She managed to yank her arm free just as a figure appeared behind her. It reached out, grabbing her by the arm, and pulling her back, away from Dennis, as she gasped with fright. But Emilie’s fright quickly dissolved when she saw that it was David.
Thank you, God! her heart cried. Like an avenging angel, David had swooped down to rescue her in her hour of need, in all of his magnificent glory. And he had the biggest dagger in his hand that she had ever seen.
Angels did indeed bear weapons, and she was glad.
“For putting your hands on her, I will kill you,” David said to Dennis. He had been watching Emilie from across the room and had seen the exact moment when Dennis grabbed her. He run straight across the floor, dodging women, in his attempt to reach the spot where she had vanished. Finding her in the shadows, with Dennis de la Londe no less, had his blood boiling. “I hope you are right with God for this shall be your last moments on earth.”
Dennis smiled thinly and opened the heavy robe he was wearing to display his broadsword strapped to his right leg. “Is this truly where you want to fight, David?” he asked. “This is a celebration. If you and I engage in a fight, it will ruin the entire party and it will surely upset your lady. Is that what you truly wish to do?”
David’s jaw ticked as Emilie, sensing great and terrible things were about to happen, grasped David by the arm.
“Please,” she whispered. “Let us go, David. He did not hurt me.”
David didn’t look at her but he did push her behind him, gently, to shield her from anything Dennis might do. “You should never have touched her,” he said, low and threatening. “You know better than that.”
Dennis cocked an eyebrow. “Do I?” he said. “Tell me, David; does she only see you has a noble and chivalrous knight? Does she know about the terrible atrocities you committed at Richard’s command? If you are going to court the lady, she really should know all about you. Why don’t you tell her about Ayyadieh? I remember quite distinctly what you did there. Tell her, David.”
The ticking in David’s jaw grew worse. “You remember Ayyadieh because you were there, too,” he said. “You followed the same orders that I did. What I was unhappily forced to do as my duty, you did with great glee. You were happy to spill the blood of three-year-old children, dancing over their bodies while I dug their graves. Did you tell her that?”
Dennis only seemed to find humor in that. “I am not the one courting her,” he said. “Why should I tell her anything about me?”
Emilie, standing behind David and clutching the man by the waist, was growing increasingly confused with the conversation. “Three-year-old children?” she repeated, somewhat appalled. “David, what is he speaking of? What is Ayyadieh?”
Keeping his eyes on Dennis, David spoke to her. “Something that happened when we were in The Levant,” he said. “I will tell you later. At the moment, I think it is more important to return you to your seat.”
Emilie didn’t argue with him but she clung to him, feeling his warm and muscular body beneath her hands. She realized she was holding on to him because she didn’t want him to get away from her, as if he would charge Dennis. But as they turned to go, Dennis lifted his voice over the noise of the room.
“He is not the man you think he is, demoiselle,” he said to Emilie. “He murders children. Ask him!”
David didn’t say a word; he put an arm around Emilie’s shoulders and moved her away from Dennis and around the perimeter of the hall until they reached the de Lohr table on the other side. About the time they reached the table, the women, including Dustin and Anne and Deborah and Nathalie, were coming off of the dance floor as the fertility dance concluded.
Dustin went to Christopher and Anne went to her husband, and Deborah and Nathalie settled down to drink and giggle. But David helped the stricken Emilie into a chair and took the one next to her, pouring her a cup of wine himself from the pitcher on the table. He put it into her hands, forcing her to drink.
She did, choking down a few swallows, coughing as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She smiled weakly as she looked into David’s concerned face.
“Are you truly well?” he asked gently. “Did he try to hurt you?”
Emilie shook her head. “He did not hurt me,” she said. “But he took me right off of the floor, right in the middle of the dance. I never saw him coming.”
David nodded. “I know,” he said. “I was watching you and saw him when he grabbed for you.”
Emilie’s expression was both confused and imploring. “But why?” she asked. “Why did he do that?”
David sighed heavily. Because John is once again attempting to get to me through you, he thought. Jesus, could he really put her through this? Could he continue to allow the woman to be a target of the prince? The next time, she might not be so fortunate. There had already been three previous attempts, four if he counted the one when he had taken her into hiding when the prince appeared on the street on the day of the tournament. Four attempts to get to her because of me.
Reaching out, he took hold of her hands again, small warm appendages in his big, calloused mitts.
“I think,” he said, “that I must have a discussion with your father. I believe the time has come.”
Emilie cocked her head curiously. “Time for what?”
David sighed faintly, rubbing her hands, caressing them. “Time for your father to know what is happening,” he said. “I do not believe he truly grasps it.”
Emilie lifted her eyebrows. “I do not truly grasp it,” she said. “Why would Dennis the Destroyer pull me away and try to tell me such things about you? I do not understand.”
David could see that she meant it. She wasn’t used to a world with intrigue, but he was. He was used to watching his back, and his brother’s back, all day, every day, for fear that an assassin would jump out of the walls and try to kill them. It was the way he lived.
But it wasn’t the way she lived.
Whether or not he wanted to marry her, she was tied to him now. John and Ralph had seen them together and they knew that David’s attention was on her. That made her a target and it wasn’t something he could walk away from in the hope that John and Ralph would see she no longer mattered to him. In the hope that they would leave her alone.
Whatever was to come, David knew he was tied to Emilie now, irrevocably, and he was responsible for her.
He would protect her to the death. His.
“Come,” he said, standing up and pulling her to her feet. “We must find my brother and your father. They must know what happened.”
Emilie went along with him, holding fast to his elbow, but Christopher was nowhere to be found. David inquired about his brother to the man’s wife, but Dustin mentioned that Christopher had told her he had some business to attend to. So David went in search of Lyle, who had wandered away, finding more allies to chat with. He could just see the man several feet away, speaking with Derby.
In fact, he was so focused on Lyle that he didn’t see Brickley come out of the shadows. Drunk, and enraged by David’s attention to Emilie that he had been watching all night, Brickley charged David before anyone could stop him.
A fist to David’s jaw from Brickley sent David to the ground.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Later that night
Christopher’s apartments
The fire burned low in the lush antechamber that belonged to Christopher and Dustin. Comfortably decorated, with leather sling-seated chairs near the fire, David sat in one of them as Dustin’s two dogs snored happily before the warmth of the hearth. She had a little monkey, too, as a pet, a little creature she’d found on the streets of London, and the little beast had a bed high on top of wardrobe, away from the dogs that terrified it. Usually, the monkey would come and sit with David, but not tonight. Tonight, the room was still and quiet.
So David sat alone, staring into the low burning hearth, thinking on the events of the evening. Not that it had been a disaster, but it had cert
ainly been momentous. Brickley’s sock to the jaw had been the least of his worries. He was more concerned with Lyle, who had gone into a panic when David explained what had happened with Emilie and de la Londe. The man had packed up his disappointed daughters faster than the blink of an eye, herding them out to the carriage and whisking them home in the darkness before either lady had been given much chance to enjoy the mask.
But David understood the man’s fear. He had a good deal fear himself, fear of what he’d brought down on Emilie, so in a sense, he was glad Lyle had taken the ladies home. He was afraid that the next time Dennis or Ralph grabbed Emilie, he wouldn’t be so timely in saving her. It was difficult enough to deal with a new attraction… someone he was deeply interested in… without the fear of John and Ralph, and now Dennis, trying to abduct her or somehow get to her.
It was all his fault, what was happening to Emilie, and he felt extremely guilty for it. But his guilt didn’t stop it from happening or somehow make it all better. He was going to have to do something about it.
So he sat and brooded as Christopher remained in the bedchamber adjoining the sitting chamber. Dustin had become ill at the feast from too much food and wine, and Christopher was settling her in for the night. After the incident with Emilie, and then Brickley, the House of de Lohr and the House of Hampton had parted ways to retire for the night. But, in David’s case, it was to come to a conclusion about the situation.
He had to do something about it.
The door to the bedchamber creaked open softly before closing softly. The dogs, sleeping by the fire, sat up at the sound, their gaze tracking the person who had entered the chamber in the darkness. David heard some liquid being poured and then a cup was presented to him, filled with wine. He took it as his brother sat down in the chair next to him.
“So,” Christopher said, the orange glow from the hearth illuminating his rugged features. “It seems that we had quite an eventful evening, little brother.”
David snorted before drinking deeply of his wine. “I would say so,” he replied. “How is Dustin, by the way?”
Christopher nodded, drinking his own wine. “She is well,” he said. “Simply tired. Pregnancy and too much activity do not mix, as I tried to tell her.”
David smiled weakly. “I suppose she will learn.”
“I suppose.”
They fell silent, drinking their wine, contemplating the events of the evening. Christopher eyed his brother, wanting to speak but hoping David wouldn’t become too irate with him on the subject matter. It had to do with women, Emilie to be exact, and women were always a volatile subject where David was concerned, especially in light of Christopher’s marriage to Dustin.
Christopher wasn’t completely convinced that David was still comfortable with the addition of Dustin to their lives, but in the long run, it didn’t matter. He would have to become accustomed to it. Moreover, Christopher had a feeling that David was already thinking about Emilie given what had happened. It was probably occupying every corner of his mind. Christopher took another drink of wine before continuing.
“We must speak on what happened tonight with Lady Emilie,” he said. Then, he looked at David. “Is it true that Brick punched you in the jaw?”
David lifted his eyebrows drolly, nodding as he continued to gaze into the fire. “He was drunk,” he said. “That is the only reason I did not take his head off. Men often do foolish things when they are drunk.”
Christopher watched his brother carefully. “But why should he attack you like that?” he asked, although he already knew the answer. He simply wanted to hear it from David. “What did you do?”
David looked at him, then. “Surely you can figure it out.”
“Figure out what?”
David sighed heavily. “Emilie,” he said flatly. “He hit me because of Emilie.”
Christopher pretended to be confused. “Why should he do that?”
David gave his brother an impatient expression. “You know why,” he said. “I am sure that by now, everybody knows why. He and I want the same lady.”
“Emilie?”
“Aye.”
Christopher fought off a grin, masked by the cup he lifted to his lips. “Shocking, David,” he said. “I never knew you to truly want a woman.”
David knew his brother was toying with him, but somehow, it made his confession easier. He knew that Christopher understood the value of a woman these days.
“She is different,” he muttered. “I think… I think that I have wanted her since the first time I met her. She is sweet and beautiful, and she is exceedingly brave. She is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in. I like that.”
Christopher scratched at his neck. “But you have not seen her for two months until tonight,” he said. “Unless I am mistaken, before this evening, the last time you saw her was at the tournament back in October.”
David nodded. “That is correct.”
“So… if you are attracted to her, why did you not call upon her in that time?”
David frowned, now feeling rather embarrassed. “Because I was an idiot.”
“What happened?”
David drained his cup. “I wanted to kiss her, anytime the mood struck me, and she would not let me,” he said. “She said that it was not proper if we were not betrothed. Can you believe that? She would not let me kiss her unless I agreed to marry her!”
Christopher couldn’t fight off the grin now. It blossomed. “Astonishing,” he said, feigning the fact that he was agreeing with him. “What kind of woman would let a man take advantage of her and then demand marriage?”
He was teasing his brother, helping him see the foolishness of his opinion on the matter. But David scowled at Christopher, who started laughing. “Oh, shut thy nasty little face,” he said irritably, listening to his brother snort. “So I wanted to kiss her and not commit to marrying her. Is that so terrible?”
Christopher shook his head. “It is not,” he replied. “But you know as well as I do that you cannot toy with some women. It seems that Emilie Hampton is one of them.”
David nodded in resignation. “She is,” he said. “And… and I never wanted to toy with her. It is simply that she has attracted me as no other woman ever has. I cannot get her out of my mind, Chris. These past two months, not seeing her, have been torture. Seeing her tonight… well, it confirmed what I already knew. I am smitten with her.”
Christopher was still grinning as he put a big hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I am thrilled for you, truly,” he said. “Smitten enough to offer for her hand?”
David didn’t reply right away. When he did, his voice was low. “I do not know,” he said. hesitantly “All I know is that I cannot stand the thought of her with another. And then there is de Dere; he has her in his sights and he has much more opportunity to be near her than I do. That is why he punched me tonight; he does not want the competition I bring.”
Christopher nodded. “I see,” he replied. “So what do you want to do about it? There would be no competition if you offered for Emilie’s hand, David. The issue with Brick would be ended. Are you ready to take that step?”
David sighed heavily and stood up, moving through the darkened chamber to the table where the wine pitcher sat. He poured himself another cup.
“I am not sure,” he said honestly. “I think so. But marriage… I am still not sure I am ready for it, with anyone.”
“Are you prepared to see Lady Emilie married to Brick?”
David turned to look at him. “I am not,” he said flatly. “That being the case, I suppose I should offer for her hand because I cannot stomach the alternative.”
Christopher smiled at his younger brother. “I am deeply pleased to hear this, David,” he said. “I am proud that you would realize you have found one woman above all others. Trust me when I tell you that it will fill your life like nothing else ever has. You will not be able to remember a time when she was not the center of your world.”
David was both
thrilled and frightened by his admission. It was a very big step for him to take. “Mayhap,” he said, unwilling to commit more than that. It had never been easy for him to admit his feelings, to anyone. “I would like to go to Lyle and Emilie tomorrow. We have much to speak on now that John and Ralph has made Emilie a target. We must offer our protection to Emilie and to the House of Hampton.”
Christopher was in full agreement. “Aye,” he said. “It seems we have brought this down upon them. John and Ralph would have never targeted Emilie had they not known of her relationship to you. David… you do not consider marriage with her because you feel guilty about that, do you?”
David shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “I consider marriage with her because she has managed to capture my heart, Chris. For that, and no other reason.”
“Do you love her?”
David didn’t say anything for a moment. “I do not know,” he finally said. “I have never been in love so I do not know what it feels like.”
Christopher, the older and wiser brother, smiled faintly to David’s slightly confused response. “Trust me,” he said quietly. “When the time comes, you will know. There will be no doubt.”
David suspected his brother was correct. He wondered if it hadn’t already happened and he was just too stubborn to admit it.
*
Lady Orford’s Manor
The next day
“Although I appreciate your offer of protection, David, you must understand my position as a parent.”
Lyle, standing by the hearth in his sister’s lavish solar, was speaking to David mostly but several de Lohr men were standing nearby, including his brother Christopher. It was a very serious matter and the mood of the room was somber as a result.
“Emilie is a target of the prince because of you,” Lyle continued. “After what happened to her last night, I am terrified for her safety. I must take her home and away from this madness that you and the House of de Lohr seem to perpetuate. She is not safe here and you know it.”
The de Lohr Dynasty: Medieval Legends: A Medieval Romance Collection Page 131