Claire Delacroix (57 page)

Except that an Alys compromised was an Alys unfit for nuptials for all time, a most tactically appealing proposition. Deirdre had suspected that a full sampling of Alys’s charms might satisfy the knight’s unwelcome interest in her ward.

But now Alys seemed to have changed her mind about their guest.

The unlikely sound of a man’s whistling burst into the corridor in that moment. It carried quite distinctly from the bathing chamber. Deirdre’s fury eased, for it seemed that all could not be completely lost if a man were cheerful enough to whistle.

Indeed, Burke de Montvieux could not be preparing to leave Kiltorren in displeasure. Deirdre studied her niece, considering that she might have been too quick to see two birds dead of one stone.

Perhaps the situation could yet be saved.

“If you will not satisfy Burke’s lust,” Deirdre declared quietly, “then you must
never
be found in his company. I will not have three virgins contesting for the man’s attentions.”

“I have no desire of Burke’s attention!” Alys straightened with a nearly audible snap. “And I have already decided to avoid this visiting knight.”

“Indeed?”

“Indeed.” The girl’s resolve could not be doubted.

Deirdre could not quell her smile. In this case, it seemed that absence had not made the heart grow fonder. Burke clearly had spurned Alys, and the way the girl took insult could be readily turned to advantage. Aye, Malvina would easily make a conquest of this man if Alys kept out of sight.

Deirdre fixed Alys with a glare and named her condition. “You will not be found in the company of this knight as long as he lingers at Kiltorren.”

“I do not intend to seek him out,” Alys replied haughtily. “Though I can hardly answer for whatever he might do.”

“If he seeks you out, than you will leave his side,” Deirdre insisted. “You will not share his company, under any terms.”

Alys’s chin lifted. “I have
no
desire to share his company.”

’Twas not reassuring the way the girl’s cheeks pinkened at this assertion, and Deirdre decided to leave naught to chance.

“You have defied my explicit order and you must pay a price,” she informed her ward. “You shall labor all this night if necessary, ensuring every floor in this hall is spotless. When you are done, you will scrub the fireplaces until the stone looks newly fitted. And then you will cut and carry enough strewing herbs that every chamber smells of springtime.”

’Twas an enormous task and Deirdre paused for a moment to watch her niece comprehend its scope. The girl’s shoulders sagged minutely, then squared once more.

Oh, she would pay good coin to see this one surrender in defeat.

“Defiance is not welcome here, Alys, nor is it an attractive attribute in a young woman.” Deirdre snarled. “Remember that your presence is tolerated in this household in these less than prosperous times only out of my keen sense of family duty. Am I understood?”

Alys’s lips tightened. “Clearly.”

“Then you had best be about your labor,” Deirdre concluded as she pivoted to leave, “if you mean to sleep at all this night.”

Burke strolled into the great hall, well prepared to present his defense to Alys. She could not avoid him at the board, that
much was certain. His gaze danced over the dais and he was disappointed, not by the paucity of the feast spread there but by the absence of a certain woman.

Malvina squealed and darted to his side, pressing herself against him in a bold manner and gazing up at him in admiration. “Oh, Burke, you look so fine this evening! Might I call you Burke? It seems so formal to use any other address.” She batted her eyes, then dropped her voice low. “Or would it be forward of me to call you my lord?”

“Most forward,” Burke retorted. “And most inappropriate. I should think your mother would have much to say about such familiarity upon our short acquaintance.”

“Of course, of course!” Deirdre enthused, her smile giving Burke the sense that she would gobble him up alive, granted half the chance. “We must recall our manners, girls!” She pinched Brigid and that girl stepped forward, obviously intending to curtsey but falling over her full kirtle instead

Burke gallantly caught her hands. Brigid straightened, looked at her hands upon his with terror, then pulled them away. She flushed crimson and stared at her toes.

“Did you injure yourself?” he asked. The girl said naught, though Burke waited politely. Brigid looked to her mother, whose lips thinned.

“Answer the man, child!”

Brigid swallowed and turned an appealing gaze on Burke. He smiled slightly, wanting only to reassure her. Her color rose and he shortly discerned the difficulty.

“N-n-n-nay.” Brigid spit out the word finally, then squeezed her eyes shut in mortification and fled for the board.

Malvina grinned at her sister’s departure, then sidled closer to Burke, her breast rubbing against his arm. Deirdre took note of Malvina’s familiarity but did not chide her daughter. Cedric simply beamed.

They were without doubt a most curious family.

“She is an idiot,” Malvina confided, nodding to her sister.

Burke flashed a cold glance downward at such uncharitableness. “She is charming.”

Malvina’s mouth gaped open and she scowled.

That would give her something to think about. Burke extricated himself from Malvina’s clutch and bowed to his host and hostess. “I must thank you again for your hospitality.”

Deirdre’s lips thinned. “And I must apologize for your
difficulties
in the bathing chamber.”

“I had no difficulties. All was most admirable.”

Deirdre laid a hand on Burke’s arm, leading him to the board. “You are too polite, sir. But in a keep of this modest size, a body cannot help hearing a man who is sorely vexed.”

“I cannot think of what you mean,” Burke commented, wondering how much of his argument with Alys this woman had overheard.

Deirdre laughed lightly. “Oh, you do not fool me, sir! I know that you found my niece most trying.”

“On the contrary,” Burke said smoothly. “I found her companionship most amusing.” He cast a pointed glance over the small group. “Indeed, I had looked forward to enjoying her company this evening. When is she to join us?”

Behind him, Malvina hissed through her teeth. Deirdre inhaled sharply and looked as if she had just taken a sip of sour wine. “She will
not
be joining us.”

“Whyever not?”

Deirdre’s features sharpened. “ ’Tis not her place in the hall.”

Burke was not prepared to let the matter go so readily as that. “Indeed? Yet you yourself have confessed that she is the only other nobly born inhabitant in Kiltorren.” He arched a brow in response to Deirdre’s sharp glance. “Where I was raised, ’twould only be appropriate that she ate in the hall.”

Deirdre’s lips pinched so tightly that they nigh disappeared. “This is Ireland, sir, and our customs are markedly different from those in a French court.”

“Aye, I can see as much.” Before any could take insult, Burke turned his most charming smile upon his host. He had not donned his finest this night for naught—and he was not a man who readily abandoned his chosen course.

Burke would see Alys this evening.

“Surely ’twould be no trouble to indulge my custom in this?” he suggested. “I would imagine that all would enjoy Alys’s company this night.”

There was an awkward silence that made Burke suddenly fear that ’twas more than maidenly avoidance that kept Alys from the hall. “Is your niece ill?”

“Aye!” Deirdre smiled sunnily, a move obviously intended to cover a lie. “She lies ill with a catarrh.” Malvina grimaced. “Indeed, we must leave her alone, lest one of us contract the illness. Come!” She waved Burke toward the board, Malvina scampering past to take her place. “Let us eat.”

Burke did not move. “I had no idea a catarrh could attack a body so very quickly. Indeed, the lady seemed hale not long ago.”

“Oh, Alys is prey to the slightest illness!” Deirdre laughed. “She is a most fragile creature.”

“Yet it must have taken marked strength for a woman to haul that basket back to the kitchen this afternoon,” Burke felt compelled to observe. “It seemed most heavy for a woman so slender.”

“Oh! Alys lies about her health to avoid joining us,” Malvina added. “And about her burdens as well. She would elicit sympathy from all.”

“Indeed?”

“You must not be insulted!” Cedric declared. “Alys is tempestuous, there can be no doubt about it.”

“Capricious.” Deirdre rolled her eyes. “And unreliable.”

“Vexing.” Cedric winked.

“And quite decidedly lazy,” Malvina concluded with satisfaction. “Why, just this morning, she positively dawdled over hauling the water for my bath.”

Brigid frowned as she eyed her family. “B-b-but Alys is always nice t-t-to me,” she argued. Her eyes were filled with an anguish that told Burke he was being deceived.

“Well, then,” he said with a smile for the younger daughter of the house, “perhaps we two might persuade the lady to join us.”

Brigid flushed again, even as her mother stepped between her and Burke. “That is not necessary,” Deirdre argued with that cold smile. “I would not pamper the girl unnecessarily. She has been summoned to the board and if she chooses not to join us, then that is her choice. She craves attention, as you must have guessed, and I would give her no more than her measure.”

’Twas lies, all lies, and Burke knew it well. Alys cared naught for attention—did she not stand back when her family openly ignored her? Though she might indeed be vexing to him, she was neither capricious nor lazy nor unreliable.

But before he could protest anew, Deirdre fixed him with a sharp glance. “Indeed, sir, I can only marvel at your persistent interest in my niece. I thought you welcomed our hospitality while you reacquainted yourself with our daughters.”

“Alys was most angered earlier,” Burke said, guessing the direction of his hostess’s thoughts. “ ’Tis only chivalrous to assure that I have not given insult to any maiden.”

Deirdre snorted. “You have my assurance that Alys is not insulted, no less that she is scarcely a maiden fit for your attention. The tales I could tell you of her parentage …” She shook her head as if she could not bring herself to utter them, and Burke fought his anger at this injustice.

Deirdre smiled. “But enough of such sordid details. Here you have ridden to Kiltorren for a bride, and the only two eligible candidates await you.”

“Aye, you cannot have already decided to seek your bride elsewhere!” Cedric boomed. He clapped one hand on Burke’s shoulder. “Indeed, my boy, you have scarcely had the chance to note how my daughters have blossomed these past years. Come, come to the board!”

And Burke realized he had little choice in this matter. Deirdre was either too shrewd or too fixed on her own objectives to countenance his overt interest in Alys. If Burke were not to be ousted from Kiltorren before he managed to capture Alys’s hand, he would have to make a good performance of courting Malvina.

’Twas a galling proposition but Burke summoned his best smile. Mercifully, the ends did justify the means.

“I can only accept your compelling assurance, my lady Deirdre.” Burke bowed. “Indeed, I must thank you for setting my concerns at ease, that I might better enjoy your daughters’ graces.”

Malvina and Deirdre smiled of one accord, Brigid flushed yet again, and Cedric urged Burke to take the place between his two daughters. Burke sat down and Malvina promptly laid a hand upon his thigh. Indeed, he jumped at her unexpected familiarity.

“You must tell us,” she urged, her breast pushing against his arm, “of all the bold adventures you have had since leaving our gates. How many tourneys have you won?”

Burke made to move the girl’s hand but caught Deirdre’s hawklike gaze. In the nick of time, he checked his impulse, closing his hand over Malvina’s own and raising it gallantly to his lips.

“Your wish is indeed my command,” he murmured, then set her hand firmly on the board. “I can only hope the tales
do not disappoint, for you are surely a maiden of cultivated tastes.” Malvina giggled and eased closer, her leg pressed against the length of his own.

Ye gods, but ’twould be a long evening.