by Amy Harmon
She waited as they left, shut the door, and turned back to Gillian, her face calm. “When you embarrass yourself, you disrespect your husband. I expect you to stop whining and make the correct choice to work hard this day.”
Whining? The heat rising in Gillian’s face made her mad. She wasn’t a lazy whiner so she had nothing to be embarrassed about. The loony woman was dragging her out of bed before dawn. She was trying to force her to plan a wedding for a girl who probably didn’t deserve Kellen. Gillian wasn’t doing it and she wasn’t going to feel bad about it, either. “I already have plans for today. I’m busy.”
“Busy with what?” Suspicion was thick in Marissa’s voice.
Drooling over Kellen? Holding his hand? Getting a few kisses? Enjoying her time in medieval England? Finding a way home? “Well, I… I just have things to do, okay?”
Marissa straightened. “Yes, you do. I know you will want to live up to the expectations of your parents and make them proud of you. You will want to have Kellen happy to take you to wife. You will want to be an exemplary wife so as to blot the stain your sister’s actions left upon this family’s honor.”
Enough with the guilt! Gillian tried to stifle a groan but was unsuccessful.
Marissa ignored her. “I want to know exactly what has been done to prepare for the wedding in four weeks time.”
Gillian looked away. “There’s still plenty of time, right?”
There was a long silence before Marissa took a breath. “I am shocked by your lack of industry, but we will remedy that together. As to the running of the keep, you will need to take over every aspect as soon as possible to ensure the respect of your people. I will help with that also. Is there a reason your mother did not come to assist you during this period of adjustment?”
Gillian shrugged and resisted saying, ‘maybe she’s a lazy whiner like her daughter.’
“Illness?” She prompted.
“Sure.”
“Ah.” Marissa nodded. “Then it was wise of her to send you early.” She started to pace. “This morn we will begin with the kitchens, then instruct the servants, and perhaps afterward we will contend with the sewing and weaving. That should take up the morning, and in the afternoon we will begin the wedding plans.”
Whoopee. It sounded dull and boring and Gillian had no intention of complying. No way was she planning Kellen’s wedding to another girl.
She glanced at Marissa, feeling uneasy about disappointing her, which immediately ticked Gillian off. She didn’t even know the woman! And she wanted to please her? Enough! She wasn’t going to let Marissa make her feel guilty. She didn’t have the time. She needed to find out how to get back home and, from the looks of things, she might need to leave sooner than she’d intended.
Marissa was studying her again. “I am also prepared to teach you all I know about gardening and herbs. ’Tis a skill that has proven a worthy one and is beneficial to all in my care. A skill your husband will be proud you possess. We will spend time each evening doing this. Also… ”
Marissa continued to organize every hour of Gillian’s day, week, and month as Gillian listened with growing horror.
“What about fun?”
Marissa turned dark eyes on her. “What of it?”
Gillian was starting to feel desperate. The woman obviously wouldn’t be swayed from her course and Gillian wondered how easy it would be to sneak away to spend time with Kellen. “I need to get to know my fiancé better, we need bonding time, and then I’ll start planning the wedding, okay?”
Marissa glanced away, seeming embarrassed. “You will have years in which to ah, bond, and get to know one another better.”
“But… ”
Marissa glowered. “Up!”
Gillian resentfully stood and Beatrice helped her into her dress, and then Gillian put on her shoes.
Marissa sighed. “I do not understand your attitude. Sluggardly behavior in anyone is unacceptable. In the lady of the castle, ’tis reprehensible.”
Gillian glared at her shoelaces. Now she was a sluggard? What did that even mean? Stung, feeling desperate, Gillian finished tying her shoes and headed toward the door. “Excuse me, but I need to use the facilities.”
She hurried down the hall, made quick use of the privy, and decided on a plan of action. She’d simply sneak away. She’d find Kellen and explain to him that his stepmother was a slave driver, and let him take care of the situation. He could deal with the woman. Didn’t he say he’d slay her dragons? Did his stepmother count?
Decision made, she went out into the hall to find Marissa waiting outside the door. Gillian’s sense of desperation increased. She could outrun the woman. She was sure she could. Her athletic shoes would be far superior to the slippers Marissa wore, and she doubted Marissa would suffer the indignity of running after her, anyway. But she might send the servants.
Gillian was still on vacation. She still needed to find a way back home. She didn’t need training to run a castle, and she certainly didn’t need to be planning Kellen’s wedding to someone else.
Besides, Gillian would either (a) be there for a very short time or (b) be dead, because when the saintly, already-knows-how-to-run-a-castle Edith showed up, Gillian would be hung as a spy. So she really needed to spend her time (a) finding a way back home and (b) kissing Kellen while she had the chance.
The last part made her smile. She might want to know how to get back to her own time eventually, but Gillian wasn’t quite ready to leave Kellen yet. Gardening and planning weddings? Menus and directing servants? No, thanks. Anyway, That Cow Edith would have her wedding already planned when she got there and all Marissa’s work would be wasted.
Marissa snapped her fingers at a servant and started down the stairs, motioning for Gillian to follow. Gillian sighed. It wouldn’t kill her to keep the woman happy for the next few hours. Probably. In the meantime, she’d have to think of better ways to avoid training with Marissa in the future.
She yawned.
Once she was actually awake, she was sure to think of something.
* * *
Standing outside the stables, Kellen caught two of his foster boys by the backs of their tunics as they tried to run by him.
Tristan caught the third.
“Where do you think you are going?” asked Kellen.
They desperately tried to get away, squirming and fighting as they looked back toward the keep. “Let us go!” yelled Peter. “Lady Marissa will see us!”
Tristan looked to the open doorway of the keep, then back at the boys. “Why is that troublesome?”
Ulrick grimaced “She’s trying to turn us into… into… into… ”
Francis opened his eyes wide and finished the words Ulrick couldn’t spit out. “…into gentlemen!”
All three faces flushed with outrage.
Kellen pressed his lips together to keep them in a straight line.
Owen rubbed his nose.
Tristan laughed aloud. “The indignity.”
They released them and the boys quickly ran off.
Kellen glanced up at the keep. “That reminds me.” He cleared his throat. “I need to check on something. I had best run up to the hall for a moment.”
Tristan and Owen exchanged a knowing glance, and Kellen stared them down. Tristan leaned back against the stable wall and crossed one leg over the other. “Sir Owen, why do you suppose he needs to go up there?”
Owen’s eyes widened. “I don’t know, Sir Tristan. Mayhap to get a bite to eat?”
Tristan rubbed his chin. “I do not understand. Did we not eat our noonday meal of bread and cheese while moving the cattle? Did he not get his share? He cannot possibly be hungry. For what other reason would he go inside on such a fine day?”
Kellen glared at them both as he moved away but refrained from commenting on the fact that they were idiots.
“Don’t come back a gentleman!” Sir Owen yelled after him.
Their laughter followed as he walked away, but he ignored them. H
e had missed seeing Gillian at both the morning and noon meals. Indeed he had not seen her this day, and she was all he could think of. He wanted to spend time with her and cared not who knew it.
Kellen went inside to find Gillian surrounded by Marissa and her ladies, her head downbent, applying herself to a task. Seeing her thus reminded him of his first wife, Catherine, and the cold reception he’d received from her and her circle of ladies whenever he’d ventured near.
His chest tightened and he thought to leave again, but Marissa and her ladies looked up at him, trapping him with their gazes. His tunic seemed to tighten around his chest, cutting off his air supply, as he bowed and backed away. “My pardon, ladies.”
Gillian’s head shot up. “Kellen!” She stood and ran to him, a panicked expression on her face. At the last moment, Kellen opened his arms and caught her as she threw herself at him, clinging, her cheek pressed to his shirt.
His arms tightened about her as his chest seemed to burn from the inside. He could not help the smile that spread across his face, could not have imagined this reception. “Gillian?”
She looked over her shoulder before turning back to look earnestly into his eyes. “Please, save me!” she whispered.
He glanced between the ladies and Gillian. “What is amiss?”
“Kellen,” Marissa’s voice cut across the hall. “We are otherwise occupied and you are disrupting us and need to be about your business.”
“Certainly.” Kellen, feeling chastised, tried to disengage himself, but Gillian refused to release her hold on him. He bent his head to smile against her hair. “Gillian?”
“I want to go with you,” she whispered again.
Kellen looked to Marissa and the others, all sternly watching them. “I have been gone all morning and am only now off to train in the lists. And it looks as if you are busy, also.”
“Couldn’t I just watch you?”
He’d like nothing better.
“Lady Corbett?” Marissa called. “We are waiting.”
Her gaze beseeched him.
Marissa sighed heavily, put aside her sewing, stood and crossed to join them.
Gillian’s eyes closed and her shoulders slumped. Kellen wanted to help. “Gillian?”
She finally opened her eyes and her expression turned mutinous as she released her grip and turned to face Marissa, clutching his arms to keep them tightly about her. “As much as I’d like to stay and help, as an engaged couple, we need to spend time together.”
Kellen’s arms clenched convulsively around her.
“I disagree,” said Marissa. “There is too much to do. Please move away from him. He is filthy and smells of horse and you are dirtying your gown by brushing against him. ’Tis unseemly besides. You need to come away, and you most certainly need to practice decorum.”
Kellen felt his face heat, and loosened his grip, but Gillian pushed tight into his embrace. She didn’t seem to care about the dirt or the smell as she clutched his arms.
Marissa gave him a pointed stare and Kellen hesitated. He didn’t want to distress his stepmother.
But he did not care to turn Gillian away. He liked that she clung to him and would not wish her to feel rejected.
But, of course, he was the one who’d invited Marissa in the first place. He’d asked for her help and knew he should bow to her dictates.
But the way Gillian pressed herself against him like a second skin was heady and exciting. He wanted to be with her.
Marissa sighed. “You will see each other at supper in a few hours.”
Kellen bent his head to Gillian. “I am happy you are learning the running of the keep. Marissa is a good teacher. There is none better to ease your way.”
Gillian looked as if he’d betrayed her. ’Twas like a dirk in his chest. He straightened and faced Marissa. “But Gillian can’t be expected to learn everything at once.”
Gillian expression relaxed and she gazed at Kellen as if he were her champion. He liked it.
“I disagree,” said Marissa. “There is not much time and she has much to learn.”
“I… ” Ruefully he accepted that he cared more about what Gillian thought than Marissa. “I understand, but no more today. Ready yourself, Gillian. I will return for you shortly. I came in to tell you that I am riding into Thropworth this day.” He knew he was contradicting what he’d said earlier about training this day, and that everyone would know he was lying, but he didn’t care. He turned to a tight-lipped Marissa. “Gillian should watch as I mete out judgement. As my lady, ’tis important for all to see her.”
He was finding he would do about anything for her.
“Can I ride with you on your horse again?”
Marissa let out a harsh breath.
Kellen cupped Gillian’s cheek as he looked down at her. He couldn’t believe she was his. He didn’t want to part with her for as long as it would take to get everything ready. “Of course.”
The thought of facing his men… well… they would think him crazed when he changed course for the day. At his command his men were already gathering in the north field. Besides rounding them up, he’d also have to send word ahead to announce his intent of arriving in the village this day. The teasing would be merciless.
’Twas worth it to be with her.
Chapter Seventeen
“How fare you with Marissa?”
Snuggled in Kellen’s arms, Gillian enjoyed the warmth seeping from his chest into her back, the possessive way his arms surrounded her, and the rocking motion of the horse. She was exactly where she wanted to be. “Fine.”
“Truly?”
“No.” Gillian bit her lip as Kellen laughed. She didn’t want to come off as a complainer but didn’t want to lie, either.
“She means well.”
Gillian snorted and craned her neck to look up at him. “I think she means to drive me crazy. Do you suppose she’ll make things worse because I went off with you today?”
Kellen shrugged. “She is not vindictive. Do not concern yourself.”
“Easy for you to say.” Amused by his lordly proclamation, Gillian huffed out a breath before relaxing against Kellen once more. “You’re not the one who has to sleep with her tonight.”
Kellen laughed. “If you are truly concerned, I’ll speak on your behalf. Or better yet, you can sleep in my bed. I promise not to snore or steal the bedcovers. And I vow to keep you warm.”
Gillian smiled. “I suspect staying warm would be the least of my concerns.”
Kellen leaned down, his mouth near her ear. “I can hardly wait until we are wed.” His whispered words, low and full of meaning, had Gillian shivering. She glanced around quickly to see if any of his men had heard. They hadn’t, but Gillian ducked her head and searched for a change of subject, positive her flaming face would give her thoughts away if anyone cared to glance in their direction.
Her gaze fell to her ring and she gave it a tug. It didn’t budge. “Um. I think I’ve gained weight since I’ve been here. You’re feeding me too much.”
Kellen chuckled, ran a hand down her arm, then back up to cup her shoulder. He squeezed. “I admire every single curve and cannot wait—”
“Kellen, hush!”
His laughter had Gillian blushing all over again as she searched frantically for another subject. “So, where are we going, anyway?”
Kellen chuckled. “Perhaps we are simply enjoying the seeing of the sights. Would that not please you?”
She smiled up at him. “Actually, it would.”
They soon rounded a hill and Gillian saw a village nestled below filled with cottages, huts, and assorted buildings; but it was the big church with an imposing steeple and light-colored stone that immediately caught her eye. She straightened. “Hey. I know this place.” Surely this was Marshall, the town she’d been staying in before heading out to draw the castle.
“You have been here? When?”
“Uh… ” Oops. She couldn’t tell him she’d stayed here in the twenty-first century
, that she’d bought chocolate in a shop that wouldn’t exist for hundreds of years, and gotten directions to the ruin of Marshall Keep from the plump woman behind the counter. Directions to Kellen’s castle.
Kellen suddenly stiffened. “Is this where you were robbed of your possessions?”
Gillian breath caught. “Um… ” She was going to have to plead the fifth on that one. “I have no memory of that event.”
Kellen’s arms tightened, pulling her back against his chest. “If someone has made you fearful, have no worries on that score, my lady. I will find the miscreants and they will be duly punished.”
Gillian thought it unlikely, but nodded as if she believed him. Said miscreants were safely in another century and most likely continuing their reign of terror against unwary travelers.
When she didn’t say anything, Kellen sighed, then pointed. “I own all this land and the manor house yonder and have placed in its charge one of my most trusted knights. I believe you will like his wife. She is friendly and would make you a good companion.”
“Oh yeah?”
It didn’t take them long to get to the outskirts. As they rode through the town, everyone stared at Gillian. Well, almost everyone. A pretty young woman waved then placed a hand on her hip, her smile beckoning as if she silently offered her services to Kellen.
Gillian glared at the woman and laid a hand on Kellen’s shoulder, staking her claim, before turning her glare on Kellen. “A friend of yours?”
Kellen’s lips curved. “Not at all.” He didn’t even bother trying to hide his grin. “Is this your way of letting me know you wish me to be faithful?”
Gillian smiled sweetly. “Only if you wish to keep all your bodily parts intact.”
Kellen laughed, causing his men and nearby villagers to stare. “Do not concern yourself, Gillian. I will ever be true and will want no other.”
Gillian turned to look at him, and the heated, possessive way he gazed at her made her want to melt into a puddle. She reached up to cup his jaw and he captured her hand and pressed a heated kiss to the center. She gasped, held his gaze for a moment longer, and then looked around self-consciously. People were definitely staring. “I’ll hold you to that.”