Lord Liar Part 43

"Nay, 'tis not so, wife," Sir Rene protested with mock outrage. '"Tis merely that I put up the whip I keep for you when my lord honors us with a visit."

But it was clear from the affection mirrored in both faces that his words were only a jest.

While Aldyth had been bathing in the 1ord's chamber above the hall before dinner, Ranulf had explained to Sir Rene and his wife about Aldyth, especially as to why his beloved had arrived dressed as a boy, though she would be -able to wear the proper clothes of a lady while she was at Beauworth.

"You think the king even has spies in the ports?" Sir Rene asked him.

"I think it's possible," Ranulf told him soberly.

"Especially now that he suspects some of his n.o.bles to be plotting to aid Duke Robert."

"Yes, we've heard the rumors," the castellan said with a sober nod.

'"Tis natural we would, so close to Winchester as we are."

"Ah, the poor brave dear]" Marie said, focusing on Aldyth.

"I've seen that she has but the one gown with her, my lord, but rest a.s.sured, there's good woolen cloth of my own spinning just waiting in the storeroom, and we'll soon remedy her lack."

"Thank you, Lady Marie. I knew I could depend on you. It may be a while before 'tis safe to take my lady home,"

Ranuff said.

But later, as they lay in each other's arms in the great bed in the 1ord's chamber, satisfied from theft lovemaking, Ranulf and Aldyth almost quarreled.

"I do not understand why I cannot go to court with you-- if I dressed as Edward, of course. Why must you leave me here while you go off to Winchester and London? I want to be with you, not here by myself."

"You won't be by yourself here with Lady Marie to look after you,"

Ranulf pointed out, maddening her with his patient tone. "" Tis not safe for you to come to court with me. " ' " It was safe before," Aldyth stubbornly insisted. " For th short time you were there," he retorted.

"Besici, at that time I thought you dislik me, so I could keep my hands off you, if not always my eyes.

"Twould not be so anymore, sweetheart. My face would give away the game in a trice."

He stroked his hands over her as if unable to control himself and laughed like a madman, which had Aldyth giggling for a moment.

"Please, love, just be patient awhile longer. I need to see how matters lie at court and to talk to your brother Warin.

I sent him word as to when I'd be back, so he'll be waiting. I wonder if he's heard aught from G.o.drio regarding you.

Mayhap he'll even have news of Turold. "

She considered his words.

"And you'll try to send word to my father that I'm back in England and well?"

She knew Ranulf had written her father earlier that she was with him, and Sir Nyle had written back that he was relieved she was safe with Lord RanulL "If I can do it secretly. I don't want G.o.dfie getting wind of it unless perchance he's had a change of heart about Normans, at least the Norman who loves his sister." Aldyth had to be content with that. She knew his reasons were sound, and she hated sounding like a petulant child, but she also hated the thought of any separation from him.

They'd already lost so much time. But at least while she waited for him at Beauworth, she need not don a boy's clothes again or cut the haft that was finally beginning to grow, if only a little.

"I don't like being away from you, either, sweetheart," Ranulf told her.

"I am going to begin, little by little, to edge out of the king's inner circle."

"Can you do that?"

"I think so, though 'twill have to be slow. I'll say my lord father is getting along in years and needs me more at Kingselere. And I'll plead a need to pay more attention to Beauworth.

I'll say Sir Rene is lax in his care of the keep if I'm not there often--an outrageous lie if there ever was one. Sir Rene needs supervision less than any easellan in the kingdom, except perhaps your good father.

"Twill give me an excuse to get away every few days to come to you here. "

Tis but an hour's ride when we are in Winchester, though 'tis two days from London. "

She must have still looked sad, for he told her he would be unable to stay away and that his heart would be here.

Aldyth sighed and closed her eyes. If she must be parted temporarily from her beloved, it might be very enjoyable to spend her days st.i.tching new gowns with Lady Marie and learning how to make her delicious pork pies.

Desiderata was finding the sh.o.r.es of England strangely inhospitable.

She had set out from Dover on a flashy white palfrey she bought with the sale of her sapphire necklace, escorted by two burly Englishmen she hired to protect her from brigands. Her destination was the royal court. She couldn't wait to talk to King William Rufus and tell him where Lord Ranulf's allegiance really lay. How she would laugh when that d.a.m.ned arrogant lord had paid the price of his treason. She would laugh right in his grieving leman's face.

Her English escort spoke only halting French. She treated the two men with a mixture of arrogance and flirtatious hesS and though she had not even asked their names, she was contemplating rewarding them at the end of the journey by bedding both of them. They had such magnificent physiques, after all, and so different, with their long blond hair and s.h.a.ggy mustaches, from Norman men. Thirty miles outside of Dover, however, the two men exchanged a look, and the next thing Desiderata knew, she was being dragged from her palfrey into a wooded area.

Ignoring her screeching, which soon changed from indignant to terrified in tone, they her to the ground and then took what she had been planning to offer them at the end of the journey. Not satisfied with her body, they also took both her palfrey and the remainder of her coins.

"This be what we think o' Norman wh.o.r.es," they said as they left her there.

She was found collapsed by the side of the road the next morning by a pair of traveling clerics and taken to a nearby convent. By nightfall she had a high fever and a congestion of the lungs and was talking out of her head. The nuns spent the next two months nursing the redheaded Norman woman back to health.

"It's come, sweetheart," Ranulf announced one day in late February, waving a rolled-up parchment in the air as he cantered inside the palisade. He was accompanied, as always when he visited, by her brother Warin, who was grinning as if he might burst.

"What has?" Aldyth inquired. The missive looked important, with its several wax seals dangling from scarlet ribbons.

From Ranulf's supremely pleased expn,sion, she knew it wasn't bad news. He jumped off his horse and strode rapidly toward where she stood waiting at the entrance of the hall.

Warin capered at his side.

"Come inside," she urged them, seeing the frost forming from their breath.

"Whatever it is, 'twill be better by the " Sweetheart, I've ridden all the way from London, and I AI you this is wonderful news where we are! " He picked her up and began to whirl her about, as if Lady Marie and half the men-at-arms were not watching. '" Tis your freedom! "

"My freedom? Put me down!" she commanded him.

"I cannot think when I'm d" his caught in his "Yes, your freedom. Henry's messenger managed to find me covertly in London. It's the official notification that your betrothal contract to Turold of Swanlea is nullified.

You're free, sweetheart."

She took a deep breath and sagged against Ranulf in relief. It hardly seemed possible. Free! She was actually free of the shadow that had hovered over her for so long, robbing her of a portion of the joy she knew with Ranulf.

He went down on one knee.