An Honorable Rogue (33 page)

As Rose stared. Cecily gave an emphatic nod and her veil shifted. 'Assuredly. But one thing puzzles me greatly, and that is this business concerning Sir Richard of Asculf.'

Rose sighed. It was so complicated. The truth, she must tell Adam's wife the truth. She was not sure whether it was due to the years that Cecily had spent in the convent, but Cecily seemed to deserve only the truth. 'When I was young. I had a dream of how my life would be." Rose said softly, 'It was rather like one of Ben's ballads." Catching Cecily's sympathetic gaze on her, she smiled. 'You will have heard similar ballads. I am sure. A young maiden meets a handsome young knight and falls in love with him. He falls in love with her and comes to carry her off on the back of his white charger. He takes her to his castle and...

'That was your dream? That you should marry a knight?' Cecily's blue eyes were confused. 'Adam told me you married a merchant."

'Yes, I did. It was a mistake. My husband and I...we were not...compatible.'

'I see.' It was a brief response, but in it lay a world of understanding.

'Also, Per was improvident. He had many debts. So after his death, while I was working to pay them off, the old dream returned. I thought if I married a knight, I would never have to worry about money. I would never feel shame again.' Rose hung her head. 'The... The circumstances of my birth are...shadowy, to say the least.'

A warm hand pressed hers. 'Adam said you were abandoned and that his mother adopted you. He has always been thankful for that.'

'Adam is a good man. Would that he were my brother in truth.'

'He is, Rose, in all the ways that count." Cecily grimaced. 'Though I could wish that he had not deceived you in this matter of Sir Richard.'

Rose straightened her shoulders. 'Adam knew my dream of old, he knew what I wanted. So when his message reached me, telling me that Sir Richard was proposing marriage, I wanted to believe it. Let us say that I was looking for an escape from Quimperle, and Adam's message came at the right time...' Her voice trailed off and she found herself staring at a bee as it lurched from one lavender flower to the next. 'I was very foolish, it seems.'

An airy hand dismissed Rose's follies as of no account. 'The important thing is that you love Benedict Silvester.'

'I always have. I think.'

'I am certain that he loves you."

'Would that that were true, but I am equally certain you are wrong. Because if Ben did love me, he would...' Rose frowned '...he would at least
ask
me, and that he has never done."

Cecily's eyes sparkled. 'You want him to carry you off on the back of that white charger.'

'Yes, yes, I do! It does not matter that he has no title or castle. I would marry him in rags if needs be."

'Would you be content to share his wandering life?'

'I used to think that such a life would kill me. I wanted a house of my own.' She gestured about her. 'Perhaps even a garden like this."

'You have changed, I think."

'Now a life with Ben...' Rose sighed, 'I am no traveller, but I would journey to Jerusalem and back, if it meant I could be with him."

'Yes, that is love.' Cecily would have said more, but at that moment two boys rushed into the herb garden, and pounded up to the bench.

'Lady Cecily, Lady Cecily!" the tallest boy got out. His chest was heaving so much he could barely speak. 'We have a message from Matty--'

'Calm yourself, Harold, catch your breath. Rose, these are the miller's boys. Harold and Carl. My maid Matty is their sister. Harold, what is it?'

'It's Matty. She. ..she...' the boy mumbled and scuffed a leg of the bench with his boot.

'I beg your pardon?'

Harold squared his shoulders. 'Matty gave me a message for you, my lady."

Cecily blinked. 'Why on earth can't she give it to me herself?' Her brow cleared, 'I have it! She has forgotten to buy the thread we need in Winchester.'

Carl stepped forwards, a cloth-wrapped package in his hands, he thrust it at Cecily. 'No, my lady, here are the things you asked for.'

Cecily opened the package; it contained several bobbins of thread and a roll of unbleached linen with a supply of needles threaded through it--good, sharp needles judging by the way they flashed to white fire in the sunlight. Her clear brow furrowed and her gaze went from one boy to the other. 'I don't understand, why won't Matty give me these herself?'

A small silence fell. No, not silence, there was a back-cloth of noise: the drone of bees in the flowers: sparrows chirruping in the orchard: a wren chattering in an apple tree: and. out by the millpond. the sound of men's laughter. Ben had taught Rose that silence was rarely complete--how right he was.

Harold continued to scuff the bench leg with his toe. Carl seemed fascinated with a patch of mint. At length, Harold took a deep breath. 'Matty's message--she says to thank you for all you did--'

'For taking her on as your maid,' Carl interjected.

Harold nodded. 'That's it. But Matty also said that she is very sorry, but--she will not be coming back."

'Not for a while, anyways.' Carl finished.

Cecily's hand went to her brow. 'I'm sorry, boys. I seem to be particularly slow-witted this afternoon. It must be the heat. You say Matty is not returning?'

'No, my lady. She said to say she is staying in Winchester tonight at Evie's new house. And after that...after that..."

Slowly, Cecily rose to her feet. 'It's Sir Richard, isn't it? You are trying to tell me that Matty is going to follow Sir Richard?'

'Yes, my lady," Carl said. 'That's exactly what she's doing, she's going to follow Sir Richard.'

'And tonight?" Cecily caught Carl's arm. 'You are certain she is not alone?"

'Quite sure, my lady. She's with Evie and Leofwine in Winchester."

The tension left Cecily's body. 'Praise the Lord, they will talk sense into her, and then we will send someone to fetch her back here where she belongs.'

'Yes, my lady. Thank you, my lady.'

As the boys bowed and left the herb garden, Cecily sank back on to the bench, hand on her belly. Lifting an eyebrow at Rose, she shook her head and muttered under her breath.

'Cecily?'

'Oh, sweet Lord.' Cecily's blue eyes brimmed with laughter. 'The ballads that these minstrels sing would seem to bear much responsibility."

The next morning, after breaking his fast, Ben followed Adam to the stables. On the previous night they had taken time to discuss Duke Hoel's business, talking into the small hours, but this morning Ben had a personal favour to ask. Finding a leather bucket, he wandered out to the water trough, yawning.

'Too early for you?'Adam grinned. Beating Ben to the trough, he dipped his bucket into the water.

Ben rolled his shoulders and grunted. He had not slept well in Adam's hall, but neither the hall nor the pallet were to blame. He had been ushered to a place behind the curtain in the unmarried men's sleeping area while Rose, as an unmarried woman, had made her bed on the other side of it. Though Ben had known she was nearby, he had missed her. He had missed her scent; he had missed her warmth; he had missed her softness. Damn it, he had missed talking to her. Without Rose at his side, the night was empty and dark and the few yards between them had yawned like a chasm. In a fever of yearning, he had tossed and turned for hours; dawn had been a long time coming.

Adam's gaze was speculative. 'Pallet too hard? Or was it the late night?' As Adam's grin broadened, Ben realised that Adam had drawn his own conclusions as to why Ben was bleary-eyed. Adam was doubtless recalling that Ben had once offered for Rose and knew Ben wanted her close.

Scooping water into his bucket, Ben thought about the favour he was about to ask and repressed the urge to toss the contents into Adam's face. Instead, he marched back into the stables. Setting the bucket down, he propped himself against a wall and watched thoughtfully as Adam backed Flame, his chestnut destrier, out of his stall. Flame was magnificent, a worthy mount for a knight high in the favour of his king. Adam motioned at a lad to begin mucking out.

'You were snug in that sleeping loft with your lady,' Ben said, leaving Piper and Jet in their stalls as he followed Adam and Flame into the yard. 'But you might spare a thought for me wedged in between Brian and Maurice. They were singing a nightmare of a duet and I swear it lasted the night through.'

The sun was rising above the roof of Fulford Hall and another boy was harnessing a mule to a cart. A couple of scythes and a pitchfork gleamed in the morning light. It would be another hot day; they would probably be haymaking as soon as the sun had burned away the dew.

'Brian and Maurice? They were snoring again? Bad luck."

'Bad luck? I tell you another night like that and I'm off.'

Adam laughed and stroked Flame's neck. 'You can't, at least not for a while. As you explained it, the Duke's business demands that you remain here. Besides, Fulford could do with a minstrel now Sir Richard has left."

Ben folded his arms across his chest. 'He played for you?'

'On occasion." Adam's glance in his direction was swift, but keen. 'Richard has improved considerably since you last heard him at the White Bird."

Ben smothered a curse and did not reply. He had heard enough of Sir Richard of Asculf to last him a lifetime, and he did not want Adam of all people to start singing his praises.

Across Flame's neck Adam's eyes were watchful. 'You are not happy.'

'What is happiness?' Ben responded, and even to his own ears he sounded bitter. 'It comes, it goes...' He shrugged. 'However, I have plans..."

When Adam stopped stroking Flame's neck, Flame tossed his head and butted him in the side, 'It's Rose, isn't it? Whatever was between you--it has flared up again. I thought--no, I will admit it. I
hoped
this might happen. In all truth, that was the main reason I agreed to your involving Rose in the first place. Do you...' He gave Ben another penetrating glance. 'Do you want to try for her hand?'

Ben shook his head. 'I'll not ask again.'

Adam frowned. 'You are certain? I made a mistake when I refused you before--I would not make the same mistake twice."

'No, I shall not be asking for her hand. However, there is something I would discuss with you.'

Adam rested his arms against Flame's back and looked at him. 'And that is?"

'As far as Rose is concerned, I am not ready to withdraw from the lists.'

'I am right glad to hear it."

'Rose wants a hearth and a home. Rose wants stability." Ben grimaced, waving his arm to encompass Fulford. 'But how the hell does a minstrel provide the likes of this for her when the longest he spends in any place is twelve nights? And that is at Duke Hoel's Christmas court in Rennes. Believe me, Adam, the court is hardly the place to set up hearth and home.'

Adam nodded. 'I remember Rennes vividly and I agree Rose would hate it. But, Ben, I am sure that Duke Hoel--'

'What I need," Ben continued, 'and what Rose needs, is a house somewhere, a cottage, even--it need not be large. And then I could..." Shaking his head, he rubbed at the back of his neck. 'But what lord would give a minstrel a house if he knew he was likely to vanish on his errant way whenever the need took him?'

Adam held Ben's gaze a moment, and said, quietly, 'You're looking at him."

Ben's heart thudded. 'Eh?'

'You heard me perfectly well, Benedict.' Adam said, lips curving. He jerked his head in the direction of the green. 'You will be needing a base in Wessex and I have a cottage that just might suit. It is next to the church and we have spent the spring repairing it. I thought to house my mother and Rose there, but since the Duke has commanded you get established here..."

Ben took a couple of involuntary paces across the yard, hesitated, and looked back. 'Adam? You mean this?'

Looping Flame's reins around a hook, Adam slung an arm across Ben's shoulders and began walking him past the hall and across the grass. 'Of course I mean it. Rose is my sister and I want her to stay, if she chooses to, naturally.' His smile was lopsided. 'Had I known offering her a place would mean you remaining with her, I may not have been so keen!'

'My thanks." Ben let Adam's teasing pass over his head, because he was staring at a cottage facing the green that could have been built with Rose in mind. It was wooden, built with wide, seasoned planking, and it had a sturdy door and two shuttered windows at either side. The windows were large enough to admit plenty of light, so a woman could sit by the fire in winter to do her sewing and not get too cold...

The thatch had been patched. It still needed repairing in parts, but... As Ben stared, a house martin darted in under the eaves. House martins! Exactly as there had been at her house in Quimperle. He could picture Rose in that cottage, he really could. Rose and him. Together. They would not be penniless, for the Duke paid him well, but with Ben needing to continue the pretence that he was merely the Duke's favourite minstrel, he had not been able to work out how to get Rose a settled home.

However, if it were made known that Rose's
brother
had provided for her...

Swallowing hard, Ben looked at his friend. 'Adam.' He could barely speak for the rush of emotion. Firmly, he gripped his hand. 'My thanks. You are the answer to many prayers. I would have been hard pushed to achieve this for her without endangering my work for the Duke."

Adam grinned. 'Ben, you are my greatest friend. Besides, you are not the only man who wishes to support Brittany's interests in England."

'Adam, Cecily has given me an idea and I need a favour.'

'What,
another
favour?'

Ben grinned. Actually,
two...'

'Yes?'

'One, I shall need to borrow Flame...'

'Flame?
Good God. man, what else might you want-- my back teeth and my right arm, perhaps?'

'No, you may hang on to those, but I will also be needing your hauberk and helm.'

'That's
three
things!'

'So it is. Well? What do you say?'