Unending Love (14 page)

“I would have liked to have seen that,” de
Norville said. A tall, blond man who was a great admirer of the female sex, he
was one of the most arrogant men Maddoc had ever met, but a wise and loyal
companion. It made for an odd combination. “Maddoc, those two were making a
nuisance of themselves in their attempt to get to young Henry.  It would
seem
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that the ap Athoes were threatening to create an
incident over this if the king did not intervene.”

David lifted his eyebrows. “They went to
Henry
with this?” he rolled his eyes. “God’s Beard, what a pair of dolts.  What in
the hell do they want? Adalind? Because I can tell you for a fact that I will
defend her until the last stone of this castle.  Those morons are not going to
get their hands on her.”

“Truthfully, I do not know if their demands met
Henry’s ears,” de Wolfe said. “But they were creating quite a ruckus until the
captain of the guard finally banned them from the Tower.  After that, the
brothers seemed to think that was an act of war and threatened to return to
London with an army.  That is when we thought we should take a detour to
Canterbury to inform you of what happened.  I did not want you to be surprised
if half of the Welsh border turned up on your doorstep one day.”

David merely shrugged. “Although I appreciate
the effort you went through to deliver the message, I am unconcerned,” he said.
“Those two will more than likely burn themselves out by the time they reach
home.  It would take a good deal of money and effort to lay siege to
Canterbury, as we are quite far from the Welsh border. My brother, however, is
not; he is right along the Marches at his fortress of Lioncross Abbey.  They
could harass him just to make a point.”

Maddoc was looking seriously at David. “Should I
ride for Lioncross and warn him, my lord?”

David shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “I will
send a messenger but no more than that.  I simply cannot believe that those two
pups would create so much drama over their own bad behavior. Had they left when
I ordered them to, none of this would have happened.”

Maddoc simply nodded, glancing to de Wolfe and
de Norville with a rather resigned expression. There wasn’t much any of them
could do about it but hope the brothers grew weary of the subject and moved on.
 

By this time, Hage and de Bocage were up from
their seated positions, moving to the large pitcher of wine that had been
brought in earlier.  They had already drunk most of it, being weary, and were
looking for more.  But David was at the end of his patience with the subject at
hand; he was sick of hearing about the ap Athoe brothers and their quest for
vengeance. He was anxious to move on to better things.

“Come,” he said, standing up rather stiffly as
the dog at his feet stirred. “Let us retreat in to the hall and dine together.
Let us speak of something other than foolish Welsh pups I wish I had never
met.”

The group of knights was more than pleased with
that idea.  It had been a long ride from London and now that they had delivered
their message, the time had come to reap the rewards of de Lohr’s hospitality.
Maddoc began herding them towards the door.

“I suppose we shall get to sup with the Lady
Adalind tonight, eh?” de Norville turned to Maddoc. “I am anxious to see what
has you so smitten.”

Maddoc kept a straight face at the man’s
braggadocio manner. “She has a sister,” he said. “She is not yet spoken for. I
could put in a good word for you.”

De Norville made a face at him. “Never,” he
declared. “I intend to live freely and by my own rules until such time as I can
no longer walk or feed myself. Then, and only then, will I consider a wife.”

Maddoc snorted, looking over at Hage and de
Bocage as they wandered in his direction. “And you two?” he wanted to know.
“You were both attached at the hip, even as young squires.  I see nothing has
changed after all of these years. They used to call the pair of you the Bull
and the Tree.  Remember?”

Kieran Hage came from an old Saxon family whose
seat was Southwell Castle in Nottinghamshire.  His father, Sean, was the
current Earl of Newark, and Kieran had been named for his father’s long-dead
brother.  Kieran had the broad Hage build and blond hair, and his manner was
rather subdued and thoughtful.  He grinned as he glanced over at his best
friend, the extremely tall Michael de Bocage.  The knight was at least a head
taller than even the tallest man.  A tree, indeed.

“They still call me the Bull,” Kieran said.
“Even my wife.”

Maddoc’s eyebrows lifted. “So you married? I had
not heard.”

Kieran pointed at William. “I married his wife’s
cousin,” he replied. “Scots.”

Maddoc looked at William with some confusion.
“Scots?” he repeated. “Not the kind you are having difficulty with, I hope.”

William grinned, a sort of sly gesture. “It is a
long and detailed story,” he said. “Feed me before I delve into it.  I will
need all of my strength to get through the story.”

With a smirk, Maddoc moved with the group out
into the entry hall and then deep into the smaller feasting hall where a
veritable mass of culinary delights were laid out for all to sample.  Already,
there were several people at the table, including de Lohr’s family.   Much to
de Norville’s delight, they were all women.

Emilie sat with David in the center of the
feasting table, a gracious and lovely hostess for the visiting knights.  Adalind
sat with her mother and with Willow, who was seriously eyeing the visitors and
in particular eyeing de Bocage.  Along with his height, he was very handsome
with his blue eyes and dark hair.  Willow didn’t even seem to notice that all
he did was respond to Kieran once in a while or laugh at jokes.  He never
really said much of anything, or take the lead in the conversation, but that
didn’t preclude her interest.  She never even noticed the man had a bit of a
stammer, which more than likely explained why he was so quiet. Willow had been
eyeing Gerid over the past few days but with the introduction of the handsome
stranger, she was shifting loyalties.

After the guests were seated, Maddoc had taken a
seat between Adalind and Christina. His gaze was warm on Adalind, who was
looking quite luscious in a gold brocade surcoat and he was looking forward to
the evening of introducing her to his friends.  He hadn’t taken two bites of
his food when a soldier bolted into the warm and fragrant hall, heading
directly for David.

“My lord,” the man said, “we have sighted an
army approaching.”

Maddoc didn’t hesitate; he was on his feet.
“Lock down the gatehouse,” he ordered, already moving to quit the hall.  “Send
out the scouts. Did we receive a missive or warning?”

The soldier moved to Maddoc’s side as David,
Gerid, de Wolfe and the other visiting knights jumped up from the table and
began to follow as well.

“No missive, my lord,” the soldier replied. “Our
scouts spotted them a few miles south towards Ashford.  They are moving in our
direction, a battalion of men and animals.”

Maddoc’s mind was quickly processing what he was
being told. “Ashford,” he muttered. “Chilham Castle is in that direction.”

“De Digges is loyal to Pembroke,” David said.
His mind was working furiously as well. “Pembroke and de Burgh are allies.”

Maddoc looked over his shoulder and glanced at
the man. “Do you suppose Walter ran to de Digges and demanded his army?”

David shrugged. “It is as good a theory as any.”

Maddoc didn’t like that theory at all, but it
unfortunately made sense.  He looked at the knights trailing after him,
unimaginable firepower at his disposal.  De Wolfe himself was called “The Wolf”
by the Scots because of his cunning mind and vicious bite.  He was perhaps the
best commander in the entire north of England and his reputation was legendary.
 Maddoc’s gaze fixed on William.

“Your assistance would be appreciated, William,”
he said quietly. “De Digges carries nearly two thousand men.  This could be bad.”

De Wolfe nodded coolly.  He was collected and
calm, as were the others.  This was what they were born and bred for, fighting
men whose lives involved death and defense on a daily basis.  A siege was
nothing out of the ordinary. It was the fabric of their existence.

“I am at your disposal,” he said to both Maddoc
and David.  “Little does de Digges know what he is up against.  We shall make
short work of him and be back in the hall before dawn.”

Maddoc wriggled his eyebrows. “It is not de
Digges that concerns me,” he said, shoving the entry door aside as the group
began to descend the stairs into the dark and cold bailey.  “It is de Burgh. If
it is truly him, and he truly seeks some kind of twisted vengeance, then I will
seek the man out and destroy him.  He threatens me, Adalind, and everyone at
Canterbury, and this I will not stand for.”

David should have been the one to caution him again
based on de Burgh and his family connections, but he did not.  He agreed with
Maddoc completely.  He was infuriated that the man would move against his
castle and, worse, his family.  Canterbury was peaceful for the most part but
this night threatened to change that.  He was bloody well enraged.

Torches on the battlements were now being
quickly put out by orders to douse all lights.  As the knights came off the
steps and Maddoc began to issue orders, he glanced behind him and caught sight
of a figure up at the head of the stairs, the entry.  It took him a moment to
realize it was Adalind.  David caught sight of her, too, and waved Maddoc off
as he took charge of the knights.  When Maddoc resisted, David pointed at
Adalind, made sure Maddoc understood the silent message, and moved off towards
the gatehouse.  Maddoc attention lingered on the departing group of knights
before turning his focus to Adalind.

When she saw he was alone, standing at the base
of the stairs, she gathered her skirt and made her way down to him.

“What is happening?” she begged softly. “Will
you tell me?  I heard you mention de Burgh.”

He was in battle mode, struggling to soften his
manner as he gazed at her. After a moment, he held out his hand to her and she
took it tightly in both of hers. Her hands were warm and soft as she squeezed
his big, rough fingers.

“An army approaches,” he said. “We do not know
for sure if it is de Burgh. In fact, we do not even know if they are truly
hostile but it would be foolish not to set our defenses.  To that regard, I
want you to go back inside and bolt the door.  Throw the shutters and lock
yourselves in.  Do not open the doors for anyone but me or your grandfather. Do
you understand?”

She looked at him with big eyes, nodding, and he
could see the tears coming.  “I do,” she whispered. Then she bit off a sob.
“Oh, Maddoc, why is this happening? If it is de Burgh, why will he not leave us
alone? He is a hateful, hateful man.”

He gently tugged on her hands, pulling her
against him.  His big arms went around her, their first true and solid embrace
that was warm, tender, and strong.  Maddoc held her tightly, his face in the
top of her head, smelling the faint sweet scent of her hair.  It was heavenly. 
His heart, so recently filled with rage and battle, softened with the feel and
smell of her. He’d never known anything so wonderful, melting him, causing all
of the anger and aggressiveness he was feeling to drain right out of him.  It
was a struggle for him to maintain focus.

“He is of no consequence,” he murmured. “If it
is him, then he shall be sorely disappointed, for Canterbury will hold and he
shall not have what he came for. He shall not have you.”

Adalind was trying to be brave, she truly was.
But she was genuinely distressed that they were facing potential danger, with
Maddoc in the middle of it.  She felt so guilty, as if she was the cause of all
of their troubles.  Her arms were wrapped tightly around his waist, her eyes
closed as she buried her face in his tunic.  How long had she dreamed of this
moment, to be held by Maddoc in a way that a man holds a woman? It seemed like
a lifetime. Now, he was finally hers to hold and she never wanted to let him
go, not ever.

“I know,” she whispered.  Then she pulled her
face from his chest and gazed up at him. “I simply want you to be safe. Nothing
else matters to me but you. Please take care.”

He smiled faintly at her, brushing a bit of
stray hair from her eyes.  Then he cupped her face in one big hand and kissed
her
tenderly on
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the cheek.  But that wasn’t good enough, like a
teaser for his passion, so he kissed her on the lips as well. She tasted like
the cherries she had been eating in the hall, tangy and sweet.  It was enough
to spark his lust and he pulled her tightly against him as his lips devoured
her, tasting her, his tongue licking her lips and begging for admittance.  When
she opened her mouth, timidly, he took full advantage of it.  He kissed her
until she had to gasp for air and even then he pulled away purely out of
necessity.  Men were yelling at him from the battlements.

“Rider!”

Maddoc could hear the cries.  Leaving a
breathless Adalind standing by the stairs, he moved towards the gatehouse where
David was ordering the gates opened.  There was still the portcullis, squat and
tough, lowered against all threats that would wash upon Canterbury and providing
some measure of protection, but Maddoc could see something beyond the iron
grate as he made his way towards the gatehouse.  A rider was indeed approaching
in the darkness.