by Ana Seymour
“You say you have little love for Prince John. Which must mean that your mission concerns the king.”
His horse tossed its head, and Thomas reached down to give it a soothing pat. The day was cloudy and the wind crossing the meadow was brisk and chilling. “I thought I told you it was dangerous to discuss politics.”
Alyce looked around at the wide-open stretch of ground. “Do you see any of Prince John’s spies lurking behind the gorse bushes, Sir Thomas? I do believe you’ve spent too much time in court intrigues.”
“I’ve not been to court for many months, Lady Alyce. But then, neither has King Richard.”
“So you are working for Richard!” she exclaimed in triumph.
Thomas shook his head at her persistence. “If you were truly that minx of a serving maid, Rose, I’d take you to task for badgering me with your queries.”
Alyce laughed and pulled her mount to a stop. “But you can’t take me to task because I’m the lady of the castle.”
Thomas halted beside her. “Aye, you’re the lady of the castle,” he repeated slowly.
His eyes were suddenly intense, and Alyce felt almost as if he had reached out and stroked her. Her voice caught as she said lightly, “’Twould be an easier world if I were indeed Rose and not Alyce.”
Thomas continued his study of her for a long moment. Finally he gave a rueful smile and said, “Perhaps not. For if you were Rose, I’d not want to leave this meadow without completing what we started here the other day.”
“I think Rose would agree with you.” The words were not much more than a whisper.
“Then she would be foolhardy, for she would risk much for a few moments’ pleasure.”
Alyce had little experience of the kind of pleasure he was referring to, but she knew that the mere conversation was creating the same feelings she’d had when Thomas had been kissing her. Involuntarily, she glanced over at the edge of the meadow, to the grove of trees where he had carried her that day. “Rose may have been willing to take the risk.”
Thomas shook his head firmly. “It may have been a risk worth taking for a serving maid. But not for a ward of the king.”
“Whose body is not her own to give,” Alyce finished.
“Aye.” There was regret in his eyes and something that Alyce recognized as a more primitive emotion. It made her heart beat even faster.
They remained silent for a long moment. Then Alyce gave herself a little shake and said with a smile, “So it appears we’ve found another topic as dangerous as politics.”
“I’d judge it even more so, milady.”
“Nevertheless, we both know what happened here between a knight and a maid. I think ’twould be logical for you to call me Alyce.”
Thomas grinned. “I’d be honored, at least when we’re in private. Though I’ll make it Alyce Rose, to remind me of what might have been.”
Alyce didn’t need any more reminders. Every inch of her body seemed to be reminding her with each pound of her horse’s hooves. They’d let their mounts stretch out into a gallop. She eased up a bit to allow Thomas to pull ahead of her, and watched him ride, his back straight, his strong legs keeping the big animal in easy control.
Was this it, then? Was this the infatuation the minstrels lauded? She didn’t know. But her hands were sweating and her insides churned, and every time she tried to look around to admire the surrounding countryside, her gaze seemed pulled back to admire the set of his shoulders or the wave of his black hair.
Mon dieu, she thought unhappily. If this was infatuation, she’d rather eat a cartload of the stew she’d fed the Havilland knights.
Thomas had been uncharacteristically slow about acting on his plan to rescue Alyce of Sherborne from her appointment with the devil, or at least with the man who was as close to that cloven-hooved creature as Thomas hoped to see walking the earth.
It had been two days since Kenton and the rest of his men had ridden away, on their way to secretly collect ransom funds from two more loyal supporters of Richard. And still Thomas delayed revealing his plan to Alyce. He told himself that he was just taking the time to think everything through. The plan would require careful timing and perfect execution.
But the truth was, he knew that as soon as they’d finished their business, there would no longer be any excuse for him to remain near her, and he found himself wanting a few more precious hours of her company.
He’d never met a woman quite like her. She had the simple spirit and joy of life common to folks who had the good fortune to be raised in the countryside, away from court intrigues and the pettiness of the city. Yet she was witty and brazen. She traded quips as readily as a jester and debated as deftly as a court lawyer.
Underlying it all was a devastatingly innocent sensuality that kept Thomas tossing at night on his celibate pallet. He was sure that she had no idea of the effect she had on him—or on almost any man who saw her. When he remembered what it was like to kiss those full lips of hers, to feel the fullness of those delectable breasts—
“Did you not hear me, Thomas?” she asked, putting her slender fingers on his sleeve.
He jerked his arm as though burned. “Nay, I…” For the first time since he was a callow lad learning about the delights of the flesh, his cheeks flushed. “I beg your pardon.”
She didn’t seem to notice anything amiss. They were seated side by side on a bench in the solar, where they had retired after dinner to talk in private, away from the ears of the gossipy servants, who had begun to speculate about the growing friendship between their mistress and the unknown knight.
“I merely asked how long you intended to extend your visit,” she said. “I hoped you didn’t think I was wanting you to leave. Indeed, I’ve enjoyed your company immensely these past days.”
His smile was tender. “As have I, my little Rose. But the question is fair and deserves an answer.”
She looked surprised at his serious tone. “You are welcome in my home as long as you would stay,” she assured him.
He stood and reached for her hand. “Will you come with me?” he asked.
Mystified, she took his hand and let him lead her through the lower rooms of the castle and out into the bailey. It was dark, but torches dotted the old stone ramparts, giving them enough light to make their way among the debris of the yard.
“Where are we going?” she asked finally.
“I have to show you something, and it’s rather a secret.”
“How lovely. I’ve always liked secrets.”
“I guarantee that you’ll like this one,” he said.
He led her to the small stone shed where the visiting knights had deposited their weapons and gear. Since she’d been in hiding when they arrived, Alyce hadn’t paid much attention to what they had carried.
Thomas wiggled one of the torches out of its bracket, then stooped low to enter the shed. “Come on in,” he told her.
When she was a girl, Alyce had sometimes hid in this little building, burying herself behind pieces of rusted armor. It had driven Lettie to distraction, but her father had always forgiven her mischief with an indulgent laugh. She hadn’t been inside the building in years. It was much smaller than she remembered. What could Thomas possibly want to show her here?
“There,” he said, pointing with the torch toward the opposite wall.
Through the gloom she could just make out two leather chests. She did not recognize them as belonging to Sherborne. “Are they yours?” she asked Thomas.
He nodded. “Go on. Open one.”
Giving him a questioning glance, she stepped over to the chests, knelt down and opened the larger one. Then she gasped as the flickering light of the torch revealed a mound of glittering gold coins.
She had a sudden cold feeling of dread at the pit of her stomach. Ye know nothing about this man, Lettie had said. He could be a brigand. Alyce had chosen to ignore the warning. She’d been too exhilarated by all the feelings his presence seemed to produce in her.
She l
ooked up at him and gulped, “Is it stolen?”
Thomas barked out a laugh. “Nay, my adventure-seeking Rose. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but there’s not an ill-gotten farthing in the lot.”
Alyce sagged in relief. “Then what…?”
Thomas’s expression grew serious. “Here’s where the secret part comes in. This is money raised to ransom Richard from the emperor. There are some in this country who would be very happy to see that it never reaches its destination.”
“Like Prince John,” Alyce murmured.
“Aye, and Philip of Dunstan.”
“I’m pleased that you trust me, Thomas. But if the money is such a secret, I’m wondering why you’ve showed it to me. And why it’s sitting here in a horse shed instead of somewhere under guard.”
“A guard would only announce the presence of something important, which would raise people’s curiosity. If you treat something as if it’s not important, no one will pay any attention to it. It’s a trick we learned from the Arabs.”
“So you were on Crusade with Richard?”
“Aye.”
“What about my other question?”
“Why am I showing it to you?”
“Aye.”
Holding the torch aloft, he walked over and knelt beside her. With his free hand he sifted through the coins. “It’s pretty in a way, isn’t it? The glitter of gold coin.”
“Not as pretty as a field of bluebells on a spring day,” she retorted.
Thomas laughed. “Ah, Alyce Rose, I swear you are a female without price. But since the law has seen fit to bestow one on you, we have no recourse left but to pay it.”
Alyce looked puzzled. “You refer to the marriage tax?”
Thomas picked up a fistful of coins, then let them clink one by one back onto the pile. “On second thought, you’re right. There’s little of beauty about money. But it has a purpose. In some cases, more than one purpose. The purpose of this money, for example, is to buy the freedom of our rightful king.”
“Aye, King Richard—”
He let the last coin fall and held up his hand. “But first, it’s going to buy the freedom of a certain beautiful lady.”
Her eyes widened. “I don’t understand.”
He shut the lid of the chest. “There’s enough here to pay the tax Prince John is demanding five times over.”
“I can see that. But I’d not take money that is destined for Richard. The king’s fate is more important than mine.”
“The good folks of Sherborne might debate that, but it doesn’t matter. The money will serve both goals. We’re merely going to borrow it for a while to free you from this damnable marriage John’s trying to foist upon you.”
“But to do that you’d have to give the money to Prince John or, rather, to the noble who is his representative in this affair.”
“And that man is Baron Dunstan,” Thomas confirmed.
Alyce nodded.
“Aye. We’ll deliver this gold right into the hands of Philip of Dunstan,” Thomas said.
“But then…” Alyce hesitated “…how would you get it back?”
Thomas grinned and, for the first time since he had learned her true identity, leaned over and kissed her. “That will be the fun part, Alyce Rose. We’ll steal it back.”
“I still don’t understand why they would do this for me, Lettie,” Alyce said as her maid brushed her long hair in preparation for bed.
“Ye will insist on riding without yer cap, Allie,” the older woman complained, tugging the brush through a nasty tangle.
“He doesn’t even know me. Why would he put himself at risk with Prince John?”
Lettie stopped brushing and put a hand on her hip. “Did ye ever stop to think that he’s just being a decent human being? An honorable knight who saw a maiden in distress and decided to help?”
Alyce shook her head. “Nay. I may have grown up young and innocent, tucked away here at Sherborne, but my father taught me well. Men are ever after their own interests.”
“Sometimes I think yer father did ye no favor by making ye so skittish about men, Allie.”
“His teachings have served me well. The men who have come here since Father’s death—”
“—were horrid and rude. But look at the nature of the man they represented. Not all men are like Baron Dunstan.”
“They camped here, eating my food and drinking my wine, with my father not cold in his grave, telling me that they would take over the management of Sherborne. That the baron wanted to relieve me of the burden.”
“’Twas callous of the baron,” Lettie agreed. “No one could blame ye for what ye did.”
Alyce smiled a little, remembering. The first group had been easily dispatched, not caring to stay around when confronted by her village friends, the brewer and his cousin, who together weighed a total of nearly fifty stone.
They’d been succeeded by a second delegation, led by an officious looking weasel of a man who’d declared that he’d been sent by the baron to be her new accountant. The poor man had fled in abject panic, no doubt well aware of the baron’s reputation for wrath, when Alyce had pretended that she wanted to seduce him.
“We did manage to take care of them all, didn’t we?” she asked Lettie with a grin.
“At the cost of ten years’ growth,” the nurse answered, pointing to her gray head. “With that last group, when ye were teetering on the edge of the castle parapet threatening to jump, my heart nearly stopped.”
“By then the baron knew enough to send seasoned soldiers. I couldn’t scare them off. If I hadn’t climbed up on the wall, I do believe they would have lasted us out until the year was up and they could take me to Dunstan.”
Lettie nodded. “Ye may be right, Allie. They were tough, that last bunch. I think yer bridegroom sent them to keep an eye on ye.”
“So that the rich prize wouldn’t slip from his fingers,” Alyce said with disgust.
“No doubt, luv.”
Alyce giggled. “I’d give a good deal to see Baron Dunstan’s face when they tell him that I’ve paid the tax and will not be his wife after all.”
Lettie smiled and resumed brushing her charge’s long locks. “Ye see, it scarcely matters why Sir Thomas is willing to help ye. The important thing is that we’ll be free.”
“Oh, I have no intention of turning down his offer. I just realize that since he’s a man, he’s doing it for his own reasons.”
Lettie’s mouth dropped open. She leaned toward Alyce and asked in an embarrassed voice, “Allie, ye don’t think the man has, um, designs on ye? I mean, he hasn’t tried to be forward with ye in any way?” She blushed. “Ye’ve not had a mother, lass, and ye probably don’t even know what I’m talking about, do ye?”
Alyce gave her nurse an indulgent smile. If her knowledge of what went on between men and women had been based solely on what she had gleaned from Lettie, she’d still believe that babies arrived floating down the millstream on Witches’ Night. “I know what you’re talking about, Lettie. And the answer is, I don’t know if Sir Thomas has designs on me.”
As she said the words she felt the same pleasant tingling she’d had that afternoon on the meadow. If Lettie’s “designs” were the reason Thomas was helping her, Alyce wasn’t at all sure that she found the idea disagreeable.
“Would a little lovemaking be enough to make a man do something as reckless as he’s proposing?” she asked, then regretted the question as she saw the shock on her old nurse’s face.
“Entire wars have been fought over such matters, Allie. ’Tis a dangerous business. And if Sir Thomas has any such thing in mind, ye’d better set him straight at once.”
Alyce pushed the brush away. “That’s enough for tonight, Lettie. I’m tired.”
Lettie bent her head to look into Alyce’s face. “I mean it, lass. Promise me ye’ll take care not to do anything foolish.”
Alyce jumped back on the bed and burrowed into the covers, hugging them around her as if they were Thomas H
avilland’s wool-clad arms. “Ah, Lettie,” she said with an impish grin. “When have you ever known me to do anything foolish?”
Chapter Six
“Please don’t argue with me, Thomas. This is my life and my marriage, and I am going with you.”
She’d confronted him at breakfast before he’d even taken a sip of ale to wash the mustiness of night from his mouth. Thomas groaned. “By rights, the money should be delivered by a messenger. I’m riding to Dunstan Castle with it myself because I’ll be meeting my men there. But none of us will go inside. I’ve no desire to confront Dunstan in his own lair.”
“What do you intend to do? Leave the gold at the castle gate and run like children playing a prank?”
“No,” he said with exaggerated patience. “We’ll be sending it with a messenger, but he’s not one of my men.”
“Who will it be, then? And why can’t I ride to the castle with him? I’d at least like to see this bridegroom I’m escaping from.”
Thomas couldn’t decide whether to be angry or amused. Alyce’s combination of daring and naiveté was part of her charm, but he knew that she had no idea what a dangerous game she was trying to play. “I can’t let you come, Alyce. Once Dunstan has the money for Prince John, my men and I will have to finish the deed and steal it back for Richard. I won’t have time to be escorting you around the countryside. I’m sorry.”
Alyce chewed absently at a hard piece of bread. “Lettie and Alfred could ride with us. After we’ve delivered the money, they can escort me back here. You won’t have to concern yourself.”
He bit back an expletive. “Lettie and Alfred? An ancient house servant and a nursemaid? Jesu, Alyce, you are out of your mind.”
“It’s my life, Thomas,” she said again. “I want to go with you.” Then she did that little thing of wrinkling her perfectly formed nose, and Thomas felt the anger draining out of him. By the saints, she’d besotted him, he berated himself. He couldn’t explain it, but he was perilously close to forgetting all good sense and giving in to whatever she asked of him. He’d always heard that love could turn the hardest man into a fool, but he’d never experienced the truth of the statement until now.
