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
prefers her company to that of her own tutor. Aye, even your youngest daughter
has improved in manner since Beatrix was sent to abide with her future in-laws.
Likely you can thank your little Rowena for that as well.?
?Mayhap I should bring her here,? Warrick said dryly.
?She can single-handedly take Ambray for me.?
?Was I singing her praises too highly??
?A miteand for naught. I have already decided on a new wife.?
Sheldon?s expression turned blank for several seconds before he exploded.
?You did not! Say you did not! Damn you, Warrick, I could have sworn you were
developing a fondness for Lady Rowena. So she is landless. So she is without
family. Have you not got enough that matters of the heart can now take
precedence for you? Who is this other lady? What does she bring you that is so
important you wouldst risk another Isabella??
Warrick shrugged.
?She claims to have some properties, but for some silly bit of stubbornness, she
will not tell me where they are.?
?She will not? Not tell you?? Sheldon?s peppered brows narrowed.
?Have you just got one back at me, friend??
Warrick grinned.
?Aye, the little wench has bewitched me as you thought. And as long as she has
already taken over my castle, I might as well make her lady of it in truth.?
Chapter 42
Rowena laughed as Emma?s nose scrunched up when she smelled the rancid fat
boiling.
?Do I really need to know everything about everything? Even candle-making??
?You will be fortunate if you have a candlemaker. If you do not, will you hire
one at a cost to your husband, or will you be able to instruct one of your
servants to do the task instead? If your soapmaker only knows how to make lye
soap, will you never again have the sweetscented one you prefer, because the
merchants charge too much for it? Or will you be able to make your own??
Emma blushed as she usually did when she had asked a silly question.
?I hope Richard appreciates what I am going through for him.?
?He will appreciate having his home run smoothly. He need not know about the
fire in the kitchen, the cow that got loose in the laundry yard, or the merchant
who tried to overcharge you for pepper, and whom you had thrown out on his arse.
Richard will see the quickly prepared boiled fish and eggs on his table, smile
at you, and tell you about his own day, which was as naught in comparison to
yours. Thus he will brag to his friends that he has the most wonderful wife in
the land. She never complains, she never worries him with matters that he knows
naught about, and she rarely dips into his coffers.?
Emma giggled.
?Does she really have to be such a paragon of saintliness??
?Certainly not,? Rowena replied as she led them away from the noxious odor of
the boiling fat.
?Did I have the misfortune to still be wed to that old lecher, Lyons, I might
have bought the overpriced pepper and stuffed his fish with it. I offer only
general advice, my dear, that which my mother gave to me. You will find your own
way with Richard, never fear. Now go and seek out Edith. There is no reason for
me to take you through the step by step process of candle making, which I
already know, when Edith can do it. And do not ask again why you cannot simply
be told how to do it. Hearing is soon forgotten, whereas doing is not.?
Rowena returned to the hall and the sewing she had left by the hearth. She was
making Warrick a tunic in bright red samite, a lengthy task, as the thin silk
required small, careful stitches.
The light would have been better to see by in his solar, but she could not get
used to treating that chamber as her own, even though he had told her to do so
the day before he left, and even though she slept there every night.
Her trunk of clothes had appeared in his chamber that day, too. Not one word did
he say about it, other than to remark on the prettiness of the royal purple
bliaut with gold trim that she wore that evening. That her duties were to change
completely with his going she did not find out until he had gone.
First Emma told about her wedding, which would come about only if she could
master the duties of a lady wife, but she had her father?s permission to ask
Rowena to be her teacher in those duties. Rowena had, perforce, put her foot in
her mouth to ask who Emma?s father was. She had been furious with Warrick for a
sennight for not giving her warning. But that same day, Mary Blouet had informed
her that if she had agreed to instruct Emma, which she already had, then she was
to be excused from all of her other duties.
Helping Emma was a pleasure. Rowena had developed a fondness for the girl that
was going to make her miss her sorely when Emma married young Richard. That
would not be until after Warrick returned, however, and no one could guess when
that would be.
There had been other changes. Beatrix had been sent off to live with her new
family the day after her punishment, and ?twas as if the whole castle breathed a
little easier with her going. Once Warrick left, his youngest daughter had made
shy overtures that Rowena encouraged, finding that Melisant was not as mean
natured as Mildred had thought, merely had she been wrongly influenced by her
older sister.
Rowena?s change in circumstance had its effect on others, though she was
inclined to think that where she was sleeping had had the most effect. Mary now
came to her with her problems, and Mary?s husband saved the tenderest morsels of
food for her. Even Warrick?s steward consulted her ere he sent John Giffard to
the nearest town for supplies. John, when he was not off on errands, joined her
and Mildred for their meals. Though Melisant had invited Rowena to dine at the
lord?s table with her and Lady Robertawho was the only one to still disdain
Rowenathat was one presumption she would not make. Warrick might have made
things easier for her ere he departed, but he had not said she was no longer to
consider herself his serf. And a serf, even in the rich gowns of a lady, did not
dine at the lord?s table.
Though her days were full with Emma, she still found too much time to think of
Warrick. And she knew those strong feelings of hers were getting out of hand
when missing him actually hurt. But with him not there to look at her with
desire blazing from his eyes, she lost the confidence she had gained in those
last days she had spent with him. He had wanted her when he was there. He had
made concessions that she would never have expected. But she was, after all, no
more than what he had made her, his leman, his servant, his prisoner. She could
not expect more than that. She could not even expect that when he returned, for
time dimmed all memories, and he might have already found someone else to
interest him.
?Mistress, you are to come with me.?
She looked up to see Sir Thomas, heavily stained from travel, standing in front
of her. He had left the castle with Warrick over a month ago. She looked
hopefully beyond him.
?Is Warrick returned??
?Nay, Mistress, he is still at Ambray Castle.?
?And you are to take me there??
?In all haste.?
The color drained from her face.
?He is wounded??
?Certainly not.?
?Well, you need not say that as if ?twas a stupid question,? she snapped.
?What else was I to think when you say we must make haste??
? Twas my lord?s order,? he explained.
?But we will not travel so swiftly that you end up looking as begrimed and weary
as I. I rode through the night, but I am allowed a day and a half to bring you
safely to Ambray. If you would but make haste now to gather a few clothes and
what you will need, we can ride at a more leisurely pace.?
Rowena?s brow knit curiously.
?Do you know why I am summoned??
?Nay, Mistress.?
She suddenly gasped as one reason occurred to her.
?Is Ambray taken??
? Tis still under siege, though safe enough for you to venture there for a time.?
Then this summons made no sense.
Chapter 43
There was one other reason that Rowena could think of for being summoned to
Warrick?s presence. It had her beset with dread the entire journey, but ?twas
definitely possiblenay, likely. Warrick could have seen Gilbert from the
battlements and recognized him. She could be going to face his blackest rage,
his cruelest visage. He could want revenge again, mayhap even to use her against
Gilbert, torture her before the battlements, hang hernay, nay, he would not do
that. But she remembered the walloping Beatrix had got. She remembered the
dungeon. She remembered being chained to his bedwell, that had not been so bad
in retrospectbut that beating?
She was so afraid when they reached the camp that surrounded Ambray, she barely
noticed the silent castle towering in its midst. She was taken straightaway to
the tent set up for Warrick?s use, but he was not in it. That did nothing to
soothe her jumbled nerves. She was here. She wanted whatever she would have to
deal with to be over.
But she had no time to even build up a bit of annoyance that she was to be kept
waiting, for Warrick walked in less than a minute later. There was no time
either to judge his mood, for she was yanked right into his arms. And that left
no opportunity to get a single word out, for his mouth covered her gasp, the
entreaties she would have made, the excuses.
For endless moments she was overwhelmed by sheer possessiveness, for that kiss
said she was his and he wanted to consume her. Her anxieties did not return
immediately when she was allowed to breathe again, did not get through her
aroused senses at all until she was lowered to Warrick?s pallet and saw him
throw his sword belt aside just before he dropped to his knees to descend on her.
?Wait!? she cried, thrusting both hands up to hold him back from her.
?What does this mean, Warrick? Why am I summoned here??
?Because I missed you,? he replied, defying the pressure she was exerting
against him to lean down and say the words against her lips.
?Because I felt I would go mad if I had to wait another day to see you.?
?Is that all??
?Is that not enough??
Her relief was so great, she kissed him back with more passion than she had ever
shown him. His hands came to her breasts, claiming them.
Hers went to his hips, pressing him closer. But ?twas an unsatisfying embrace,
hampered by clothes he would not stop kissing her to remove.
When he did finally get around to yanking off his tunic, it was with such haste
he caused he; to laugh.
?You ruin more clothes that I must then repair.?
?Do you mind??
?Nay, you can rip mine, too, if you like.?
She grinned at him.
?But I might be able to be rid of them quicker do you let me up.?
?Nay, I like you just where you are. You cannot imagine how often I saw you just
so in my mind.?
She ran her hands up the chest he had bared for her touch, then leaned up to
lick one nipple.
?As often as I imagined doing that??
?Rowena? do not,? he said raggedly and tried to push her back down, but she held
on tight and attacked his other nipple.
?Desist, or I will come the very instant I get inside you.?
?That is all right as long as it gives you pleasure, Warrick. Think you I will
not make sure that you see to me after??
He groaned, yanked her skirts up and her braies down, and plunged into her. And
she did make sure he brought her to the same pleasure after.
Warrick did not leave his tent that afternoon, nor that night. The next morning
when Rowena awoke, she was told Sir Thomas was waiting to take her back to
Fulkhurst Castle. ?Twas Warlick?s squire who told her. Of Warrick there was no
sign at all.
She was bemused, then annoyed. To be brought all this way just for one day of
loving? She did not see why she could not stay longer.
She demanded to be taken to Warrick as soon as she dressed and stepped outside
his tent, where Bernard was waiting to escort her to Sir Thomas. The boy shook
his head but frowned, trying to remember the message he had been instructed to
give her on such a request.
?He said to tell you, Mistress, that if he sees you again, he is likely to keep
you here. Yet is this no place for you to be, so you are to go.?
Rowena opened her mouth to argue with Bernard, but just as quickly closed it.
God?s mercy, how could she h
ave forgotten where she was?
She turned to look at the castle and the tower rising above its fortifications.
Her mother was in there somewhere, so close but impossible to reachnow. But soon
Anne would be freed from the place that had been her prison these three years.
Warrick would do it. He would not leave here until he did.
Some of the outer walls had suffered damage from a mangonel, though not enough
to bring them down or open a small breach for entry. Rowena knew where the
postern gate was located, though. She had been taken through it the first time
she had left here, when she and her mother were separated. But to tell Warrick
about it would tell him she knew Ambray, knew Gilbert, and she could not do that.
But did she dare risk trying to stay here so she could see her mother once the
castle was«J opened? She could refuse to go. If she could just I speak with
Warrick, she knew she could convince him to let her stay or at least remain near.
I But how could she then get to her mother without Warrick being present to