“Do ye hear what I say, Edwin?” Bon’s words were hardly discernible and his hand flopped awkwardly on the table. “Listen you, I have written a song for my beloved. I shall play it for her on my wedding night.”
Drunk as he was, Bon’s short fingers stumbled agilely over the strings of the lute and the resulting melody was surprisingly moving. He sang in a careful, off‑key voice, obviously making up the words as he went along:
O, Lady of the Fairest, I praise thy beauty…The clouds will cry for thee, for they see not such grace in heav’n….Thy face, thy voice make my heart swell with joy, and on thy wedding day, thee shall have my love for’er more….
“She would make more than my heart swell,” Edwin mumbled into his ale. Fortunately, Bon didn’t hear him, for he was well into his second pitiful verse.
As Bon continued his tribute to his intended, the men-at-arms crept one by one from the hall. His verses became more and more redundant, and of the worst poetry, and Edwin was forced to be subjected to the poor musicality of his master. Once, he dared to rise from his seat, hoping to follow suit of the other cowards that had since left him alone in the room, but a look from Bon froze him in his tracks. Edwin sank onto a cushioned chair, and, refilling his ale cup yet again, prepared himself for a long night.
And an even longer morrow, when, with dawn, he must break the ill news to his master.
Merle strode across the parapets of Langumont Keep.
His breath blew like white smoke from the bristling hair that lined his mouth, and a winter breeze brushed his thinning hair. The men‑at‑arms that stood at the north and south ends of the roof of the keep stoked small fires to warm their hands, nodding to their lord as he walked past them.
A sliver of moon cut the deep blue sky, and hundreds of stars twinkled above. Merle stopped at the southeast corner of the parapet, looking into the darkness over the vast lands that he was blessed to rule. They stretched as far as one could see from this vantage point. Lands that he loved nearly as much as his daughter.
He drew in a deep breath that was so cold it hurt the deepest part of his lungs, then exhaled strongly. Somewhere, out in that darkness, was the great channel he’d crossed once to France. If he listened closely, he’d hear the crashing waves upon the cliffs. He stopped breathing, just to hear the sound.
A movement from the corner of his eye drew Merle’s attention. Turning, he found that Sir Dirick had come pell‑mell around the corner, then came to a stop when he caught sight of his host.
“My lord,” Dirick said, clearly uncomfortable.
“Nay, Dirick, you do not disturb me. Come.” Merle smiled at a sudden thought. “Unless ’tis you who does not wish to be disturbed.”
“Nay, my lord. ’Tis just that I did not expect to come upon you. I…wished…thought to be alone. I am glad for your company.”
Merle beckoned him closer, gesturing out into the darkness. “See you here, Dirick…. See you all of the blessings that have been bestowed upon me.”
Dirick looked out into the dark, though Merle knew he was unable to see far in the dim, starry night. “You’re worthy of them, my lord,” he said quietly.
“Listen and you can hear the sea…it has been the cause of the wealth that has come to me. My father’s grandfather was a Saxon thegn, betrothed to the daughter of a Norman lord in great favor with The Conqueror. My great‑grandfather’s land, here near the sea, was a most important fief. Since the day my great‑grandfather wed with Lord Humphrey’s daughter, Margaret, this keep and this fief have served the King of England with no regret, and no hesitation—even when Stephen of Blois ruled, and ruined, this land.”
Merle was silent for a moment, aware that he’d thrust his pensive mood and meandering thoughts upon his companion. Then he gave a short, bitter laugh. “Forgive me, Dirick, but my solemnity comes from the knowledge that my beloved Maris will soon belong to another man….and these lands will someday be ruled by another.” He took a deep breath, shaking himself from his melancholy. His decision was good. It was the best he could wish for Maris.
Yet, of the man whom he’d come to know and respect, and one who was clearly a confidant of the king, Merle nevertheless felt compelled to ask, “What think you of my guests?”
“They seem pleasant dinner companions…full of much news…confident and brave.” In the faulty light, Merle saw his companion’s hands close over the roughness of the stone half‑wall.
“Yet you do not sound convinced,” he pressed. Then gave a wry chuckle. “Has my daughter complained to you?”
“My lady does not seem overfond of the idea of marriage,” Dirick admitted in dry tones.
“And you, ever the chivalrous knight, do not wish to see a damsel in distress.” Merle grinned, then sobered. He was full aware of the way Dirick’s eyes often settled on his daughter, and the way she tended to avoid looking at him…unless the man was turned in the other direction. “Aye, Maris has a way of manipulating even her father with her sad stories. ’Tis the best for her, I believe, Dirick. The world can be an unfriendly place, and I’ll not have her alone and vulnerable should aught happen to me.” His voice softened at the last.
“She may not understand my decision,” Merle continued, “but ’twill stand. I owe a great debt to Michael d’Arcy…for ’twas because of him that I was able to return to my own once again. I was grievously wounded and Michael saved my life. For that blessing, I will bestow upon his son the greatest gift I have to give.”
Dirick nodded in acknowledgment, but remained silent.
Thus the men stood in the dark for a time, not speaking. A cold, brisk breeze ruffled their hair and the cloaks that huddled about their shoulders, yet each was lost in thought and ’twas as if the other were not present.
The world was quiet but for the breeze, and when he heard the sound of voices below, Dirick looked down into the courtyard. He stood near the edge of the crenellation and peered over the waist‑high stone.
Voices drifted up to him, and he watched as two figures trod through the snow to the stables. Even in the low light, Dirick recognized the brilliant blue cloak. ’Twas Maris, and with her, the silvery-blond Sir Victor, his hair gleaming like a beacon in the moonlight. The two disappeared into the stables and Dirick turned abruptly from the view to find Merle watching him closely.
“My lord, I feel my pallet beckoning to me,” Dirick said. He bowed slightly—not one to forget his courtly manners even when there were other things that preyed on his mind. “I beg leave of you, now, Lord Merle, and for the morrow. I’ll leave early in the morn for Breakston. I thank you for your great hospitality now, and for all of the assistance you’ve given me in my quest for the murderer of my father. But I’ve dallied too long here, enjoying your hospitality and your pallet.”
“’Tis sorry I am to see you go,” Lord Merle said slowly.
“I must be on my way,” Dirick said, as if to reaffirm for himself the need to leave. He’d delayed his duty to move on to find Bon de Savrille long enough, merely to stay in the presence of the beautiful Lady Maris…and, in sooth, to be near a man who reminded him of his own father.
Grief swept over him, pushing away the resentment he felt toward Sir Victor, and mayhap a bit of self‑pity. Dirick couldn’t covet a woman such as Maris, and he had known that since he’d been old enough to know what a woman was. ’Twas a hard truth, but one he had lived with forever. Naught had happened to change that but for his heart softening toward what he could not have. Yet, soon as she was out of his sight, she would be out of his mind as well.
Thus, he must return to his duty, and redirect his energies from a woman who was beyond him to finding the man who’d taken his father from him. How foolish he’d been to waste a se’ennight here when he could have been following the trail of the creature who’d wrought such horror.
Dirick’s fingers closed around the broken dagger deep in the pouch attached to his tunic. He squeezed its handle, allowing the rage at his father’s murderer to resurface…to replace
his self‑pity and grief.
“You do not wish to bid my lady Allegra…or Maris farewell?” Merle asked.
“Nay. I’ve enjoyed the ladies’ company, yet I wish for an early start on the morrow.” It would be best if he were to leave without seeing her again.
“Then fare thee well, my son,” Merle said. He clapped a hand upon the younger man’s shoulder. For just a moment, it was as if some unusual connection flowed between them. “I bid you well wishes in your quest, and if I can be of further assistance, please let me know. If I can think of aught else to help you, know that I will send for you.”
“Aye. Thank you.” Dirick felt unaccountably sad leaving Lord Merle.
It was a mere shadow of the grief he’d felt at losing his father…yet it was sorrow all over again.
The sky hadn’t the merest tint of light to it when Dirick rolled up his pallet. He stood, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark, then walked over the other prone bodies in the chamber housing other itinerant men‑at‑arms.
The few belongings he’d brought with him—including the broken dagger—were wrapped and stuffed in a leather satchel. He shifted the weight of this baggage and pulled his fur‑lined cloak about his shoulders. The edges of the cloak rustled against the sweet herbs and rushes that covered the floor of the great hall, stirring them among his booted feet. All was silent—even the boy who tended the fire overnight dozed nearby. Only an orange tomcat prowled among the other snoring bodies, doubtless hoping to catch an unwary mouse among the rushes.
Dirick felt an odd sense of sadness as he stepped from the hall for the last time, and found himself under the dark blue, starred sky. He had enjoyed his stay here at Langumont, and the unhappiness he felt at leaving pushed into him like an annoying toothache. Mayhaps, he thought as he trudged through the powdery snow to the stables, ’twas because Lord Merle seemed to be the closest link he had to his father and his father’s murderer.
The whuffling of the horses greeted him as he pressed the door into the stables. Nick was near the front, and he nickered as he sensed his master’s scent. “Aye, boy, ’tis nigh time we were away from here,” he said, leading the destrier from his stall. Nick pranced spiritedly within the small enclosure, obviously eager to get on his way, and Dirick patted his nose to calm him. “’Tis happy I’ll be to see this place behind,” he said aloud.
He heard the noise behind him and whirled, hand clapping to his sword, just as her words reached his ears. “Then ’tis happy we shall be to see you go.” Maris stood there, holding a tallow candle, looking ethereal in the glow of the shining beacon.
The annoyance in her eyes did not, however, bespeak of celestial bearing. Her head had been covered with a wrap, but as the woolen veil slipped, her rich hair showed and gleamed in the candlelight. Her little chin was pointed in annoyance and her full lips were firmed into a thin line. The blue cloak trailed in the rushes on the stable floor, effectively covering her from shoulder to toe.
Dirick recovered from his surprise and dropped his hand from the sword upon which it rested. “Maris—my lady,” he amended quickly, “what do you here?”
Her frown did not dissipate. “Papa told me that you planned to leave early this morrow, and I did not—I thought you must not go without something for your journey. But I see that my consideration is unwanted.” He noticed now that she held a packet under the opening of her cloak. “So happy are you to see Langumont behind you that surely you wouldn’t wish to take any remembrance of this place.”
She turned to go, her back straight as a sword and her shoulders thrown back.
“Nay, my lady.” Dirick, annoyed at having been caught speaking such nonsense to his horse, spurred to action and reached for her arm. “Nay, ’tis not that I wish to leave Langumont…believe you me.”
At his tug, she pivoted back, her eyes a hard, flat brown in the flickering light. “I am not hard of hearing, Sir Dirick.”
He eased her toward him, now taking both shoulders and turning her so that she faced him fully. So close that her cloak’s hem nudged his boots. She felt small and soft beneath his fingers. “And so you heard the nonsense I spoke to Nick. I suppose it serves me right—for did I not overhear your private conversation with Hickory?” His smile felt forced. “I must leave, and that I have no desire to do so the reason I spoke thus.”
She looked up at him as if trying to determine whether he was merely being gallant or whether the words actually were truth. “I could not fathom that you would leave without a word of farewell….”
“I bid your father good-bye,” he told her, releasing her shoulders. They stood much too close. The smell of lemon and rosemary from her hair caught at his nostrils, mingling with the feminine scent of her. Dirick closed his eyes for a moment and forced himself to take a step backward. He turned into the stall to gather Nick’s bridle. “But I must leave now, my lady. I have spent—I have used your father’s hospitality much too long.”
Maris worked the candle into a cup appended to the wall of the stable, leaving it to light their way, and stepped toward him, unwittingly blocking him into the stall. She proffered the leather‑wrapped packet from under the folds of her cloak. “I’ve brought you cheese and bread, and there is a bit of salted venison here. I…did not know how long your journey would be.”
He took the packet, warmed by her thoughtfulness and tempted by her presence. “Thank you my lady. I was not able to break my fast and this will be a good meal for the road.”
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“I am a traveling knight, my lady, and I go where I can find work,” he said. “I do not know where my next place of rest will be.”
Maris frowned, a charming line crinkling around her nose. “Then why do you leave? Papa has work for you. I’m certain he would hire you for as long as you wished.”
A sudden flare of anger twisted his insides. Verily, she saw him only as a charity case. A man who could not make his own way.
Despite the fact that he’d led her to believe just that, it rankled that she saw him in such a lowly light. “Nay.” He turned his back to her, taking his time to loop up the reins and bit, hoping she would leave before he mortified himself again.
Or before he gave in to the base temptation she presented.
“Sir Dirick, I vow, you make little sense of anything. You need work, and there is work to be had, but you must leave nevertheless. I vow, ’twill be good to have you gone!”
“Aye,” he said as he turned, his hands brimming with the leather bridle, “I am sure you will not miss my company now that your betrothed has arrived.” As soon as he spoke those bitter words, Dirick wished he could cut out his tongue. Foolish.
“He is not my betrothed,” she said tightly, the spirit draining from her voice.
“He will be anon, and well you know it. When that happens, I am quite sure Victor will be pleased to trail you on your treks through the wood, digging in the snow for berries and watching as you nurse to the ill.” He knew he should stop speaking, but the words continued to flow. “I saw you come in here with him last night. Your father and I were watching from above. Mayhap you didn’t realize you were seen?”
Maris’s expression altered, but he couldn’t read her thoughts. “Aye. He wished to meet Hickory.”
Dirick quirked one eyebrow and managed to look sardonic even as a barrage of unwanted images assaulted him. He well knew how comfortable the warmth of a stable could be when one’s arms were filled with the warmth of a woman. Hay might be a bit prickly against bare skin, but it was springy and warm. “And was there nothing more that he wanted? Mayhap he wished to taste the lips of the woman he is to wive.”
“Mayhap he did,” she replied, lifting her chin smartly.
“Foolish girl. What if he had wanted more than a taste? Did you not think to have a chaperon with you? ’Tis not meet for a lady to have assignations alone with a man in the stable of all places, particularly if she is not yet betrothed to him.”
Maris’s eye
s snapped. “But here I stand with you, then. Alone in a stable, with no chaperone…and my virtue has never been safer.”
His resolve at an end, he dropped the bridle, reaching for her more roughly this time. “I would not say that your virtue is safe with me, my dear lady,” he said, pulling her flush against him. “In fact, Maris, I should say that you are treading upon very thin ice.”
He looked down at her and saw no fear in her eyes, only surprise, and he felt the warmth of her breath touch his face. His hands on her shoulders, he eased her backward until she felt the wall behind her and he imprisoned her there, holding her with his muscled legs.
Maris’s eyes sank closed as his tanned hands smoothed up the sides of her neck to cup the line of that stubborn chin. His thumb traced over her lips and her heart pounded madly beneath his fingers, pulsing in her long neck so that he could feel her unrest. Lifting her hair from the nape of her neck, he carefully pulled the long sweet-smelling tresses from the confines of her cloak. It was warm and silky and it twined like vines around his wrists and about her arms.
Dirick let his breath out slowly as his hands ran through her hair. She was not afraid, he noted, although if she had any sense, she would be. It was all he could do to keep from tearing off her clothes and tossing her onto the bed of hay in the next room.
When his hands stilled on her shoulders, and he eased back on the pressure from his thighs, she opened her eyes to look up at him. “Maris,” he said softly as their gazes met. He would never see her again, and she was not yet betrothed. It was a moment of madness, but not a sin. “I cannot leave without kissing you once more.”
He did not wait for a response, pressed her into the wall, his mouth descending to hers.
When his mouth closed on hers, Maris felt the same tide of pleasure wash over her as the day in the woods. Her lips opened beneath his and suddenly his tongue was in her mouth, sleek and strong, exploring and tasting her. She was as hungry to sample him and responded with fervor, tasting the faint mint of his mouth, sliding her own lips over his soft, slick ones.
Five Unforgettable Knights (5 Medieval Romance Novels) Page 32