Love Everlasting (36 page)

“I’ll see that the guestrooms are prepared,”
Julianna offered, trusting that Etta, who had lived at Wortham for
most of her life, would recall where each guest ought to sleep.

“I have declared tomorrow a holiday, with a
Holy Mass of celebration and thanksgiving in the morning,” Royce
told her with as much warmth as if he was giving orders to a
servant. “Next midday we will feast.”

“I will inform the cook.” She hesitated for a
moment or two, but Royce said nothing more to her - no further
orders, no request that she remain with him after the others had
left the office, no sign of affection. Royce’s mouth was grim, his
face like stone.

She understood that it was time for her to
go, so she lifted her chin and walked to the door, conscious as she
did so that she probably looked very much like Kenric when he
departed. Michael opened the door for her and as she passed him, he
leaned close to her.

“Linger in the hall,” he whispered.

Startled, she looked back at him, but he was
already closing the door behind her.

In the great hall she found Etta and several
other maidservants and gave to them her orders about the
guestrooms. Then she went to the kitchen where, in spite of the
late hour, the cook was busily supervising the proper storage of
all the new supplies.

“We’ll have fresh bread come daylight,” the
cook told her. “I saved some of the old leaven in hope that we’d
soon be baking again. I have one worker already mixing the
dough.”

“Can you manage a feast by noontime?”
Julianna asked. “Lord Royce wants to celebrate.”

“And well he should celebrate,” the cook
responded with a broad smile. “Aye, we’ve enough supplies now, and
I’m sure he won’t expect a grand Christmas feast. A simple,
lifting-the-siege feast will be all he wants. Lord Royce is always
a reasonable man.”

“Always reasonable,” Julianna murmured as she
headed back through the narrow screens passage to the great hall.
Royce was there, talking with Michael.

“I have been consulting with the cook,”
Julianna explained when he looked at her with raised brows. “You
will have your feast.”

“My lady,” he said, “you are pale as chalk
and there are dark circles under your eyes. When did you last
sleep?”

“For a few hours this morning - no, that was
yesterday morning. It’s past midnight, isn’t it? I slept after
Baldwin drew out the arrow from my arm,” she said.

“I’ll escort you to your bed, lest you faint
on the way,” he offered.

“I do not faint,” she said, though at the
moment she was feeling distinctly lightheaded.

“No?” A faint smile tugged at one corner of
his mouth. “I do recall that you are a good traveler, and every
report I’ve heard since returning to Wortham declares that you have
been a staunch defender of this castle, so perhaps what you say is
true. Even so, come, my lady.” He took her hand and tucked it into
his elbow, then began to guide her toward the stairs.

“Good night, my lord. My lady,” Michael said,
and when Julianna glanced back at him, he grinned and winked at
her.

An oil lamp burned in the lord’s chamber and
a tub of steaming water stood waiting. Etta was nowhere to be
seen.

“That looks inviting,” Royce said of the
water. “Can you manage on your own, or shall I call for a servant
to help you?”

“There’s no need for a servant,” she said.
Then, with hope and a gentle warmth softening her voice, “Would you
like to bathe first?”

“Not just yet. I still have work to do before
I can sleep.”

“Oh. I thought you were staying.” She
couldn’t hide her disappointment. She had so much to tell him.

“No.” His eyes were clouded with an emotion
that Julianna could not define.

“Royce.” She put out her hand and he took it
as he had done several hours earlier, on the keep steps. His lips
caressed her fingers.

Then, with no warning, his arms went around
her, he clasped her hard against his chest, and his mouth seared
across hers. Julianna gave herself up to bliss.

Royce quickly discovered that he couldn’t
stop kissing his wife. He knew he was holding Julianna much too
tightly. His chainmail was bruising her lovely breasts, just as his
mouth was bruising her lips. If he embraced her for one more
instant he’d push her down on the bed and take her without even
removing his armor. Then, being weary beyond all reasoning, he’d
likely fall asleep on top of her, thus inflicting still more damage
upon her tender skin.

He didn’t want to hurt her, but he feared he
couldn’t control his raging desire. He saw only one thing to do. He
eased his hold on her, and kissed her mouth again, more gently this
time. And then he let her go. He dropped his arms and stood
back.

“We have much to say to each other,” he told
her, aware that he sounded like some ancient monk who had eschewed
female company. “I prefer to speak when I am more rested, and you
are plainly ready to drop from exhaustion. Let us wait until the
most urgent needs of castle and village have been attended to, then
we’ll have more time.”

“What of our urgent needs?” she asked. “Yours
and mine.”

“Ah, there’s the price we pay for our high
rank and the power that comes with it,” he said, making his voice
stern. “Our needs must wait.”

With a quick kiss on her forehead, he left
her, knowing that if he stayed another instant he would weaken. But
all the way down the stairs to the great hall, he cursed himself
for his pompous stupidity.

The price of power, indeed! Leaving Julianna
was nothing more than an act of weakness on his part, for he was
afraid to reveal his true feelings to her. His fatigue was a sham
so long as his need of her made him ache so badly that he could
barely walk.

Her exhaustion, however, was real and
apparent to anyone who looked at her white, strained face. He’d
leave her alone, let her sleep and eat and recover from weeks of
worry and deprevation.

Then he’d have the entire truth from her
before he told her his own truth.

As Royce had commanded, Father Aymon
celebrated a Mass of thanksgiving in early morning. The chapel was
so crowded that Julianna felt giddy from the heat and press of
bodies.

She and Royce hadn’t talked yet and he had
not slept in the lord’s chamber. She could tell that he had visited
the bathhouse, though, for all trace of the dirt and sweat of
battle was gone and his clean, red-gold hair shone bright in the
gleam of the candles on the altar. He stood beside her garbed in a
green tunic with a heavy gold chain resting upon his broad chest.
He was so silent, so self-contained in regard to her that he could
easily have been a complete stranger.

Julianna had chosen to wear green, too, in a
paler shade than Royce’s garments. The loose style of her gown
disguised the burgeoning evidence of her pregnancy. Etta had pinned
her hair high and covered it with a golden net, topped by the gold
circlet of her noble rank.

Julianna knew that, thanks to her
maidservant’s efforts, she looked to be a grand lady; she just
wished she didn’t feel so lonely, or so ready to weep. Long ago she
had learned to stifle her tears, to force the betraying moisture
back from her eyes and smile, instead. She’d had plenty of
experience in controlling her emotions, so she couldn’t understand
why she was so prone to weakness and tears now. Perhaps it was the
effect of the child she was carrying. She’d have to ask Alice about
that.

But she wouldn’t pose the question that day.
Seldom had Julianna seen anyone look as happy as Alice and William
did on that morning. Glowing from Royce’s praise of his conduct of
the castle defense, William seemed to have grown a few inches in
height, and Alice was all smiles as she clung to her husband’s arm.
Julianna decided not to let her problems intrude on their
happiness.

When the Mass was over and Royce and Julianna
were in the great hall, breaking their night-long fast with just a
bit of bread and ale so as not to spoil their appetites for the
feasting that was to come later, Baldwin and Linnet approached
them.

“My lord, my lady,” Baldwin said, standing
very straight and stiff. “I have a favor to ask of you.”

“And what would that be?” Royce asked,
turning a warm look upon the sturdy man-at-arms.

“My lord, Linnet and I would like to be
married. I know you probably thought an old warrior like me would
never expect to have a wife of his own. If you ever thought of the
matter at all,” Baldwin hastily added when Royce looked surprised
by the statement. “But I’ve recently discovered how much I like
children, and how well the young ones take to my instruction. I can
read and write a little, and count a bit more than that, and so can
Linnet read, though not as well as I, so we thought we’d begin a
school,” he ended in a rush of words.

“A school?” Royce stared at the grizzled
veteran.

“I can do it, and still continue my duties as
a man-at-arms,” Baldwin said, “so I’ll be available when you need
me for defense of the castle, but since my latest injury I am
slowing down. Sir William will tell you ‘tis true. The thing is, my
lord, I’d like to continue to be of some use after I am too old for
warfare.”

“Baldwin, what a good idea.” Julianna spoke
up before Royce could agree to or reject Baldwin’s plan. “Royce,
perhaps you don’t know - since your return you’ve hardly had time
enough to hear such domestic details - but Linnet and her mother
have been tending Alice’s children. That is, they were, until
Blenda died during the siege. Then, because the situation was
growing dangerous, William placed Baldwin in charge of the safety
of all the children. They listen to him and obey him, the boys
especially, because they know he’s a fierce warrior.”

“Teach the village children to read and
write?” Royce mused, frowning a little at the unusual concept.

Julianna could guess at his thoughts. Noble
girls who were schooled in convents often learned to read, and to
write at least their names. In contrast, noble boys spent most of
their time learning to use weapons so they could become knights,
and most noblemen held the scholarly arts in contempt, as something
fit only for monks and females. Since Royce could read and write,
himself, he did not hold this common attitude, but the idea of
ordinary boys and girls, the children of peasant farmers, being
taught was obviously something he had never considered before.

Julianna saw more in Baldwin’s proposal than
just the idea of a school, wonderful though the idea was. Watching
Baldwin with Linnet, she understood that the gruff man-at-arms was
able to see beyond Linnet’s exterior, past the homely face to the
kind heart and eager mind that gave Linnet a value above pearls or
rubies. Recalling how Baldwin had comforted Linnet after her
mother’s death and his thoughtfulness toward Blenda at the end of
her life, Julianna decided she’d press Royce to agree to starting
the school the two wanted.

“I will have to think about your suggestion,
Baldwin,” Royce said. “Whether they are schooled or not, the older
children will be needed to help in rebuilding the village.”

“I can teach them how, my lord,” Baldwin said
eagerly. “Having helped to destroy a few villages in my time, I can
show the young ones how to construct a house, and how a knowledge
of numbers is useful when building. What they learn should prove
helpful to you in the future.”

“Linnet,” Royce said, turning to the homely
woman who so far had stood silently behind Baldwin, “are you
willing to marry Baldwin? Are you content with his plans for
you?”

“Oh, yes, my lord,” Linnet said, her face
wreathed in a sudden smile. “I never dreamed that any man would
want me for his wife, certainly not a man as fine and good and
brave as Baldwin. I know my mother would be pleased. She liked
Baldwin.”

“If you do agree to Baldwin’s idea of a
school,” Julianna said to Royce, “I predict that in a few years we
will have a flourishing village, with craftsmen and shop holders as
well as farmers. I’ve heard about the fair you held here last year,
my lord. Perhaps we ought to make another fair our target and set
next spring for the date. Such a plan will inspire the villagers to
work harder, and I am sure King Henry will grant permission.”

“The village needs to be entirely rebuilt
first,” Royce said.

“We can do it, my lord,” Linnet cried. “I
know we can! With Lady Julianna’s help we withstood the siege. Now,
with your help as well as hers, how can we fail?”

“How, indeed?” Royce asked with a rueful
smile. “I will seriously consider your plan and I’ll give you my
answer in three days. In the meantime, you two have my permission
to marry whenever Father Aymon agrees that you are ready.”

“I’m ready now, my lord,” Baldwin declared,
while Linnet blushed bright pink.

“Restrain yourself, Baldwin.” Chuckling at
the man’s eagerness, Royce clapped him on the shoulder. Then he
looked at Julianna. “At the feast today, I will announce my
intention to hold a fair next year, so long as the king is willing
to grant a license for it.”

“Thank you, my lord,” Linnet said. She was
facing Royce as she spoke, but when she turned toward Julianna and
Julianna opened her arms, Linnet embraced the lady of the castle as
if they were blood kin. Royce watched the gesture with eyebrows
raised and a thoughtful expression that Julianna did not miss.

Later, when the feast was almost over and the
time arrived for making speeches, Royce announced that he would
remain at Wortham until the necessary repairs had been made to the
castle and until the village was restored. When he spoke of the
possibility of holding a village fair, the great hall erupted into
cheers.

“This is partly your doing. Stand with me and
share the applause,” he said to Julianna. Taking her by the elbow,
he helped her to rise. When he put his arm around her waist the
cheers grew louder and the women in the hall smiled and nodded
their approval. “Since my father’s time the people of Wortham have
been well cared for and I believe they have been reasonably
content, but never to my knowledge have they been so demonstrative.
They admire you, my lady,” Royce said.