“Keep to yurself, young man,” she warned direly, but her chuckle dismantled her rebuke as she slapped his hand away. “Yu not so big t’at I cannot take yu ‘cross my knee.”
Nicholas laid his arm around his mother’s shoulders and gave her an affectionate hug. “Meine Mutter! Es ist Wonne sehen Sie.” He placed a kiss upon the white head. “Acb, but I’m forgetting our guests.” He raised his hand to indicate Elise who was delighted with the good-natured bantering of the family. “Mother, these are two of my very good friends, Mistress Elise Radborne”—he swept his hand onward to the one who stood beside the maid—“and Lord Maxim Seymour.”
“How goot of yu to visit us,” Therese declared, and fondly patted Elise’s hand. “Velcome to our home, Fraulein . . . mein Herr.” Beckoning to them both, she bade cheerily, “Bitte, Kommen Sie ans Feuer . . . Kommen! Come varm yurselves by the fire.” Lifting the hem of her skirts, she led the way into the house. Passing quickly through the hall, she directed a maidservant to help the guests as they entered, and clapped her hands to signal another two to begin setting out a feast in an adjoining hall. With quick and kindly attention she watched over the gathering as cloaks were doffed and boots were wiped clean.
Katarina tugged playfully on Nicholas’s fur-lined cloak as he moved past her. The captain paused, torn between the need for replacing Maxim as the gallant who was at present helping Elise off with her boots and a desire to answer the impish challenge sparkling in the blue-gray eyes of his cousin. He postponed his first objective and yielded to the temptation of the taunt. Sweeping off his cloak with a flamboyant swirl, he flung it over Katarina, enveloping her completely within its voluminous folds. In an instant an uproar of guffaws, shrieks, and muffled threats filled the hall as Katarina gave vent to promises of dire recompense to a brutish cousin. She tried to escape the heavy wrap, but Nicholas swooped her up with unbridled gusto and, tossing her over his shoulder, turned to leer at Elise.
“Remember vhen ve first met, vrouwelin?”
Laughing at the captain’s antics, Elise balanced herself with a hand on Maxim’s shoulder as she slid a slender foot into the slipper he held. “ ‘Tis an event I shall never forget.”
Therese had paused behind the English couple to take careful heed of the Marquess’s solicitations. Now she bustled past the two in her haste to reach the melee. Snatching a broom from a maid who had been sweeping up the loose snow, she came around and applied it with merciless force to the rear of her son, drawing a feigned wail from him.
“Sie Scheusal! Sie Schuft!” she scolded, and just in case her son had forgotten his native tongue in all of his travels, she repeated the same in English. “Yu monster! Yu rascal! Let her go, or I vill make yu t’ink yu got hot coals in yur britches!”
Scampering out of harm’s way, Nicholas set his cousin down and continued on the run as that one flung off the fur wrap and gave chase. The game shifted swiftly when Nicholas darted between a pair of servants and, with a hand on a post, swung himself around to abruptly face the one following. Roaring loudly, he opened his arms to catch her, assuming the posture of a ferocious beast. Katarina squealed in glee and did a sprightly turnabout with skirts flaring wide. Nicholas gave chase, and in an attempt to escape the girl flung herself around the laughing Elise who was just about to step into the other slipper Maxim held. In the course of the evasion, their hips collided solidly.
“Ooh!” Katarina flung over her shoulder as Elise teetered precariously on one foot. Immediately abashed by her foolery which now promised to end in disaster, Katarina whirled with a hand clasped over her mouth.
Maxim had been squatting on a heel before the maid as he watched the capers of the other couple over his shoulder, but when he heard the soft gasp above him and glanced up just in time to find Elise tumbling down upon him, he fell backward on his haunches and raised his arms to catch her, but it was too late. She sprawled upon him, landing in a most undignified heap squarely between his outflung limbs. Her full skirts covered them both and displayed a rare amount of petticoat and stockings, to which the gentlemen in the crowd gave particular heed. Horror-struck, Elise braced up on an arm and found herself staring into Maxim’s amused visage.
“My sweet, I’m overwhelmed by your ardent attention,” he assured her in affected surprise.
Though he spoke in a barely breathed whisper, to Elise he might as well have screamed the words. In sudden panic she struggled to rise, far too aware of their suggestive posture and the wanton direction of her earlier thoughts. In her haste to escape, her hip roiled across his loins, eliciting a look of shock from the prostrate man.
“Madam, have a care!” he warned softly, and grinned as he prolonged her discomfiture. “You threaten our future.”
“Oh, hush!” she begged in a fearful whisper. “They’ll hear you!”
Nicholas was no less anxious than Elise to separate the tangle and came quickly to her aid as she renewed her struggles. Slipping his hands about her narrow waist, he lifted her as easily as he would a doll and set her to her feet. Elise hurriedly straightened her skirts as she cast a furtive glance at Maxim. He knelt again with an arm braced across a thigh, and the wicked leer he bestowed upon her promised unimaginable recompenses.
“Forgive me, Elise,” Katarina pleaded almost shyly as she stepped forward. “I didn’t mean to knock you down.”
“Of course you didn’t,” Elise assured the woman as she nursed her own sorely bruised dignity. “I fear it was my fault, what with blocking a busy hall.”
“Nonsense!” Katarina blushed as she shook her head. “I was terribly thoughtless, but as you see . . . we’ve always been a trifle wont to behave like a tribe of heathens at times.”
“Heavens, how you do offend!” Justin interjected in feigned aloofness. “ ‘Twas thee and your renegade cousin the ones at fault, my dear. Surely not I! I am most refined.” His pompous airs abruptly vanished and he did a quick sidestepping dance to escape the swishing broom as Therese scurried toward him.
“I t’ink yu’re the vorst!” she declared.
Nicholas chuckled, content to let his mother discipline the youth, and gave a hand to Maxim, pulling him to his feet. “Perhaps I should make apologies for our conduct. As yu can see for yurself, ve are somevhat unrestrained.”
“I found the incident most . . . ah . . . instructive.”
“I vas vondering about that.” The captain looked at him with skeptical humor. “Or did I imagine that twinge of pain in yur face.”
Maxim slowly smiled. “My only regret is that I had so many witnesses. I’d have enjoyed the event far more with less of an audience.”
Nicholas’s grin grew pained. “I vas prodded by some fear of that.”
“I’m sure our trafelers are hungry,” Therese surmised. “If yu vould like, ve eat now, ja?”
The Marquess glanced about as he asked the captain, “Is there some place where I might tidy up? After traveling the whole day, I feel somewhat less than presentable.”
“Ja, I vill show yu to yur rooms.” Nicholas jerked his head to indicate the stairs. “The servants vill bring up yur baggage vhile ve dine.”
“Perhaps Fraulein Elise vould also like to freshen up.” Therese posed the suggestion, looking questioningly at the young maid.
“I’d like that very much,” Elise responded, still feeling the heat of a blush in her cheeks.
“Nicholas can show yu to the guest room.” Therese raised a brow of inquiry to her son as she asked carefully, “I give Fraulein Elise the guest room. Is t’at all right?”
The captain carefully masked his reaction and inclined his head in a brief nod. To voice any objection to Elise and Maxim being sequestered entirely alone on the same level would have clearly demonstrated a lack of trust, which for pride’s sake he was most reluctant to express.
Together the three climbed to the uppermost level of the house with Nicholas leading the way. When they reached the third floor, they passed down a wide hall where wooden floors gleamed from a recen
t polishing and small-paned windows twinkled, reflecting the candlelight from the porcelain sconces. Maxim glanced toward the end of the corridor and made a mental note as to what direction the window faced as he paused with Nicholas outside a massive door. The captain swung open the portal, unaware of his guest’s divided interest, and swept a hand inward as an invitation for Elise to enter the well-warmed and lighted chamber.
“I shall return for yu in a moment, vrouwelin,” he announced.
Carefully avoiding Maxim’s gaze, which she was sure could be quickly joined by that same lecherous grin she had seen earlier, Elise responded with a mute nod. Moving inward, she closed the door behind her and drew a long breath. If she had heretofore managed to keep down a vivid blush as she climbed the stairs, it now came upon her with a heat that warmed her breasts. Though she knew the idea was ridiculous, the question still plagued her. Was there some intimacy in that awkward tumble which the others might have seen? Or which a keen-minded person might have been able to perceive? If not, then the shock of that encounter was entirely her own, for she was sharply aware of the battle that raged in her mind. Her fantasies had sprouted wings and were now wont to soar recklessly from one wild and lucid imagining to another. Paramount in her musings were memories of Maxim as he had appeared to her on that morning of her first attack, and she found herself wondering what it would be like for a woman to be freely and intimately familiar with a man like that and what it would be like to be able to claim such a magnificent specimen entirely as her own.
Stepping away from the lady’s room, Nicholas led Maxim down the hall to a large suite of rooms wealthily appointed with fine furnishings. Shelves lined the wall in a small antechamber and were weighted down with countless leather-bound volumes. A large desk and stately chair of Spanish origin stood before an ornately worked armoire where a multitude of rolled parchments jutted from keyholes.
“These vere my father’s chambers vhen he vas alive,” Nicholas informed him. “Justin took over these rooms after learning that none of the rest of us like the climb. He enjoys his privacy up here . . . and of course, my father’s books and maps. Perhaps he vill be a great scholar someday. But enough of that. Vhile yu’re here, my friend, these chambers vill be at yur disposal. Justin vill be bedding down in a small room near the kitchen.”
“I need nothing this grand,” Maxim protested. He had not missed the subtle exchange between the captain and his mother, and though he relished the idea of his proximity to the maid, he was also aware of the temptations which he himself would face being so close to her. He thought it wise to avoid them rather than abuse the Von Reijns’ hospitality. “A small room will meet my needs just as well.”
Nicholas shook his head. “Nein, my friend. My mother vould be offended if I placed a guest in that tiny little closet. Justin is vell-acquainted vith the nook and does not mind being occasionally displaced, considering he claims the largest chambers in the house for most of the time.”
Maxim mentally shrugged and, by his silence, accepted the chambers and the potential pitfalls of being ensconced near the maid. Deliberately turning his mind from Elise, he directed his thoughts toward other less fascinating, but equally important, matters. His restraint would be best nurtured by diversion, of that he had no doubt.
Stepping to the window, he pulled aside the drapery and peered out into the thickening shades of night. “I must take care of some business while I’m here in Lubeck, Nicholas,” he commented over his shoulder. “Will I disturb your family if I come and go as I please?”
His host frowned slightly, wondering what business this particular stranger would have in Lubeck “Yu are free to roam as yu vill, Maxim, but be varned. One can get lost easily here in Lubeck. The streets are a puzzle no stranger has easily solved. If yur vont is to vander beyond the doors of this house, yu should have a guide. Othervise, ve may never see yu again.”
Maxim acknowledged his advice with a chuckle. “I’ll take care.”
“If there is someplace vhere I may escort yu . . .” The captain let the offer hang unfinished as he waited for an answer.
“I’m sure you have affairs of your own to give heed to. Mine are not so important. ‘Tis an affair of no real significance, merely a minor curiosity about the city.”
“Vhat say yu then?” Nicholas inquired, rubbing his hands together as he felt the invading chill of the room. He was not satisfied with the other’s casual rejection of his suggestion, but he could hardly keep the man a prisoner either. Besides, his absence might move Elise to more readily accept the attentions of one who doted on her. “Are yu almost ready to dine? I’m famished!”
“I shall wash and be down directly.”
Nicholas crossed to the door and there paused to glance back at Maxim. After several unsuccessful attempts to state his concern, he finally blurted out the question, “Yu vouldn’t be so foolish to seek out Karr Hilliard vhile yu’re here, vould yu?”
A contemplative demeanor accompanied Maxim’s reply. “Oh, I might consider it. I’ve been most curious about the man.”
Nicholas threw up his hands in exasperation and faced the Marquess to make his point more clearly. “Karr Hilliard is dangerous, Maxim. Far richer men than I fear him. Please! Have nothing to do vith him. Only by avoiding him vill yu manage to survive.”
“I don’t intend getting myself killed,” Maxim protested, brushing aside the other’s worry with an abortive laugh. “Believe me, I have many wonderful things to live for.”
“If yu ask me, yu take too many chances vith yur life,” Nicholas muttered, and continued in a dismal vein. “No one can blame Arabella for not confirming yur death before she ved another. It vas too easy to believe that yu vere.” With that, the captain strode out the door, slamming it behind him.
Mulling over the other’s comments, Maxim went to where he had seen a low cabinet equipped with pitcher and basin. Thoughtfully he poured water into the bowl and began to wash his hands. When he no longer could hear voices in the hall or footsteps echoing on the stairs, he took up a lone candle and returned to the window. Parting the draperies again, he passed the lighted taper back and forth in front of the night-darkened panes. He repeated the motion several times, then blew out the tiny flame. In the velvet shades of night he watched and waited until from close beneath a distant roof he saw a like response.
When Maxim returned to the lower chambers, Therese stepped forward to direct everyone into the dining hall. “Katarina, vhy don’t yu escort Nicholas to his place and sit beside him vhile I get to know our guests. I vould be interested in hearing vhat Fraulein Elise and Herr Seymour haff learned from t’eir trafels.”
Taking Katarina on his arm, Nicholas approached Elise with a broad smile. “If by some miracle there are finer cooks than Herr Dietrich in the vorld, vrouwelin, then they’re here in my mother’s house.” He held up a hand as if to attest to what he was about to declare. “Yu cannot imagine vhat yu are about to experience.”
“Will it be anything like the mistletoe?” she asked, then chuckled in delight as he tried to shame her with a dubious frown. “You’ve made me wary, Captain. I’m not sure I can trust you anymore.”
“I giff yu good advice. Nicholas never to be trusted,” Therese confided in a loud, rasping whisper as she leaned past her son’s arm. “Katarina vill agree vit’ vhat I say. He is not goot boy.”
“I pray you, vrouwelin,” Nicholas pleaded. “Give these vomen little heed. As yu can tell, they enjoy roasting my carcass over a hot fire.”
“The idea sounds intriguing and I’ve no doubt it would be a most delightful pastime,” Elise teased. “I shall be tempted to try it sometime.”
Nicholas groaned in mock agony. “Vhat have I done by bringing yu to this madhouse?”
“You’ve enlightened me, Captain,” she rejoined, bestowing on him a most charming smile. “No longer will I think of you as a formidable captain of the Hanseatic League who has long been separated from kith and kin, for I perceive that you carry your loved ones clos
e to your heart whether here or abroad.”
Therese’s eyes shone with pleasure as she eagerly nodded. “Ja! It is so. Nicholas alvays remember us vherever he go.”
Chapter 18
THE MOON ROSE HIGHER in the star-bedecked ebon sky as the midnight hour drew nigh. A snow-laden mist, swept in by the cold night air, drifted down Lubecher Bucht from the Baltic to slowly engulf the city beneath a salt-tainted blanket. Maxim Seymour paused outside the door of the Von Reijn house and carefully scanned the empty streets that converged on the one where the house stood. Drawing up the hood of his cloak, he selected a forward direction and set off with purposeful gait. He hurried along for several blocks, then, turning a corner, ducked into the nearest alley to wait silently for a space. Once certain that no one followed, he continued on his way, his long strides rapidly devouring the distance. After a short passage of time, he halted in the shadows of a narrow lane and surveyed the area he now found himself in. Across the street the Lowentatze loomed tall and dark on the indistinct border of the waterfront, rising to a height of four stories before reaching its gabled, steeply pitched roof. A weatherworn sign which hung from an iron bar identified the place as the inn he sought, bearing the red letters of the name in a curved arch above a single paw print of a lion.
The erstwhile Marquess cast another cautious glance along the thoroughfare and, assuring himself that it was deserted, made haste to cross the distance. Pausing beside the door, he listened for a moment, but no evidence of habitation issued forth. He slipped within the hall, then pressed back into the darkness that enveloped the entrance. Only a few candles illumed the common room, which was empty save for a spindly lad who earnestly plied a straw broom to the rough-hewn planks of the floor. The boy was bent to his labor and gave no sign he was aware of another’s presence.
Maxim reached out and tugged at the lanyard of a small brass ship’s bell that hung on a post near the entrance. The clangor seemed loud and strident in’ the silence, yet the lad gave no heed as he continued moving a growing pile of dirt and trash across the stubborn floor. Maxim jerked on the lanyard again, and this time a grumbling voice answered from somewhere beyond the first level.
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