She felt his presence before she saw him. It was always the same now. It began as a prickle down her back as if a finger caressed her, and then it turned into a melting deep inside as her body responded to his presence. She smiled to herself at the memory of the previous night, of how slowly their lovemaking was changing. At first it had been the urgent need of their bodies coming together like lips to a goblet, gulping down the body’s need until it was sated. But now? Now, they took their time pleasuring each other and the need was now satisfied with an intensity of the mind also.
When his footsteps came very close she turned and Rufus’s hand snaked out and caught her by the waist, pulling her to him. She arched so she could see him properly. Her hips pressed against his and he narrowed his eyes and drew in a long shuddering breath as he tried to contain his desire for her. The thought made her smile.
“I trust you are not planning your escape, my lady wife.”
Her heart swelled at his words. With each night they spent together her feelings for him grew. From the first moment she met him she knew he was an honorable man, and from when they got together she knew she desired him. But now? She only desired him more—both his mind and his body. And it seemed that he felt the same.
“And why would I do that?”
He shrugged and his arms came tighter around her. She could feel how much he wanted her now. “I know not how a woman’s mind works. But you come here every morn and gaze out across the sand to the sea.”
She turned to face the sea again and they both looked out at the slowly emerging scene—of the tussocky line of the sand dunes, topped by the wide dark, dark sea and the red-tinged sky. “It is the sea that draws me. I had no notion of it growing up in the forest. Only a few of my people had seen it and their descriptions were quite wrong.”
“How?”
“They said it was a hateful thing—deep and dangerous where people died and things that were no longer wanted were thrown.”
“It is that, and more too.”
“Aye. I think I could gaze on it every day for the rest of my life and still not know all its moods.”
She felt his arms tense around her. Despite their increasing closeness, she was no surer of her future with Rufus at Wanham. Especially given the continued enmity of Lady Charlotte. She gave a deep sigh.
“What is the matter?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
He turned her in his arms and lifted her chin. “‘Nothing’ makes you sigh so deeply and sadly?”
She gave a small smile. “It is nothing new, I suppose I mean.” She shrugged. “Your mother…”
She didn’t have to elaborate.
“You have to understand, Kezia, that her life has been hard.”
“Why, what happened to her?”
Rufus was silent for a few moments before speaking.
“My mother was barely fourteen years of age when my father saw her. She was the daughter of a merchant in Normandy and even at that age helped her father with the business.”
“What happened?”
He sighed. “My mother’s father refused the match and so my father took her captive, and held her against her will for a long time in a remote castle near Bordeaux which once belonged to our family.” Kezia heard Rufus’s shame in every word he spoke. “She has never told me exactly how long. But by the time he released her, she’d already given birth to me and was pregnant with Savari. Her father had died and she no longer had a home.”
Kezia felt sick to her stomach that Rufus’s father could have done such a thing. And glad that he was no longer living.
“And your mother? What did she do?”
“My father threatened to take me back to Norfolk alone but she wouldn’t be parted from me. Besides, she had nothing, and nowhere else to live, so she returned here when his own father died and they inherited the estates.”
For the first time since she’d arrived, Kezia felt sorry for Lady Charlotte, and understood from whence her hard heart had come. “Did they learn to love each other?”
“No. But she loved us children and my father certainly grew to respect my mother’s intelligence and skill with money and trade. As he mismanaged the land and lost more land in battles with neighbors which could have been prevented, it was my mother’s skill at trading which kept us wealthy.”
Kezia could understand Lady Charlotte better now—her love for her children and need to be prosperous trumping all else.
“And so when I came along I threatened everything she’d worked for.”
“Aye. But give her time. Since my father passed, she has softened.”
Kezia managed to prevent a splutter of surprise. “Then there is hope for me, yet. Especially if we win this battle with Sir Gilbert de Montmorency.”
He kissed her. “Aye, my lady. But, come now, we have many things to do before we can yet turn hope into reality.” They both looked around at the sound of William’s voice calling Rufus. He waved and they walked back toward the castle.
But when they reached the castle, it was clear that it wasn’t Rufus who was wanted. Lady Charlotte stood talking to the groom who was preparing their horses.
“Rufus! Kezia will stay with me today.”
Rufus shot an amused look at Kezia which she didn’t return. He took pity on her. “I cannot spare her, Mother.”
He mounted his horse and held Kezia’s mount steady for her. The thought of spending a day in the company of Lady Charlotte wasn’t a pleasant one. But, after all Rufus had said, she knew that she should give the woman a chance. That fledgling hope they both held that Lady Charlotte would become reconciled to her marriage needed nursing.
Lady Charlotte stepped between them. “And I cannot spare her.” Kezia felt a flicker of unease. She frowned at Rufus, who looked pleased, no doubt imagining that his mother was already softening toward her. Lady Charlotte looked at her with a forced smile she’d never seen before. It didn’t look right and Kezia’s frown deepened. “But surely it is time we got to know each other a little better,” Lady Charlotte continued.
Rufus nodded and touched his mother’s shoulder. “Kezia would like that, wouldn’t you?” He looked at Kezia. “Kezia, stay today with Mother. It will be for the best,” he added in response to Kezia’s glare.
“But, what about the meeting with the island hermit? He will expect me to be there.”
“I will go to receive the messages. Have no fear on that count.”
She didn’t. She had fear on his mother’s account but she couldn’t gainsay him. He looked so relieved at the change in his mother’s attitude that she went along with it. Besides, there was a part of Kezia which was also relieved. If Lady Charlotte truly was trying to reconcile to the prospect of them continuing in their marriage, then that was in accord with Kezia’s wishes. She knew it, but there was no leap of hope inside her when she looked at Lady Charlotte’s cool smile. She returned the smile hesitantly and Lady Charlotte gestured for them to go inside the castle.
Kezia hesitated on the threshold, watching Rufus ride away without a backward glance. It was so like him. No sentimentality, just like her. She appreciated that. You focused on what you had to do, and you got on with it. She looked at Lady Charlotte’s receding figure. And that was exactly what she had to do. With a sigh, she clicked her fingers for Boulon to follow, and they went inside the hall.
Kezia hesitated, not knowing quite what to do. She was rarely inside during the day. It made her feel hemmed in, which wasn’t something she liked. If she wasn’t out with Rufus, she was walking along the beach, seemingly unable to get enough of the sea and its varying moods. One moment it would be raging and swirling, the next it would be as calm as a millpond, its colors muted and softened like nothing she’d seen before. Shades of silver, blue, green, sable and gray all blended with the sky and the sea and the air, and the sand and gray-green grasses which grew on the sand dunes. Seductive, but dangerous. And utterly compelling. Just like Rufus.
“Kezia!” Lady Charlotte swept ar
ound. Kezia suddenly noticed they were alone. “I had a mind to go to Yarmouth today. I have some purchases to make for the girls while they’re busy elsewhere, and I thought you’d like to see the port. You haven’t been yet, have you?”
Kezia’s heart leaped. “Yarmouth? No, I’ve not been, and I’ve heard so much about it. I’d love to go.” The gateway to the rest of the world. It might just be the mouth of the river Yare, but it was also a leaping off point for the most important shipping channels in the world—a place of utmost importance to England’s economy, a place of legend. A place which had fascinated Kezia since she’d first heard the name.
“Right. We must leave now if we are to return before sunset.”
Yarmouth. The very name of the town felt strange on Kezia’s lips. It felt but a whisper, a mystery, nothing like the hustle and bustle of the place which unfolded as they crossed the bridge over the river from the South Town to Yarmouth’s Forlond—the quay. Large merchant houses fronted the quay which rang alongside the river. Behind them, buildings rose away from the river, the street curving, following the line of the spit of land upon which the town was built. Narrow alleyways called rows intersected the street.
To Kezia’s left, rising only slightly above the town, was the priory which Lady Charlotte had told Kezia about. It was the marketplace near St Nicholas’s Priory to which Lady Charlotte had said they were headed. But instead of cutting through the quay toward the market, Lady Charlotte jumped down from her horse and walked toward the quayside. Kezia followed suit.
Boats, their sails snapping in the brisk breeze, were moored along the quay, their cargoes being loaded and unloaded, the foreshore busy with horses and carts. The smell of fish pervaded the air, and Kezia couldn’t help raising her hand to her nose.
“It is not a smell to be avoided. It is the smell of herrings, the smell of wealth, Kezia, the wealth which our family is founded on, now at least. People call them our ‘silver darlings’. Over there are the salting houses, and those others, over there, are the fish houses. We export the fish all over the world.”
Kezia felt the tug of excitement flutter inside at the notion. Boats large and small were tied to the sides of the river. Some loading, some unloading, some under repairs, but few doing nothing—that would have meant wasting money, and no astute merchant ever did that.
Lady Charlotte eyed Kezia thoughtfully, her face softening slightly. “You like all this.”
Kezia nodded. “I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life.”
“A generation ago and it was nothing like what we see before us, but now these boats come from near and far.” Lady Charlotte pointed to a big seagoing cog which was being loaded with sacks. “You see that? That’s being loaded with wool bound for the Baltic Coast.”
“The Baltic… Rufus mentioned that place. I cannot imagine it.”
“I’m not surprised. It’s far away. I’ve never been there but have met many who have. It’s a cold, wild place beyond which lie many lands and peoples who want our trade. We export our fish and timber to the Low Countries, and they send us cloth, wine, pottery. And then these boats are bound for Bordeaux and from there to all of France and the Levant.”
“It’s wonderful.”
“And that, over there”—she pointed—“is one of our boats.”
Kezia raised her brows. She had no idea that the de Veres were engaged in trade to such an extent. She didn’t imagine nobles did such things. “You own such a boat?”
“In Normandy we were not so squeamish about trade. I was raised in a merchant family and have no shame of trade.” She made a dismissive sound. “Although my late husband looked down on it, our prosperity derived from it. We own four of such boats which William and I oversee.”
“In the forest—” Kezia stopped abruptly. She didn’t want to remind Lady Charlotte about her origins in the forest, not after she’d shown signs of reconciling. But she was too late. Lady Charlotte’s face had returned to its usual distance and she looked away from Kezia for a few long moments. Kezia bit her lip and wondered as to the other woman’s silence.
Lady Charlotte turned to her and her face had lost its warmth. “Thank you for the reminder, Kezia. For a moment, there, I’d forgotten from whence you came and you were simply my son’s wife. But you’re not really, are you?”
Lady Charlotte’s eyes glittered once more with anger and resentment and Kezia stepped away.
“I have to attend a meeting for a short while,” Lady Charlotte continued. “Stay here. I won’t be long.”
Before Kezia could question this meeting which hadn’t been mentioned before, Lady Charlotte had vanished, leaving her alone in the crowds with her man. He gave her a surly glance, obviously wishing he could be anywhere else at the port’s attractions rather than guarding a woman whom his mistress didn’t like.
Kezia walked a little way, followed by the man. Then, when she turned around the man was gone. She tried not to panic as she suddenly realized she was alone in this strange town.
“Lady Kezia?” a tall, distinguished-looking man asked.
“Yes.”
“Ah, I thought so.” He gave her a charming smile. “Lady Charlotte asked me to seek you out. She’s keen to have your advice on some objects she wishes to purchase for her daughters.”
Kezia was both flattered and baffled. “Lady Charlotte wants my advice?”
“Indeed, madam. She is most anxious for it. If you come with me I’ll take you to her.”
Kezia looked around for Lady Charlotte, but did not see her. “Is she far?” She turned to look for Lady Charlotte’s man but he was also nowhere to be seen, lost amid the jostling crowds.
He took her arm. “Do not be afeared. Lady Charlotte isn’t far away. I know her and William well. We… conduct business together.”
“Ah.” A relieved Kezia fell into step, happy that Lady Charlotte was seeking out her company, and reassured by the mention of William’s name. Some men you could trust implicitly and so she had with William from the beginning. “So, you know the family.”
“Of course. Now, if you’ll come this way.”
The sun was at its height and warmed the cooler air which blew in from the sea. But it was busy and hard to move through the crowds so when the man led her into a quieter street with a muttered explanation, she didn’t query him. It was good to be away from people.
But the passage grew narrow and darker and Kezia stopped suddenly, confused, looking around. “Where is it you said we are going?”
“I did not say, my lady. But Lady Charlotte is in her favourite warehouse where she is looking at purchasing some fripperies for her daughters.”
“Here?” she asked doubtfully looking at the rundown exterior of the buildings. They were nearer the sea, and she could smell the salt air and hear the screech of seabirds.
“Yes, here.” The handsome man gave a comforting smile. “Do not be afeared. It is not much further.”
Despite the reassurance, Kezia felt uneasy, but was unwilling to turn away from Lady Charlotte’s request for her presence, and repressed her urge to leave. “If we’re quick then.”
As they walked briskly, keeping close to the warehouses where the road was less churned up, Kezia noticed her companion glance across the road to a group of men loitering outside one of the warehouses. One of the men was looking intently at them, and Kezia thought she detected an answering nod from the man with whom she walked, but immediately discounted it. All this tension was making her imagine things.
As they drew level with a narrow alley that ran between the rambling inn and a warehouse, a calloused hand clamped over her mouth. Kezia struggled to remove the hand to look at her attacker, but she couldn’t. She strained to find her companion, but he was nowhere to be seen. Her gut sank. She’d been tricked. She squirmed suddenly and bit a finger, and shrieked. “Let me go! Stop this!”
“Stop?” The gruff voice barked out. “I ain’t even begun, milady.”
Chapter 16
The man’s head pressed close to hers, his putrid breath enveloping her with its pungent brew of rotting teeth and alcohol, making her gag. She strained wildly to free herself but was as ineffective as a fly caught hard in a spider’s web. Her struggling seemed to merely ensnare her more firmly as she was dragged into the darkness of an open door, which he slammed behind them.
He pulled her across the empty warehouse floor with as little care for her as if she were a sack of corn, trapping her arms and crushing her breasts with one heavily muscled arm while clamping her mouth tightly with his other hand. It was only when he’d reached the far side of the storage area that he stopped and swiftly stuck a disgusting rag in her mouth and bound her.
She tried to cry out, but no sound emerged; she tried to wriggle free, but he’d tied her too firmly. He stepped away and looked at her.
“You’ll do. You’ll be taken onto a boat when the tide’s right. In the meantime, enjoy the company.” He gestured to the rats which scurried across the warehouse floor and walked out, closing the door and plunging her into semi-darkness.
Kezia looked around, panic and disgust filling her in equal parts. She had to free herself of the bindings, and escape from the warehouse before he returned.
The warehouse was shadowy, the only light filtering through rotten wood and around the great doors which were firmly closed. There was no sign of merchandise and no reason for anyone to enter the place. She was quite alone. The only signs of habitation were the remains of recent drinking at the far side of the room. Shards of broken jugs and pools of dampened earth lent the air its stale smell of soured ale. Her eyes lingered for a few moments on the remains of the meal. A knife lay tantalisingly out of reach.
She grunted with frustration and closed her eyes. She’d been tricked but by whom, she had no idea. Who was the man who’d taken her from the quay and brought here? Why did he say he knew Lady Charlotte? Surely Lady Charlotte would discover what had happened soon and she’d be found? Surely?
Defending His Lady (Norfolk Knights Book 4) Page 16
