by Tamara Gill
Maddie sat and took all this in. All these facts were well worth knowing and could be useful if her husband continued to be difficult. “Did the baron marry me because of my wealth? From what you said yesterday, this union was arranged years ago. Is he poor, Mistress Rhode?” Surely not, this castle, although sparsely furnished seemed well-maintained by a horde of servants. Not to mention the armed men who patrolled the grounds, and the village people living within its walls. No, a baron with no financial resources couldn’t possibly keep up such a farce for long.
“Not that I’m aware, m’lady. But what I do know is, the dowry paid has allowed his lordship to increase his might and rebuild areas of Kingston Castle not previously achievable,” she replied. “Now is the red mantle to your liking, Lady Madeline, or would you prefer the green?”
Maddie let her maid fuss over her while she turned her thoughts to the days ahead and the one thought most prominent in her mind, the coming confrontation with her husband, about his high-handed, roguish ways. She sighed in resignation. It wouldn’t be a pleasant conversation.
***
Maddie sat alone at breakfast within the great hall two days later, eating porridge with a dash of honey. It seemed a normal enough breakfast, if you could ignore the armoured knights standing guard not ten feet away. No matter what she did, she couldn’t get used to the sight of them. It didn’t help they wore tight fitting hose and tunics that gaped, exposing hard, masculine bodies. Maddie looked down at her food, her cheeks burning and wondered how many times she’d blushed since being here. Too many times to count.
To keep herself occupied, Maddie toured the keep, surrounding buildings and visited the village stalls. The people living within these grand walls were friendly and accommodating, and she’d enjoyed her time with them.
Come each morning, she’d hoped to miraculously arrive back in the twenty-first century. But it hadn’t happened, and over the past days, Maddie accepted that fate had, in fact, sent her flying through time, and plonked her in the twelfth century.
And being here, living in this society brought home the fact, she could very well be stuck in 1102, forever. It wasn’t feasible to believe this type of life was a farce her friends had organised to tease her with. So it must be true. The constant use of words such as naught, anon, comely, and wench, no matter how amusing, hammered home the era she now lived, and Maddie wondered how she’d manage.
She was dressed today in a purple woollen gown, with a white chemise underneath to eliminate the annoying itch of the rough wool. With some debate, Maddie was saved the embarrassment of plaiting her hair like a child and instead had tied it back using a piece of ribbon she had found. It didn’t matter what she looked like, anyway, so long as she was comfortable. She bit into some bread and welcomed how her breakfast settled her nervous stomach.
Over the past days whenever she thought of meeting her husband again, her stomach somersaulted not knowing how it would turn out. Who knew what her life would be like when he decided to take an interest in her.
A servant stopped at her side and topped up her goblet of mead. Maddie eyed the beverage with abhorrence then turned at the sound of someone entering the hall. She looked up, surprised to see the woman who’d slept with the baron walk toward the dais. The supposed distant cousin who was staying for a time.
Dressed in a grey chemise, with an overlying red gown, the lady walked toward the table with all the precision and grace of a woman of high birth. Long, golden blonde hair hung loose, highlighting fair skin and perfect angelic features.
Maddie shifted on her seat, feeling like an adolescent surrounded by beautiful teenage girls again. She smiled in a gesture of friendship—better that than enemies—and soon realized her mistake when the woman scowled and ignored her.
The woman cast dismissing sneers at everyone then settled herself at the dais like a regal queen. Distaste and loathing overtook Maddie’s nerves. The woman certainly thought a lot of herself and very little of anyone else. At the sound of brisk footsteps, Maddie looked away and met the scowling glare of her husband.
He strode toward the dais, barking out orders as he went. The distaste he felt for his wife obvious in the way he looked at her. Maddie frowned and wondered why. Their families had been neighbours for many years. One would assume there would be some sort of amity. His eyes sought his mistress and yet his features remained cold and blank. Odd.
Maddie gulped down the mead and cringed. So, she’d married a cheating arse who had the audacity to have his mistress live under the same roof as his wife.
Well, she wouldn’t put up with it. She may be twenty-first century born, but even she knew such an arrangement in this time was not acceptable.
“Lady Madeline, allow me to introduce you to your guest, Lady Veronica de Walter.”
Maddie looked over to the baron, surprised he was lowering himself to speak to her. He sat down on a large ornate chair and summoned a servant.
“My guest? How do you figure that?” Maddie took another sip of her drink as all the warmth seemed to seep from the room. A shiver ran down her spine at the noticeable silence that settled over the hall and the knowledge that all eyes were now watching...them.
“You mock, wife?” Menace laced his cool tone.
Maddie beat back the urge to run like hell. He was her husband and be damned she’d cower to him. No matter the century. “Not mock. I’m just confused. Am I to welcome this lady to our home as a guest of mine? I’ve never met this woman before in my life.”
“You know her now.”
Maddie swallowed the porridge past the lump of fear in her throat. “Yes, I suppose I do. But I can’t help thinking I’ve seen her before.”
With you, up against the wall in the hall outside my bedroom.
“You have not,” he said with a dismissing tone.
The baron took in his lover and his hard, cold features softened a little. Fear knotted Maddie’s stomach, threatening to bring up her food. This man was in love and not with his wife. Oh gosh, where did that leave the Lady Madeline...leave her?
“Lady Veronica is a guest here, Madeline. I expect you to treat Her Ladyship with all due respect. Do I make myself clear.”
“Perfectly,” Maddie said, looking for a napkin and, not finding one, wiping her hands on the tablecloth. She cleared her throat. “May I have a word with you in your study after your meal, my lord?”
“My study?” he asked, a confused line to his brow.
“Ahh...” she stumbled, stuck for inspiration, and with no idea what to call the room.
“I will join you in the solar shortly,” he said.
The scrape of her chair was loud in the quiet hall. Maddie walked from the room, but not before seeing Lady Veronica place her hand on the baron’s lap. Did the woman have no respect for his wife? Not that Maddie cared what they did together, but had he married the real Lady Madeline surely she would have. She walked into a corridor that ran parallel to the hall and stopped, unsure as to where the solar was. With the aid of a servant, she entered a small box-shaped, sparsely furnished room.
And readied herself for the coming confrontation with the mighty Baron of Kingston.
***
“Darling, must you go to her. You promised me a ride after breakfast, and I hoped you had not meant on horseback.”
Lord William glared at his vexing wife’s retreating back then turned to face his distant cousin. Veronica could be a teasing little minx when she wanted, and normally he would never delay such an appointment. However, Lady Madeline, no matter his thoughts of her, was now his wife, and deal with her he would. Never had he known a more forward-speaking woman. But she would learn to curb her sharp tongue.
Aimecourt may be held in her delicate little hands in trust for their children. She may be far wealthier than he. But as his wife, she would learn to live under his rule or suffer the consequences.
“I shan’t be long. I’ll walk you to the stables after morning prayer,” he said, ignoring her pout and settli
ng down to finish his meal.
***
William strode into the solar and nodded to a serf to close the door. “You wished to see me, Lady Madeline?” he said, in a tone of bored negligence before seating himself behind his desk.
“Yes, I did.”
William watched as she smoothed her skirts with trembling fingers. She lifted her jaw and met his gaze, her apparent nervousness not strong enough to curb whatever it was she wished to speak to him about.
“Firstly, I would like to know why I am being forced to live under a roof with my husband’s mistress.”
William raised his brow, surprised by her question. “Our stewards settled our marriage contract last fall. ’Tis too late now to change your decree, m’lady.” Her defiant little chin rose and an odd twinge twisted his gut.
“Refresh my memory, if you will.”
Not interested in going over their marriage contracts again William inwardly groaned. “Aimecourt would be held in trust for our future children. I would look past your indiscretions after the birth of a son, as would you, me. Have—”
“You would allow your wife to sleep with other men after she bears you a male child?” Madeline asked, interrupting.
William frowned. “’Twas what was agreed. Have you changed your mind?”
Madeline stood and started to pace the floor. The gown swished about her legs showing a lithesome and well-proportioned body with curves in all the right places.
She stopped and turned to face him. “I don’t want to sleep with anyone else.”
Blood pounded to his groin at her declaration. “Am I to take it you wish to sleep with me?” And sleep with her he would, should she wish to. It had been many months since he’d had a woman warm his bed. Why, he had remained faithful to his future wife he couldn’t fathom. He supposed seeing his own father’s faithfulness to his mother and their happy union had something to do with it.
“No!”
William chuckled at the vehemence behind her reply. “Do not fret, my dear. I do not care to share your bed today or any day soon.” His words not true. With her long brown tresses tied neatly with a ribbon, he could picture her on his bed, hair cascading over his furs. Over him...
He cleared his throat. “Do not tell me you went ahead with the marriage with the thought of changing our agreement?”
His wife came and sat before him on a stool and frowned. “No. But neither will I have your lover thrown in my face.”
“The king decreed our marriage. Our arrangement will suit you well enough in time. ’Tis nothing either of us can do to change our lives.” Nor did he like having to remind the woman she’d agreed to all his commands. Was the woman daft? Never in living memory had a fever of the mind cursed the Vincent blood. Or so he thought.
“Why did the king decree a marriage between us when it is clear you loathe me?”
William stood, walked to the narrow window and looked onto the bailey. He’d married a crazy woman. Lady Madeline knew the history between the two families. “Does a sickness of mind run through your family, my lady?”
“What?” she asked, looking at him as if he’d grown two heads.
“Well,” he said, sitting back down. “You know the reason why and yet you ask. To find you’re afflicted would at least explain the callous actions of your father. I always believed he was mad.”
His wife shook her head. “I’m not mad.”
“Good, for I’d hate to have to send you away.” The blood drained from her face and a twinge of guilt nipped his gut. He watched her chew her full bottom lip, making it red. They were delectable lips, full and pouty. Supple.
“Where would you send me?”
William noted her concern and clenched his jaw against the unwelcome feelings she evoked. “To a convent.” With his reply, her dull brown eyes sparked to life like embers in a fire.
“I’d die first before I’d allow you to do that,” she said.
William stifled a laugh. “Our bargain stands, m’lady.”
She stood and started to pace again. “My room, if you hadn’t realized, is on the same floor as your lover’s. And, two nights ago, you should remember, it being our wedding night, I had the dubious delight of seeing you two within the passage.”
“What I do, and where I do it, is my business, Lady Madeline. ’Twould be wise to remember that.” William knew he should explain that he was merely putting Lady Veronica to bed. His cousin, ever since he had stopped sleeping with her months before, had become a little forward of manner, and—if truth be told—a little scandalous. Madeline obviously thought he was bedding her and for now that would suit his plans. Until he figured out how to handle his attractive and strong willed wife, keeping her at a distance would suit him very well.
“Remember such things. How about you remember the vows you took not days ago. Or do you not respect the church’s word as you should?”
His fist slammed down on the wooden table. “Those vows were only spoken because I did not have the authority to cancel our marriage arrangement. Only the church has such a right. And your parents made sure before their untimely deaths that their wishes and the king’s could not be overturned.”
“Did you not want to marry Lady Madeline, then?” she asked him, clearly shocked by the venom in his tone. He paused and wondered why she would refer to herself in such a way. William tore his gaze away from her bodice that rose and fell with swiftness of breath.
“No I did not.” Not that he wouldn’t bed the wench now that she was before him married or no. The delectable, outspoken minx she was turning out to be could prove a worthy bedmate and lifelong partner. William stepped back and ran his fingers through his hair, surprised by his own thoughts.
Lady Madeline was a Vincent. To think in such a way brought shame on him and his family. He would never touch the Baron of Aimecourt’s daughter unless under duress of duty.
“Good, then,” she replied, her eyes throwing sharp little daggers at him. “Because I wouldn’t want to sleep with you either.”
“Then we are in agreement.” William stood to go and stepped around the desk.
“I haven’t finished,” she said.
William stopped. “No? Pray, what else is there left to say?” He sat on the desk, deliberately close so as to make her uncomfortable. She squirmed away.
“I want to return to Aimecourt.”
“Out of the question!”
You cannot stop me.”
He smirked. “I believe I can.”
“Until this arrangement, as you call it, ceases, I refuse to live here with an adulterer,” she said, scowling at him.
“Adulterer?”
“Yes, an adulterer, a cheating arse if you prefer.” Maddie glared at him. “If this is the life you have planned with such precision with the Lady Madeline, then I want a divorce. This is no life, for either person.”
“Why do you keep talking as if you’re not involved in this union?”
He leaned toward her, and traced the neckline of her gown. Goosebumps followed his touch as he skimmed over the tops of her breasts before she slapped his hand away.
“Who do you think you are? Some sort of sheik with dozens of lovers all clutching at your legs for sex?” Madeline glared at him. “I’m not one of them, so keep your hands to yourself.”
He laughed and held his hands up in defeat. “Forgive me, my lady. I will endeavor not to offend again.”
His new wife walked toward the hearth and stared at the fire. “Can you not see a marriage, no matter how advantageous, is doomed if the couple do not care for the union. I don’t want to argue with you about your way of life. We do not care for each other, so what a wasted future it would be if we kept to the current course.”
William joined her. “If I take you to my bed, Lady Madeline, not even the church or the king’s influence could save you then.”
“You would take me by force?” She fumbled at the mantle. “Are you serious?”
William felt a wave of lust crash over
him, then subside at the thought of bedding her. “It’s my right as a husband to consummate the marriage, Lady Madeline.”
“How dare you throw the law of the church in my face?” She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “I want you to agree to some new rules.”
“New rules?” he said, crossing his own arms.
“First, I don’t want your philandering thrown in my face. Second,” she said, ticking off her fingers. “I don’t appreciate your mistress being rude and ignoring me. And thirdly, I request a guard.”
William grasped her arm and turned her toward him. “Have you been threatened? Why do you need a knight?” More than a little surprised at the strength of his reaction to her statement.
Madeline wiggled out of his hold. “Some of the men who walk the outer perimeter walls scare me. They’re not like my knights.”
“I will assign my first knight, Sir Alex, to your side.” William yelled for a serf and ordered a missive for Sir Alex to join him in the bailey immediately.
Madeline shrugged. “Perhaps I could bring my own men here, or return home like I suggested earlier.”
“I thought my answer was clear on that score.”
“I have a larger garrison than you and my men are used to me. They would be more than willing to look after me here.”
William stared at her a moment, a muscle on his temple twitched, ticking the seconds passing by. “My knight will be more than adequate protection. And again, you will remain at Kingston until I decide otherwise.”
“Are you keeping me here like some sort of prisoner? Am I not more powerful than you due to my father’s obscene wealth? And since you said yourself my parents had the ear of the king, wouldn’t it be assumed that I would also?”
“Are you threatening me? ’Twould be unwise to make an enemy of me, Madeline.” William gritted his teeth as he waited for her reply.
“It would be unwise to make one of me, William!” she retorted.
“The arrangement under this roof will remain, and so will you,” he said, stealing another look at her breasts when they shook with the fervor of her tone.
