. “Maris, will you not show Sir Dirick where the men-at-arms lay their pallets? And any other comforts he may need? Come, Allegra, let us go abovestairs.”
Maris stood reluctantly, dismay by her father’s innocent command. The last thing she wanted was to be alone with this man. She’d felt his attention returning to her again and again during the evening, and had been unable to ignore the interest in his stare. Try as she might, she’d been unable to keep her mouth closed and her mind on her food—as her mother had admonished her many a time. Nay, if the man was to wed her, he’d know from the beginning that she had her own thoughts and opinions, and an interest in the world beyond Langumont’s walls.
“Of course, Papa,” she said in a voice that disguised her discomfort.
Obviously, Sir Dirick did not miss her mislike of the situation, for as soon as Merle and Allegra were out of earshot, he said, “Lady Maris, I am perfectly able to find my own pallet.”
“Nay, ’tis my father’s wish. I should not put a guest out,” she smiled at him, swallowing the resentment she felt for being pressed into a marriage she did not want. In all honesty, it was not this man’s fault—and he seemed pleasant enough now that he was not ahorse. “Have you bathed?”
“Nay,” he shook his head, surprise flashing in his gray-blue eyes.
“May I offer you a warm bath before I direct you to your pallet?” she asked. “Gustave will bring the water. I won’t take long, and you will soon be for bed.”
“You?” Those eyes turned on her with a sudden intensity, and he looked at her for a moment, a very faint smile hovering at the corners of his mouth.
Maris’s throat went dry and she nearly stepped away from him and the unexpected stirrings in her middle. The sudden image of this man, devoid of his chausses and tunic, settled into a tub that would hardly fit his large body, filled her mind. His dark hair, which now curled wildly about his face and jaw, would be sleek and dripping, his broad shoulders bare and steam rising from dark skin—
Maris bit her lip as her cheeks flushed with warmth. What was wrong with her? She’d never had such lewd thoughts over such a mundane chore. “Aye, of course,” she managed to say in response to the question she’d nearly forgotten.
“Nay,” Sir Dirick rumbled after what seemed like forever. His smooth, low voice carried easily to her ears, even over the noise of the servants as they cleared off the tables and stacked the benches. “I do not believe I should put myself through such torture.”
Her heart in her throat and her mind whirling—unsure as to what he meant by such a comment—Maris spun away to hide her discomfiture. “Then if you would follow me,” she murmured and blindly began to make her way between the nearly-empty tables, anxious to be rid of her charge.
As they approached a group of rowdy knights, Maris paused, resting her hand on the shoulder of a burly, red-headed one. They quieted almost as if she’d commanded it. “Sir Raymond, how fares your shoulder? Is the pain lessening?”
The man’s face nearly matched the color of his hair when he turned it up to look at her. “Aye, my lady. The pain is nearly gone.” He moved his arm as if to demonstrate.
“You will come to the herbary on the morrow and I will check it again,” she ordered. It wouldn’t do for her father’s best man to have an injured arm. “The last I dressed a wound for you, ’twas only once that you came to me—and look what has happened to it because of your carelessness!”
He grinned up at her, “Aye, my lady. On the morrow, I will allow you to torture me yet again. ’Tis only because your touch is so sweet that I can sit through the pain,” he teased in the manner of a big brother.
Maris, who’d grown up with Raymond pulling at her pigtails and chasing her through the keep with spiders, planted hands on her hips as the other men laughed. “Aye, and you should keep such sweetness on your tongue, or I will put you through more tortures if you spread tales. Did I not warn you that some day you would pay for the frog in my bed?”
There wasn’t a hint of guile in her actions, Dirick thought as he watched. She had no concept of what she did to a man, with those teasing golden-green eyes and vibrant smile—particularly the redheaded knight, whose besotted expression was not quite brotherly. Whatever reason she’d been in the village at night, it hadn’t been for a tryst—he was now certain of it.
Dirick’s skin still prickled at the memory of her innocent offer to bathe him, and he wondered if her father knew she’d made such a gesture. A sudden streak of heat shot through him at the thought of her scratched and stained hands soaping his body…but he thrust the thought away immediately. He’d do well to find a woman this night. Mayhaps one of the maidservants would oblige him.
Not for the first time that evening, he wondered why he’d heard nothing of the beautiful heiress of Langumont—from either his brother or the court. Certainly a well-landed maid as comely as Maris Lareux wouldn’t escape the notice of the unmarried, land-greedy barons at court.
Lady Maris’s voice broke into Dirick’s thoughts as she led him around into the area reserved for the men-at-arms and other important visitors. It was a large room, cordoned off from the rest of the hall by a heavy oaken door—much nicer than many of the men’s quarters he’d slept in throughout England and France. A fire roared in the corner, and a serf slumped against the wall, snoring, with a stack of wood within reach.
“You may place
your pallet anywhere you like, Sir Dirick,” Maris offered. She handed him a pile of blankets, more than generous enough to keep one warm—especially with a blazing fire in the same room.
“Thank you, my lady,” he took the bundle.
She paused for a moment as if contemplating her next words, and when she spoke, a small grin tickled the corner of her enticing mouth.
Her words, however, when they came, eliminated any hint of innocence. “Papa bade me see to your comforts. If your need is as great as ’twas yestereve, I will send a woman to you.”
Dirick felt his face flush hot as he ground his teeth together in an attempt to maintain his dignity. Words escaped him, and before he could gather his wits, the little minx took his silence for dissent and whirled away down the dark corridor.
He could only stare after her, trying to decide whether he wanted to murder her or kiss her.
Chapter Two
Maris dressed without Verna’s assistance the next morning. She’d wakened earlier than usual and found too many thoughts trundling through her mind to make more sleep likely, so she rose. It was a frigid morn, and the sun had not even begun to peek over the edge of the earth to warm it.
Down the stone steps she went, breezing through the hall where several men-at-arms were sprawled in a corner. Obviously, they’d not made it to the knights’ quarters where she’d left a dumfounded Sir Dirick the night before.
A bemused smile quirked her face at the memory of his shocked expression, and, engrossed as she was, Maris misstepped and trod upon the cat’s tail. The tabby emitted a yowl of protest (the sotted men still did not stir) and the feline stalked off through the matted rushes, refusing to accept Maris’s apologies.
She tsked at herself, fearing that the cat’s reaction was merely a foreshadowing of what her father would say if he heard of her unladylike gibe at Sir Dirick. She couldn’t keep from glancing again toward the common sleeping area, where he was likely sprawled out on his pallet.
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