Stuart, Elizabeth (25 page)

He
dropped her onto the center of the bed, still grinning. "We can send for
something to eat later... when we get around to it. I, for one, don't mind
being a legend. At least not in this regard."

Her
sudden attack of shyness had passed. She was smiling, her eyes wide and
luminous, back-lit by stars. "You are legend and dreams, my lord de
Langley," she quoted, letting him know she recalled their first meeting as
clearly as he. Then she reached up and looped her arms about his neck.
"Just don't let me wake up. Please, Robert, don't let me wake up."

"My
lord,
are you certain you'll not stay the night? The wind has come up and it'll be
dark in a matter of hours. The cold will be biting."

Robert
pushed back from the table and rose to his feet. "Thank you, Walter, no.
The people of Belavoir are expecting me."

Beside
him Aymer Briavel rose to his feet as well. "He means the
lady
of
Belavoir is expecting him. He's been married now well over a fortnight, but
you'd think it just yesterday from the way he behaves."

Aymer
grinned across the table at Walter le Foret, the new castellan for the castle
of Steadford. "I've never seen so eager a husband in all my life. Jesu,
Walter, the man is bewitched!"

Robert
laughed with his men. He didn't bother denying the charges because they were
true. He did want to get home to Jocelyn. He'd been gone for a week, seeing to
his lands, checking with the knights he'd set up as castellans as the Montagne
forces departed, men who would eventually become his vassals.

He'd
split his army, sending roughly a third with Geoffrey on a similar mission to
the south and west while he took a third and went north. He couldn't cover every
castle and manor personally, though God knew it needed to be done that way. As
was inevitable in this kind of exchange, the departing Montagne forces would
strip the estates bare of animals, food, every scrap of value if they got half
a chance.

Jocelyn
had begged to come along, but he had refused. Not only was the weather getting
worse, but he would be riding close to Ranulf of Chester's borders. No matter
how much he selfishly enjoyed the delights of having his new wife with him, he
wouldn't risk taking her where the danger was great.

Thus
far the warlike earl had been quiet, but Robert didn't believe that peace would
last long. As a matter of fact, he didn't intend to let it last. Come spring,
he would be making a bid to recover the rest of the de Langley lands from
Chester.

He
smiled, anticipating his reunion with Jocelyn. Perhaps he was bewitched as
Aymer had said, but he had never found a woman who pleased him so much. His
wife was a witty conversationalist, a bold and intelligent partner, and she had
a passionate nature very nearly matching his own. And to top it all off, she
could give him a damned good game of chess.

For
a woman like Jocelyn, he would ride through dark and cold and, God forbid,
howling blizzards if he had to. If she hadn't already been his wife, he would
have made her his mistress without a qualm.

His
men were already mounting up in the bailey, grumbling a little among themselves
at the cold. Robert swung onto his horse, watching as Aymer lifted himself
gingerly into the saddle. His friend's injury was a good month old, his
strength obviously returning, but he still tended to favor his side.

Robert
glanced out over his men. It would be a hard, cold ride back this afternoon—and
all because he wanted to sleep with his wife. If he had any sense he would stay
here at Steadford with Sir Walter.

But
then he thought of Jocelyn, of skin like warm alabaster and hair like dark,
fire-shot silk, of the cozy, firelit chamber where he'd spent far more time
than he ought these last weeks. "An extra shilling's pay and a double
portion of ale for every man if we make it to Belavoir before the castle's
abed," he called out.

A
cheer went up and Aymer grinned at Steadford's new castellan. "What did I
tell you, Walter? Bewitched!"

***

"M'lady,
Cook wants to know how much longer till supper. The stew'll keep nicely but the
pasty'll ruin if it be put back over the fire."

Jocelyn
frowned and gave in, her eyes going longingly toward the keep door. "My
lord said he'd be back but he must have been detained. We'll serve now,
Margaret."

The
woman nodded and Jocelyn moved disconsolately toward the table. She was being
ridiculous. Still, she had so looked forward to tonight.

"It's
early yet," a small voice piped up. "My lord'll be back. He said he
would."

Jocelyn
glanced up, forcing a smile for the boy who had become her shadow these last
weeks. "I'm sure he will, Adam. He would have sent word if he were going
to be detained overnight."

The
boy nodded vigorously, then moved to her place at the table. "May I pour
you wine, my lady?" he asked, in his most carefully correct voice.

"Yes,
please." She watched as the boy deftly poured her wine without spilling so
much as one drop. He was acting as her page, eager to learn the manners and
behavior any other boy of his breeding would have taken for granted by this
age.

She
was teaching those lessons as best she knew, while Robert worked with the lad
at arms practice. But she had begun teaching him something else as well. Adam
Carrick wanted to learn to read and write because he had heard his lord set
great store by such things.

The
boy was uncommonly bright, unfailingly eager, and he had a vocabulary that
might have put any hardened man-at-arms to the blush. And he very clearly
worshiped her husband. Well, that did make two of them, Jocelyn thought with a
smile.

The
outer door swung open on a bitingly cold rush of air. "M'lady, there's
riders sighted," a man called out. "They're comin' up the hill.

Jocelyn's
heart began to race. "You were right, Adam," she said, grinning.
"He did say he'd be back." But within a very few minutes Jocelyn's
excitement was changed to dismay. It was Brian Montagne who sought admission to
Belavoir for himself and his men.

Jocelyn
stepped out into the bailey hugging her arms about herself in the cold. Sir
Edmund Hervey, the knight responsible for the castle garrison, came toward her
out of the darkness. "Your brother says he has brought your things from
Montagne, my lady." The man hesitated, glanced at Jocelyn, then quickly
away. "They are a small enough force, but I don't know that my lord would
wish them inside while he is away."

Drat
Brian! Why did he have to come now? "Are your men armed and ready,
sir?"

Sir
Edmund nodded.

She
drew in a deep breath. It would be a terrible affront to her family if she refused
to let her brother inside the gates. And if he did have her things it meant her
father was at least trying to put a good face on this treaty. "Let them in
then. But tell your men to be on their guard."

Within
minutes, Brian was dismounting and moving toward her. "Well, sister, I was
beginning to think we were to be left outside to freeze."

She
forced a smile. "I'm sorry, Brian, but we weren't expecting you. Come
inside where you can get warm. Sir Edmund will see to your men and
horses."

Brian
glanced around. "What, is de Langley not here?"

"He's
expected back any time."

"Ah...
I see, then, what took so long. Thank you for letting us in. I'd have been well
served if you hadn't after the way I behaved at your wedding. I was angry. With
good cause, as you know. Still I hope we can put it behind us."

"That
was a difficult day for us all," she said guardedly.

He
shrugged, smiled. "As it happens, I really do come in peace. Despite the
way de Langley behaved, slipping off like he did, I convinced Father it was
only fair to let me bring you your things. A peace offering, if you will.
Besides I've seen Adelise. She begged me to bring you a letter for her, to find
out how you fared."

Jocelyn
was suddenly glad her brother had come. "Is she well? Happy?"

"Well
and deliriously happy. And married, as if there were ever any doubt. Father has
forgiven her, and she and Pelham have been at Montagne. They left just
yesterday morning."

"I'm
so very happy for her then." Jocelyn sent him a smile that was genuine
this time. "But come inside. We can talk and be warm at the same
time."

She
led Brian into the hall, had wine poured and gave orders for the meal to be
served. Between mouthfuls, Brian told her about Adelise's visit, had her
laughing with his description of the lord of Pelham as an overly doting
husband.

"I
must assume your marriage agrees with you as well," he said. His eyes
moved slowly over her. "You do look well. Very... different."

Jocelyn
had washed earlier and dressed for her husband's homecoming in her new tunic of
green velvet. Robert had claimed it was his favorite and she had wanted to
impress him tonight. Still, she couldn't help being pleased that her very
exacting brother seemed impressed as well.

"Yes,
my marriage does agree with me." She picked up her wine cup and smiled at
him over the rim. "But as you see, a bit of good cloth does work wonders
for a woman."

"It's
far more than the cloth, Jocelyn. The difference is in you. Adelise has it,
too, you know. That look of a woman who knows well enough that she pleasures a
man." He met her eyes with a knowing grin. "Congratulations. I'll
tell Father there's no chance de Langley hasn't made the marriage contracts
binding."

Jocelyn
was suddenly embarrassed, angered though she couldn't have said why. She and
Robert had been subjected to a great deal of teasing about the pleasure they
found in each other. The comments hadn't bothered her before, but something
about the way Brian said the words, the way he was looking at her, did.

She
wanted to tell him her relationship with her husband was no business of his,
but that wasn't true. If her marriage hadn't been consummated the contracts
could have been declared invalid and the lands in dispute. "No, Brian,
there's no fear the contracts aren't binding," she said dryly.

Moments
later they were interrupted as the dogs in the hall began barking. Within
seconds, dozens of shivering, stamping men were crowding together through the
entrance. Jocelyn rose to her feet, caught a glimpse of a tall, golden haired
figure moving toward her through the crush.

And
then she was in his arms. Lips, hands, bodies— cold everywhere at first, and
then hot where they joined. She pulled away after a moment, flushed and
laughing. "Robert, we do have guests!"

"I
know, sweet, but I've no desire whatsoever to kiss your brother." Robert
turned, smiling, still holding her trapped against his side. "You'll
understand, Montagne. I've just half-killed my men and our horses getting home
to my wife."

Brian
had risen to his feet. He was smiling as well, not missing a single detail.
"Of course. I've come straight from just such another besotted bridegroom.
My sister Adelise and her new husband have been visiting at Montagne."

Jocelyn
stiffened. How could Brian be so tactless?

But
her husband didn't rise to the bait. "So Pelham did marry her. He would
have been a fool not to. Adelise's lands did march far better with his than
with mine."

Brian's
eyes narrowed, but he managed to keep his smile. "I believe my sister was
married for reasons other than land. Adelise, that is."

Jocelyn
sucked in her breath. This time she had felt the tiniest stiffening in her
husband's body.

"Certainly,
but then one never knows what really motivates a man. I've learned over the
years that at least half the time it's not what it seems."

Robert
bent and kissed Jocelyn's forehead, releasing her as he dragged off his cloak.
"But my man outside tells me you've brought home my wife's things. I thank
you for that. Jocelyn told me she had things of her mother's that were
dear."

Jocelyn
took her husband's cloak, poured wine, then hurried to have food brought, to
see that his men were being cared for as well. She was relieved to hear
Robert's laugh ring out moments later, to hear her brother join in as they sat
together at the high table. She might not trust or even like her brother, but
the last thing she wanted was open hostility between her husband and the rest
of her family.

She
moved to the table where the knights who'd come in were drinking and waiting
for food. She frowned as she stopped beside Sir Aymer. The man was obviously
spent. "I told you it was too soon to make a ride. You do push yourself
too fast."

He
straightened, sending her his ready smile. "Not at all. I'm weak still,
yes, but how will I regain my strength if I don't push? Never fear, lady, I
won't push too far. I've no intention of letting all your hard work go for
naught."

Jocelyn
smiled back. It was impossible not to like the outgoing, gregarious Aymer.
Besides, her husband had a special fondness for the man. She would have been determined
to like him even if he hadn't so enthusiastically declared himself her
life-long servant after she had arrived back at Belavoir. "Just see that
I'm not put to the trouble of stitching you together again. Once is
enough," she added with mock severity.

Aymer
grinned, but Jocelyn noticed his eyes flicker to her brother and back.
"You'll get no argument on that from me."

The
meal ended, and Robert excused himself to speak to his garrison commander.
Jocelyn led her brother up the stairs. She had readied the room he had always
used thinking to make him more comfortable. She realized her mistake as he
glanced around, said softly, "It seems strange to be a guest in a keep
that was once my own."