his breath.
?Was that womanly enough for you?? she taunted with a seductive purr.
?More like mercilessor do you want me to carry you to my bed right now??
Actually, she would not mind that, not at all, but she said instead ?Did you
forget you ordered a bath??
?If that was said to cool my ardor, you forget the last bath I hadwith you in it.?
?Nay, I do not forget, but ?tis like to be cold again,? she warned him.
He bent to nuzzle her neck.
?Do you mind??
?Did I then??
He chuckled as he stood up and set her on her feet.
?Come, then, and bring the wine. I trust y��? will not choke on it this time??
?Nay, I am sure I will not.?
Rowena was not yet used to such verbal play. It had her cheeks glowing, but also
her pulses racing. She was still a prisoner after all,?twould seemof her desires.
But mayhap Warrick was, too.
r
Chapter 40
?I had sent a man ahead to Gilly Field, to scout the area. By the time he
returned to report that he could find no activity of any kind, I had already
received other reports of a large army seen moving north toward Fulkhurst.?
?Then you knew about the army in those woods?? Rowena exclaimed.
?You let me go on and on about it, trying to convince you of the danger, whilst
all along you?
?What are you complaining about?? Warrick asked.
?Did I not listen to your every word??
?You were amused by my every word,? she retorted indignantly.
?Not every word.?
That curt reminder closed her mouth for the moment. He had asked her again her
brother?s name. Then he had thought to ask where the lands were located that she
had claimed to possess, possibly thinking Gilbert might be there. He had become
quite annoyed when she would not answer either query, and she could only guess
how furious he was over what Gilbert had attempted to do here.
They had not left his chamber yet this morn, though Warrick had been up for
several hours already. Gilbert?s army, or what was left of it, had not come to
besiege the castle during the night, and was not like to now. But Rowena had
finally got around to asking again what had brought Warrick back so soon to
Fulkhurst. ?Twas what he was now telling herif she could keep from interrupting.
He did wait a moment, to see if she would say more, then finally continued.
?Since we did not come upon this reported army by the end of the first day?s
march, I thought it prudent to return home. ?Twould have been what I might
expect of d?Ambray, to lure me out so he could attack Fulkhurst whilst I was not
there to defend it. Instead, your brother thought to take advantage of my
absence. I wonder now if d?Ambray did not receive word of this other army and
thought it mine, lying in wait to ambush the ambusher. If so, he must have been
furious to think I had guessed his plan.?
And Warrick was going to be more than furious if he ever found out that d?Ambray
and her stepbrother were one and the same.
He could have guessed with this latest fiasco. Rowena was surprised he had not,
since only the one army had been sighted in the area. But to draw the right
conclusion, he would have to acknowledge that ?twas his worst enemy who had
captured and abused him at Kirkburough, and he was like to accept any other
possibility, no matter how outlandish, before he would accept that one.
She had kept silent on this subject for too long. As soon as she had concluded
that he would not kill her for who she was, she should have told him the truth.
Now he might see her silence as a plot against him, her seduction of him as a
means to learn his plans so she could warn Gilbert. After all, why should he
believe that she hated her stepbrother, when ?twas just as likely that the two
of them were working together against Warrick? The truth now would not only
bring his anger back to her, but ?twas like to have him wanting revenge again
also. She could not bear that now, not when she was discovering she had strong
feelings for the man.
?Twas stupid of her to let that happen, she knew. Mildred had warned her of the
possibility. Though she had scoffed then, she did not see how she could actually
have prevented it, since it had sneaked up on her when she was not looking. The
culprit was likely those damn desires of hers that she had so little control
over. Twas hard to dislike a man she so enjoyed in bed. Twas harder still to
dislike one who kept showing her a more gentle side to his nature.
She finished combing her hair and started to braid it. She was wearing her
yellow bliaut again, which had not drawn comments yesterday, nor yet today, even
though she had the serf?s gown that she had stuffed in the sack she had brought
back with her. She supposed she was testing Warrick by not donning it instead,
to see just how closely he meant to adhere to the original dictates he had set
down for her, when his attitude toward her was no longer the same.
She turned now to ask ?Think you d?Ambray will try something else underhanded??
Warrick dropped back on the bed, where he had been sitting and watching her.
?I do not intend to give him the opportunity. I march on his castle in two days.?
Rowena?s fingers stilled in her hair, her breath in her throat.
?Whichthat is, has he more than one??
?Aye, and others in his control that he has no right to. But ?tis his stronghold,
Ambray Castle, I will take. Hopefully, this time he will be in it when I do.?
If Gilbert was not, Rowena?s mother still was. The Lady Anne could be freed,
finally, from Gilbert?s controlor she could be hurt if Ambray did not surrender,
if the battle was taken inside its walls.
?Do you and your menkill wantonly when you take a castle?? she asked hesitantly.
?Was anyone killed at Kirkburough??
?Kirkburough was not defended,? she reminded him.
?Ambray will be.?
?Men die indiscriminately in any battle, Rowena, but I have never killed
wantonly.?
Then he sat up.
?Why do you ask? And if you tell me you are worried for folk you do not even
know, I will?
?Do not start threatening me so early in the r morn,? she cut in crossly.
?I was only thinking of the women and children. Does this lord have a family, a
wifea mother??
?No one since his father died? nay, actually, there are his father?s widow and
her daughter, but they are no blood kin to him.?
?Yet I have heard it said you destroy whole families when you go after an enemy.?
He grinned at her.
?They say a great many things about me, wench. Mayhap half is true.?
He was not telling her what she needed to hear, and she was starting to feel
sick in her apprehension, so she asked outright ?Then you would not kill those
women, though they are related to the Lord of Ambray through marriage??
He finally frowned at her.
?Were I capable of killing women, Rowena, you would not be here to ask me such
silly questions.?
She turned her back on him, but not before he saw her stricken expression. He
muttered a curse and moved to stand behind her, drawing her back against his
chest.
?I did
not mean that the way it sounded, but was merely making a point,? he told
her.
?Think you I like these questions of yours when they paint me so vicious? I
thought you were not frightened of me anymore.?
?I am not.?
?Why are you not??
She turned around to look up at him, but color suddenly flooded her cheeks and
she looked down again in embarrassment. In a small, repentant voice, she said ?Because
you do not hurt womeneven when you have reason to. I am sorry, Warrick. I should
not have let my thoughts run hither and yon, butbut I like it not that you go to
make war.?
?I am a knight?
?I know, and knights will ever have one battle or another to fight. Women do not
have to like it. Willwill you be gone for long??
His arms wrapped around her to draw her close.
?Aye, mayhap months. Will you miss me, wench??
?When half my duties go with you??
He whacked her bottom.
?That was not a proper answer for your lord.?
?That answer was for the man who calls me his serf. I have another answer for
the man who loved me through the night. Him I will dream of, and pray for, and
count the days until he comes safely?
His arms crushed her. His mouth devoured her. Before her thoughts scattered from
the heat he aroused so quickly, she decided he must have liked that answer
better. She just wished it were not all true.
Chapter 41
Warrick looked up from his cold meal as the tent flap opened. He grinned slowly
as he saw who had entered.
?Be damned, what do you here, Sheldon? And do not tell me you were just passing
by.?
?I come with your supply wains from Fulkhurst. You might want to put that slop
aside and wait for some fresh pork. I counted a dozen fat pigs, one of which is
even now being slaughtered.?
?We were not doing so badly,? Warrick replied.
?The village had had a prosperous summer ere we arrived, and I made sure none of
its stock was herded into the castle, though I let all of the villagers seek
shelter there.?
Sheldon laughed at that strategy.
?More mouths for them to feed, but less food to feed them with. Usually
besiegers are not so lucky.?
Warrick shrugged.
?I was fortunate in catching them unawares with an advance guard. But with the
harvest just in, the castle was likely well stocked. It has been a month, but I
doubt they are even rationing yet.?
?Well, I have brought you a few trebuchets you might make use of.?
?The devil you did!?
?As well as a small mountain of stories to fire from them. But I noticed you
brought your mangonel down from Tures. I should have brought you boulders
instead.?
Warrick chuckled.
?That would have been appreciated, since most of mine are sunk in the damn moat,
with not much damage to their credit. Now tell me what you are doing here, my
friend. This is not your war.?
?Twas Sheldon?s turn to shrug.
?With my own harvest in, I was going mad with boredom. You have made our
neighbors so law abiding with your quick retaliations for any little trespass,
naught exciting ever happens anymore in our shire. And since Eleanor died, I no
longer have a wife to keep me content at home. Twas either do a little raiding
across the border, go to court which I abhoror come and offer you my excellent
advice for a fortnight or so, or at the very least, my company.?
?You are most definitely welcome, though you are like to be as bored here as at
home.?
?Your company is never boring, Warrick, not when it is so easy to rile you.?
Sheldon grinned.
?But does that mean you plan to just sit them out??
? Tis not my habit to be a passive besieger. We keep them busy and ever alert.?
?How many towers have you employed??
?Three have been burned, now rubble filling the moat. I am building two more.?
?That should be demoralizing for those watching from the battlements, as was
your supplies arriving. But have you cornered the illusive wolf this time, or
did he get away??
?As of last week he was still telling my heralds to go to hell, though he does
not show himself on the walls to make my archers happy. However, there was a
fire our first week here. I know not whether some brave yeoman climbed down from
the castle walls to make mischief, or if ?twas carelessness in my own camp, but
in the ensuing commotion, a whole troop could have escaped over the walls, or
through the postern gate, which is so carefully concealed on the outside that we
have yet to locate it. There is also the possibility that d?Ambray was not here
at all and his constable answers in his name. I will not be at all pleased to
learn if that is so.?
? Twill not be the first time you thought you had him but he managed to escape.?
?Aye, but does he do so this time, I swear I will take this castle down stone by
stone and cart the debris away.?
?Now that would be a waste. If you do not want it, why not give it to the
Malduits as Beatrix?s dower? Let them worry about keeping d?Ambray from getting
it backif you do not end him in this effort.?
Warrick grinned at the notion. Twas subtle in the way of revenge, yet did it
have amusing ramifications, especially after Lord Reinard had tried to dupe him
with an unwilling bride, and had thus far been rewarded for it. He and d?Ambray
did, in truth, deserve each other.
?Are you sure you would not like Emma to have it insteadto relieve the boredom
you cornplained of?? Warrick teased.
Sheldon looked horrified.
?God?s blood, do not be so generous with us! A farm or a mill will do Richard
nicely. He is the scholar in our family, after all. Barely did he earn his spurs,
for truly do I think Lord John took pity on him when he knighted him this year.?
Warrick laughed at those half truths. Richard was scholarly, true enough, but
all three of Sheldon?s sons, though none yet twenty, took after their father in
knightly skills ?Best I see if I can capture Ambray ere I dispose of it,?
Warrick conceded.
?That is in little doubt considering the size of the army you have here. The
hundred men I brought with me?
?Will be welcome.?
?But are not needed.?
Sheldon snorted.
?Where do you come by so many??
?Landless knights are plentiful these days. Those who come to me do not find
outlawry to their liking, nor the political machinations at court. My wars are
simple and straightforward, my army not beset with indecision or too many lords
back stabbing for supremacy. For men who prefer fighting to peace??
?But this is to be your last campaign, is it not? What will you do with such a
large army when you are at peace??
Warrick shrugged.
?At least half I will keep. I have enough properties to support them. The rest,
mayhap I will suggest they seek service with young Henry. Tis rumored he plans
to come after the throne yet again.?
Sheldon chuckled.
?So you will no longer hold yourself neutral in the political arena??
?I have fought for Stephen only when it suited me, paid scutage w
hen it did not,
and have even gone against him when one of his loyal followers has earned my
enmity. But I would welcome a king who can give us peace again, so I will not
have to be troubled in my old age to keep it myself. I believe the Angevin can
do that.?
Sheldon was in agreement, and they spoke of some of the great earls already in
Henry?s camp. Chester had visited Sheldon to feel him out on the subject.
Hereford had spoken in private to Warrick when he was last in London. Twas going
to come to civil war again, and Henry?s vassals wanted to know in advance who
would stand by them, or at least continue neutral.
But that was for future debate. Sheldon got back to a subject of more immediate
concern to him?I would have had Richard with me, but we stopped by Fulkhurst on
the way here, and I could not drag him away from his hoped for bride. You will
not believe her transformation, VVarrick. I am almost inclined to tell my son
that you have changed your mind and decided to offer her to me instead, but I
doubt not he would challenge me do I suggest it. He is more smitten than ever.?
?But what of her manner?? Warrick asked.
?Noticed you any improvement??
?Your little lady serf has worked wonders in so short a time. She has sewn for
Emma a new wardrobe, and instructed her in every aspect of castle management and
wifely duties. Verily, you can in no way tell Emma was raised in the village.
She is gracious, softly spoken, and?
?Enough, Sheldon! Richard can have her.?
?Then I will be glad to accept her as a daughter by marriage instead of as a
wife.?
Warrick snorted.
?That was never in doubt.?
Then he asked nonchalantly ?And what of Emma?s tutor? How does she fare??
?Ah, that is right, you have not seen her this last month, have you??
Warrick did not need reminding of that. He wanted to go home. For the first time
since he was a boy, he had a reason to go home, and it was frustrating him that
he could not.
?How are the camp whores?? Sheldon was saying.
?Any worth trying??
?I would not know,? Warrick growled.
?And you did not answer my question. Is Rowena well? Is she eating properly?
Emma is not tiring her, is she??
Sheldon chuckled.
?Nay, she thrives with you not there to intimidate her. She adds grace and
beauty to your hall. Emma adores her. Your servants defer to her. Melisant
Lindsey, Johanna - Prisoner Of My Desire Page 29