The Agents of William Marshal Volume II: A Medieval Romance Bundle

by Kathryn Le Veque

Something in Juliandra snapped.

  “You… you vile pig,” she snarled. “How dare you try to make a trade as if I were some kind of brood mare. You bring this filthy woman here to trade for me? Clearly, you think very little of me if you are trying to trade for this… this creature. Get out of my sight, Aeron ap Gruffudd. I shall hate you for the rest of my life. I never want to see you again!”

  With that, she spun on her heel and rushed off, keeping her head down because she was so mortified at what Aeron had said. She was mortified at the entire incident. She could hear Aeron calling after her, shouting her name, but she kept running.

  Kevin watched her go. He knew she was ashamed and she had every right to be. But her shame only riled his anger against the man who had caused her such upset. As Juliandra ran off, Kevin moved towards the lowered portcullis.

  “Now that you have heard of her disgust for you in her own words, you will go and you will not return,” he said. “If you do return, then it will be as a polite man who wishes to establish a peaceful existence, for if it is anything else, I shall turn my archers loose on you and your men. I will no longer tolerate your spoiled behavior and your demands. Is this in any way unclear?”

  Aeron was standing there with the buxom woman in his grip, in disbelief that this situation had not gone as planned. Glynn came forward to tug on him, trying to pull him away, but he didn’t seem to want to move. He still thought the situation was salvageable.

  “Bring her back!” he demanded. “Bring her back! Tell her that I must speak to –!”

  Kevin turned away, motioning to his sentries. “Close the gates,” he said. “I do not want to see that man’s face again until my anger has abated. And make sure he takes that motley band of misfits with him. Watch them as they clear the village. I do not want them causing any trouble.”

  The sentries nodded and Bannon, Gareth, Peter, Cal, and William took to the walls to ensure Kevin’s commands were carried out. They wanted to see the retreat of the Welsh for themselves, but if they caused any trouble, they would be the first ones from the gate with their swords swinging. Kevin kept walking, joined by his brother and Alexander as he went.

  “Now you see what I am dealing with,” Kevin said. “There is no reasoning with an idiot who will not listen.”

  “Let me return to Chris and tell him what I have seen,” Alexander said. “I will leave the de Lohr troops here, but Chris should send word to ap Bedo that his cousin is causing problems at Wybren, not the other way around.”

  Kevin glanced at him. “Wouldn’t that mean that Chris knew of ap Bedo’s missive? That could place his spy in danger.”

  Alexander shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “We shall word the missive to make it seem as if Chris is asking for ap Bedo’s assistance with ap Gruffudd. The fact that they are cousins is not a secret. But you are correct; that idiot does not listen. He is spoiled and he is reckless, a dangerous combination.”

  Kevin couldn’t agree more. “Then I would be grateful if you can see what you can do about it,” he said. “If he comes back one more time, I may have to rip his tongue out and shove it down his throat.”

  As Alexander headed off to make plans for his return to Lioncross Abbey, Sean walked alongside his brother as they both headed in the direction that Juliandra had run. Sean had heard Kevin’s proposal of marriage because he’d been close enough to hear the softly uttered words, but he wasn’t sure he should say anything about it. Kevin was clearly focused on finding Juliandra and easing her. So Sean thought that perhaps, this time, he should let Kevin deal with this on his own. It seemed that he didn’t need any brotherly advice. His little brother, from what he’d seen, had grown up quite a bit since he last saw him.

  Kevin was finally coming into his own, as evidenced by the way he handled ap Gruffudd.

  “I will be in the hall if you need me,” Sean said. “I did not get any of the food that the others were so happily slurping up. I will wait for you there.”

  Kevin simply nodded, too preoccupied with finding Juliandra to respond.

  He found her in the kitchen yard.

  Actually, he found her sitting in the game locker, where the carcasses of hunted game would hang from iron hooks on the rafters. He’d gone into the kitchen yard, thinking she might have gone back to the kitchens, but a servant sweeping up the ashes from the cooking fire simply pointed to the game locker.

  Kevin opened the door to find Juliandra sitting there, looking at her feet.

  “He is gone,” he said quietly. “I am fairly certain it will not be the last time I see him, but for now, he is gone. I am sorry he upset you so much.”

  Juliandra shrugged. “Coming from Aeron, that is nothing new,” she said. “But… but I cannot believe he brought a woman with him, thinking to exchange her for me. As if I am something to be bartered for.”

  Kevin leaned against the door jamb. “You are not something to be bartered for,” he said. “All the rubies and gold in the world would not be enough to coerce me into trading you. But mayhap something less potent than that pear cider might convince me, though. I think I’m still drunk from last night.”

  She looked at him, sharply, to see that he was grinning. She broke down into a reluctant smile.

  “Is that why you asked me to marry you?” she said.

  His smile faded. “Nay,” he said. “I asked you to marry me because I wanted to.”

  “Why?”

  He lifted his broad shoulders. “Because I think you would make a most desirable wife,” he said. “I explained it all to you last night. Are you going to make me do it again?”

  She looked back at her feet. “You are asking to marry me without my father’s permission,” she said. “It is a very great thing you are asking of me. If I marry you, will you release my father?”

  His smile vanished completely. Without another word, he turned away. He hadn’t taken three steps when Juliandra came running after him.

  “I am sorry,” she said. “I did not mean to make it sound as if it were a condition of my acceptance. It is not, you know. It would be easy for me to say that it is, but what you have asked… it should not become a negotiation, at least not like that. It is something personal and deep that you have asked of me. I can only answer it with emotion, not practicality.”

  He came to a pause, turning to look at her. “What emotion?”

  She sighed faintly. “That it would be my honor to be Lady de Lara,” she said. “You asked me once if I always did everything my father told me to do. I don’t, you know. I rarely do.”

  The corners of Kevin’s lips tugged. “And now would be one of those times?”

  She nodded. “Aye,” she said. “Kevin… I cannot express how I feel, but I will try. Before I came to Wybren, my life was… without excitement. Without any real joy. My father was still reeling from Burke’s departure, I had no suitors because of Aeron, and I thought all I would ever know would be the tedium of my father’s home. I had nothing to look forward to, nothing to be part of… but when I came here, under less than desirable circumstances, never did I expect it to turn out as it did. I feel needed and wanted, and part of something important with you in the center of it. If I were to leave tomorrow and another woman took my place, I would be crushed.”

  By this time, he’d taken a step closer to her, watching her face as she spoke. In the bright sunlight of noon, as the wind blew softly through the trees, lifting tendrils of her hair, he reached out and brushed a stay piece of hair from her eyes.

  “Would you really?” he asked softly.

  That tender gesture, simply brushing hair from her face, had Juliandra’s heart racing wildly.

  “Aye,” she murmured. “I would. It is my place. I want to be by your side, Kevin. It is as if I belong somehow. You make me feel as if I belong.”

  “To me?”

  “To you.”

  He smiled faintly, lifting both big hands so that he was cupping her face. For the first time, he was touching her affectionately, a moment no
t lost on either of them. Whatever was brewing between them was gaining strength, pulling at them, creating something warm and giddy that threatened to consume them both.

  “I feel that way, too,” he muttered. “If you had wanted to go with Aeron, I would have been heartbroken.”

  A hopeful smile spread across her face. “Truly?”

  “Truly.”

  “Then when shall we be married?”

  His answer was to lean forward and kiss her, a tender kiss that quickly turned amorous. His first taste of her lips was like food to a hungry man, and he pulled her into a crushing embrace as he feasted. In his arms, Juliandra went limp, collapsed against him as his heated kiss sucked every bit of strength from her body. He only pulled back because he’d heard voices somewhere, nearby, and he didn’t want to make a spectacle of their first kiss. He released her, but he had to hold on to her because she seemed unsteady. She started to giggle and he snorted at her because she was so giddy.

  “Are you sure you can stand on your own?” he asked.

  She nodded. Then she shook her head. She put her hand over her mouth in a silly gesture. “I am fine, truly,” she said. “’Tis only… well, I’ve never been kissed like that before.”

  “It will not be the last time.”

  She continued to giggle, her cheeks turning red. “I am glad to hear that,” she said. “I am glad that nothing Aeron said about me has discouraged you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She struggled to explain herself. “When he brought that woman,” she said. “And… and those things he said about me. He was right, you know. I have absolutely no knowledge about anything when it comes to men.”

  He looked at her sternly, but it was lightly done. “That is good,” he said. “Otherwise, I would spank you and then hunt down the man who taught you things only your husband should teach you.”

  “Would you really?”

  “Absolutely.”

  The smile returned to her face. “You do not have to worry,” she said. “Whatever you wish to teach me, as my husband… I will gladly learn.”

  There were people in the kitchen yard but he reached out again to touch her face, gently. This time, he didn’t care if anyone saw him.

  “You asked when we were to be married,” he said. “I would say today. Right now. The sooner we are married, the sooner Aeron has absolutely no claim and no recourse. As we have both said, today will not be the last time we see him. He may even return with larger numbers and try burn down Wybren. Whatever he tries to do, it is better to get married now and take no chances.”

  Juliandra wasn’t at all distressed by the fact that she would be married this day. Thoughts of gaining her father’s permission were virtually forgotten, ignored until a later time. He was protective over her, that was true, but he also loved her. All he would have to do was look at her face to see how happy she was as Lady de Lara.

  At least, she hoped so.

  She would deal with it when the time came.

  “As you say,” she said. “May I at least change my dress?”

  He looked at her, looking lovely and charming in the blue dress with flour still on her sleeves. He nodded.

  “Go ahead,” he said. “I will send one of my knights into town for a priest. I know we do not need one, but I would feel better. It would make it more binding in the eyes of the church.”

  Juliandra nodded. “Very well,” she said. “I will hurry.”

  She started to rush off, but he grasped her arm. “I will come with you,” he said. “I am going to move you out of the gatehouse and into the keep. There is a large chamber in the keep that sits unused and it would make a perfect master’s chamber. Besides – I do not want you in the gatehouse any longer. I only put you there to…”

  He suddenly trailed off and she looked at him, a knowing grin on her face. “I know why you put me there,” she said. “To keep an eye on me. I could not escape without a dozen soldiers seeing me.”

  He tried not to look guilty. “You figured that out, did you?”

  “I did.”

  “You are quite astute.”

  She laughed softly as he took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his elbow. It was a very freeing feeling, knowing he could touch her like this in public, harmlessly, and it wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. The woman was soon to be Lady de Lara and he couldn’t have been prouder.

  Even though he was sitting on a horrible, terrible secret.

  But he couldn’t think about that now. He wouldn’t think about that now. He would marry her and then he would figure out how to tell her that her father was already gone. More and more, he was leaning towards Bannon’s suggestion. He would simply tell her that her father passed away in captivity of natural causes and leave it at that. He would find himself consoling his grief-stricken wife, who would turn to him for comfort.

  Comfort perpetrated by a lie.

  But he would deal with that later.

  One thing at a time.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  In the great hall of Wybren Castle, Juliandra ferch Gethin became Lady de Lara.

  The witnesses to the marriage were Sean, Gareth, Bannon, a disgruntled Cal, Alexander, Peter, and William. They watched as a tiny priest with terrible teeth presided over a short ceremony where the couple spoke their vows. The priest read a verse about marriage from his large, shabby bible and said a prayer that lasted longer than the ceremony itself. When it was over, food was brought forth and they sat down for a second time that day to enjoy a meal.

  But this time, it was different.

  There was something joyful in the air.

  Sean sat next to Juliandra, monopolizing the woman’s time as he carried on a conversation with her. Mostly, he spoke of his wife and children, of his home of Lansdown Castle, and his plans to expand his empire. Although he was the Earl of Bath and Glastonbury, his castle was quite a distance from his properties because it had been in his wife’s family for three hundred years, before the first earl had been appointed.

  As Juliandra listened with great interest, Sean spoke of gaining permission to build a greater castle closer to Bath, somewhere to the east because there was a great lake there that he had seen, once, and he wanted to be near the water.

  It had been a marvelous conversation and Juliandra was coming to know a man who seemed more introspective and serious than Kevin was. Sean conveyed something she couldn’t quite put her finger on – it was almost as if beneath that handsome façade, something darker lurked. Not in the evil sense, but perhaps in the sense of life’s experiences. He almost seemed… wounded to her. It was difficult to explain. But in spite of that, she knew she liked him.

  Sean de Lara was a kind and interesting man.

  But even as she listened to the earl speak on the Mendip Hills, part of his earldom, her thoughts were wandering to Kevin as he sat beside her. She couldn’t really see him because her focus was politely on Sean, but she could feel him. That seemed to be a running theme with her, ever since she had come to live at Wybren in earnest. She had an extra sense when it came to Kevin, knowing he was around her, watching her.

  It was a connection they already had.

  As the afternoon dragged on, she was thinking more and more about what was to come. She had to admit that she was nervous to be alone with Kevin, but eager. There wasn’t anything about him that didn’t make her feel eager and anxious, and after the kiss they’d shared earlier in the kitchen yard, she was more than willing to do it again. Kevin must have sensed her anticipation because he finally pulled her up from the table when Sean was mid-sentence.

  “Would it be too much trouble to borrow my wife?” he asked jokingly. “I only just married the woman, but you’ve been monopolizing her time. May I?”

  Sean snorted, waving them off. “By all means,” he said. “Go. Enjoy. I will see you both later.”

  Kevin lifted a sarcastic eyebrow. “Thank you, Brother.”

  Sean grinned at him, but the warmth in his eyes was obvious.
“Again, my congratulations,” he said. “Well done, Keev. I am happy for you.”

  Kevin smiled in return, a moment of tenderness between brothers who had seen little of it over the years. It was as if all of those years of hurt and pain had faded away, only to be recalled in moments when they would no longer matter. Kevin and Sean had made amends and their bond was stronger than it had ever been.

  Life, between them, was good once more.

  Leaving his brother and the knights still at the table with that powerful pear cider to keep them company, Kevin took Juliandra out into the sunshine of the waning day. It was still daylight, but leaning towards dusk, and the castle was busy preparing for an evening meal that Juliandra would not be supervising.

  Not this night.

  She had something else to do.

  So did Kevin. He kept looking at her, smiling at her, laughing softly when she would flush and look away. He had her by the hand, taking her over to the keep where he had moved all of their belongings into the large chamber. It was a beautiful chamber, in truth, or at least it had once been. A big bedframe was still there, and still serviceable, and all it had needed was a mattress and linens, which servants provided earlier.

  Kevin was thinking ahead to what they were about to do when Juliandra’s soft voice filled his ears.

  “I like your brother,” she said. “He seems to be a very nice man.”

  Kevin never thought he would hear those words where they pertained to Sean. “I like him, too.”

  She chuckled. “I should hope so,” she said. “But I sense something about him.”

  “What?”

  She shrugged as they entered the keep. “I am not certain,” she said. “He is intelligent and kind, and it is clear that he loves his wife and children very much, but there is something in his eyes that suggest… a wounding.”

  They had reached the stairs and Kevin went first, taking her hand as he went. “What do you mean?”

  She shrugged. “It is difficult to describe,” she said. “As if there is something inside him that is wounded, or has been wounded. He is joyful, but it seems as if he has not always been so.”