Lord Liar Part 4

She drew back and stared at him.

"You--you knew?" She thought she had kept her heart's secrets well hidden.

"Yes, I knew," G.o.dric said with a small smile.

"Your heart was in your eyes tonight, sister. But never fear, it shall remain our secret. Ranulf is not for you, Aldyth, nor should any of the foreign invaders be cousidered a fit mate for a good English girl. Choose an Englishman, Aldyth--there are even a few that the d.a.m.ned Normans haven't totally dispossessed, but it matters not if he is poor. It will not be long until we English rise again and drive the Norman hi things right into the seal" The pa.s.sion in his words distracted her from her sad- hesS.

"G.o.dric, I thought you had learned the error of your ways! Surely you don't think England can return to the days of King Harold. Brother, the Normans have been here all our lives."

"Bah! One generation! There are still good Englishmen who would drive them back to where they belong and slaughter the ones who won't go. They didn't kill all the patriots on Senlac field. What I've learned, Aldyth, is to pretend, to fool the Normans who are the masters for now-- until the time is right."

She stared at him in the flickering light of the fat tallow candle, chilled.

SUddenly he seemed more like a stranger to her than a dear brother. Surely the tall youth with the zealot's gleam in his eye couldn't be the same towheaded lad who had patiently taught her to play cat's cradle and who had played at soldiers with Lord ltienne's sons?

"Be careful, G.o.drie. I think you underestimate the hold the Normans have on England. I don't think we can go back to bygone days." She raised a hand when she saw he was eager to debate the subject.

"I'm sorry, brother, but my head is aching terribly. I think I am just fatigued from the journey, but would you mind summoning my tirewoman for me?

I'd like to get undressed and get some rest." G.o.drie took the hint.

"We can visit longer on the morrow, when you're feeling better, sister. Good night." He left after kissing her softly on the forehead.

She would have been surprised to know that Ranulf also paced his chamber, but he was not alone.

"By G.o.d's toenails, Urse, I don't know if I can carry on this masquerade," he muttered to the bearlike man who sat thoughtfully watching him wear a path in the rashes on the floor.

"I.

even sicken myself. I'm not sure if any loyalty is worth what is being asked of me. "

There was no sign of a languid courtier's stroll as he prowled the length and breadth of his chamber; instead, his catlike grace put the other man in mind of a caged leopard. A very male leopard.

"Surely tonight is the most difficult time you'll have," Urse offered hopefully.

"Now that the change in you has been revealed, so to speak, you just have to maintain the pretense.

You were most convincing, you know. Rufus would have been proud to call you one of his inner circle. " Ranulf shuddered.

"J6su forfend! My lord father must be cursing the seed that created me, and I couldn't even look my mother in the eye. She's probably on her knees at her priedieu even now, asking heaven to show me the error of my wicked ways so that she might have legitimate grandchildren to dandle on her knee."

"No doubt, but bad as that is, I suspect the real curse of your distress is the damsel Aldyth."

Ranulf spun on his' heel, striking the whitewashed wall with his closed fist.

"d.a.m.n you, you Breton scoundrel, you're entirely too clever. Yes, it was the sight of Aldyth's shocked face that hurt most of all--and the way she refused to look at me after that first disbelieving glance. Who'd ever have guessed that she'd still be unwed, and worse luck, that she'd be here this even? I'd a.s.sumed she'd forgotten me years ago and married some Englishman while I was off fighting the French in the Vexin for the old Conqueror. I pictured her a contented wife with a babe or two! I've never forgotten her, you know."

Urse snorted skeptically.

"I'm neither a monk nor a saint," Ranulf retorted.

"Just a man, despite what my sire thinks. And no matter what sort of fnale I have had dalliances with, it was her face I saw, with those eyes of jade and that river of silky brown hair.

Aldyth of Sherborne. " His voice was bleak as he said the name.

"Eh bien, she'll not want me now. I saw how she looked as I bragged of Vivienne and her babes! If only I could tell her" -- "Are you sure you must carry on this masquerade even at home?" Urse interrupted.

"Surely you can let your father and mother in on the secret?"

"Nay, I'm depending on their shocked reaction to make this disguise that much more convincing. I'm sure none of them would be able to act as outraged if they knew it was but a pretense. Father frequently has guests at Kingsclere, important lords whose eyes see much, and servants talk, you know. I knew it was going to be difficult, gulling my parents like this. I just hadn't counted on having to live a lie before Aldyth, too.

"Twas obvious I am no longer her hero of chivalry."

"Ah, I think you're giving up too easily," Urse said with a chuckle.

"I think if you talk sweetly to the maiden, she will still purr for you."

"I'm not looking for a cat," Ranulf snapped.

"Aldyth is a lady, the daughter of my father's castellan and not for toying with."

Urse shrugged.

"Then wed her. She will k__oep your secrets, I'd wager."

"Nay," said Ranulf, beginning to pace again.

"It's a dangerous, deep game I'm playing. Love is a luxury I cannot afford to distract myself with right now. I do not know what I will be called on to do or where I will be asked to go on my lord's behalf. Nor would I expose Aldyth to the re- prisais that might come her way if the king discovers the game."

"Mayhap you won't have to play the game for long," Urse pointed out thoughtfully.

"Rufus is as much addicted to the pleasures of war as to his vices. Much can happen to shorten a warrior king's life, you know. Meanwhile, by acting as if you are one of Rufus's languid courtiers, you will be trusted by the King, and so you will be able to keep your true lord informed of happenings at the royal court. He will the ore be in a position to act quickly--and I think he will make it worth your while."

"Mayhap," agreed Ranulf.

"But Aldyth must be lost to me. I doubt my lord can recompense me for that."

Chapter Three

Ranulf tossed and turned all night long, pondering Urse's words. Must I c,rry on the masquerade even at home?

Surely I could be myself at home, vith my parents? ,4nd Lady Aldyth would keep my secrets. It became an echoing refrain, throbbing in time with the headache that pulsed dully in his temples: Tell them, tell them, tell them.

It was a very seductive thought. What a relief it would be to take his father and mother aside and a.s.sure them that what they were seeing was just a pose, one that could be abandoned as soon as Rufus was no longer on the throne.

His mther's brow would magically lose its troubled furrow, and his father would stop snarling and pacing like an enraged lion whenever his heir was in the room. Which was precisely why he couldn't tell them. His father would try to carry on the pretense that he was enraged and disgusted at the debauchee his son had become. Oh, he would make an effort, whenever they were in company, to criticize him on some point of his clothing. But the smoldering glare would be gone from the dark eyes so like Ranulf's, and he would again seek out his son's company as before. They would be seen walking companionably around the bailey or on the parapet, and like as not, Lord ltienne's arm would be affectionately around his son's shoulders.

Even if only servants' sharp eyes spotted them behaving as a normal father and son, servants talked--to other servants or to their masters, the very lords Ranuif was seeking to fool. No, he couldn't tell his father, or even his mother, for Lady Nichola would want to relieve her husband's worry over his errant son.

His mind turned to Aldyth. The sight of her had been like waking to a remembered dream. Ranulf sighed in the darkness, amazed that he had ever let the distance between them, the glamor of serving at court and the excitement of fighting in France, allow him to forget even for a little while how much he loved Aldyth. She had been a skinny, freckle-faced brat when she had dogged his footsteps and won his heart. Now Aldyth of Sherborne was a breathtakingly beautiful woman, with hair of burnished chestnut, eyes as green as jade and a lissome body curved in all the right places. A woman he could not have.