Haunted Knights (Montbryce~The Next Generation Historical Romance) (9 page)

At first the brothers rode side by side. Denis and Paulina had apparently decided not to say a word to each other, and Rosamunda deemed conversation with Adam atop Nox too difficult.

Gradually Denis dropped back to ride behind the carts as they made their way along the cliff top path. Though well used by horses, it was narrow.

Some of the servants from Kingston Gorse seemed to have recovered from the shock of the fire and were chatting as the carts jostled them along the rough path. No doubt many of them were speculating on the cause of the fire, and the presence of two women they had known nothing about. Rosamunda had recognized Thomas and Agnès as the carts came level with her and Adam. Though the couple had never treated them with any affection, she was glad there would at least be two familiar faces at East Preston. Most were people she had never met.

She felt warm now the sun had risen higher and the heat of Adam’s body had penetrated the early morning chill. There was something comforting about his scent. It reminded her of her brothers. She dozed, content to be out in the air.

Strident shouts of distress jerked her awake. People were screaming. She looked back. One of the carts had lost a wheel. It teetered precariously on the cliff’s edge. Denis was shouting a warning for the occupants to remain still, lest they send the cart over. Terrified women clung to each other, whimpering. Servants swarmed out of the other cart and strained to shore up the damaged one. The soft earth threatened to crumble beneath their feet.

Adam rode on.

Alarm filled her. Had he not heard the shout for help, the cries of distress? She balled her fist and thumped his chest.

He reined his horse. “What is it?”

She put her hand on his chin and forced him to turn his head. His eyes widened as he took in the scene. Had he too been dozing when the alarm came?

He quickly turned Nox and galloped back. He thrust the reins into Rosamunda’s hands as he jumped from the horse. “Stay here!”

Denis had dismounted also, leaving Paulina atop Brevis. The sisters stared at each other. Paulina was obviously as terrified as she was. Denis’ mount was not as large as Nox, yet Paulina looked tiny in the wooden saddle.

Both horses became nervous as the cries for help became more insistent. Rosamunda looked at the ground. Her throat tightened. Determined not to end up falling from the horse, she tried to recall what Adam had done to soothe the beast. She patted the side of its neck and pulled lightly on the reins, mouthing the horse’s name.

Her touch seemed to calm him. Relieved, she turned to see how her sister was faring. Abject fear distorted Paulina’s features as she clung to the horse’s mane, the reins dangling uselessly.

Rosamunda had a choice. She could do nothing, leaving her sister to the mercy of Brevis, who might throw her off.

She could somehow get off Nox, leave the beast to his own devices, and run over to try to calm Paulina’s horse. This had the potential of alarming Denis’ mount further.

Or she could coax Nox over to Brevis in the hopes the big horse’s presence might calm him.

In truth, she did not consider the first two choices. Digging her slippered feet into Nox’s side, she urged the huge horse forward. To her astonishment, he complied. Denis’ horse calmed as soon as she came alongside it. She reached for the reins. “Hang on, Paulina,” she mouthed, pulling the horse away from the edge of the cliff. Her sister sobbed, clutching the mane.

~~~

Adam recognised it was a grave error to leave Rosamunda alone on Nox. In the panic of the moment he had forgotten she had never ridden before. Straining to lift the broken cart away from danger, his shoulder braced hard against the unyielding wood, he feared if he looked in the direction of his horse, the stallion would have run off with her. Or she might be lying injured, broken on the ground. He broke out in a sweat that had nothing to do with the exertion.

His racing heart calmed when he caught sight of
la muette
seemingly in control of his sometimes temperamental beast. In addition, she had apparently calmed Brevis. So much for his ambition to be the great protector!

Denis was assisting terrified servants to climb over the side of the cart to safety. Incredibly, some refused to take his hand, preferring to look away and trust their fate to the cliff.

Adam and a handful of able bodied men managed to shove the cart away from the edge. The wheel was beyond repair. They either had to leave some of the servants here and return for them, or load everyone into the remaining cart.

He sank to the ground, knees bent, breathing hard, rubbing his shoulder. Denis wandered over. He bent close to Adam’s ear. “That was a close call.”

Adam frowned. “I did not hear your shout. It was Rosamunda who alerted me.”

Denis shrugged, raking his fingers through his dishevelled hair. “I thought as much. It isn’t safe to load everyone into one cart. Many are already muttering about bad luck and curses.”

Adam smiled. “Look yonder. Can you believe it?”

It was a comical sight. A young woman, grinning broadly, dressed in a soiled
bliaut
stretched over a nightshift, led a docile Nox and Brevis, Nox’s reins in one hand, Brevis’ in the other. Her sister tagged behind, obviously trying to distance herself from the horses.

Denis laughed out loud. “What a relief. My only thought when I left Paulina on Brevis was to get to these ungrateful wretches. Looks like Rosamunda has saved the day in more ways than one.”

Adam chuckled too. Here was a woman of great courage and resilience. She had been cruelly treated by her own parents because of an affliction. Despite her muteness, Nox had understood her. Could he do the same?

Rosamunda and her sister had listened with interest when their brothers spoke of East Preston. Derelict when granted to Adam’s father, it figured in the tale of the heroic Montbryce brothers. Nigh on thirty years before, unable to stay in the rat and pigeon infested manor house, the brothers had camped out there on the eve of their first fateful visit to Melton Manor.

Antoine de Montbryce had decided to reclaim East Preston from its dereliction, trusting it had good fields and could be made into a productive estate. According to Vincent and Lucien, the years had proven him right.

Rosamunda had expected a dark, unfriendly place. Instead, the well appointed house seemed warm and welcoming. The Montbryce family had never leased out the estate, preferring to install a steward who took care of the place in the family’s absence. It was their home away from home when they visited from Normandie.

Adam gave her over to the waiting steward, dismounted then took her back into his arms. “Rosamunda Lallement, this is Steward Cormant. He will see to your needs while you are a guest in my home.”

A thrill of contentment warmed her heart. His home. This was his home, at least when he was in England.

Cormant bowed. “Lallement? From Kingston Gorse? I thought—”

Now the questions would begin, the explanations she was ill equipped to provide, the gasps of disbelief. Cormant would not be the last.

Adam interrupted him, evidently sensing Cormant’s confusion and her discomfort. “Marc and Maudine Lallement died in a fire at the house yestereve.”

He gestured towards Denis, now riding in with Paulina behind the servants’ cart. “We have brought their daughters here while Vincent and Lucien set about securing and rebuilding the manor. We will need several chambers prepared.”

Cormant’s eyes widened further, now evidently understanding Rosamunda’s dishevelled appearance. “My condolences.”

Rosamunda supposed she should feel more grief for her parents, but she mouthed the word
Merci
.

Cormant furrowed his brow and looked to his Master.

“
Demoiselle
Lallement is
muette
, Cormant,” Adam explained.

Cormant’s mouth fell open. He cleared his throat, his eyes darting from Adam to Denis to Paulina, then back to Rosamunda. “The young ladies will need clothing, I assume.”

His puzzlement over Paulina’s size was apparent as Denis handed her down to the steward. Denis scowled at him as he dismounted and relieved Cormant of his burden. “The sooner you begin, the quicker it will be.”

Cormant was about to hurry away, but Adam stopped him. “As you see, we have brought servants with us who will have to be accommodated. One wagon failed. There is another contingent to pick up on the cliff path.”

Cormant’s eyes narrowed as he looked to the cart. The servants huddled together, evidently unsure what was to become of them. They gawked at the scene unfolding in the courtyard. Rosamunda smiled inwardly. They likely did make a peculiar sight; a giant and a dwarf each carrying a woman perfectly suited to him.

Her body warmed, but she must not assume too much. She had no experience of this new world into which she had been thrust. Adam de Montbryce might be the man of her fancies, but she knew nothing of men.

All she knew of life beyond the attic rooms of Kingston Gorse, she had learned from her brothers. She suspected married women were not free to come and go as they pleased. She had longed for freedom.

Denis de Sancerre might appear to be the right man for Paulina, but her sister was delicate, sensitive. Her heart would break easily. Rosamunda would do her utmost to make sure that did not happen.

~~~

“You need not carry me, sir,” Paulina insisted. “My stature does not preclude me walking by myself.”

Sancerre’s scowl deepened and she instantly regretted the hasty words. This miniature knight addled her normally agile brain. “I apologise,” she murmured as he set her on her feet. “That was a thoughtless remark.”

His glower did not lessen. “It was indeed, but I acknowledge your apology. Since you can walk I shall escort you into the Hall.”

He put a hand to the small of her back to guide her in Montbryce’s wake. Was he toying with her, or being chivalrous? She had hugged her brothers, but this touch of thick fingers, light yet firm, was more intimate somehow.

Not wishing to appear churlish, she allowed him to guide her. It actually felt good to have someone take care of her welfare.

She suspected East Preston was not as grand a house as her own, having only two stories. There were numerous sturdy looking outbuildings, framed with large timber uprights filled with wattle and daub. She recognised they were chinked with moss to keep out the winter cold. There was a stone building set aside from the wooden house, which she assumed was the kitchen. They had the same precaution at Kingston Gorse, and much good it had done them. How had the conflagration started? Her father had died crying foul murder. Had her mother set the fire?

She looked up at the roof which appeared to be well thatched. A shiver rippled through her at the memory of the burning thatch raining down from the roof of Kingston Gorse.

Sancerre put a hand to her elbow. “You are safe now,” he whispered.

Had he read her thoughts?

She gasped as they entered the house. The interior was elaborately decorated with ornamental wood turnings, the wooden floor softened with wattle mats. Elegant tapestries adorned the walls.

Adam had set Rosamunda down in a chair before a hearty fire burning in the hearth. He turned to Paulina. “Come, warm yourself.”

She complied, but did not sit in the massive chair he indicated. It would be an inelegant struggle to get into it, and her feet would dangle in the air. She stood by Rosamunda’s chair, holding her chilled hands to the warmth, gazing into the flames.

Fire had taken everything from her, almost robbed her of life. Yet it had brought freedom. If the flames held the secret of what the future had in store, they did not reveal it, no matter how hard she stared.

~~~

Adam had never paid much attention to the house itself, though he shared his father’s pride in it and felt at home there. It certainly was not as grand as Belisle Castle, but it was warm and welcoming. Perhaps therein lay the reason he had chosen to come here to exorcise his demons.

Carrying Rosamunda over the threshold, he saw the house through different eyes, savouring every lime-washed panel, every stair, every chamber. Much of the old house, left derelict for five years after the Conquest, had to be rebuilt from split and planed timbers, fastened together with iron nails.

Rosamunda mouthed something, but he was intent on staring at the rosy glow the fire had brought to her cheeks, and missed it.

He leaned closer, arching his brows, shaking his head slightly.

She looked at him curiously as he stared at her lips. “Beautiful house.”

“
Oui
, Cormant’s father and uncle worked like dogs to reclaim it, not to mention the rat catcher.”

She laughed. “Isembart Jubert.”

“You know the story of Isembart?”

Her eyes sparkled. “Hugh and Devona and Izzy!”

For some unfathomable reason he suddenly felt jealous of his cousin Izzy. “How did you learn of them?”

Paulina interrupted. “Our brothers. Rosamunda never tires of hearing the tale.”

~~~

Adam had not heard Paulina’s explanation. Denis touched a hand to Adam’s hip. Adam turned to face him. “Their brothers told them the story.”

Adam smiled at Rosamunda, and she giggled.

Paulina scowled at Denis. It struck him then that of course she would not understand why he had repeated her words. But it was for Adam to speak of his affliction if he wished it known. He stood close to her, feeling the reflected heat of the fire. “Adam did not hear you,” he murmured.

Paulina shrugged, folding her arms across her breasts, and took a step away from him.

Cormant entered the Hall, two maidservants in tow. Both gawked at Paulina. Denis had often been the recipient of such stares. Wanting to protect the tiny woman whose life he had saved, he stood behind her, shielding her from their view.

Fire flooded his veins that had naught to do with the flames in the grate. He itched to enfold her in his arms, but it was too soon. He had patience. He would bide his time, help her overcome her fears. First he would have to stop scowling. No wonder the woman was cool towards him.

Cormant stiffened his shoulders and gestured to the servants. “Hortense and Victorine will serve your guests as ladies’ maids.”

Each girl bobbed a curtsey, then scurried off when Cormant waved them away. “Chambers have been prepared for
Mesdemoiselles
Lallement. Follow me, please.”

Smiling broadly, Denis offered his arm to Paulina. To his immense relief, she accepted and he escorted her out of the Hall, leaving Adam to accompany Rosamunda.