The Baron's Quest (12 page)

“Aye, take us home,” he called out,” his words almost like a knife to her heart, as she had hoped they would have had the time to be intimate once again. He glanced over his shoulder at her, and she could have sworn she saw disappointment on his face. But not disappointment from having to sail back to shore – this was directed at her comment, she was sure.

“Did I say something wrong?” She wished now she hadn’t displayed her emotions so freely.

“Nay, not at all. You are welcome to your opinion – when we are alone,” he added, reminding her of her position. “So, Spinster, tell me about the guilds in your town.”

“Spinster?” Her heart dropped to her feet. In one moment they’d gone from calling each other by their first names and almost making love to a cold shoulder and a title she hated to be called.

“Do you think the men in the guilds are trustworthy?” He started firing questions at her left and right, making her head spin. “Could some of them be smuggling in goods and not paying taxes or prisage to the king?”

She had the sudden thought that perhaps he’d never wanted to be alone with her to spend intimate moments. Mayhap all he’d wanted all along was information. “You sound as if you think I have some inside information. I am sorry, my lord, but I don’t have the answers you seek.”

“Then ask your friends. Mayhap Cecily knows something.”

“My lord?” She felt appalled that he thought she’d do his bidding, even more shocked he’d think she’d turn in one of her own people by betraying them. She didn’t know of anyone doing these things, but then again, if she did – right now she wouldn’t tell him anyway. “Is this the reason you brought me here today? To convince me to spy on the townsfolk and the guilds?” She fastened her hair up atop her head, tying it back from the wind.

“Nay, of course not. We’re here for relaxation and leisure.”

“Then please stop asking me these questions.”

“I am just making conversation. I thought mayhap you’d seen or heard something while working for your father and living in town.”

“Please stop asking me to do your job. I am a townsperson same as the men of the guilds. And if you’re insinuating my father had shady dealings, I assure you it is not true.”

“But he was taking his goods to another town to sell at a lower price when he knew it was against the guild rules,” he pointed out. “That should open your eyes, Muriel, that mayhap he wasn’t such an honorable man after all.”

“Stop it!” she shouted, hugging her arms around herself in an attempt to feel as secure as she once had in the baron’s arms. “My father is dead, killed by bandits and ruffians along the road who stole everything but that ring you wear on your finger and flaunt in my face. He was not a swindler, nor did he cheat you or the king, and I ask you not to say that again.”

Nicholas looked at the ring on his finger, running a thumb over the gold. “Why didn’t they steal this, Muriel? It was probably worth more than most the goods they took instead.”

“My father had it hidden, that’s why. Now please, don’t mention it again.”

The winds picked up, and the ship leaned far over the water – so far the sail almost touched the sea. His arms were around her immediately, protecting her from falling. Just like the mood of their outing together, the sky had suddenly taken a dark and dangerous turn. The sun above their heads as well as his previously sunny disposition was nowhere to be seen. The rain started to come then, and the cold, sharp drops were like arrows to her heart. She thought of the rain as her unshed tears.

“Get inside the cabin until we get back to port,” he commanded. “It looks like this could be nasty.”

“Yes, it’s become very nasty,” she agreed, not meaning the storm at all.

Chapter 16

“So he really said nothing after you told him you loved him?” Cecily stood still as Muriel measured and pinned a dress to her later that day that was being constructed for one of the noblewomen. They were in the Ladies’ Solar, which now was also occupied by her brother on the loom, Lady Constance, and a few other women. Usually men didn’t occupy this chamber, but since Isaac needed to work the loom, he was granted permission to be here. The noblewomen liked Isaac. A lot. He charmed them and they laughed and made sure to have servants bring extra tarts and sweetmeats to the solar for him so he could eat while he was working. The boy was growing into a man fast, and could eat three times the amount of food Muriel ate, and was always hungry.

“Aye, he said nothing,” Muriel said with pins between her lips, using them to pin the hem of the gown. “Then he told me I was welcome to my opinion – but only when we were alone.”

“Oh, Muriel, that is horrible,” said Cecily. “I wonder why he acted that way?”

Muriel took the last pin from between her lips. “Probably because he is embarrassed to be seen with a merchant’s daughter. It’s so below his status that I am sure he would never consider any lasting relationship with me.”

Muriel heard the sound of the pedal being moved up and down from the loom, and glanced over her shoulder to see all the noblewomen gathered around Isaac as he worked. The look on his face was smug and happy, and she hadn’t seen him glow like that in a long time now. Not since before their mother passed away.

“Isaac seems to like it here,” said Cecily. “And he is getting along wonderfully with all the noblewomen, especially some of the younger ones. Is he going to want to go back and live in town after you’ve worked off your debt to the baron?”

“I don’t know,” she said, getting to her feet, and helping Cecily remove the gown. “He is better off at the manor house than living in town, and I think I am going to ask the baron if he can stay here even after our debt is paid.”

“And what about you, Muriel? Don’t you want to stay here too?” Cecily pulled her own gown over her shift.

“I’m not sure,” she said, looking down to the gown in her hand. “I don’t think so – if every time I say I love him, the baron is going to start firing questions at me asking about smuggling, deceit, and treachery amongst the guild members.”

“He did that?” Cecily’s eyes opened wide as she fixed her hair. “So . . . does he think something is amiss?”

“He more or less came right out and accused my father of deceit and smuggling goods from other ports without paying taxes to the king.”

“He didn’t!”

“He did.” Muriel spread the gown out on a table and picked up the scissors. She poked them into the air as she spoke her next words. “And he basically came out and said your stepfather was dishonest as well.”

“What did he mean?” Cecily’s brows furrowed together.

“Well, he asked me why the thieves that killed my father hadn’t taken my mother’s ring since it was worth so much more than the goods he transported.”

“Is he saying my stepfather stole it?”

“I’m not sure what he’s saying. But he did ask me to more or less spy on the guilds because I guess there is some discrepancy in the ledgers.”

The door to the solar opened just then, and she looked up to see the baron standing there with the other two barons in the corridor behind him. “Oh, Cecily,” she whispered. “Please don’t say a word of this in front of the baron. Nor to your stepfather or any of the guild members. I don’t want trouble.”

“Of course not. Muriel, I need to be going now.” She gave Muriel a quick hug and ran to the door, giving the baron a wide berth as she left. She only curtseyed halfway, in a big hurry to leave the room. The barons Conlin and John headed away as well instead of entering the room.

“Ladies, Isaac, I’ve come to inspect your work and to see how the clothes are coming along for the banquet.” Nicholas nodded to the ladies and headed across the room toward them.

Muriel busied herself, not looking up at him. He, on the other hand made the rounds, inspecting the women’s needlework and sewing. She didn’t like the way the women giggled when he spoke to them – especially the ladies who were not married.

Then he went over to Isaac and raved about his work, and the two of them spoke for quite some time about things like weapons and chainmail, and subjects that had nothing to do with making clothes at all.

Finally, he made his way to her, and she was sure he purposely made her wait, wanting to make her feel less important than the rest, or perhaps not worth his time.

“Muriel, how is the dress-making coming along?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t call me Spinster again,” she said, as she pushed her needle through the cloth and pulled the long thread upward. He reached out and stilled her hand, but still she did not look at him.

“Your work is superb, just like your brother’s. Have you started the clothes I will wear yet?”

“I have not, my lord.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll need to get my measurements, won’t you?”

“I suppose.” She continued to sew. Then he surprised her when he dismissed the rest of the people from the room.

“You have all worked hard today and I see progress in the attire we will wear for the banquet. You may leave now and go about your own business, thank you.”

The women put away their sewing and embroidery, and headed out the door. Then Isaac jumped up and ran over.

“Muriel, come on. Do you want to go watch the falconer train the new bird?”

“Go on without her, Isaac,” answered the baron, and her eyes darted upward to meet his. “She’ll want to measure me for my tunic, so she will be working for awhile yet.”

“Muriel?” Isaac looked to her in question.

“Go on, Isaac, it’s all right,” she answered with her eyes locked on the baron instead of looking at her brother when she spoke.

Neither she nor the baron said a word until Isaac had left and closed the door.

Finally, he ran a hand over the gown she’d been working on. “Muriel, I want you to make a gown for yourself as well. Use any of the materials you want. I’d like to see you dressed in silk for the banquet.”

“Silk?” She stood at the table. “You want me to wear the cloth that is worn only by nobles?”

“Aye. You deserve it. Pick out some of my finest silk, and make certain it is dyed a bold color.”

“And won’t that make me too noticeable at your banquet, my lord? After all, I thought you’d want to hide me under a table so no one could see me.”

“Nonsense. I’m not sure where you got that idea, but get it out of your head right now.” He guided her over to the trunks that held the silk they’d bought from overseas. “Go ahead. Choose whichever you’d like.” He splayed his hand toward the bolts of cloth.

She looked at them, and her heart beat faster. She liked every one of them, and any of them would make her feel like a queen. But she didn’t want the baron’s things. Not after the way he’d been ignoring and dismissing her lately. And certainly not after he’d ignored her profession of love.

“I don’t want any of these,” she said, and watched a surprise expression overtake his face.

“If you have a certain color in mind, perhaps I could pay to have it dyed.”

“Nay. That won’t be necessary.”

“I insist you choose one.”

She knew he wasn’t going to give up, because he always had to have his way. So, instead, she walked over to a shelf and picked up the bolt of blue silk that her father had bought her not long before he died. “I’ll use this,” she said, holding it up so he could see it.

“I don’t remember us buying any silk that color.” He walked over to inspect it.

“It’s not yours – it’s mine,” she said, holding it to her chest. “It is the silk my father bought me before he died.”

“Did he pay taxes on it as well?” The audacity of his bluntness was alarming.

“How can you say such a thing? I’m telling you, my father was just as loyal and honest as you.”

“I doubt that anyone could be as loyal as I am to the king, Muriel. But just the same, go ahead and use that silk for yourself if you wish.”

How noble of him to allow her to use something that was already hers.

“Measure me now for my tunic for the banquet,” he commanded. “And I’d like you to weave me a new pair of hose as well.”

“As you wish, my lord.”

Nicholas heard Muriel’s last words and it had his mind racing in many directions at once. Those were the same words she’d used when they’d made love. The same words that got him so excited a second time in the same night. Why did she have to use them now?

She took her measuring string and put her arms around his chest. He was much larger than her, and her arms didn’t reach all the way around him easily.

“Come closer, and you’ll be able to reach.” He pulled her to his chest until their bodies were touching. She seemed to like it there, and for a moment he thought she was going to stay in his arms. But she didn’t. Instead, she used the string and measured for the length of his tunic. Next it was time to measure for his hose. She stopped.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

“I need to measure the length of your legs for the hose.”

“Go ahead.”

She hesitated. “I’ll have to measure the outside, as well as from the inside of your thigh all the way to the floor.”

“I’m not stopping you.”

When she placed her lithe fingers on the outside of his legs it tickled and he chuckled.

“Is something amusing, my lord?”

“Nay.” He shut his mouth, trying to keep from laughing. Next she took the end of the string and placed it – right between his legs up to his groin. Immediately he was affected, and started thinking of her fingering the wool on her spindle.

Something happened beneath his hose and now it was her turn to look up and chuckle. “Did you want me to measure that, too my lord?”

“No need,” he said, pulling away. “I think you already know the size of that.”

Her chuckle was gone and her eyes opened wide, and if he wasn’t mistaken, he saw the pebbles of her hard nipples from under her bodice, telling him that she, too, was aroused. “Yes, I do remember your generous proportions, if that is what you mean.”

“Muriel, I want you.” He waited for her response. She wasn’t about to give him the reply he longed for after he hadn’t acted the way she wanted when she’d told him she loved him.

“Well, I don’t want you.” She wound up the string in her hand, and used a quill at the table to write down the measurements.

“You are angry with me because I didn’t tell you I love you in return on the ship.” He followed her over to the other side of the room.

“Aye, I am hurt.” She busied herself folding fabric.

“I don’t know what love is, Muriel. Nor do I know how to say it.”

She stilled her motion but didn’t turn to look at him. “Mayhap if you tried, you could learn.”

“Egads, I am a hardened warrior, not a milksop.”

“Milksop?” She raised a brow and stormed across the room and started to put things away into a sewing basket. “Is that what I am to you?”

“Nay, I didn’t mean that.” He didn’t know how to talk to this woman and it was trying his nerves. “God, give me strength,” he said, pulling his sword from his scabbard and laying it on the table in front of her. “My mother is a lot like you when it comes to affairs of the heart.”

Muriel looked up, surprised to hear the baron talking about his family. She didn’t think he’d open up to her, and she was interested in hearing his story.

“Continue,” she said.

“Are you telling me what to do?”

“I didn’t mean to, my lord. As you wish.”

He nodded. “She is in love with my father, but they were betrothed at a young age. My father has never told her he loves her to this day.”

“And how about you? Have you told her?”

“Nay,” he said, shaking his head. “I haven’t because I was never allowed to be anything but strong. My father wouldn’t let me.”

“I think telling someone you love them
is
strong. Keeping it inside and ignoring it is the coward’s way of dealing with it.”

She thought that would upset him, and already regretted speaking so boldly, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“I’ll tell you something I have told no one in my entire life. I do regret not telling my mother I love her.”

“Then why don’t you? If I could tell my mother or father I love them one more time, it would mean the world to me. But they’re gone now, and it’s too late. If you miss the chance, do you want it to haunt you the rest of your life?”

“Nay,” he said with a shake of his head. “You are right, Muriel. When she comes for the banquet, I assure you – I will tell her so.”

“I guess there is hope for a hardened warrior like you after all,” she said with a smile.

“Tell me about your family, Muriel. You already know a little about mine.”