Ruby - Book 1 (Daughters of the Dagger Series) (15 page)

“I don’t understand,” she said. “What is
going on?”

“I can’t tell you, but I promise if I wasn’t
sworn to secrecy I would, because I would love to have a woman to
talk to right now.”

They walked up to the practice yard and no
one was there. But the pell, or tall wooden pole used for sword
practice, was at the near side of the field.

“Do you really know how to use that sword?”
asked Linette, pointing to the weapon at Ruby’s waist.

“Would you like to see me use it?” she said,
feeling the life begin to flow through her again for the first time
since she’d arrived in Sheffield.

“I would. Let me hold Tibbar out of the way,
and you show me what you can do with that blade.”

Ruby pulled the sword from her side, the
scraping sound of metal exciting her already. She’d missed her
daily practices since being married to Nyle. And she was only glad
he was nowhere in site right now, as she really felt as if she had
a lot of stored up emotions she needed to let out.

* * *

Nyle was conducting his men in a meeting
atop the battlements with Locke at his side when something down in
the practice yard caught his eye. Someone was fighting furiously
with the pell, and he knew no practice was scheduled until after
his meeting was finished.

“Who’s that?” asked Sir Godin, looking over
the wall and squinting in the sun.

“They are pretty good with the sword,” said
Sir Elwood. “Did you bring in a new man, my lord?” They all ran to
the wall and peered over, pointing and talking amongst
themselves.

“Nay,” he answered, pushing his way through
his men to see over the wall as well. “I’ve brought in no one new.”
Then his eyes settled on the small person fighting the wooden pell
with a sharpened sword and not a wooden one as was proper. In the
person’s other hand they held one of his own shields with his crest
of a gold griffon painted upon a field of crimson. There was only
one person who would do something that was not proper and think
naught of it. And also only one person he knew that had hair that
was almost white and half-way down to their waist. Ruby. And if he
wasn’t sure from this far away, he was reassured of the person’s
identity because he saw his sister standing there watching with the
baby in her arms.

“Damn,” he spat. “She is supposed to be
watching the baby, not my sister.”

He hurried down the battlements with all the
men right behind him.

“She?” asked one of his men. “Are you
telling me that’s a girl fighting like a man down there?
Impossible.”

“Is that your wife?” asked Sir Godin,
rushing down the stairs and across the courtyard to catch up with
him.

“She may not be my wife when I’m done with
her,” he said, heading straight for the practice yard. He rounded
the corner and stopped abruptly, ducking as a sword came slicing
through the air right toward his head. Ruby stopped suddenly from
twirling in a full circle, the wooden shield having blocked him
from view. Her sword was high above her head.

“Oh, no! I’m sorry,” she said, lowering her
sword when she saw what she’d almost done, and dropping her shield.
His men hurried up behind him.

“I thought you were watching the baby,” he
said.

“I am.” She pointed with her sword in the
direction of Linette and Tibbar. Linette smiled and waved.

“Put that thing down before you take out
someone’s eye.” He grabbed her arm and lowered it to her side. “And
you are not watching Tibbar, you are playing knight again.”

“I am doing no such thing,” she said. “I am
working off some of my frustration.”

“Well put the blade away and get back to you
motherly duties.”

“If I remember correctly, we had a deal,”
she told him right in front of his men. “And you agreed I could use
my weapons whenever I want, and dress however I please as
well.”

“You did?” The shocked voice of Locke and
the mumbles of surprise from his men had him cringing inside.

“Can’t you just do it later when no one’s
around?” he whispered.

“Nay,” she answered. “This is the time of
day I normally practice.”

“Well, me too,” he said. “So that looks like
it’s going to be a problem.”

“Why don’t you two spar?” asked Locke. “I
would like to see that.”

“I’d like to see that too,” came a voice
from a man behind him, and before he knew it they were all urging
him to spar in a sword practice against a girl. His wife. He shot
Locke an angry gaze, wishing for once his squire would just remain
quiet.

“Nay, I don’t fight girls,” he said. Then he
smiled and looked to his men. “I wouldn’t want to hurt her.”

“What’s the matter, brother?” called out his
sister. “Afraid she might beat you?”

“Enough of this nonsense,” he said, walking
away. Then he stopped as he heard his wife’s voice.

“Please?” she asked and he turned to see her
little pout on her face. He didn’t know if she was doing it just to
control him, but it didn’t matter. She’d said please, and he wanted
to start making amends with her. He also knew that they were going
to have to sleep together again tonight and it wouldn’t be pleasant
for either of them if they were ignoring each other.

“All right,” he said pulling his sword and
stepping back a few paces. “And I’ll try not to hurt you.”

The crowd moved back giving them plenty of
room and he heard little Tibbar squeal as if he was excited to
watch as well.

“Now, the rules are – whoa!” He raised his
sword just in time to block her blow.

“I don’t do anything properly,” she reminded
him. “No such thing as rules for me.”

He matched her more than once, not liking
the way she was coming after him with a vengeance. The little chit
was trying to hurt him, he was sure of it. But he would never do
anything to hurt her, and was trying to hold back and be careful.
Still, he rather enjoyed her spirit, as well as the challenge. She
was definitely not a normal wife, and he liked that.

Though she had a good sword arm and blocked
him well too, she seemed to be faltering when he lunged forward
little by little, and he finally hit her sword, sending it flipping
up into the air. He reached out and caught it by the hilt, handing
it to her over one arm.

“Your sword, my lady,” he said with a smile
and noticed the stains of scarlet appearing on her cheeks. She was
obviously surprised at what he’d just done as well as embarrassed.
His men laughed and cheered from behind him, and he even heard a
giggle from the baby.

“You cheat,” she said.

“How so?” He toyed with her, raising his
chin and looking down his nose.

“You use your left hand to fight. That threw
me off.”

“Exactly what I count on when I fight,” he
said.

“That gives you an advantage,” she
complained.

“All right, then how’s this?” He removed the
sword from his left hand and put it in his right. “Let’s try it
again.”

“But that isn’t your fighting arm.”

“It doesn’t matter. Now are you going to
fight me or not?” His men cheered from behind him, encouraging
another dual. He playfully used the tip of his sword to lift the
hem of her tunic up slightly, raising a brow in the process, but
making sure no one could see underneath. She pushed it back down
with her hand, and gave him a scolding look.

“You will be begging me to stop this time,”
she said, lashing out her sword. He met her with his and the sound
of clashing metal echoed through the practice yard once again.

“I will be begging for nothing, but I think
you will be begging me for something instead.”

“And what might that be?” she asked, their
swords still meeting in the air as they danced around the courtyard
in competition. Nyle was able to fight with either hand, but
preferred his left, as that was more accurate as well as more
confusing for those he fought in battle.

“You will be begging me for kisses to make
all your pain go away.”

“I will never beg you for kisses and neither
will I have pain, but you will.”

The men were roiled up now, and he was
rather enjoying this little foreplay. He hoped it might even lead
to a nice tumble in bed later. He knew his blood coursed through
his body with excitement from this little skirmish and could only
imagine she was feeling the same way. Yes, he decided, this was a
good idea after all.

Once again he managed to unarm her, her
sword flipping up into the air and he handing it back to her.
Everyone laughed from behind him and he spun around to acknowledge
them. When he turned back to give her the sword, he saw her picking
up a broomstick and heading for a horse.

“Honey, come back here,” he called, noticing
the way she stomped over the ground. She mounted the horse and he
knew he had to go after her. He put down the swords and ran across
the practice yard, stopping just next to the quintain as he heard
his squire, Locke call out.

“Lord Sheffield,” he called, and Nyle
stopped in his tracks and turned to see what he wanted. He heard
the rumbling of the horse’s hooves against the earth behind him as
Ruby rode across the field.

“What is it Locke?” The men were all
shouting and he couldn’t hear him, so he just turned around
intending to try to talk with Ruby. That’s when he saw her with the
broomstick in her hand, her eyes set with determination to hit the
shield on the quintain.

“Ruby, stop,” he said waving his arms in the
air, until he realized she had no intention of doing that. The
horse came closer and her pole moved forward, and once again Locke
called out.

“Damn it, what do you want?” he asked
turning around quickly. Then the realization hit him that she
really wasn’t going to stop and he was standing directly in the
way. He turned abruptly trying to get out of the way as his wife
hit the quintain with the broomstick and something hit him as well.
The sandbag on the other end of the swivel arm turned as she rode
by, and though he tried to avoid it, he still managed to get
clipped in the eye.

“Ooomph.” The air was knocked from him as he
hit the ground hard. The sound of running feet had him looking up
to see all his men as well as his sister with the baby standing
there looking down at him.

“Like I said – watch out,” Locke told
him.

Nyle just moaned and held his eye. He was so
embarrassed and also so enraged that he couldn’t even speak. Then
Ruby rode up on the horse, all smiles until she realized just what
she had done. She jumped off the horse and ran to his side,
kneeling on the hard ground next to him.

“I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you,”
she said. Through his eye that wasn’t starting to swell, he noticed
the sincerity on her face. “I just wanted to show you I know how to
use the quintain,” she explained.

“Well, that fact has been established.”

He got to his feet, trying to maintain his
composure, and she reached out and brushed the dirt from his tunic
as she spoke.

“I will never do it again, I promise. I am
so sorry I –”

He stopped her apology as he pulled her to
him and kissed her hard on the mouth in front of everyone. That
gave the crowd something to cheer about and it shut her up as well.
He pulled back and she just looked at him with wide eyes, and
before he knew it, she’d reached up and pressed her mouth over his
in another kiss.

His eye didn’t hurt so badly all of a
sudden. And if she was this passionate in the middle of the
practice yard with a dozen men watching, he couldn’t wait to see
how she’d be acting come tonight when he took her to his bed.

“Let me see your eye,” said Ruby, leaning
over Nyle as he sat at the trestle table of the great hall.

“I’m fine,” he mumbled, gently pushing her
hand away. “Now men, get to the practice yard and servants get back
to work. His eye throbbed like the devil from being hit by the
sandbag, and he held a cool wet rag against it to help ease the
pain. Now he’d have a black eye for the next sennight and he had
his unruly wife to thank for that.

Linette sat across from him, letting little
Tibbar crawl around the top of the table as she broke up pieces of
bread and soaked them in milk and gave them to the little boy to
eat.

“Nyle, that was the funniest thing I’ve seen
in a long time. Actually, it reminds me of the story Nigel used to
tell of when you two were first learning to hunt.”

“Linette, please,” he said, already feeling
the embarrassment of the story he knew she intended to tell.

“Oh, Nyle, I’m sure Ruby would love to hear
about your past.”

“Nay,” he ground out.

“Aye,” Ruby answered excitedly. “Please do
tell the story, Linette.” She hurriedly sat herself next to him and
leaned in eagerly to listen to his sister.

“Well,” Linette said with a big smile, “I
only know it as my brother Nigel used to relay, as I was not yet
born when it happened. But Nigel never could stop laughing as he
told the story of how Nyle got tangled in the hounds leashes as the
kennelgroom tried to hold them back when he held up his pet rabbit,
wanting to show it to the dogs.” She couldn’t help but laugh and
Ruby giggled as well.

“You brought a live rabbit in front of the
hounds and didn’t think they’d go after it?” asked his wife.

“I was eight,” Nyle said in his defense.

“Yes, he was eight,” relayed Linette, “I
remember this story clearly. He had caught his first rabbit with a
snare and wanted to keep it as a pet instead of having it for
dinner.”

“Linette, please,” he said, putting down the
rag and reaching out to feed some bread to Tibbar. “Haven’t I been
embarrassed enough already today?”

“Well, what happened?” asked Ruby,
anxiously. “Did you end up keeping the rabbit?”

“It never made it past the hounds,” said
Linette. “And Nyle was lucky to make it out of the tangled mess as
well. I laugh every time I think of this story. Nigel used to make
Nyle so angry every time he mentioned it.”