Unbidden (The Evolution Series) (19 page)

Ardo’s eyes narrowed and a small smirk curled his mouth
. He nodded in understanding. “Aye, sir. I hear what you are saying. I’ll just be on my way, then.”

Rochelle watched her overseer leave, before swinging her attention back to David
. “Did Sewell and Fardulf leave here in worse condition than what I saw?” she asked, clearly horrified.

David sighed
. “Doeg gave Sewell a few bruises he will not soon forget.”

“Doeg?” she gasped
. “But why?”

“He would have had a good reason.”

Rochelle stared at him, but he wouldn’t say more. She turned and stalked toward the gate, stopping to stare at the bar leaning on the wall. She heard David’s approach behind her. “What blocked it?” she asked.

He leaned over to pick up several wedges of wood
. “These were jammed in between the braces on the gate and the bar. The placement concealed them for quite some time. To Theo, they looked like part of the braces until he could get adequate light.”

“So it was definitely intentional.”

“Absolutely.”

“Do y
ou think Sewell did this?”

He turned one of the pieces in his hand
. “If Sewell truly expected you to just ride away with him, he would not bar the gate against you.”

“Not to mention risk getting trapped inside.”

“Did you see or hear anything as you left the courtyard?”

Rochelle had searched her memory over and over
. “It seems ridiculous, but I honestly do not remember anything unusual. How could someone pound these wedges in place and I not hear it?”

David looked at her and at the gate
. He closed it carefully, as someone who did not want to be heard would. It rode quietly on its massive hinges. After sliding the bar home, he worked one of the wedges into place, first with his fingers, then by tapping lightly with the handle of his sword wrapped in the edge of his cloak. The whole operation was nearly silent.

The re
creation did not ease either of their minds. David stood back to assess the gate. “I suppose one of those boys could have climbed it. I have searched the edge of the wall on both sides all the way around and there is no sign of anyone climbing out anywhere else.”  He cursed himself quietly. “I wish I had sent Doeg to check around last night before Theo opened the gate. I was so intent on getting to you I did not even think of a threat from within these walls.”

“Are you suggesting that someone from inside blocked the gate?”

“I am not suggesting anything. I am just trying to examine every possibility and it seems to me there are three. Sewell or Fardulf blocked the gate then climbed it, or someone blocked the gate and hid until they could slip out, or someone blocked it then blended right back into the household.”

Rochelle’s mind reeled at the last two ideas.

“Has anyone new been added to the household?  Or is there anyone you do not trust?”

Remembering Theo’s earlier warning about incriminating Doeg, Rochelle spoke carefully
. “I absolutely trust all our servants. Other than that, as you know, your brother came day before yesterday. And of course, you and Theo are new.”

“Well, I did not lock your gate and Theo was in the same room with me.”

“And Doeg?” she asked cautiously.

The hint of a shadow crossed David’s face
. “Hmm,” he said. He turned to the gate to undo his handiwork.

Chapter Fifteen

David and Rochelle rode across Alda, heading southwest
. They crossed fields of grain stubble as she explained how the harvest was divided between the estate share and the tenants. Nearly half the yield must also be set aside for seeding the fields next spring. She pointed to several large areas left fallow so the soil could rejuvenate.

Occasionally they came upon a tenant’s home
. Some were better kept than others, but each had a vegetable garden of its own and sometimes a few fruit trees. Many had a fat pig or two tied outside, recently brought in from the forest to prepare for slaughter. Chickens wandered the yards, and the occasional cow or goat. Rochelle’s tenants greeted her respectfully, sometimes the man of the house alone, but often with his wife and children. Her introduction of David was brief, his name only. She owed them no introduction at all. Their submissive postures proved that they understood whom he was and exactly what role he might play in their futures.

They were all eager to share news of record harvests or other accomplishments of which t
heir lady might be proud. She praised them, though she did not hesitate to give gentle reminders of work to be done or debts to be paid before winter set in.

One young man proudly showed off his pregnant wife
. “I will be a father before January, and no mistake!” he bragged, putting his hand on her swelling belly. The woman was younger than Rochelle, with huge wet eyes. The more the husband crowed about the impending arrival, the wetter the wife’s eyes became.

“Is your mother coming to attend you, Marta?” Rochelle asked.

“Yes, my lady,” the girl said, barely above a whisper.

“Then all will be well
. She has had six – no, seven! – of her own. Send for me if you need me.”

The girl bent her head and the hiccup of a sob escaped
. Rochelle slid quickly from Denes’s back, put her arm around Marta’s trembling shoulders and led her out of earshot of the men. David could distinguish Rochelle’s comforting tone, but not the words.

He dismounted and stood awkwardly with the expectant father, Terence
, he thought Rochelle had said. He should not feel awkward, yet he had nothing to say, no sage advice about firewood or childbirth or finishing a hog.

Rochelle and the woman rejoined them, the young mother looking only slightly encouraged
. But her eyes shown with gratitude as David and Rochelle trotted away.

David’s admiration of Rochelle grew with each field they crossed and each home they visited
. She spoke knowledgeably and confidently about the smallest details of the estate. She knew everyone’s name and place, their joys and sorrows. She answered questions succinctly. Requests were denied or granted quickly, and the people who were denied neither argued nor complained.

They happened upon Samuel a league or so beyond Terence’s house
. He and the horse looked exactly as they should after traveling all night.

“Oh Samuel, I am so relieved to see you well,” Rochelle gushed
.

He ducked his head, then peered up at David who towered over him from Woden’s back
. “Did the men go quietly?”

“They didn’t make any trouble, but I won’t say that Fardulf was quiet
. He started moanin’ early on, and set up quite a ruckus when he realized he was trussed and hangin’ on that pony.”

“Were you received well at Sewell’s house?”

“I gave the message, just like Theophilus said, and I turned back around. They offered to feed me. I thought I’d just as soon get back home.”

“Very well
. Make sure you report to Theophilus immediately.”

“Yes, sir,” Samuel said
. He was about to ride away when Rochelle stopped him.

“I have heard that you are courting Ruthie properly.”

A ruddy flush crept up from his neck. “I am tryin’, my lady.”

Rochelle smiled
. “How do you fare?”

“I like her well enough, and I think she likes me
. Its just….”

“Just what?” Rochelle asked, a teasing tone in her voice
. The smile left her face when he looked up at her in misery.

“I don’t think her family likes me
. Her father don’t let her out of his sight. And sometimes I catch him starin’ at me like I’m a big hairy spider.”

“Perhaps you are imagining it
. I am sure you are very nervous.”

But Samuel shook his head vigorously
. “No, he follows us, even if we just walk circles around their house, he won’t wait in the front while we go around the back. And he has forbidden her from seeing me at your house. I don’t understand why he won’t trust me with her, even for a minute!”

Rochelle felt a stab of pity
. She thought she might know why. “Samuel,” she said gently. “Ruthie’s father is a gentle, protective man. He knows your father.”

Samuel’s eyes widened in understanding,
then narrowed in anger. “But I am not like him. I would never hit Ruthie. I would never hurt her,” he insisted.

“I know that
. I know it and I believe you. It will take time for you to build your own reputation as a man and not be held in your father’s shadow.”

Samuel sulked
. “That isn’t fair.”

“No
, it is not,” she agreed. “You can do it. And your father is not all bad. He is a good worker, as you are. That will always serve you well. Give everyone a chance to learn who
you
really are.”

She knew her answer did not satisfy Samuel who would want everything to happen faster than it did
. He rode away from them with slouched shoulders.

Rochelle sighed.

“His father beats him?” David asked.

“Sometimes.”

“I am surprised you allow that.”

Her glance at him was sharp
. “It is not for me to allow or disallow, though I did mention it to Bertrand once, which was probably a mistake. I do not interfere in the tenants’ private lives as long as they do not affect the business of the estate. The best I can do is to give Samuel the opportunity to leave his father’s home. Maybe by next spring he will be ready. He is a smart boy. I just have not found the right opportunity yet.”

She turned them due west so they soon meandered through the trees bordering the course of the river
. She guided them directly to a small gravelly beach on its bank.

“I like to eat lunch here sometimes,” she suggested.

David nodded agreeably. He let the reins of the horses drag on the ground before reaching up for Rochelle. When she tried to pull away, he tightened his fingers on her waist. She knew he had something to say, so she waited quietly, staring at the fine cream linen covering his chest.

When he finally spoke, his words came in a rush
. “I should not have said that about Samuel’s father. Of course you are not responsible for his actions.”

“I know.”  Her heart felt heavy thinking about all the bruises she’d had to overlook on Samuel and others
. Perhaps she felt the weight of it more after being attacked herself last night. “It must be terrible to be so helpless, to be at someone’s mercy like that.”

David tipped her chin up and stared at her until her memory of Sewell’s rough handling faded into the safe warm brown of David’s eyes
. He kissed her gently. Finally. She sighed and her lips parted beneath his, hungry, seeking. How long had it been since they had been together like this?  Days apart did not calm the storm within her. It had waited, just over the horizon, until conditions were right.

She coiled one hand in his cloak and slid the other to the side of his neck, feeling the play of the cords there
. He pulled back, a hint of surprise in his eyes, but she strained up against him, asking without words for his kiss. He bent down to accommodate her. Their tongues met and retreated, met again. He trapped her bottom lip in his teeth then suckled away the insult.

Heat rose between them
. Rochelle felt as if waves of it were coming through her and off her. But rather than driving her back, it drew her in. She wanted more, wondering in the back of her muddled mind if there was ever enough heat to burn away this building storm.

With the thought, she instinctively rose on tiptoe and pressed herself more intimately against him
. He groaned in his throat as her belly rubbed against his loins. His hands slid down to her hips and fitted her just there, where he could press against her with the suggestion of a true coupling, his tongue silkenly laving her mouth until she lifted her other arm to cling around his neck. She pulled on him, wanting more pressure, more of everything. More.

He pulled back again, this time with an unholy flame in his eyes
. “I want you,” he said simply, his voice rough with emotion. “I want to know everything about you. I want to learn every inch of your skin.”

She could only stare back at him
. That place within her that only David could awaken throbbed with a new intensity, beckoning for something, but she knew not what. She sensed, though, that a trip too far down the path was one from which she could not return. “I do not know what I want,” she whispered in torment.

His sigh was ragged
. He kissed her forehead and backed away, turning to look at the glistening water of the river, carefully clasping his hands behind his back.

She didn’t like it
. She felt that she had failed him somehow, and she missed the solidity of his body against hers. A soft breeze ruffled his hair and she longed to smooth it.

“It is a pretty spot,” he observed after a moment, as though nothing were amiss
. “Did you say something about lunch?” 

Rochelle retrieved the bag from her saddle and spread a small cloth over the pebbles of the little beach
. They sat across from one another, tearing bread from the same loaf, cutting bits of cheese and apple, drinking water from the same skin. David had never shared a private meal with a woman he desired. He found the experience almost overwhelmingly erotic.

She smiled at him, apparently unaware of his sustained arousal, then yawned, covering her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Can I tell you a secret?” she whispered playfully.

“Of course,” he intoned with equal secretiveness.

“Sometimes, when I am here alone,” she said, leaning forward, “I take a short nap.”

He chuckled
. “You are probably tired after last night.”

“And you,” she said
. “Did you sleep at all?”

“Some.”

Her brows came together. “You must be careful to get your rest. Fatigue might bring on a headache.”

His heart swelled at her concern
. “Are you suggesting we should rest now?”

“I will admit that I could.”

“Then we shall,” he said.

She packed up the remnants of the meal and balled her cloak up as a pillow
. She laid down flat on her back, her fingers folded over her stomach.

He laughed
. “Can you actually sleep like that, on stones?”

She opened one eye to peer up at him, shading her face with a raised hand
. “For a short time.”  She snapped her lid closed again.

“You should join the army, “ he grumbled
. But he rested back himself, hands at his sides, with no pillow and no intention of sleeping. He attuned his senses to his surroundings, hearing each sound and touch of air on his face. As he drifted off, he thought,
so this is what it is like to sleep next to Rochelle.

It was mostly the chill in the air that wakened them. Hours had passed, the sun was drifting down below the tree line. Neither had moved, though Rochelle slept much more deeply than David. Years of camp life and sleeping in different places kept his own slumber light and alert. Therefore, he knew immediately when she awoke and pulled himself back to consciousness at the same moment.

She involuntarily brushed his hand with her own then uttered a surprised, “Oh.”  After sitting up and checking the sky, she shook her head to clear it of cobwebs
. “I have never napped for so long.”

David wiped a hand over his face
. “I have never napped at all. We should probably head for home.”

Rochelle scowled
. “I did not get half the things accomplished today I should have. I really cannot believe we wasted the entire afternoon sleeping!”

“Obviously we were both tired,” he said simply.

The excuse did not satisfy her. “Luckily we have very trustworthy horses,” she observed as she clasped her cloak. Denes and Woden grazed within sight, their reins dragging through the dry autumn grass.

David tied the sack from lunch onto Woden then lifted Rochelle onto Denes’s back
. She was all business, quickly arranging her clothes and starting Denes toward home the second David had mounted.