Aude met the Abbot’s gaze. ‘Abbot Bertram, if I may say some thing?’
‘Speak freely, my lady. You have considered how you wish to spend your days?’
‘I have. You must know that my fiancé, Martin de Beaumont, died just over a year ago?’
‘Indeed, your brother informed me of his untimely death. Please accept my sympathies.’
‘Thank you. Abbot Bertram, it is true that after Martin’s death I considered taking the veil. But deeper thought has made me realise that the contemplative life is not for me.’ It was Hugh, Aude realised with a start. Hugh with his teasing smile, the smile that could lift me out of my grief, the smile that could startle because last spring it made me wonder what it might be like to kiss him…
‘Are you certain, my lady? The Church would welcome you. Perhaps one of the less…austere orders might suit you?’
Aude’s every muscle tensed and she had opened her mouth to speak when Edouard cleared his throat. ‘My lord, I am sorry if there has been any misunderstanding, but I must make it clear, my sister is not to be coerced. I have given my word that her will should be respected.’
Aude sent him a grateful smile.
‘Of course, of course.’ The abbot was beginning to sound irritable. ‘Compulsion would negate the offering to God. Anyone giving their life to the Church must do so freely. But I would hate to see your sister idle away her days. She has many strengths and talents, and to waste them would be a sin against the very God who gave them to her. Perhaps Lady Aude needs further, more focused guidance—a retreat, perhaps?’
‘No!’ Aude knew her voice was sharp, but she could not help it. ‘My apologies, Lord Abbot, but there would be no sense in that. I have no vocation and that will not change, however many retreats you may offer me.’
‘Your mind is fixed.’
‘On this matter it is.’
‘Perhaps you think to marry?’
‘One day, perhaps.’
The Abbot pushed himself to his feet and held up his hand in brief blessing. ‘I shall leave you to your meditations. Ponder well on the benefits that would accrue to your family should Lady Aude make a good marriage to a reliable man, a man whose loyalty to Duke William is unquestionable. With that in mind, there is someone I should like Lady Aude to meet. In view of the clouds that still hang over your brother, my lady, I would beg you to ponder hard on the merits of what I have suggested. May God guide your decision, Lady Aude, and may He bless you both.’
‘Farewell, my lord,’ Edouard said.
‘He’s after my dowry,’ Aude muttered, frowning at Abbot Bertram’s back as he left the church.
‘He will be sending in one of his knights next,’ Edouard said.
‘You are not serious!’
‘Never more so. Listen, Aude…’ Edouard lowered his voice ‘…I can under stand you not wanting to enter a convent, but I do think you should consider marriage, and soon. Some time this year.’
‘This year? Edouard, there’s some thing you are not telling me. What have you done?’
Her brother looked steadily at her, saying nothing. Her fingers had clenched into fists; deliberately, she uncurled them. Today was not turning out as she had hoped it would. Hugh—banished! And now this…
‘Edouard? It would help the family if I made a good marriage?’
He sighed. ‘An alliance with one of the Abbot’s more trusted knights would cement our position in Normandy. No one would ever question our loyalty to the Duke.’
‘I really do not—’
‘Aude, shut that mouth for once and meet the Abbot’s man. You never know, you might find that he suits.’
‘The Abbot’s man? Edouard, have you arranged some thing behind my back?’
Edouard cleared his throat. ‘Just meet the man. We shall proceed from there.’
‘No! Edouard, you…you… I hate you!’
‘No, you don’t. Aude, you have to marry some time. It is, as Abbot Bertram says, the moment to make your choice.’
‘Some choice! You present me with a man I have never laid eyes on! Edouard, you worm! You planned this all along. I feel betrayed, betrayed!’
In the distance, a door slammed.
‘Hush, Aude, for the love of God, here he comes.’
Brisk foot steps drew closer, Aude couldn’t bear to look. If only it could be Hugh. But that, a wish so secret she had barely acknowledged it even to herself, had always been a vain hope.
‘Good day, Lord Edouard.’
He had a pleasant voice. Unfamiliar. Aude lifted her eyes. A blue tunic. The Abbot’s knight was tall with dark eyes and curly brown hair. His smile was friendly. Slightly reassured, she rose to greet him.
Everyone stood to benefit if she married this stranger. This knight would get his reward—Aude and her dowry. Yes, it would be a fine arrangement. If Aude de Crèvecoeur married one of the Abbot’s knights, everyone would be happy. Everyone except her…
‘Sir Olivier!’ Edouard smiled. ‘Good to see you again, man, good to see you. Aude, may I present Sir Olivier de Fougères? Sir Olivier, my sister Aude.’
‘Enchanté, ma dame.’
‘Sir Olivier.’ Aude made her voice cool.
As the Abbot’s knight bowed over her hand, a peculiar fancy took her. Hugh Duclair was standing in Sir Olivier’s place, and he was no longer a banished man. Hugh was wearing a silk tunic banded with intricate embroidery, gold gleamed on the pommel of his sword, and his eyes were glittering with laughter as they had done that spring at Crèvecoeur…
‘Abbot Bertram suggested I spoke to you.’ Sir Olivier’s voice brought her crashing back to reality. ‘And that your brother approved our meeting.’
‘Indeed?’ Carefully she withdrew her hand. Not Hugh. Heavens, what was happening to her? She bit her lip.
‘My lady, both the Abbot and your brother speak highly of your qualities.’
‘It is good to hear my brother values me.’
‘And why should he not? But not only your brother, my lord Abbot speaks highly of you too. Word has spread of your competence at Beaumont, not to mention the changes you have wrought at Crèvecoeur.’
‘Oh.’
‘Lady Aude, I would be honoured if you would care to walk with me in the orchard. We might get to know each other a little better. You don’t object, I take it, Lord Edouard?’
‘Be my guest.’ Edouard had a definite smile in his voice.
‘My lady?’
Aude put her hand on the knight’s arm and he led her out of the church.
The tidal surge roared along. It was only a few miles short of Jumièges and it was larger than ever. The wave spanned the Seine; it burst over the banks. White crests foamed and frothed at the margins, churning the mud, snatching at dead branches.
The surge pushed on, unstoppable. Boats rocked at moorings, the wave broke over them, filling them to sinking point in a moment. River barges were ripped away, stolen by the great press of water. This was la barre, also called the mascaret.
At the Ételan river bank, a woman’s eyes widened and she ran to snatch her daughter clear of the fore shore.
Near the harbour at Villequier, a little boy murmured, ‘Viking wave,’ and stuck his thumb in his mouth, eyes round as pennies.
At Caudebec-en-Caux, a monk made the sign of the cross when he noticed the white horses racing upriver. He shouted a warning at a woman hauling eel-traps in from one of the jetties. She never heard him. Foam sprayed in her face; the wave swirled round her ankles, tugged at her skirts and bore her away. There was more screaming. Choking. A mouth full of river water mixed with brine. The river swallowed her.
Jumièges lay around the next curl of the river. Only minutes away, la barre drove relentlessly towards it.
Bees were humming in the lavender hedge that bordered the Abbey orchard. Butterflies wavered past, drunk with nectar and sunshine. Walking sedately through the orchard with the long grasses brushing her skirts, Aude shot the Abbot’s knight a sidelong glance.
/> Sir Olivier was, as Edouard no doubt knew, well favoured and attractive. He had good teeth, he was power fully built and he had a smile that might charm the larks from the sky. He had tucked her arm into his and she could feel strength under the broad cloth of his tunic. So far, she had seen nothing to dislike, and it was a pity she could not warm to him. Hugh. What would it be like to be walking in this orchard with Hugh Duclair?
Sir Olivier reached to pluck an apple from a tree and passed it to her.
‘My thanks.’ The fruit was red and unblemished. It held the heat of the sun, but Aude did not want it any more than she wanted the man. The memory of a teasing smile held more allure.
Firmly, she put the memory behind her. Hugh had no smile for her today.
Brown eyes gleamed as they looked at her, and with practised ease Sir Olivier manoeuvred her against one of the lichen-covered tree trunks. When his eyes darkened, she realised he was going to kiss her.
Aude lifted her lips. She had to admit, she was curious. Despite two betrothals and a hopeless yearning for a certain banished lord, she was sadly lacking in experience with regard to kissing. The only man to have kissed her had been her Martin. She had adored Martin, but she had only been thirteen when they had become betrothed and they had pledged to remain chaste until their wedding day.
That was no doubt why Martin’s kisses had been so brief; he had not wanted to tempt either of them into breaking their vows. Affectionate but chaste, Martin’s kisses had left her entirely unmoved. And as for her second fiancé, Count Richard had known she was grieving—he had not touched her. Besides, Count Richard had had a Saxon mistress to entertain him…
Sir Olivier bent his head.
Aude did not know this man; never mind that his handsome features left her unmoved, she would try for her brother’s sake. Edouard thought she had been grieving too long, that grief was her habit and it needed to be broken. Perhaps he was right. This knight might teach her to enjoy his touch. Well, let us see. If I find you pleasing, an alliance might be possible…
A tall, broad body blotted out the sun. Aude felt herself go stiff. It was not Hugh’s body, she felt no desire to touch it.
Her nose wrinkled. Sir Olivier’s blue tunic smelt faintly of sweat, stale sweat that made her want to turn her head aside. Not all men had this smell, she recalled, as the naked shoulders and finely sculpted musculature of Hugh Duclair came into focus in her mind.
‘My lady, I swear if you were to honour me with your hand, I would cherish you all my life.’
The eyes of the Abbot’s knight were almost black and as she tipped her head back Aude could see her own small self reflected back at her. What was he seeing? Herself? Or the lands and the dowry she would bring him?
The body of the Abbot’s knight pressed against her, flustering her, hemming her in. Her apple fell to the ground and she forced herself to stand still while his lips touched hers.
Nothing.
Aude felt nothing but a sense of unease. No, it was stronger than that, it was irritation and it was growing stronger with every second that his mouth was on hers. Smothered—he was smothering her. Her hand came up to push him away. He caught it in one of his. She swallowed down a protest.
Sir Olivier pressed closer, pushing her back against the tree. Think of our family, she told herself, we need to make a good alliance.
Aude held firm as he pressed closer. Her veil snagged on a twig and her sense of irritation in creased. ‘Ouch! Sir Olivier!’
He could not have heard for he went on kissing her. He was trying to insert his tongue between her teeth. A shudder, and it was entirely of revulsion, went through her. Martin had never done anything half so repulsive. Aude twisted her head. There was a ripping sound as the twig tore the delicate fabric of her veil. Her hair felt as though someone was pulling it out at the roots.
‘Ow! Please, sir!’
His body smelled sour. Sir Olivier might be wearing a pretty tunic but it was better suited to winter than summer and it needed rather more than an airing.
He lifted his head and Aude no longer felt suffocated. The sense of irritation faded. He smiled; it was a very charming smile, his best feature. Boyish and vulnerable, his smile told her, for all that he was a knight, this man was malleable. He would never bend her to his will.
In that instant Aude recognised that if she and Sir Olivier were to make a match of it, he would defer to her. Thoughtfully, she looked at him. She might not warm to him, she might never yearn for him, but it seemed he was a rarity among the knightly class. He would not forget that the lands that came with the marriage belonged to her.
‘Oh, your veil! I am sorry, my lady, I wouldn’t have had that happen for the world, except…’
‘Yes?’ Aude felt as though she were not really here in the orchard, she was watching Sir Olivier from many miles away. This Abbot’s knight, this landless knight wanted her dowry. Her hair had come loose, a strand was gleaming in a patch of dappled sunlight; when he reached to caress it and sighed, laughter formed inside her.
‘Your hair, it is so beautiful, I had no idea,’ he murmured. ‘You are a goddess, a golden goddess of beauty.’
Yes, a giggle was definitely rising, Aude sank her teeth into her lips to keep it in. Sir Olivier had a fine opinion of himself, but she could not take him seriously. And as for his touch, his kiss…
What would Hugh’s kiss be like?
Unhooking her hair from his fingers, Aude turned away and set about straightening her veil. Stop thinking about Hugh! Give this knight your full attention. If he is indeed malleable, he might be useful.
When Aude had set her appearance to rights, Sir Olivier was leaning against the tree, biting into an apple.
‘My lady, it is your brother’s wish that we marry.’
‘Yes, I know, but—’
Sir Olivier tossed the apple aside and reached her in two strides. ‘It is my wish also.’
‘Sir, my dowry is not large, but nevertheless I think you are more interested in my lands than my person.’
‘Not so!’ He took her hands, kissing each in turn. ‘I admit that was the case before I met you, but now that I have met you…’
Aude pulled free. ‘You are very glib, sir. You know I have a manor near Crèvecoeur?’
‘Yes.’
‘And my grandfather left a chest of money with the Abbot here. That is my dowry.’
‘I know about that, but—’
‘I also,’ Aude swept on, ‘have been gifted a small estate in Wessex. Did you know of that?’
Sir Olivier’s handsome face crinkled into a frown. ‘Where the devil is Wessex?’
‘It is in England, sir.’
‘Your brother gave you this estate?’
‘No, my fiancé gave it to me.’
‘Count Martin? I was not aware he had lands in England.’
‘No, Sir Olivier, it is Count Richard I am referring to.’
The Abbot’s knight tipped his head to one side. ‘The man who stepped into Martin’s shoes? I never realised you were promised to him too.’
‘Only briefly. We soon agreed that we should not suit, and as a parting gift Count Richard granted me this estate in England.’
Sir Olivier looked puzzled. ‘Well, that is all to the good, my lady, but I meant it when I said I wished to marry you and not your lands.’
‘I am telling you this,’ Aude softened her voice, ‘because I want you to under stand my intentions. I am currently on my way to Wessex.’
His eyes widened. ‘I see.’
‘I hope that you do. I wish to tour my estate there and ensure that it is in good order. And whatever my brother may say, I am not going to make any decisions regarding my future until my return.’
‘And when might that be?’
Aude shrugged. ‘That will largely depend on what I find in England.’ She gave him a straight look. ‘My brother thinks to sway me, Sir Olivier, but—’
‘You cannot be swayed.’ He grinned.
No
t by you, Aude thought, which, oddly, was the very reason she might consider marrying him in the future. If she had to… ‘No, sir. I shall tour my estate; there are matters there that need my attention. With luck I will be back at Crèvecoeur by Advent.’
‘You will risk a winter crossing? Is that wise?’
Aude made an impatient movement. ‘I will not travel if the weather is inclement. What I am saying, Sir Olivier, is—’
‘No. You are saying no. You will not have me.’
Aude was startled to see disappointment written so clearly on the handsome face. And she would swear it was more than the loss of her dowry; this man appeared to genuinely want her for his wife. Malleable indeed.
‘Yes, Sir Olivier,’ she spoke gently but firmly. ‘I am afraid that I am.’
His nostrils flared and she found herself at the receiving end of another of those charming smiles. ‘When do you leave?’ he asked, politely offering her his arm.
As they started walking back to the church, tension seeped out of her, and Aude realised she had been braced for a churlish reaction. Her heart warmed to him. There were not many knights who would accept her decision so well. Charmer he might be, but Sir Olivier was genuinely likeable, which was all to the good. Particularly since Edouard would be more agreeable about her visiting England if she went in the company of the knight he had chosen for her husband…
‘I had planned to take a barge to Honfleur this afternoon, but another passenger took my place and had my baggage thrown off the ship.’
He missed a step. ‘Surely not?’
‘Really.’ They resumed their slow progress towards St Peter’s church where Edouard was waiting for them.
‘What will you do, my lady?’
‘Find another ship.’
‘Does Lord Edouard know what you have in mind?’
‘Yes, but I fear he may try to delay my departure.’ Aude gave him a straight look. ‘I should like to trust you, sir. May I?’
Brown eyes looked earnestly into hers. ‘It would be my honour to assist you, my lady.’
Wessex Weddings 05 - Her Banished Lord Page 3