Finders Keepers (Norman Brides)

by Wood, Lynn

  With difficulty he turned his head to see Michel standing in the entrance. With the sun framing him, Luke likened the young Salusian prince to that of some avenging angel who descended to earth to exact his vengeance for the sins of mankind. The best Luke could summon in his own defense was a vengeful glare as he dared not move or else he was quite certain his head would separate itself from his shoulders and roll across the grass to rest at his new brother’s booted feet.

  “So, how do you suggest we proceed?” Michel queried, fighting the grin threatening to split his lips at Luke’s condition. “Do you deem it would be more convincing for my sister’s benefit if you bound my hands and led me back to Heaven’s Crest at the end of a rope?”

  Luke’s thoughts might be fuzzily drifting through his head seeking purchase in his usually disciplined mind that somehow deserted him the previous evening, but he thought he did not misunderstand the other man’s offer. “You will come with me?” he confirmed stunned.

  Michel’s smile widened. “Of course. I always honor my debts.”

  Luke shook his head and then winced at the pain the gesture cost him. “Why?”

  His new brother lifted one shoulder in a graceful gesture. “Only a man desperately in love would allow himself to fall victim to one of my twin’s insane schemes.”

  Hope rising in his breast, Luke grinned. “So what did you put in the wine?”

  chapter twenty one

  Nathan called a halt to the morning training session and drew in a deep breath of the still cool spring air. He welcomed the gentle breeze blowing across his new lands with the sweet fragrance of the promise of new life on its wings. His commander, Archibald, wiped the sweat from his brow. “Arden has been noticeably absent outside your walls lately.”

  Nathan too had noticed the stallion’s absence and just recently commented upon it to his wife. Rhiann merely shrugged in answer to his observation and replied unconcerned, “Arden has his own affairs to see to. He does not belong to us. I am certain Melissa is aware of his absence.”

  Nathan grinned at the memory of his wife’s conviction of the horse having its own affairs. So it was with a lighthearted grin on his face he replied to his friend’s observation, “Perhaps Arden has found my wife’s brother and is about to deliver him to our doorstep.”

  Recalling Lady Melissa’s mysterious arrival in London, Archibald laughed, and then nodded his appreciation when Nathan called a halt to the training session to break for the midday meal. His own men and the former duke’s now trained side by side. Nathan was both gratified and surprised with the ease with which the duke’s soldiers and servants alike accepted him as their new lord. He was well aware he had his wife to thank for the smooth transition of power at Heaven’s Crest. She was so conscious of making a point of his authority over her, with her head all but touching the ground when she curtseyed before him, the respect she accorded him by seeing to his every comfort, and addressing him as her lord, the family’s loyal retainers simply followed her lead.

  In little time at all the soldiers, tired of months of war, and eager to make a new future for themselves in the rich land surrounding Heaven’s Crest, trained together to protect the security of that future for all of them. All evidence of the siege of Heaven’s Crest was erased with industrious hands. The holes in the wall were filled with stone and mortar, the blacksmith was busy fashioning new weapons and shields, and the keep itself sparkled with cleanliness. The fresh rushes laid across the stone floor put off a pleasing scent as he entered each room. His meals were hearty enough to fill the stomachs of men who put in a full day of hard work and yet interesting and varied enough to satisfy even the most refined palate.

  Nathan knew he also had his wife to thank for the smooth running of the keep. She was obviously well-trained in her duties as the mistress of a grand estate, and he thanked his God and his king for her expertise and for her loving passion several times each day as he encountered the evidence of each. All in all he was well-pleased with his new estates, his new status in life as a landowner, and especially, his new wife.

  Even being placed in the position of Melissa’s guardian in Luke’s absence could do little to ruin his good mood. The contentment his wife took in her sister’s company was more than just compensation for whatever small issue might arise in regards to his guardianship duties. He was actually grateful for Melissa’s presence, if only for the careful attention she paid to her sister. With Nathan engaged in other matters, it was Melissa who saw to it Rhiann rested each day and was eating properly. He noticed recently the two women were busy altering Rhiann’s wardrobe to accommodate her expanding middle.

  He took great satisfaction in the evidence of his wife’s delicate condition. Rather than detract from her beauty, Rhiann’s pregnancy only served to enhance hers. The refined features of her face took on a truly angelic glow until Nathan would occasionally seek her out just to make certain she was still with him on this mortal plain. He understood now Melissa’s earlier professed fear of exposing Rhiann to the realities of life. No matter what she suffered his wife went about her days with an aura of peace and innocent faith in the world so that one might reasonably conclude she’d forgotten all about the ordeal she suffered during the war.

  Nathan strode through the wide doors of the keep’s main entrance and drew in a deep satisfied breath at the tantalizing scents greeting him as he and his men crossed his threshold. The scents were a combination of those offered up by the savory dishes that would be laid before him by an attentive staff eager to please their new lord. Nathan suspected a more important judge to the servants’ way of thinking, was that of their young mistress. He motioned the men joining him around the table for the meal to take their places while he turned in the direction of the stairs, thinking if Rhiann was resting he would not disturb her.

  Before he took more than a few steps in pursuit of his aim, Rhiann appeared at the top of the staircase, and seeing him, hurried down the stairs to curtsey low before him. He bent down and gently assisted her to a standing position and placed a tender kiss on her forehead as she stood regarding him with an anxious expression in her green eyes. He brushed a stray golden curl away from her face and asked quietly as he took her hand and led her towards the table. “You are well, wife? You haven’t been overdoing this morning?”

  She blushed at his consideration and his reference to her delicate condition. “No, Nathan, I am most careful with your heir.”

  “I don’t believe it was my heir’s health I inquired after.”

  She blushed again even as she gave him a grateful smile and allowed herself to be seated first around the large table, as Nathan’s men hurriedly stood at her entry into the hall. Rhiann gave the signal to the hovering servants to begin to serve while the men resumed their seats, and Nathan noticed there was no place set for Melissa. It wasn’t unusual for Rhiann’s sister not to take her meals with them. She seemed embarrassed in his company. He assumed it was his close friendship with Luke that accounted for her discomfort. Still, he realized he hadn’t seen Melissa in a few days, and always uncomfortably aware of the weight of his responsibility for his friend’s wife and her recent, very real illness and injuries, he couldn’t help but be concerned now.

  “Rhiann, will Melissa not join us again? Is all well with your sister?”

  At his concerned question, a deep blush stained his wife’s cheeks and the fork she held shook in her hand. Nathan immediately became suspicious. Things were so quiet and blessedly normal since her sister’s arrival, Nathan was beginning to wonder about the label of headstrong Melissa was given. In their short acquaintance he had much more experience with his wife’s strength of will than her sister’s. The reminder of Melissa’s insistence on divorcing her husband if he could not produce either her twin brother or incontrovertible proof of his death forced him now to take a fresh look at his assumptions in regards to Melissa’s temperament. He leaned back in his chair and took in his wife’s guilty expression. He was very much afraid he was not g
oing to like the answer to his next question, but he accepted he could not avoid asking it.

  He very carefully put down his own fork and turned his full attention to his wife. “Rhiann, where is Melissa?”

  Rhiann started in her chair and the fork she held clattered loudly to her plate. She was staring unseeing at her untouched meal in front of her, but she made no attempt to answer his query.

  “Wife, I asked you a question,” Nathan reminded her in a suddenly harsh tone. His previous foreboding was hardening into full-blown dread at his wife’s stilted reaction and white face. A hushed silence fell over the hall as everyone in it waited for Rhiann’s answer.

  Rhiann couldn’t bring herself to meet her husband’s glance when she confessed the truth in a voice barely above a whisper. “She’s gone.”

  “Damn it to hell!” The curse exploded from between Nathan’s lips and he regained his feet in such a violent manner his chair tipped over and clattered to the floor. He stood glowering over his wife who seemed to shrink before his towering fury. Nathan placed his hands on the table on either side of Rhiann’s uneaten plate and demanded in a voice of raging fury. “Where did she go?”

  Rhiann dared lift her anxious gaze to his. What she saw on her husband’s face took her breath away. She’d never seen Nathan in such a rage with anyone, let alone her, not even the day when she challenged him in front of the new monarchs when he called her family’s sacred dagger, ‘ridiculous’. Their glances clashed and she could see Nathan was in danger of losing the iron control he always maintained over his darker passions. “She went to our grandmother.” She flinched as another vivid curse passed from between her husband’s lips in response to her honesty.

  “I presume she didn’t head in the direction of Normandy, so I must assume she thought to seek out your mother’s mother?”

  Rhiann nodded in response to her husband’s query even as each sarcastic syllable pricked a tiny hole in her heart. She knew Nathan would never understand what she’d done. She feared he would have difficulty forgiving her for deceiving him, but only now was she truly frightened of what her deception would cost her.

  Nathan gained control of his anger and it was in an ice cold voice he questioned her now. “How did she leave the keep?”

  His wife’s noncommittal shrug forced Nathan to restrain himself from gripping her shoulders and lifting her off of the bench and shaking some sense into her. He only hoped his next statement would garner a reaction from his wife. “The secret passage in the old keep is under watch. If your sister thinks to escape notice that way, she will be disappointed.”

  No answer. No reaction. How many other hidden ways were there in and out of the keep? His keep! His property! And yet no one bothered to reveal their location to him. Shouldn’t he be first in his wife’s loyalty? Shouldn’t he be first in the allegiances of those pledged to serve him?

  “I cannot believe, Rhiann, you would be so reckless as to allow your sister to leave the keep unescorted, especially in light of the very nearly deadly consequences she faced after her first attempt. Which of your father’s men escorted her?”

  Rhiann dared raise defiant eyes to his face. “They are no longer my father’s men, but yours husband. They have all knelt before you and offered their pledge of loyalty. You insult me by thinking I would put any of your faithful soldiers or servants in the position of having to choose between what was and what is.”

  “I insult you, wife? It seems a valid presumption on my part, since you are the mistress of this estate and my wife, and you seem to still be having difficulties deciding on your loyalties between what was and what is.”

  “That’s unfair of you, Nathan.”

  Her quiet defense sent the barely banked flames of Nathan’s blazing fury into new heights. “Unfair of me? Unfair of me? What about your fairness to me, wife? What about your wifely vows to honor and obey your husband? You deliberately deceived me. I deserve the greater claim on your devotion beyond anyone, even your family. I am your family now. I am your lord. Yet you went around my back and schemed with your sister so she could leave the keep, and between the two of you put her life at great risk, again! I cannot credit the extent of your foolishness. Are you truly so naïve you did not learn the first time the dangers confronting a woman outside the protection offered by these walls and the swords of the men sworn to die before they allow any harm to come to you? Do you have any understanding of the position you have placed me in? I am responsible for your sister’s welfare. The king placed her in my care and under my guardianship in her husband’s absence. Her husband is my closest friend, closer than a brother to me and yet I have betrayed the sacred trust placed in me by my king and my friend. Because I trusted the love you profess to feel for me far more apparently than you are capable of trusting me. What must I do to instill in you some sense of the harsh realities awaiting you outside these gates and beyond the protection you’ve always been afforded by your father’s wealth and loyal men?”

  White-faced Rhiann sat silently while her husband loomed over her and berated her in front of his soldiers and servants, many of them men and women she’d known since birth. She offered no defense on her behalf until a heavy silence filled the hall when Nathan threw his final question at her bent head. With as much dignity as she could muster under the circumstances she stood and addressed her husband in an even, defeated voice. “What realities do you believe I am remiss in recognizing, husband? Is it the reality of enduring an enemy siege and watching men and women I loved and called my friends, those who nurtured and defended me and my family their entire lives, die beneath the merciless swords of an invading army? Or is the reality you refer to that of watching my brothers’ broken and cold bodies returned to their family home for burial, even knowing as we laid them to rest their graves would likely not remain undisturbed for long? Of maybe you meant to signify the reality of watching my mother die a little more each day as her sons’ dead bodies were laid upon her doorstep until the husband she loved more than life itself was returned in the same condition? Or was it your intent to denote the reality of seeing my father’s body put in the ground next to my brothers, witnessing my mother’s devastation, but seeing no tears stain her cheeks because by then she was already beyond the reach of the evils of this world? Then again perhaps I didn’t properly comprehend the reality of having my mother’s slender body, her clothes, heavy with her own spilt blood, carried back into the hall I played in as a child and then watching her die in the same bed where she gave life to each of us in turn.”

  Rhiann appeared unaware of the tears streaming down her face as she recounted her trials, but Nathan felt each accusation and each tear as if it was leveled against him personally. Apparently she was not done berating him yet, because she raised her head and faced him proudly as she continued, “Maybe you meant to signify the reality of being dragged from the only home I ever knew by the same enemy soldiers responsible for my mother’s death, even before I was given a chance to lay her to rest and know she was at last at peace, thinking as I went my own execution at the hands of the new Norman king awaited me at the end of my journey. I was provided neither the comfort of my maid nor a change of clothing, nor even the gentle company of another woman along the journey, and feared at every pause one of your comrades would succumb to the lust I read in their eyes whenever they looked upon me. I was afraid to fall asleep at night surrounded by strange, battle-hardened men knowing only their uncertain vow of loyalty to their lord prevented their assault. Then within twenty four hours of my arrival in London I was wed to an enemy knight, a vassal of the king who was given my father’s estates as a reward for the deaths of my family and loved ones. I was expected to share the bed of my new husband, a stranger to me I exchanged barely a dozen words with before it was assumed I would welcome him as a loving wife into my arms and my bed.”

  “Or perhaps you feel I did not properly confront the reality of being labeled a whore by my own country woman for welcoming a Norman into my bed. Or of seeing t
he woman you were once betrothed to wearing my mother’s wedding dress, the gown I should have been able to wear when we recited our vows.” Rhiann’s voice rose with each fresh offense she suffered at Norman hands until she was all but screaming her complaints at him. “Or did you believe I’ve forgotten how it felt to be kidnapped from a sacred place and having yet another strange man wave his sword in front of my face and threaten to slit my throat if I did not provide him with answers I didn’t have to his nonsensical and deranged questions.”

  Rhiann was panting with emotion by the time she was finished listing all her trials for his benefit. It was only then her voice dropped to a beaten whisper when she added, “So, husband, if you believe there is a reality I have yet to confront, I warn you now I possess neither the strength nor the desire to summon the will to contest against it.”

  The silence between husband and wife was a tangible presence in the hall as their glances locked and held, each believing in the rightness of their own views, both unwilling to reach across the chasm separating them. It was Rhiann who finally broke it in a stilted voice, heavy with fresh tears. “Seeing as you find my presence in your hall so unappealing, husband, I will relieve you of it. I am going to tend my family’s graves. I ask with all due respect, my lord, you do not disturb me in my grief.”

  Rhiann didn’t wait for Nathan’s permission, but with head held high skirted around him and hurried towards the exit to the keep, aware every eye in the hall followed her progress. With a hand that shook she retrieved her cloak from the hook by the door then nodded her gratitude in the direction of the soldier who quickly moved to hold the door open for her, though he could not bring himself to meet her direct glance.