Lords of the Kingdom

by Le Veque, Kathryn

  If he only knew. Madelaine pushed the errant thought away. She could never tell her father. It would devastate him to think the queen had hated Mother and Mother had deceived him by never telling him. It didn’t matter anyway. She had a debt to pay to her parents and a duty to fulfill. “My mother’s lack of punishment must have eaten at the queen all these years.”

  “Now you see. The queen never got retribution as she wished, so now she punishes you.”

  “It’s hopeless.”

  “You give up too easily,” Helen chided.

  “What must she do?” Lady Elizabeth asked.

  The dining room door opened suddenly and the noise from within rolled into the corridor like the hum of a thousand birds’ wings flapping in unison. Lady Helen faced Madelaine. “Prove your loyalty to the queen above everyone else, and then you will have her forgiveness and her loyalty.”

  “How am I supposed to do that?” Madelaine called to Helen’s departing figure.

  Helen paused and turned back to her. “I don’t have all the answers. Bide your time. It will come. It always does if one is patient enough.”

  Madelaine trudged behind Elizabeth to their appointed table. As Elizabeth took a seat across from Lord Thorton, he grinned lecherously at Madelaine and patted the seat beside him. She sat and his hand immediately found her knee under the table. She retaliated by swatting him away as discreetly as she could.

  She didn’t have a single moment to bide. She needed the queen’s favor. Without it, she dare not whisper a word of Lord Thorton’s attempts to take advantage of her. If the queen disliked her, that bit of information could easily be manipulated to make her look like she lacked morals.

  When Lord Thorton’s hand found her leg again and massaged her knee, she picked up her fork, discreetly slid it under the bench and pressed the prongs into his flesh as hard as she could. His hand ceased moving. She raised her gaze to meet his—sure he would be glaring at her, but the man stared as if she were the choicest piece of meat he’d ever seen. Disgust rolled through her. Immediately, she released the fork and the pressure of his hand lifted from her leg. If only she had her dagger then maybe he would see her as a danger instead of a conquest. Tomorrow, she would secure it under her dress in case she encountered him again.

  As she took a large sip of wine from her goblet, he pressed his lips by her ear. She darted a quick gaze around. Thank God everyone was busily engaged in their own conversation. “I like feisty women,” he said in a slur of already consumed wine.

  “You’ll find me deadly, not feisty,” she hissed, meaning every word. She quickly stuffed a chunk of bread in her mouth to avoid more conversation with him. But as she chewed, he slid closer. The sticky heat of his body enveloped her. Her stomach turned and she could not swallow the hunk of bread in her mouth.

  She couldn’t wait any longer. Time was her enemy. If things stayed as they were, she would be forced to drastic measures. She had excellent aim and had no doubt she could hit Lord Thorton if he tried to corner her alone and ravish her. But it would be deuced hard to fulfill her mother’s wish and not disappoint her father if she was hung for murder. And blast hell with ice, her life may not be all she had hoped so far, but living was far more preferable than death.

  Chapter Six

  Grey awoke the next morning in a sour mood. Who wouldn’t be in a sour mood if they had been forced to go to bed hungry because they’d waited until near midnight to see the king. Grey rubbed his aching back. Someone needed to purchase more comfortable chairs in the king’s receiving chamber. Of course, comfortable chairs wouldn’t be necessary if the king actually granted audiences to those he’d commanded to appear on specific days at very specific times. The most frustrating part of his night though wasn’t the dinner. Dinner he could live without. Lack of food he could quickly amend. And he intended to shortly. Missed opportunities were harder to fix. And he’d missed the opportunity to speak more with Lady Madelaine. But he’d dreamed about her.

  His cock hardened in remembrance. He smiled recalling the balmy weather, blue skies and Lady Madelaine’s skillful mouth and hands. The fantasy had been vivid. But when he threw off his covers cold air swept over him and chased away the remnants of his dream. Reality made him frown. The last thing he wanted to do today was return to the king’s chambers to once again wait idly and uncomfortably to be granted an audience the king himself had commanded, but wait he would. Like an obedient dog.

  Grey growled as he groped around for his trousers. He stomped toward his bag, pulled out a shirt, whipped it through the air to dislodge some of the wrinkles and pulled it over his head. As he thudded back to the bed and located his boots, Gravenhurst sat up in the bed next to Grey’s. And then a slighter figure with a distinctly flowery smell sat up beside Gravenhurst.

  Grey chuckled to himself. At least one of them had not wasted their first night at Court. “Good morning, Gravenhurst.”

  “By all accounts it should be,” Gravenhurst grumbled.

  “Did your company keep you up too late?” Grey didn’t bother to conceal the sarcasm in his voice.

  A derisive, feminine snort came from the woman. The brown blanket covering her head fell to her shoulders. Grey couldn’t quite make out the color of her eyes in the lingering predawn shadows of the room, but a streak of sunlight cutting through the air from the stained-glass window touched the top of her head. By damned she had the reddest hair he’d ever seen. But a pretty red, like fine burgundy.

  “Lord Gravenhurst kept me up, not the other way around.” Her tone held amusement. “I was begging for sleep.”

  “I imagine you were, Lady…?”

  “It’s kind of you to grant me the courtesy, but we both know I’m no lady, don’t “we?” The woman rose from the bed with the blanket wrapped around her slender figure, but low enough that a good portion of her ample breasts showed. Grey didn’t turn away. If she wanted to display her wares, he’d be happy to look, but that didn’t mean he’d be buying. The sun now hit her full on in the face, and amusement filled her green, slanted eyes. This was a lady who enjoyed being stared at. She was not a lady in the class of someone like Lady Madelaine, but no average chit either. He had had met plenty of both kinds of women and this fiery wench was bold as brass and not a wink ashamed of waking up naked as the day she was born in front of two men, one definitely a stranger and one a semi-stranger. “Do you work in the castle?”

  “I do.”

  “Talkative chit, aren’t you?”

  She shrugged. “Most men I meet don’t want to talk.” She dropped the blanket and stooped to pick up her gown. Her amply curved body looked like one made specifically for pleasure, but for once he wasn’t filled with the rush of desire a beautiful woman usually caused. The woman pulled on her dark, threadbare gown and turned her back to Grey and Gravenhurst, who now stood fully clothed by Grey. “Lace me up?”

  Gravenhurst quickly obliged. When he finished, the woman swiveled around, planted a kiss on his mouth, and then reached behind her and twined her long hair into a knot at the nape of her neck. “You were exactly what I needed last night, my lord.”

  “Likewise.” Gravenhurst handed the woman a gleaming, gold coin.

  She tucked the coin between her breasts, and then locked her gaze on Grey. “You’ve a reputation, you know.”

  “So I’ve been told. Am I to believe I’m so notorious now that I’m the talk of the—?”

  “Ladies-in-waiting.”

  He instantly pictured Lady Madelaine. “If you’re trying to intrigue me, miss, you’ve succeeded. Do tell.”

  “I accidentally overheard them placing wagers on who would win your heart.”

  That could be a boon or a curse, depending on which side of the wager Lady Madelaine placed her blunt. “You accidentally overheard them?” He raised a questioning eyebrow. “As in you eavesdropped?”

  “Nay. I was tidying the queen’s drawing room when they came in. I had to hide because we chambermaids aren’t supposed to be seen.”

>   A sarcastic comment burned to be said, but he had no wish to give her anymore reason to despise the queen’s ladies as her derisive tone indicated she already did. Instead he asked, “Did all the ladies place a wager?”

  The woman’s smirk turned to downright amusement. “Don’t tell me a particular lady has caught your fancy?”

  The question made Grey grind his teeth. Lady Madelaine had bewitched him a bit, but it was nothing a good romp wouldn’t cure. He wasn’t his father. He didn’t want to get married and have children so he could ignore all but one of them. He sure as hell wasn’t going to go falling in love with Lady Madelaine and pledge his life to her. That would be just like his father, and he was done trying to please the old bastard. “Not really.”

  “All wagered but one.”

  “Which lady?”

  “You’re quite certain one of them hasn’t stirred your appetite?”

  Madelaine had done more than stir his appetite. With one encounter she’d unleashed it, and it seemed his need to know her was only growing. “Quite certain.” The words barely escaped his clenched teeth.

  “If you say so. Goodbye, milords.” The woman was out the door without waiting for a reply.

  Grey grabbed his coat off the chair, shoved his arms in and glared at Gravenhurst. “I’ll not have time for breakfast thanks to you allowing your guest to sleep over.” He was being unaccountably surly toward Gravenhurst, but he couldn’t seem to stop his growing irritable mood.

  “Don’t try to tell me we kept you up. We were long finished by the time you crept in.”

  “Yes, but she detained me just now.”

  Gravenhurst chuckled. “Aye. For five whole minutes. How tedious for you. What’s really the matter?”

  Grey shrugged. He wished he knew.

  Gravenhurst grinned. “Is it because a certain lady is here at Court? Is Miss Prattle still under your skin? Have you tried to meet her again and she didn’t bother showing?”

  “Shut up,” Grey snapped.

  Gravenhurst frowned. “Kidding aside. Did things not go well with the king?”

  “He was indisposed all day and night, but he refused to excuse me. I don’t comprehend why the king wants to speak with me—a mere equerry to a lesser land holder. I’m of no importance.”

  Gravenhurst splashed water on his face before toweling it off and replying. “He honors you because of your father.”

  Grey nodded, his irritation deepening. Never mind that he had wanted a commission. He was to be an equerry as his father commanded. The irony of his situation set his teeth on edge. His father had never taken any interest in him until Grey had told him he wanted to be a solider. Then he’d taken enough notice to tell Grey “no” and give him orders to come here. After which the old bastard had ridden off with Grey’s older brother as usual. Resentment curdled in his belly like sour milk. “I better go. I’ll have just enough time to grab a hunk of bread and head to the king’s chambers by my appointed hour.”

  By the time he reached the main floor, he’d worked himself up into the foulest mood he could recall in years. Not since his sixteenth birthday, when his father had promised to take him hunting, just the two of them, had Grey been so irate. And that day had been a black one, for certain. When his father had shown up near midnight with Edward, Grey had not been merely upset that his father had broken yet another promise to him without explanation and seemingly in favor of spending time with Grey’s older brother. Grey had been furious and vowed that night he would get his father’s attention, even if he had to do it by being the old bastard’s worst nightmare.

  He laughed at what a foolish notion that had been. His father would have had to care first. The bastard didn’t. He didn’t blink an eye when Grey was thrown from Eton, or accrued a king’s ransom worth of gambling debt, or drank himself into a month-long stupor. The only time he’d batted an eye was when Grey had bedded one of the lady’s maids employed to care for Liz. That’s when he’d realized how to get under his father’s skin.

  Grey rounded the last turn to the dining hall. When had he realized his actions weren’t changing a damn thing? He felt certain his little epiphany had occurred this past year. Yet he liked women. So he seduced the ones that were willing. But he would never get married. Let his father stew for the rest of his life on how he’d failed.

  Grey pushed open the door to the dining hall. At this hour it would be empty, except for the servants preparing for breakfast. Good thing too. He was not in the mood for pleasant conversation, and the servants would be too busy to talk. The servants nodded toward him as he strode into the hall, but as he expected, they continued in their preparations for breakfast.

  He ambled over to the far wall, where a different assortment of breads and cheeses should be laid out, but none was there yet. His stomach growled again. A servant came through the door with a large tray lifted above his head. The pleasant scent of warm bread wafted on the air. Grey smiled and was just about to call out to the man when the dining hall door swung wide again, and Lady Madelaine flew through the door, in a flurry of pale green silk which contrasted quite nicely with her honey hair that tumbled around her shoulders.

  The exquisite picture she presented would have stirred his lust, but her dark eyes were round with fear and her hands grasped spasmodically in front of her.

  From across the room, he raised his hand to get her notice, but the door swung wide again and hard footsteps rang in the otherwise quiet room. Grey narrowed his eyes as Thorton strode toward Madelaine. What the hell was that man doing up so early? Thorton was a liar, a cheat, and a lazy ass.

  Lady Madelaine shot a glance behind her, and then swung toward Thorton, her gaze darting all over the room. What was this? If the lady was secretly meeting with Thorton, Grey would toss up his breakfast. Oh hell, he’d not eaten breakfast.

  Lady Madelaine backed behind a table, and lifted her skirt. Bile filled Grey’s mouth. He’d not watch the woman he’d fantasized about being plundered by another. He turned on his heel to go, but a long flash of metal caught his eye. His jaw dropped at the gleaming dagger Lady Madelaine held in front of her. He’d seen stranger games between a man and a woman, but this had to be the strangest.

  “Lady Madelaine, you wound me,” Lord Thorton said, coming to stand on the opposite side of the table from her. Grey stood still and silent, not sure whether to excuse himself or hide and save her the embarrassment of knowing he’d witnessed her and Thorton.

  She squared her shoulders. “I’ve not wounded you yet, you swine, but I swear if you grab me again, I’ll use my dagger.” Now that was definitely an interesting choice of words to elicit a man’s desire. Maybe they played at prey and hunter.

  “Come, Lady Madelaine. Don’t make me use force. This could be pleasant for both of us.”

  Grey’s heartbeat sped up a notch. Something wasn’t right.

  Lady Madelaine raised the dagger higher. “If your hands are on me, I vow it will not be pleasant.”

  Thorton lunged across the table, and true to her word, Lady Madelaine plunged the dagger straight down toward the man’s leg. “You bitch,” Thorton cursed loudly, causing the only servant remaining in the room to flee.

  Red covered Grey’s vision. He kicked the chair blocking his path out of the way. The wood splintered as it hit the table with the force of his anger. He was beside Lady Madelaine in four long strides. Her eyes smoldered, but her body shook. Grey pushed her gently behind him and faced Thorton.

  Thorton jerked the dagger out of the wood and material of his trousers. The material ripped as the dagger let loose. “You saw it, Adlard. The bloody bitch tried to stab me. You’re my witness.”

  “I did not try to stab you,” Lady Madelaine spat. “I gave you a reprieve with my generous warning. If I intended to stab you, believe me, the dagger would have pierced flesh.”

  Grey snatched the dagger from Thorton while studying Lady Madelaine’s grim face. Her words as well as her aim impressed him. “I saw you try to accost her.”
r />   “The hell you say. She wants me.”

  Grey glanced back at Lady Madelaine. “Do you want this man?”

  She shook her head. “Unless you count wanting him dead.”

  He smothered his laugh as he turned back to Thorton. “It’s too bad she decided to be generous, Thorton. In my opinion, you deserved a dagger in your leg, at the least.” Grey wanted to kill the man for trying to force himself on her. Grey curled his fingers into fists. “If you ever touch her again, I’ll not be near as generous as the lady. But take heart, I know just where to strike with a dagger to make your death quick.” He touched the pulsing vein on Thorton’s neck. “My father considered teaching his sons all means of self-defense of the utmost importance.”

  Thorton shoved Grey’s hand away. “I won’t forget this,” the man snarled.

  “Neither will I,” Grey promised.

  Thorton opened his mouth as if to say something else, and Grey raised the dagger challengingly. “Shall we test my lessons?”

  Thorton spat on the floor and slammed out of the room. Grey gripped the dagger, trying to calm himself and slow the blood roaring in his ears and his painful heartbeat.

  Lady Madelaine rested a hand on his arm. “You can release my dagger now, Lord Grey. He’s gone.”

  Grey relaxed his hold and handed the dagger over. A witty reply laced with sexual innuendo was on the tip of his tongue, but when he looked into her warm, anxious eyes his witty reply was gone. “Were you afraid?”

  “Yes. Were you?”

  The honest admission and question surprised him. Honesty at Court was so novel. “I wasn’t afraid for myself.”

  “For me?”

  “Yes.” With a start he realized he was telling the truth not merely trying to seduce her. “What if I hadn’t been in the dining hall? What if Thorton had ravished you? I’d hate to think anyone had you against your will.”