Stewart lifted his eyebrows at the surprising request, turning to look at the dog handler across the road. “Do you think Lady du Rennic will approve?” he asked. “After all, I heard her tell the boy that…”
Scott cut him off, quietly. “She told him that he would have to sit in the wagon whilst she conducted business,” he said. “She did not tell him he could not watch the dogs altogether. Go and get the dogs, Stu, or young Stephen may very well cry himself into a fit. That would not do.”
Stewart looked at Scott, seeing something in the man he hadn’t seen in a very long time – compassion. The Scott de Wolfe he’d known since that tragic day had no capacity for compassion or pity but, clearly, the man before him had changed dramatically and Stewart was still trying to take it all in. Truth be told, he liked what he saw.
With a grin playing on his lips, he nodded.
“As you command, my lord,” he said, turning on his heel and waving a hand at Jean-Pierre, who was still towards the rear of the column. “Du Bois! With me!”
As Scott kept an eye on Avrielle, who was now speaking to a very old man and a very old woman who had emerged from the mossy house, Stewart and Jean-Pierre took a stroll down the road to the man with the dancing dogs. Stewart had explained the command to Jean-Pierre, who was without any knowledge of de Wolfe’s changing behavior. He’d only been in service of de Wolfe for a couple of years and the commander he knew wasn’t capable of what Stewart was suggesting. He therefore thought the command to be quite strange but he did as he was told. He accompanied Stewart to the dog handler and, after exchanging several words with the man and passing him a few coins, the man and his dogs seemed more than willing to move locations.
With the crowd of children and adults following behind, the five white dogs and their round handler relocated to a spot that Scott had picked out, right in front of the wagon that held Stephen and his sisters. When Stephen saw the man and his dogs appear, his tears miraculously disappeared and, within minutes, he and Sophia were at the edge of the wagon, watching the dogs dance and cheering with delight. Even the soldiers were interested in the entertainment and soon the man and his dogs had a massive audience, cheering the canine cleverness.
Unfortunately, the noise and movement woke the infant, who began to wail lustily when her sister jostled her. Startled, Sophia looked at the child as if she’d done something wrong and she immediately sat back down and tried to soothe the frightened baby. Sophia was a very quiet, very meek little girl and Scott couldn’t honestly remember hearing one word out of the child’s mouth since he’d been a Canaan. She always seemed to be a silent wraith, shadowing her mother. Even as the baby wailed, Sophia didn’t speak to the infant, she merely rocked the babe gently.
But the baby’s crying brought forth the mother. Even as far away as she was, negotiating for seeds and plants with the plant vendor, Avrielle could hear her child crying. She’d been around the side of the house and hadn’t seen the crowd gathered near the wagon to watch the dog show, so coming to the front of the house and seeing the crowd was something of a surprise. She could hear her child wailing above it all. Leaving the plant vendor, she quickly scurried across the yard and through the gate, pushing through the soldiers in her quest to reach the wagon.
It was then she could see Sophia sitting in the wagon bed, trying to comfort the baby, but right next to her was Stephen hanging over the side of the wagon bed, excitedly watching the dog show. Avrielle was on the verge of becoming quite cross with her son when she noticed Scott standing beside the boy, his big arms folded across his chest as he also watched the show. There was a faint smile on his face, something that grew in waves every time Stephen screamed with delight.
It was entrancing, really. Avrielle couldn’t help but be deeply touched by the knight as he enjoyed the dogs right along with Stephen, who kept tapping Scott on the shoulder and pointing to the big dog that was dancing in circles. It was difficult to become angry at such a thing, seeing the delight in her son’s eyes and knowing that Scott was more than likely responsible for it. Knowing how Stephen had suffered in the wake of his father’s death, and knowing the loneliness he’d suffered… nay, she really couldn’t become too angry at all.
“So the dogs came to you, did they?” she asked her son, watching both Stephen and Scott turn to her. She cocked an eyebrow to express that she, perhaps, wasn’t thrilled that Stephen was being rewarded for running across the road but she didn’t say anything to that regard. She simply took the wailing baby from Sophia. “Go ahead, sweetheart. I am sure you want to watch the dogs, too.”
Grinning, Sophia knelt beside her brother on the side of the wagon, watching the dogs as Avrielle soothed the baby. Avrielle was so focused on the infant that she didn’t notice that Scott had come up beside her.
“Are you angry?” he asked quietly.
She looked up at him. “Why would I be angry?”
Scott cleared his throat, somewhat guiltily, and threw a thumb in the direction of the dogs. “Stephen could not go to the dogs,” he said, “but you did not say that the dogs could not come to him.”
Avrielle had suspected as much. She fought off a grin as she looked back to the baby. “That is true,” she said. “I did not say that. In the future, I can see I will have to be more specific.”
He didn’t say anything and when she looked up, he was grinning at her with a rather mischievous expression. She shook her head at him reproachfully, but there was no weight behind it. She thought it was rather sweet he should be so concerned for her boy.
“While you and my son were watching dogs, I struck a bargain with the plant vendor,” she said. “He has a good deal of seed left as well as plants he has grown for sale. He will start bringing them out to the wagon and I would be grateful if your men could load them.”
Scott nodded. “It shall be done.”
As Scott moved to his men and passed orders along through Stewart and Jean-Pierre, Avrielle had a more pressing concern on her mind. She was increasingly convinced that the baby was crying because she was hungry, so finding a private place to feed the child was imperative. It wasn’t as if she could wander off and not tell anyone, so she had to let Scott in on the situation. She would have to feed the baby before they took the road back to Canaan and she needed his help.
“My lord?” she called out to him politely. “A word, please?”
Scott, who had been speaking with Stewart, left the knight standing there and immediately went to her side. Perhaps too eagerly, but he didn’t notice and neither did Avrielle; they were fixed on each other and that was all that seemed to matter. She smiled at him as he came near.
“I must feed the babe,” she said, lowering her voice. “I can do it while your men load up the wagon bed so I will not delay our return to Canaan any more than necessary, but the problem will be finding a location to do it. A private location, if you will.”
Scott understood what she meant immediately. As the plant vendor and his wife began to lug out the bags of seeds and plants in wooden crates from their inventory, Scott happened to glance at the mossy house behind them. A thought occurred to him.
“Mayhap we should ask your plant vendor,” he said. “Mayhap he will allow you to use his home.”
Avrielle opened her mouth to agree but Scott was already on the move, heading to the old man and his wife as his soldiers swarmed around them, collecting seeds and plants. His men were lugging the items back to the wagon as the dog show continued onward, but Avrielle was watching Scott as he spoke to the old man and old woman, gesturing to Avrielle as he did so. She clearly saw when the old woman nodded and turned for the house, scurrying away. Scott headed back to Avrielle, avoiding the soldiers who were lugging plants around.
“The wife has offered you the use of her home,” he said, taking Avrielle politely by the arm. “Do you want to bring your children with you? Or are you comfortable leaving them here to watch the show?”
Avrielle looked at Stephen and Sophia, enthralled by the dogs th
at were now jumping over each other. “Unless I want tears and hysteria, I had better leave them here,” she said. “Your men will be mindful of them, won’t they?”
Just to be sure, Scott turned in the direction of Stewart and Jean-Pierre, who were organizing the items that were being loaded into the rear of the wagon. Emitting a sharp whistle between his teeth, Scott pointed to his eye and then to the children when Stewart turned in his direction. Stewart got the general idea that he was to keep an eye on the pair and Scott continued on towards the moss-covered house with Avrielle in his grip.
“Stewart has two young sons,” he said. “He will make sure your children are safe.”
Avrielle turned to watch as Stewart left his post and went to stand by the children, like a big guard dog. She felt comfortable with a man that Scott clearly trusted.
“I have not yet met your knight,” she said. “I have seen him around, of course, but we have never spoken. His name is Stewart?”
Scott nodded. “Stewart Longbow. He is a good and trusted man. I will introduce you to him.”
Avrielle simply nodded, holding the fussing infant as she tried to avoid the mud puddles. “And the other knight with him?”
“Jean-Pierre du Bois.”
“Has he been with you a long time?”
“About two years.”
They approached the entry to the house and Scott went in first, a precautionary measure that was simply a habit, making sure the room was safe before Avrielle followed. The old woman was inside, stoking the fire and waving them in. She pointed to a chair right next to the hearth and Avrielle made her way to it, settling down as the old woman finished stoking the blaze. Then the little woman scurried out of the room and shut the door behind her, leaving Scott and Avrielle alone. Avrielle grinned at Scott as she began to loosen her bodice.
“I am sure this is something that would not interest you so you needn’t stay to keep me company,” she said, watching him wriggle his eyebrows as if to agree. “But you would be doing me a great favor if you could return to the wagon for the satchel I brought with me. It contains more swaddling for the baby and I must change her into clean rags.”
Scott was already at the door. “It would be my pleasure, my lady.”
Leaving Avrielle alone in the plant vendor’s common room to nurse her child, Scott headed out to the wagon that was now half-full with bags of seeds and potted plants. Peering into the wagon bed, he spied the satchel beneath Stephen’s feet and had to lift the boy up so he could get at it. But Stephen’s attention never left the dogs and Scott had to grin at a child who was so singularly focused. Making his way back to the stone hut, he rapped softly on the door before entering so that Avrielle would not be startled.
“I would assume this is what you need,” he said, averting his gaze from her because a quick look when he entered the hut showed that she had the child against her bare breast. “Your son was standing on it so I hope there was nothing to be damaged inside.”
Avrielle had the quieted baby against her breast as the child fed eagerly. “Nay,” she said. “Only swaddling. Thank you for bringing it to me.”
“My pleasure, my lady.”
“And thank you for entertaining my son and daughter with the dogs. I am sure they are so entertained that they do not even realize the plant farmer has not yet given them sweets.”
Scott was facing away from her, putting the satchel on a table and unfastening the ties. “He will realize that as soon as we leave this place,” he said. “I would, therefore, suggest we find sweets before we leave or you will have an unhappy son on your hands.”
Avrielle watched him as he opened up the satchel and began to pull out the swaddling. “You know children well,” she said. “In fact, I have watched you with Stephen. You are very comfortable with him, and he with you. I have thanked you for your kindness towards him but I will do it again. It may not mean much to you, but to Stephen, it means a great deal. And to me.”
Scott slowed as he pulled out the swaddling and set it on the tabletop. “You are quite wrong,” he said quietly. “It does mean a great deal to me. In fact, I was thinking of something last night, something that is difficult for me to express. I was thinking that coming to Canaan has been an important event to me, in many ways.”
Avrielle was interested. “How?”
He sighed faintly as he pondered his answer, remembering his conversation with Stewart the night before. Much had been said during the course of that dialogue, things he wasn’t sure he wanted to tell Avrielle but things he somehow felt compelled to tell her. He felt so comfortable with the woman, a contentment he’d not felt in years. It was difficult not to give in to that sense of well-being.
But as he thought on how to explain himself, he relived the conversation he’d had with the king’s messenger and pondered the things he’d told the man. Nathaniel’s deathbed confession came to mind. He’d not yet had the opportunity to tell Lady du Rennic that her days of fearing a husband from Edward were over. At least, Scott hoped they were over. But for him, the troubles had probably only just begun.
“Coming to Canaan has been important, in a sense, because of the conversations you and I have had about grief,” he said, turning around and looking her in the eye as her bare breast fed the baby. “You know that my struggle with grief and guilt has been a long one but in coming here, in seeing that there was someone else who was going through nearly the same thing I was going through, it has given me the strength to speak on the subject. This is the first time I have been comfortably able to do so. And feel changed. I am not sure how yet, but… changed.”
Avrielle smiled up at him. “I hope it is for the better.”
“It is.”
“That is good.” Her gaze remained on him for a few moments before she looked down at the infant again as the baby tugged hungrily at her breast. “I feel the same way. I told you that yesterday and it holds true today. It will hold true forever.”
Scott watched her lowered head, thinking how beautiful the woman was by the firelight. He couldn’t help but look at the child, the downy hair standing on end, and wishing the babe was his. He found it somewhat erotic to watch her feed the baby, her full, plump breast illuminated by the firelight, wondering what it would be like to put his mouth to that breast and taste it for himself.
She had a beautiful, swan-like neck that gave way to the swell of her breasts and his mind began to wander to the taste and feel of her flesh. It was the strongest urge he’d ever known and he forced himself to look away, to focus on something else, because he could feel his loins grow hard. They hadn’t been hard in years and now, suddenly, he could feel them pulsing to life again. He quickly sat in a chair by the table.
Needful.
“I hope that is true and that your peace with your grief is everlasting,” he said, remarking belatedly on her comment as he struggled to think on something other than her supple breasts and his heated loins. “In speaking of your future, however, I’ve not yet had the opportunity to tell you that I spoke to the king’s messenger yesterday, as I told you I would. The messenger and I had a fairly serious conversation.”
Avrielle looked at him with concern. “Did you tell him I was unable to travel to London?”
He shook his head. “I did not,” he said. “It occurred to me that telling him that would only delay the inevitable, so I did not tell him that. I told him something else, something more… permanent.”
“What?”
“That you had remarried already.”
He could hear her gasp. “You did?” she asked, incredulous. “But… to whom?”
He looked at her then. “To me.”
As Scott watched, Avrielle’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened. “To… to you?”
“Aye.”
She clearly had no idea how to react. “But… but why? Surely by telling him that, Edward will become quite angry with you!”
Scott couldn’t tell if the idea of being his wife upset her or not. He was rather hoping
she might actually appreciate the idea but her lack of an instant expression of joy had him feeling embarrassed and foolish. Now, he was feeling like an idiot.
“Mayhap he will,” he said, looking away quickly so she wouldn’t see the disappointment on his face. “In any case, he will not be too angry. He loves my father and he would not do anything to upset him. So, for the moment, I am safe and so are you. But, at some point, Edward might expect some kind of proof. He may even come to visit Canaan and if he does, then you and I will have to pretend to be happily married. I am sorry if that is distasteful to you, but I thought that by telling Edward you were already married, he would remove you from his political agenda.”
He was speaking rather quickly when he was finished, indicative of his uncertainty on the subject and the uncertainty of his feelings. If Avrielle hadn’t suspected his inner thoughts at the onset, now, she was coming to see that something was wrong. He was agitated, embarrassed even, and she was coming to think that it was because her problems had been too much of a burden to him.
“Oh… my lord,” she breathed as a terrible thought suddenly occurred to her. “I am so sorry you felt the need to do that. I am so sorry that I have been such a burden from the moment you came to Canaan. If I have caused you such trouble, please known how terribly sorry I am. I would have never knowingly caused you problems. But now, you have lied to the king and he will surely be quite cross with you when he finds out the truth. Mayhap… mayhap you should send word to him that we are not, in fact, married and that he may do with me as he wishes. I would not wish to put you in a position that finds you at odds with Edward.”
Scott lifted his head, turning to look at her and seeing how genuinely concerned she was. In fact, she almost appeared distraught.
“I can send him word, of course,” he said, “but it was my intention to spare you from becoming a political pawn. That is no life for you, Avrielle.”
The Original de Wolfe Pack Complete Set: Including Sons of de Wolfe Page 195
