Haunted Knights (Montbryce~The Next Generation Historical Romance) (18 page)

Denis had learned to ignore rude stares, taunts, elbowing, and the tittered laughter that ensued whenever he took off his clothes in public. Did grown men have nothing better to do? He concentrated on scrubbing his skin, glancing up occasionally to make sure none of the imbeciles bathing in the river had taken it into his head to come any closer.

Adam had gone off to swim in the deeper water. This had become his habit, Denis suspected, to ensure his shaft was not uncovered for long periods of time. To Denis his brother looked normal, but Adam preferred not to strut around naked.

His blood ran cold when he glanced up again to discover the gawkers were not directing their gaze at him, but at his brother emerging from the deeper part of the river, water streaming off his well muscled body.

Nobody looking at Adam would know there was anything amiss. Few men emerged from cold water with a stiff shaft. But the onlookers somehow knew. Denis’ gut roiled as he watched their lewd gestures. They thrust their hips forward, pointing to the shafts they had aroused by their own hand.

They flapped their elbows like chickens, crowing like cocks.

They know.

Adam had not looked up, had not heard the guffaws. Denis wanted to rush to his side, warn him, but he remained frozen as Adam strode on, shaking water from his hair.

He halted a few feet from Denis and raised his head. He frowned. “What’s amiss, brother?”

How Denis wished he could spare his brother the cataclysm about to descend upon him. Illness had stolen much from Adam, but he had kept the one thing that strengthens men to face of the worst of torments—his masculine pride.

Denis shook his head slightly and then cocked it to one side. “Behind me,” he mouthed.

Adam looked beyond him.

Do not cover yourself.

The blood drained from Adam’s face. He scowled, clenching his jaw, his hands fisted at his sides.

Denis breathed a sigh of relief when his brother walked on, passing him with only a nod. Adam stooped to retrieve his drying cloth on the bank. Denis followed suit, deliberately presenting his bare arse to the revellers as he bent over to dry his feet. Better they poke fun at him than his brother. Adam watched, tucking the cloth around his waist, his gaze intent on the men who were now imitating a woman pleading to be plundered by a big cock.

“Ignore them,” Denis urged. “They do not know.”

Adam grimaced. “They know. So much for trust.”

~~~

Adam willed himself to slow his pace, to not give any hint of his desolation and anger. He had somehow managed to pull his leggings on over his damp legs, and shrugged on his shirt, despite the trembling in his hands.

Denis struggled to keep up. Adam turned on his heel and poked him in the chest. “Did you tell them?”

The pained expression on Denis’ face wrenched his gut. He knew better than to accuse his loyal brother of such a thing. But who else held the secret? Though he tried mightily to dispel the notion, it was Rosamunda who had betrayed him. “Perhaps she told her sister.”

Denis scowled, panting for breath. “I doubt it, but if she did, Paulina would not divulge such a thing. Whom would she tell? The woman speaks to no one. It’s as if she is the mute.”

Adam’s mind whirled. Rosamunda would not have betrayed him knowingly, but she was outgoing, anxious to fit in, she may have said something inadvertently. He slumped onto a fallen log, his head in his hands. “How can I face her now?”

Denis put a hand on his arm. “Hold. Someone calls us.”

A breathless squire approached. “My lords, I have searched everywhere for you.”

Denis braced his legs, coming between the squire and his brother. “You have found us. What news?”

The man steadied his breathing, a hand over his heart. “The King.”

Denis glared. “Well?”

“The King wishes to see you both—now.”

~~~

“You’ve been bathing in the river,” Henry observed.

Denis touched his wet hair. Had a more bedraggled pair ever stood before a king? Adam appeared to be in a stupor beside him, and may not have heard. “We have,
Majesté
. Apologies for our appearance.”

The King chuckled, tugging at the edge of his blue cloak. “If only I could divest myself of these trappings and wade into the Arun. Hasten the day we have bathing facilities finished here at Arundel.”

Denis realized for the first time there was no one else in the pavilion.

Henry rose from his massive chair. Adam and Denis bent the knee.

“Rise. No ceremony on this occasion. I have need of your services.”

They remained silent while the King paced. Denis worried about his brother. Was Adam lost in his torment? Perhaps a loud voice might bring him back to his senses. “We live to serve you,
Majesté
.”

Henry ceased pacing, seemingly surprised by the exclamation, but Adam’s eyes widened, as if waking from a deep sleep.

Henry declared loudly, “Someone I trust must deliver a message to Westminster.”

Denis’ heart lifted. At last, a way out of Arundel. A leisurely ride with Rosamunda and Paulina to Westminster. Get Adam away from taunts and insinuations. Just what they needed to get reacquainted, solve the dilemma of Rosamunda’s apparent slip of the tongue.

He coughed into his fist, stifling an urge to snort with laughter. How could a mute have a slip of the tongue!

The King’s words drifted him back to reality. “Secret...plot...Curthose...alone.”

Dread rose in Denis’ throat, but he had to speak. “Your pardon,
Majesté
, but the women we are betrothed to must accompany us. They are not used to—”

Henry glared at him. “You ride alone, and in haste. They will be perfectly safe here. I will appoint a champion.”

How to argue with a king? He bowed. “Sire.”

The King beckoned. Denis approached as Henry leaned forward to whisper in his ear. “The message is not to be committed to parchment.”

What Henry, King of England, whispered into his ear froze his blood; a detailed plot to invade England, naming names familiar to Denis. But he literally stopped breathing when Henry told of rumours of a plot to kidnap his own cousin, Robert,
Comte
de Montbryce.

“Repeat the message back to me, softly.”

Adam frowned as Denis glanced at him. If he said it softly, Adam would not hear. Was he alone to be the bearer of these dire tidings?

He whispered the message into the king’s ear.

Henry smiled, apparently satisfied. “On the road to Westminster, you may share the details with your brother. You are to leave immediately and speak to no one else until you reach Queen Matilda. It is to her you must deliver the news.”

He pulled a ring from his little finger. “Give her this ring. She will know how to act upon the information and will alert your cousin in Normandie. Go now. Your horses have been saddled.”

They rode in silence as fast as the rolling terrain allowed across the South Downs, resting Nox and Brevis momentarily at Pulborough. Denis wondered idly what the consequences were for disobeying a king, not once, but twice.

Firstly, he had not waited until they were on the road to impart the message to Adam. In the privacy of their pavilion, he had explained the details as they dressed for the journey.

Once aware of the possible danger to their cousin, Adam had insisted on leaving immediately, but Denis had sought out Paulina—his second transgression.

The fear and dread, and, dare he hope, longing, were evident in her eyes at the news. She had sobbed, clutching a squirming Topaz, as he reassured her they would be gone only three days at the most. That only served to increase her upset, and she had run off.

“I told Paulina we had to leave.”

Adam frowned. “Rosamunda knows?”

Denis feared the progress Adam had made since meeting Rosamunda had been destroyed, and he fretted that an end to his brother’s relationship with Rosamunda would doom his own chances. “Paulina will have told her by now. She will be bereft you did not bid her
adieu
.”

Adam clenched his jaw. “She has betrayed me.”

Denis drew Brevis away from the river. “That does not make sense. Who could she have told? I cannot conceive of her having such a conversation with anyone. She did not tell Paulina.”

Adam snarled. “But you did?”

Denis bristled. “I had to explain your abrupt departure. I did not break my oath to you. I merely mentioned you were upset because you believed Rosamunda had given away a private secret. Her look of surprise told me she had no idea what I was referring to. They are not women of guile, Adam.”

Adam said nothing as he remounted Nox and they galloped off, bound for Westminster.

~~~

The only sound in Adam’s ears as they sped north across the flat fields and forests of southern England was the pounding of Nox’s hooves. How foolish he had been to trust a woman with his secret. Women were gossipy creatures, as evidenced by his sister, Florymonde.

He had believed Rosamunda loved him, despite his deafness and impotency. His heart ached that he had been wrong.

His mind drifted to his cousin, Robert. Even if the rumours of a kidnapping plot were true, Montbryce was a fortress castle. Robert and Dorianne and their daughter would be safe. Still, he was honoured he had been chosen to relay the message. It pained him that his beloved Normandie had become a dangerous place. Perhaps he would never get to take Rosamunda there.

How to marry her now? He needed her, loved her. The admission was a blow to the belly. He hoped Denis was right that it was not she who had betrayed him. But who else knew?

~~~

Paulina wailed. “They’re gone.”

Alarmed, Rosamunda lay aside the clump of rosemary she had picked and hunkered down beside her sister. She extricated the struggling kitten from Paulina’s grip. “Who?”

Paulina raised her tear streaked face. “Adam and Denis.”

Something cold slid unbidden under her ribs. “Gone?”

“On an errand for the King.”

Her belly calmed. Errands took only a few hours. They would be back soon. “Errand?”

Paulina sniffled, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. “They’ll be gone three days.”

Now the unwelcome creature was in her lungs. She held up three fingers, frowning. Paulina could only nod.

Three days loomed like a lifetime. Perhaps in the outside world men went off without farewell. “No goodbye?”

Paulina averted her eyes. “Denis bade me
adieu
.”

The icy cold now gripped her bowels. “Adam?”

“Denis said he was angry.”

“With the King?”

Paulina shook her head, pointing to her sister.

“With me?”

They had shared only looks of longing, kisses, touches, smiles. How had she angered him? “What did I do?”

Paulina hesitated, then brought her accusing gaze to Rosamunda’s face. “You betrayed a secret.”

In the years they had shared the chambers at Kingston Gorse, they had rarely argued, and then over inconsequential things. Paulina had never directed the anger at her that twisted her sister’s face now.

Frantically she searched her memory. Secret? What secret had she given away? And to whom? She had barely spent time with anyone apart from Adam. What secret did he—

Suddenly her body was on fire. She dropped the kitten as her hands flew to her mouth. Oh God! That secret? She would rather die than divulge that secret. Had she inadvertently said something to give away the confidence Adam had shared with her?

Paulina scowled. “If Denis does not come back for me, it will be your fault.” She ran out of the pavilion in search of her beloved kitten who had scarpered.

Rosamunda fell to her knees. Even her sister believed her capable of revealing a confidence. Adam trusted her so little he believed she had betrayed him.

~~~

Paulina could walk no further. She shivered, despite the warmth of her cloak, a gift from Denis, a special pocket for Topaz sewn into the lining. The glow of the braziers in the bailey seemed distant. Before her loomed a dense wood of barren trees. Where had the naughty kitten got to? How long had it been since she had heard it mewling? Had she not been distracted over the argument with Rosamunda and her mixed feelings about Denis, she would never have wandered away from the pavilions.

Suddenly she felt very alone.

A twig snapped.

She peered into the trees. “Topaz?”

Dry leaves rustled underfoot. A tall, thin man emerged from the forest, Topaz in his arms. She had seen him before, among the revellers. She smiled and held out her hands for her pet. From behind his back, he produced a sack and thrust the kitten into it. Before she could utter a protest, she was knocked to the ground. A hood was pulled over her head, her hands and feet quickly bound.

Terror gripped her innards. She could not breathe.

“One down, one to go,” someone declared. It sounded like one of the ugly twins from Poling that Rosamunda avoided like the plague.

Her mind whirled, then everything went dark.