She pushed the hair from her face, her willful stance instantly softening. “I won’t, I promise. Will you bathe now so you do not go into the grand hall smelling like a stable?”
He nodded wearily, although it wasn’t a physical fatigue. This woman taxed his emotions like a syphon.
Yet he would not be alone. He ordered every one of his knights to attend, and they were not reluctant. A mask meant a myriad of beautiful young women and they were most eager to see the goods. Bathed, shaved and combed, they were dressed in their finest tunics and boots, sans armor. It was the first time Dustin had seen them all without their armor, although they were well fortified with an assortment of small daggers.
Dustin looked absolutely radiant in the red brocade. She had pulled the front of her hair back to reveal her face and the heavy golden cross hung most prominently against her breasts. Christopher was as proud as a peacock, his formidable arrogance fed with his beautiful wife and her pregnancy. The knights knew, and they all smiled knowingly as Dustin appeared on her husband’s arm. Flushing a pretty shade of pink, she averted her gaze shyly.
David escorted Deborah to the grand hall. The group arrived as the ball was in full swing, gay music and tables of food and thousands of candles filling the massive room. Christopher immediately took his party over to a vacant table and sat his wife down promptly, but Deborah begged to dance and David obliged.
Dustin watched happily as Deborah took David through three dances, granting him a rest while she continued with Leeton. Dustin found herself wishing she remembered how to dance, if only to be close to her husband. As it was, he was sitting at the table, his eyes roving the room suspiciously and she snorted ironically to herself. She could dress him up and make him appear as a gentleman, but she certainly could not conceal the soldier in him. He actually appeared ill at ease, and she would learn later that it was because he felt positively naked without his armor.
John and Ralph and their group of shady characters arrived late, as usual, and the prince made a grand occasion out of his first dance. He acted as a child in a sweet shop, pretending to be very selective with the women he would dance with. His gaze fell on Dustin and he smiled, but one glimpse of Christopher’s face sent him on his way. Christopher watched him like a hawk as he made a move for a lovely brunette on the opposite side of the room.
There was something remotely familiar about the woman as the music commenced and the dancing began, but he did not recognize her until John swung her by his table. Then, realization dawned.
“Isn’t that Amanda?” David leaned next to him, casually nursing a large goblet of wine.
“Aye,” Christopher said faintly, watching John swing the woman about.
“Jesus, I’d nearly forgotten about her,” David replied. “I didn’t even know she was here.”
Christopher didn’t answer, averting his gaze to another part of the room. David wandered back over to Marcus, who happened to have heard the exchange.
“Who’s that woman?” he asked David.
David took a healthy swig of wine. “The one dancing with John? Her name is Lady Amanda de Fortlage. Her father is the Earl of Chaumont.”
Marcus nodded, “I know who she is. I meant what is she to Christopher? He seems disturbed to see her.”
David glanced over his shoulder to make sure Dustin wasn’t listening. “She and my brother were… well, involved once. But her father heartily disapproved of Chris. I think she was the only woman he ever felt anything for, other than Dustin.”
Marcus raised a black eyebrow, looking more closely at the dark-haired woman. “Was he in love with her?”
“Hell no,” David snorted. “He said she was good company, and good in bed, but that was about all.”
Marcus nodded slowly, mildly surprised at the information. He usually heard all of the rumors, and he hadn’t heard that one.
“Did he want to marry her?” he asked.
David did chuckle, then. “Not a chance. He only married Dustin because Richard forced him to. Chris did not want to marry anyone.”
Marcus let the subject go, but he kept glancing with interest to the pretty woman as she danced with the prince. When the dance was over, she returned to her friends along the opposite wall, but not before she had caught sight of Christopher.
He knew she had seen him and he was actually nervous. He didn’t want Dustin knowing of his past relationship with Amanda, but he knew she would approach him eventually. He tried to brace himself for the encounter.
Dustin was blissfully oblivious to the conflict in her husband’s mind. She and Deborah were talking up a storm, joined eventually by Baron Sedgewick’s wife, the Lady Anne. She was a vivacious, petite woman and Dustin enjoyed her tremendously. The group was rounded out by Lord Hampton’s two daughters, Emilie and Nathalie, who had become fast friends with Dustin after learning she had punched their father at the tournament. The party complete and chattering away, it sounded to the men like a conference of magpies.
Actually, David thought Emilie Hampton to be quite fetching. She was a very pretty girl with blond hair and brown eyes, the same age as his sister. He kept eyeing her, smiling coyly and turning away when she would fix her gaze on him. Dustin caught on to the game early on and goaded Emilie endlessly.
Christopher knew of the game, too, but he was more preoccupied with keeping Amanda at a safe distance. He was afraid the woman might say something, however inadvertent, and send Dustin into a frenzy.
He could see Amanda across the room, talking with her friends. She was more lovely than he had remembered, although she could not compare to Dustin. No woman could. Indeed, he had been very fond of Amanda, of her wit and intelligence, and she had been a veritable wild woman in the bedchamber, but his interest had been limited. He knew she had fallen in love with him and had pleaded with her father to accept Christopher, but much to his relief, her father wanted nothing to do with the lowly knight. It had saved Christopher from having to tell Amanda he did not want to marry her, and they had parted amiably.
Undoubtedly she had heard that Christopher was married and he was curious as to what her reaction would be. Would she be bitter? Happy for him? He wondered, for Amanda was the only woman other than his wife that he had truly liked as a person. She had a good heart, although she could be catty, and would make some man an excellent wife someday.
A pretty ballad started and the women all bound to their feet, all except Dustin. She looked confused as the ladies around her insisted she rise and dance with them.
“Dance?” Dustin sputtered. “But….but I haven’t danced in ages. I do not remember how.”
“This is a woman’s dance, Dustin,” Anne said, taking her arm. “Just follow what we do and I promise you shall love it.”
Christopher stood up, the first time all evening, and eyed the women sternly as they attempted to persuade his wife to retreat with them to the dance floor.
“I have forbidden her to dance, ladies,” he said firmly.
Deborah looked up at him. “But why, Chris? There is no harm in dancing.”
He sighed, looking his wife in the eye. Not all of the women knew of Dustin’s condition. They would all know eventually, anyway, and he saw no harm in revealing their joyous news. “Because she is with child and I do not want her to exhaust herself.”
That bit of information sent the women into cries of congratulation and happy kisses, but it did not deter their determination that Dustin should dance. They tugged her free of the table only to run headlong into Christopher’s huge body as he blocked their way.
“Surely, sire, your wife must dance this dance,” Nathalie Hampton said. “ ’Tis an ancient fertility dance.”
The women giggled and Christopher crossed his arms sternly, yet there was a faint smirk on his face. “I know what the dance is, my lady, I have seen it many a time. I simply do not want my wife to tire.”
“This dance will not tire her, my lord,” Anne Sedgewick said. “ ’Tis slow and beautiful. Surely you do no
t intend to forbid Dustin from any sort of activity until the child is born. She will not break.”
Where had he heard that before? He raised a disapproving eyebrow and looked at Dustin’s smiling face. He could see that she wanted to go with them. “Very well, then. But no jumping or cavorting about.”
“Cavorting about?” Dustin repeated. “Why do you always say that as if I jump from table to table? I have never cavorted about.”
He grunted at her and moved out of the way, allowing the women to pass. His knights stood about, watching the ladies and grinning. Especially David. He smiled broadly at Emilie as she brushed past him.
“Can’t I dance, too?” he asked her.
She turned her pert nose up in the air. “Nay, sire, ’tis a woman’s dance.”
“But I want to dance with a woman,” he persisted.
She shot him a blatantly flirtatious look. “Then you should have asked sooner.”
The knights laughed at David’s expense as the women took to the huge parquet floor. Even Christopher laughed until he saw that Dustin took up a position two spaces away from none other than Lady Amanda.
His smile faded as the possibilities rolled through his head, so lost in thought that he failed to notice Baron Sedgewick approach.
“Greetings, Defender,” Sedgewick said. “I hardly expected to see you and your men here after the grueling day you put in.”
Christopher looked down at the baron, he was nearly fifteen years older than himself, compact and well built, a very companionable and distinguished man. Christopher respected him a great deal, not only because he had fought with his father, Myles de Lohr, but because he continued to fight even at his advanced age.
“ ’Twas a mere training session, Miles,” he said. “Besides, my wife would not take ‘no’ for an answer. And speaking of wives, do you know your wife is most pushy?”
“Aye, I do,” Sedgewick nodded confidently. “She is that and more, Chris, although I will respect the privacy of marriage and not delve into details. Suffice it to say that I am well aware of her aggressive nature.”
Christopher grinned, watching the ladles as they tried to teach Dustin the moves to the dance. “Then it would seem we have something in common, stubborn wives.”
Miles snickered. “You should see our daughters. Both of them, just like her. God help me.”
Christopher nodded. “I find myself with the very same prospect. Only recently have I been told I am to be a father.”
Miles congratulated him heartily. “Pray for a son, boy. The women folk already threaten to outnumber us.”
They stood and small-talked through the entire dance, watching the women laugh and trip over each other as they tried to teach Dustin the dance. She wasn’t particularly graceful and was glad when the music finished, although she had enjoyed herself tremendously.
“I told you I could not dance,” Dustin said as she attached herself to her husband.
Anne fell against Miles, kissing his cheek. “You did fine, Dustin. Now tell me, my lord, does your wife look tired?”
Christopher gazed down at Dustin’s smiling face. “Nay, but I know she is. Sit down and I shall get you something to drink, sweetheart.”
Miles put his arm around his wife. “Well, then, I will excuse myself and my pushy wife. We have our own guests to attend.”
Dustin waved at Anne and took a seat. Deborah and Nathalie were in the process of giggling as David paid attention to Emilie, but Dustin’s eyes followed her husband as he crossed the room. He was so tall and broad and powerful and she realized then and there that she had never been happier in her life.
Marcus watched Dustin as her eyes followed Christopher, and his jealousy was getting the better of him. What he wouldn’t give if she would only look at him the same way. But now, with the baby, it would seem that Christopher and she were fused together permanently, and he felt a sad sense of hopelessness.
Up until this point Marcus had always held out some sort of belief that, given the correct circumstances, he could convince Dustin to go away with him. But with the child on the way, the chance was gone and he felt betrayed somehow. It was strange to put his feelings into words, for he knew of none strong enough, but betrayed was an apt term. Miserable, he returned to his drink.
Meanwhile, Christopher had retrieved a goblet of mulled wine for Dustin and was looking over the table of confections when he felt a gentle tug on his arm. Off-guard, he turned to find himself staring into soft brown eyes he knew very well.
“Hello, Chris,” Amanda said softly. “I had heard you were here.”
“Amanda,” he knew he appeared startled. “I…how have you been? It’s been a long time.”
“Almost four years,” she supplied. “I heard that you got married. Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” he replied, fumbling for words. “And you? Surely by now some man has stolen you for his own.”
“Two years ago,” she said. “I married the Earl of Reivne. A likable man, Chris. He reminds me a lot of you in some ways.”
“I am pleased,” he replied, feeling a bit more comfortable knowing she was handling the news of his marriage well. “Is he here?”
“Nay,” she shook her head and her earbobs jingled. “He is too old to travel, truly. He prefers our chateau near Brittany and allows me all of the freedom I wish. Unlike you.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I was only thinking of your safety, Amanda, and you know it.”
She smiled. “I do, and I miss your protectiveness. Surely you are as protective with your wife?”
“Absolutely,” he said firmly. “Sometimes I wonder how Dustin ever got along before I married her.”
“Dustin?” Amanda repeated. “What a lovely name. Which one is she?”
Christopher turned to look at his party and was not surprised to see Dustin gazing back at him questioningly. “In the red surcoat,” he said.
Amanda squinted to get a better look. “Oh, Chris, she is exquisite. I saw her during the dance earlier and she has a lot of spirit. No wonder you married her.”
He let the statement go, not wanting to delve any further into the subject. In fact, his nervousness was returning. “Honestly, Amanda, it has been damn good to see you,” he held up the goblet. “My wife is waiting for this.”
Amanda nodded understandingly. “Of course,” she said, but then she suddenly put her hand on his arm. “Chris, I must speak with you later. ’Tis most important that I see you alone. Would you oblige me?”
He certainly didn’t want to, but he nodded faintly. “If it is that important, I will. Where would you have me meet you?”
Amanda’s eyes flicked to Dustin and back again. “Before you leave the hall tonight? Mayhap outside in the corridor? There is a small alcove at the base of the stairs.”
“I know the place,” he said, wary of her true intentions. The woman was a firebrand of passion. The room she was suggesting was very secluded. “Why don’t you go there now and I shall try to get away for a few minutes.”
“Good,” Amanda said, turning away with a final glance at Dustin.
Christopher took a deep breath, wondering what sort of fresh hell he was getting himself into. He hoped she would not try and rekindle the old flame of passion. He returned to Dustin and handed her the refreshments. She drank down the wine as he sat.
“Who was that woman you were talking to?” she asked.
“A woman I knew once,” he said.
“What’s her name?” she set the goblet down and looked at him.
“Lady Amanda de Fortlage,” he replied, hoping she wouldn’t press anymore. “Do you feel all right? Mayhap we should retire.”
“I am fine,” she said, starting in on the pastry. “Did you know Lady Amanda well?”
“Fairly well,” he replied. “But that was a long time ago. Where did Lady Emilie go?”
“She’s dancing with David.” Thankfully, her attention turned to the dance floor and she was smiling. “They make a handsome couple, don�
�t you think? I would certainly love to have her as a sister-in-law.”
He snorted. “David? Marry? I think not.”
“Why not?” she demanded “You did.”
“But I was forced…I mean, I had no choice, but I do not regret it,” he said, grinning smugly at her. “In fact, I cannot imagine my life without you.”
She raised a reproving eyebrow. “You say that now, husband,” she said, watching him snort. “Tell me; if you saw me here tonight and you did not know me, would you want to meet me?”
He rubbed his jaw. “Mayhap. I would certainly think you were the most beautiful woman in the room.”
“Mayhap?” she repeated his word deliberately. “You are unsure if you would want to know me?”
“I did not say that,” he said, his lip twitching with a smile. “You asked if I would want to meet you, and I said mayhap. I do not demand introductions to women, Dustin. Usually, they introduce themselves to me.”
Her eyebrows shot up in outrage. “I certainly would not have introduced myself, so I guess we would never have known one another.”
“Why wouldn’t you have introduced yourself to the Lion’s Claw?” he asked earnestly, baiting her.
She raised her chin, looking away from him. “Because I wouldn’t give a lick about you or your lofty title.”
He was trying not to laugh. “I can hardly believe that I would fall in that category,” he said. Then he leaned forward, his chin on her shoulder. “You would not have introduced yourself? Truly?”
“Nay,” she said, crossing her arms.
He gave a soft chuckle. “Oh, sweetheart, of course I would have asked to meet you. In fact, I would have wooed you endlessly.”
She eyed him, still miffed. “Would you have married me?”
“Probably not. But we would have had a grand time of it,” he said, laughing.
“Oh!” She jerked away from him, facing him indignantly. “What do you mean by that?”
He giggled uncontrollably. “Nothing, sweet, nothing. Suffice it to say that we are married and I am glad of it.”
The de Lohr Dynasty: Medieval Legends: A Medieval Romance Collection Page 53
