Seduced (33 page)

"Do ye know aught of my lady's life afore she
became Lady de Burgh?"

"Aye. Baron de Burgh and her father were at
the Crusades together. The same time as your uncle Laird Broccin of
Raptor. Their men fought alongside each other. When we returned,
Warin and her father remained friends. They came to each other's
aid when needed."

"I would learn of her early years afore she
married. De Burgh told us of Letia keeping her father's death a
secret and protecting the castle until he arrived, but how did she
become so, uh, fearless of men."

"Fearless? It is her very fear of men that
has made her the woman she is." Leofwan cleared his voice, frowned
then began to tell Raik of the fatal raid on her family's home up
until the current time.

"She has protected the men in her life as
much as they protected her. Though Warin wished it could have been
different, in the end he asked much of her. It would have broken
any other woman I have ever known."

Raik leaned forward, his elbows on his knees,
his fingers massaging his temples.

"Never before have I met a lass who had so
little need of me," he confessed.

"So little need? Are you daft, man? She needs
a strong man who can protect her, give her a chance to enjoy being
a woman and mother."

"Then why is she unhappy that I have tried to
put her in her place as wife and lady of the keep?"

"It will be a while before she realizes she
does not have to protect herself. Until then, she needs the
security of having her place in protecting Seton."

"I should allow her atop the wall walks to
lead the slingers again?" The idea did not set easily with
Raik.

"For now, return Giles to her service. His
humorous antics are good for Letia. Too, she is used to his
following her about throughout the day. With him by her side, she
will not need to climb ladders and scaffolding. They work well
together."

o0o

Raik found Giles capering in front of the
youngest slingers, splattered with mud from his laughing face to
his boots. It was the first time Raik had seen these young ones
training firsthand. He recalled the morning months ago that he had
watched Letia and her squire below at the well. Now he knew why she
had needed to douse the squire with bucket after bucket of
water.

Raik crossed his arms and rested his hips
against the wooden fence. His sprawled legs supported him. It was
the most relaxed he had been since finding his wife on her
hazardous perch.

Giles leaped and twisted into the air, but
could not avoid the mud ball that splattered his shoulder. 'Twas
fortunate no rocks were included, else he would be sprawled on the
ground. Raik waited until the last child slung his mud then
collapsed in a heap of giggles. Raik smiled hearing the happy
sound. He cleared his voice.

"Giles, I have need of you." His words
carried above the children's laughter.

"May I help you, my lord?" He trotted over to
his baron.

"Aye. But first, I think ye'd best douse the
mud from yer body afore it dries." He headed for the well while
Giles lengthened his stride to keep up. Seeing a servant nearby,
Raik motioned him to follow.

"Were ye fostered here at Seton, Giles?"

"Nay. I was born here."

"How did ye become Lady Letia's squire?"

"When our baron married the lady, I was ten
years of age and the first slinger she trained. At the same time,
the baron had Sir Leofwan train me to be Lady Letia's squire. He
wanted someone to guard and help her. I have been at her back
since."

"Ye did not get teased for being assigned to
a lady and not a knight?"

"Teased? Huh! The others were jealous because
I became a better slinger and archer than they."

By the time they reached the well, they were
in easy conversation.

Raik nodded to the servant. "Keep the buckets
filled. He has enough dirt on his shoulders to plant turnips." Raik
hefted the first filled bucket. "Take your shirt of, lad. Ye will
have to be cleaned up afore ye return to the lady's service."

Giles's let out a delighted whoop and jumped
in the air to click his heels together. Raik could see how having
the lad around had brightened Letia's days.

"Ye must relieve her of any physical climbing
or work. I'm sure she trusts ye to carry out her orders."

"Aye, my lord. You can trust me to keep her
safe. I heard of her fall from the scaffolding. She could well have
broken her back had you not caught her." He gulped and looked
guiltily up at him.

Raik cocked his head hearing a commotion in
the bailey. Freki bounded around the corner, a large hunk of meat
in his jaws as he fled one of cook's helpers.

"'Tis the truth." His gaze followed the chase
until the man stopped and heaved a mighty kick in the dust before
returning to the cookhouse. "Mayhap ye can also keep the big
beastie from raiding food else we'll have naught but gruel for
sustenance."

o0o

Giles appeared on the fringe of the gardens,
keeping his distance until the women rose and started back to the
keep. He was fresh from a bath, his sleeveless blue tunic and white
shirt immaculate. He swept Letia a deep bow, his face as solemn as
any squire would be toward his master.

"My lady, my lord Raik wishes me to return to
your service."

Letia would never understand her husband, not
even if she lived well past Maud's age.

"I am pleased, Giles. If this is not to your
liking," she cocked her head and studied him, "I will release you
to one of the knights needing another squire."

"Do not, Lady. I am well pleased. My days
with you are far more interesting than cleaning shields, honing
blades, currying a horse and fetching ale for a knight."

"Good." She turned to Lady Joneta, who held a
sleeping Aubrey cuddled in her arms. She leaned to kiss the babe's
fattening cheek and smiled before she and Giles headed for the
great hall.

o0o

Each morn, after Raik and his men left the
solar Letia fell into a soothing routine with Lady Joneta and Maud,
who had become friends, both being of the same age. After Letia
satisfied Aubrey's ravenous appetite, the women enjoyed burping
him, not minding the fact a fountain of milk exploding from his
mouth accompanied those same burps.

Once the babe was in his cradle, he happily
waved a stuffed toy in the shape of a very long-legged horse. His
grandmother had sewn it out of scraps of bright cloth. Cook's
helpers brought cider and milk, hot oatmeal, baked apples and hot
bread and all that would go with it.

Letia's days of transforming the great hall
ran smoothly, for using a sharp piece of charred wood, she sketched
how she wanted weapons arranged on the walls and where to hang the
tapestries.

Giles directed the workers in words they
understood, words that no lady would yell at a man for putting a
nicked short sword in the middle of a semi-circle of two-handed
broadswords.

Raik noted each change as it appeared. His
smiles were no longer rare but flashed often. Letia herself grinned
like a foolish girl when they hung the last of the tapestries.

He stood in the center of the room turning
slowly to study each bright scene. When he completed his survey
with the massive tapestry behind the high table, he went to stand
in front of it. Warin had told Letia that his mother and her ladies
started it before he was born and did not finish until he was three
years of age.

The center of the tapestry showed Seton
Castle complete with each bailey and its buildings, the towers, the
gardens and orchard, the walls surrounding the castle with the
forests beyond and even the wild stream to the north where water
crashed over the rocks.

Raik's arms lifted, hands outstretched as if
he cupped it, and sighed.

"'Tis beautiful."

He turned to Letia, grasped her hand and led
her to the table. She looked fresh from her bath and more relaxed
than she had appeared for the last sennight. When she sat, he
brushed his lips across the smooth skin at her temples. His heart
jolted at the soft scent that floated to him. Lilies.

He forced himself to relax remembering when
he had returned to Seton searching for his elusive lady. Many of
the women he approached had liked the same scent.

Even so, it still caused his heartbeat to
speed. Whether from lust or anger, he wasn't certain.

'Twas a lie. The heaviness in his ballocks
proved it. When Letia finished with her meal, he smiled, urged her
to rise and headed for their bedchamber as eager to satisfy his
lust as any youth.

When Freki met them on the stairwell, barked
at Letia and bounded back to the top, his hopes died.

"Shite!" he muttered under his breath. He
regretted it when they drew near and heard Aubrey's frantic
cries.

"What is it, Maud? He's never cried so
sharply before," Letia said as she ran into the room.

"I don't know. He has not passed any wind,
nor has he belched."

Letia gathered the babe to her breast and
tried to soothe him. His wail did not cease. She held him in her
arms and rubbed his stomach, but it did not help. She put him
against her left breast and tried to burp him. Still he cried.
Aubrey's tearful blue eyes looked into Raik's own, pleading. Raik's
heart melted.

"Let me have him, Letia. Mayhap the wee boy
needs a man's attention."

She let him take Aubrey from her, her face
anxious, her body tense and ready to snatch her son back if he
became worse.

"Shh, shh, little one," he crooned, "you're
all right. Nothing is going to hurt you."

Raik snuggled Aubrey to his chest and rested
his cheek on the babe's head, all the time murmuring sounds that
were not words. He rubbed his back then patted it while gently
jiggling him against his chest. Finally, Aubrey belched. Loud. Raik
laughed at the surprised look on the babe's face. Aubrey craned his
head back to look up at Raik's face then belched again. The tears
stopped and his skin lost its bright red color.

Letia looked hesitant, like she was about to
take the babe from his arms.

"Nay, wife. Dinna disturb him. He's safe and
warm and will be asleep soon."

Letia bit her lips as she often did when
undecided. She stood on tiptoes to peek at Aubrey's face, looked up
at Raik and nodded.

Never had he felt such satisfaction. As he
paced the room, his big hand on the child's arse moved him upward
until he felt the little sigh against his neck and heard the soft
slurping sounds of Aubrey sucking his thumb.

He stopped beside the cradle, swaying his
body back and forth the way he had seen Letia do. He waited until
Aubrey's breathing evened and slowed before he cautiously lowered
him to the cradle.

o0o

That night was the first of many times in the
following month that Raik would coax Aubrey from Letia's arms.
Sometimes he carried him around the bailey or the wall walks,
telling Letia 'twas good for the boy to be familiar with the castle
from an early age.

He no longer searched for the woman who had
seduced him but watched for glimpses of his wife throughout his
busy day. Why, if he didn't know better, he would think he was
falling in love with Letia. How had he ever thought her unwomanly?
Whenever he spied her, he pictured her lush body beneath the
clothing and remembered how she quivered and moaned when his hands
explored her. Aye. She more than pleased him in bed sport.

She pleased him in other ways, too. The keep
was as comfortable and well managed as Raptor, Hunter or Symon de
Mortimer's castle. After finishing the great hall, she had brought
other treasures from out of hiding to place them in the solar and
different areas in the keep.

Now, he began to think of ways to please
her.

"My lady, the baron asks that you join him."
Edulf bowed with a smile.

Letia looked around but didn't see Raik. "And
where must I join him?"

"Giles will escort you."

As he spoke, Giles approached astride a horse
known to be gentle. Freki followed behind him, his tongue lolling
out of the side of his mouth. After draping a folded blanket behind
the saddle, Edulf reached for Letia to pitch her up to it. He
quickly backed up when Freki flashed between them, his teeth bared
in a snarl worthy of the largest wolf in any pack.

Though Letia scolded and tried to send the
dog away, it stayed between them. It was not until they walked over
to a mounting block that Letia was able to go up behind Giles and
clasp him around the waist.

"Are you comfortable, Lady?"

"Quite, if we are not in for a long
ride."

"Nay. Just to the water basin within the
woods."

She was curious as to why Raik wanted her to
come to the pool, but didn't have time to worry about it. They were
there in less time than it took her to mount because of Freki. The
dog loped beside them until they cleared the drawbridge, then he
lengthened his stride as if bored and streaked ahead.

How did he know where Giles was taking her?
He must have scented Raik, for barking with excitement, he entered
a path at the woods.

Giles stopped three horse-lengths within the
path and helped her slide to the ground. He grinned and pointed to
where the pool laid hidden behind the trees. As she followed the
crashing sounds of a waterfall, she felt the presence of guards
standing at discreet distances. Her anticipation mounted, wondering
what awaited her.

Pushing aside the last branch, she came out
into a lush grassy clearing surrounding a wide basin of clear
water. At the far end, the rushing falls sent a heavy mist through
the air. She didn't see Raik, but she spied his clothes neatly
folded beneath the canopy of a large oak tree. Glancing over the
pool, she saw someone moving at the falls.

Raik was on the rock shelf, his right side
toward her. He tilted his head back and shoved his hair away from
his face as water cascaded over him. She fidgeted, nervous. Since
they wed, this was the first time she saw his unclothed body in the
light of day.