Highland Honor (8 page)

“
Non
, David. I will stay with Sir Murray,” she replied, speaking in English so as not to exclude Nigel from the discussion, knowing that was what her cousin had been trying to do. “I chose this path and I will stay on it.”

“I swear you will not be treated in the same shameful manner you have been,” David replied in English, his reluctance to use the language clear in his deep voice.

“I believe you. That does not matter.”

“Are you certain you are not allowing hurt feelings to guide your steps?”

She smiled briefly and shrugged. “I will not deny that those feelings are there, but they do not lead me. This is for the best, believe me.” Gisele could tell by the dark look on David's face that he thought she and Nigel were already lovers, but was probably not sure who to blame for that. After all, she was no longer some naive virgin. “We have a good plan. You need not worry about me.”

“Not worry? How many times must I say it? You are traveling all over the land dressed as a boy with a man none of us know. Do you have no thought to how you are blackening your name?”

Gisele laughed—a short, bitter sound. “Blackening my name? For a year now even some of my own family has decried me as a murderer, a woman who not only killed her husband but mutilated him. I doubt what I do now could stain my precious name any deeper than that.” She took a deep breath to steady herself. “Sir Nigel is taking me to a safe place. That is what is needed now.”

“We could find you a safe place, cousin,” David said, but his deep voice carried a hint of uncertainty.

“
Non
, you cannot, and we both know it. The DeVeaux watch every member of our family very closely. What happened to poor Guy is hard proof of that. There is nowhere amongst you that I can truly hide. Whomever I abide with I will put in danger. Do you truly wish to pull our whole family into a war with the DeVeaux? A war that could easily set you against the king himself? I did not think so,” she murmured when he frowned.

“But, now that we have come to our senses we can do nothing else except help you, or we risk our honor.”

“Then do help me. Find out who truly killed my husband. Now is the perfect time to do that. All DeVeau eyes are turned upon me, and all of their strength and interest is aimed at me. That should give someone a very good chance of discovering exactly what happened to my husband.”

“It will not be an easy task,” David muttered as he rubbed his chin.

“
Non
, it will not be. If it were easy I would have found out the truth myself by now. I have had little chance to ferret out the real murderer myself, and now that the DeVeaux offer a hefty purse for my miserable head I will have no time at all. I have no time for anything except running and hiding.”

“That is no life for a woman.”

“
Non
, it is not, so find out who really cut up my loathsome worm of a husband and free me from it.”

She waited with some apprehension as David considered her words. He could cause her a great deal of trouble if he refused to accept her decision, and she felt she had more than enough to deal with already. Although a part of her was still not completely sure she could trust Nigel, she knew she could not leave him. Every instinct told her to hold firmly to the path she was on, but she did not want to push away the family that had finally come to her aid.

“I do not like this,” David muttered, sending Nigel a brief, hard glare before tightly hugging Gisele. “I will honor your wishes. Stay with the man, and your family shall set its mind and heart to getting you exonerated.”

“Ye made the wise choice,” Nigel said as he tugged Gisele to his side.

“I do not believe I was given much of a choice at all,” David replied, fixing his gaze on Gisele after one brief glare toward Nigel. “I hope you do not regret this, cousin.” He bowed and strode away.

Gisele sighed, suddenly unsure of herself, but she repressed the urge to call her cousin back. She could not let herself waver simply because she missed her family. Although she was ready to forgive them, she could not really ignore the fact that Nigel had been more steadfast than they had. David had assured her that they had joined her cause now, but a lingering hurt and an all too clear memory of their betrayal kept her from fully believing him. She was fighting for her life. She could not afford to gamble on anyone or anything.

She looked up at Nigel, who was watching her closely, and decided that she had indulged in all the gambling she dared to for now, and that was putting her trust in him. David's complaint that she was hurting her reputation by traveling with Nigel was foolish, but he had been right about one thing. No one really knew Nigel Murray. He was a Scot who sold his sword to the French and, amongst his fellow soldiers there were few who spoke ill of him. It really was not much to bet one's life on.

“Are ye regretting your decision, lass?” Nigel asked, fighting to hide the unease he felt. Her gaze was intent, considering, and he feared she was about to change her mind. “We could easily call your cousin back,” he said, hoping she would never know how hard it was for him to choke out those words.

“
Non
.” She frowned, then shook her head. “This is best. I but faltered for a moment.”

“It is nay an easy choice to make.”

“
Non
, it is not. I have missed my family. As I told you, I dearly want to go home. Not yet. And not with him.”

“Ye dinnae think he spoke the truth?”

“Oh, he spoke the truth as he sees it. It is not him I doubt. In truth, I do not wish to doubt the others, but I cannot stop myself.”

He gently tucked a stray curl back up under her cap. “They turned their backs on ye when ye most needed them. 'Tis a hard betrayal, one not easily set aside just because they say they are sorry for it.”

She smiled at him, touched by his understanding. “
Non
, it is not. I was torn, wanted to believe in him, to trust in my family again, and then felt like the basest of traitors because I could not, not with a whole heart.”

“Ye dinnae need to don the hair shirt o'er it, Gisele. They may be kinsmen, but they betrayed you, and they must earn your trust again.”

“And now, in the midst of fleeing for my life, is not the time to play out that game.”

She stared in the direction David had gone and fought a sudden urge to cry. She could see her home, the mossy stone walls and high towers. She could almost smell the roses her grandmother had taken such care of, of which she had taken charge when the old woman had died. The urge to return home and curl up in her soft bed was so strong she ached with it, but she had to fight it. At home there was no safety for her, and she could easily bring danger to those she loved.

Gisele smoothed her hand over Nigel's sleeve, then crossed her arms over her chest to stop herself from clinging to him for the strength she lacked. She had refused David's offer—in part, because it would put her family in peril—yet she chose to put Nigel there. It made no sense, and she was suddenly ashamed of herself. He had willingly offered to be her protector and take her to safety in Scotland, but he had not truly known how much trouble that would bring down on his head. Since she had just been given a choice it was past time she gave him one, she decided, and she took a deep breath and looked at him.

“I was just thinking,” she began.

“Ah, and why do I get the feeling that I willnae like it?”

She just frowned at him and doggedly continued, “I speak of not wishing to endanger my family, that I think of their safety, too, when I refuse to rejoin them. I also think of your safety, Sir Nigel.”

“Now I am
sure
I willnae like this.”

“May I be allowed to finish?” When he feigned a bow she said, “I was just blessed with a choice, and I believe it is past time I offered you one. When you first offered to help me you may not have realized how large and deep a quagmire you were stepping into. You now have a better idea of the trouble I bring. I will understand if you wish to leave.”

“Ye might, but I wouldnae think many others would,” he murmured, smiling faintly, for her taut stance told him she was finding it hard to offer him this chance to step down as her protector. “I gave my word of honor, lass.”

“To me, so you can lose none if I say I release you.”

“Many might think so, but nay I. I will stay. I said I would get ye to Scotland where ye can safely work to clear your name, and that is what I mean to do.”

She was weak with relief, but struggled not to show it. “You are a very stubborn man, Sir Murray.”

“That I am.” He took her by the arm and led her out of the alley. “I am also most thoughtful, kind, and generous.”

“And vain.”

“I prefer to think of it as having a simple knowledge of my strengths.”

Gisele giggled and shook her head. “A blithe and interesting explanation, but what prompts you to boast so?”

“I have planned a wee surprise for you, lass, and I may be vain but I do think ye will like it.”

Gisele almost moaned aloud with pleasure as she eased her body into the hot water. Nigel had led her into the inn, talked to the innkeeper, and presented her with a room containing a soft bed and a tub that was soon brimming with hot, rose-scented water. She knew his surprise had been conceived even as they had walked out of the alley, but she was not inclined to argue that.

As the innkeeper's wife and daughters had filled the tub with hot water, Gisele had been so eager to climb in that she had barely waited for the door to close behind Nigel before she had begun to shed her clothes. Only briefly did she worry that by revealing she was not a page she was revealing some deep secret. The lack of surprise on the women's faces told her they had already guessed her sex.

“I really need to find out what I am doing wrong,” she murmured as she began to wash her hair. “It would be most disappointing to think I cut all of my hair off for no real gain.”

She poured water over her hair to rinse away the soap, then groped for the drying cloth the women had left on a stool next to the tub. After she wiped her face she rubbed her hair dry and looked around the room. This had to be costing Nigel a goodly number of his hard-earned coin. It cost to have a room all to one's self, most inns having only one or two. A tub filled with hot water and rose scent was not a luxury many could afford, either.
Or rose-scented soap
, she mused as she sniffed the bar of soap and then began to wash.

The more she considered the matter, the more it troubled her. She realized she had not once given any thought to how they would pay for anything. Since he had been wounded and nearly senseless when they had left him, Gisele doubted that Guy had given Nigel any money, and she had not given him any, either. She did not have any to give. That meant that Nigel was not only risking his life to protect her, but was paying for the privilege.

She looked at her amulet, which she had carefully laid on the stool. She could probably get some money for that. Then she shook her head. She could not bring herself to sell it. Even the thought of it made her shiver. It was all she had left of her grandmother, of the woman who had been more of a mother to her than her own. She would have to find some other way to make recompense to Nigel. Now that her family appeared to have accepted her back into the fold, it should not be too hard to get some money.

Sinking into the water to savor the last of its warmth, she smiled at her own foolishness. It was not just that the amulet was an heirloom that made her so reluctant to part with it. Her grandmother had said that it brought good luck, and Gisele ruefully admitted to herself that she had begun to believe that. She had a feeling that her grandmother was having a fine chuckle over that.

Closing her eyes, she idly wondered what her grandmother would have thought of Nigel, then laughed softly. She felt sure that her grandmother and Nigel would have become fast friends. Her Nana would probably have delighted in the man's odd sense of humor.

A trickle of concern disturbed Gisele's comfort. They had only just escaped capture, spent the whole previous day working to elude the DeVeaux. It did not seem wise to stop so soon for such luxuries as a soft bed and a hot bath. She cursed and forced the thought from her mind. Nigel had done his job well so far. She would trust him to know what was safe and what was not. She just wished she did not have to keep reminding herself to do that. It seemed disloyal to question his every move. Until she cured herself of the distrust learned over the past year she would just have to make sure that Nigel never saw her doubts. Gisele returned to thoroughly enjoying her bath, telling herself firmly not to worry, that Nigel was keeping a close watch for any trouble.

 

Nigel cursed and hastily rubbed himself dry. Only briefly did he resent the fact that he was bathing in a cold stream while Gisele was sprawled in a tub of hot water. She deserved the treat he had arranged for her, and needed it more than he did. It had been a hasty decision to stop over at the inn, and an expensive one, but he did not really regret it. There had been such sadness in her eyes after her cousin had walked away that he had felt compelled to do something to lift her spirits.

He shook his head as he put on clean clothes. Uncertainty still plagued him. At one moment he felt that he was right to keep her with him, that it was better for everyone, and then he questioned his reasons. Nigel suspected that would puzzle him for a very long time.

He knelt by the stream and scrubbed out his dirty clothes, praying they would dry overnight. Just as he finished wringing them out, he tensed. Too late he heard the soft footfall behind him. As he slowly rose to his feet he wondered if his gift had finally deserted him, or was trying to teach him another lesson. When he turned around and saw David standing there, he cursed even as he felt relieved. He had not felt any sense of danger because there was none. David might not trust or like him, but he felt sure the man would not hurt him.

“I had thought ye had hied away home,” he said as he sat down to lace up his boots.

“I do not leave until the morrow. My horse is being reshod,” David replied.

“Ah, so ye are the reason Gisele and I have to wait for the same to be done to our mounts. And so ye thought to take a wee stroll along the water?”

David glared at him. “You leave one thinking that you do not take him seriously as a threat.”

“Do I?” Nigel watched him closely as he stood up again. “And are ye a threat, Sir Lucette?”

“I should be—a deadly one, too. I do not believe that you are as safe a haven as my cousin does. She can be most naive from time to time.”

“She is a widow, nay a virgin who has no knowledge of men.”

“And so you feel she is ripe for the plucking?”

“When ye finally decide to concern yourself about the lass's weel-being, ye get verra heated, dinnae ye?”

David cursed, and paced back and forth on the soft grass for a moment before facing Nigel again. “I only accept such insults because I have the wit to know I deserve them, but 'ware, Sir Nigel, I have never been known to be a patient man. I may deserve the bite of shame, but I will not endure it long.
Oui
, I have failed that girl, as has most of the rest of our family. That is something that must be settled between us and her, not you. It also does not mean that my concern about you is not heartfelt.”

“There is no need to be concerned over me.”

“
Non?
Are you about to tell me that you do not lust for the girl?”

Nigel smiled. “Nay. I am nay that big a liar.”

He almost laughed when David cursed again. The younger man was easy to torment, and Nigel knew he ought to stop. There might come a time when he needed the good favor of Gisele's kinsmen. On the other hand, he felt David and the others who had turned their backs on Gisele did not deserve much consideration. He did not think he would be as quick to forgive them as Gisele would be, even though he was not sure why it should anger him so.

“Honesty must be praised, I suppose. If you are such a truthful man, then mayhap you will tell me exactly what you plan for my little cousin.”

“I dinnae believe it is any of your business, but I plan to get her safely to my keep in Scotland. There she can abide until the injustice she suffers from here has been ended.” He pointedly looked David over, then asked, “Do ye think ye can clear her name, and get these DeVeaux carrion off her trail?”

“I have said I would.”

“I heard ye. I just wonder why ye think ye can do it now when no one has accomplished the task in nearly a year.” He frowned when David blushed. “No one has really tried, have they? They decided on her guilt or innocence, and went no further. What is it about that wee lass that makes ye think she would do that to a mon with no cause?”

David's eyes widened. “You think she did it.”

“I am nay sure what I believe about that. I ken only what I have been told and, since I first heard the tale I havenae had the time to seek out the whole truth for myself.”

“But why would you work so hard to protect a woman you think killed her husband?”

“Because the bastard deserved all he got and more,” Nigel answered coldly.

“Well, he was unkind. We have learned that much.”

Nigel laughed harshly. “Unkind? Ye have learned nothing at all.”

As succinctly as he could he told the youth all Gisele had told him. He also told David what he had guessed at simply by watching the way Gisele acted at times. It pleased him to see the youth grow pale with horror and fury. David sank down onto the grass and covered his face with his hands. Nigel quietly sat down facing him, patiently waiting for the man to control himself.

“We should have seen it,” David finally whispered.

“Someone should have kenned what was going on,” Nigel agreed. “Gisele might not have been too clear in her explanations or too exact in her complaints, but the scars are there if one but bothers to look. I saw them, and I dinnae e'en ken the lass, not as her family should have.”

“
Non
, not as her family should have. She did not speak to me.” David grimaced. “And now I but reach for a way to excuse my own blindness. I cannot be sure I would have heeded her or seen things more clearly than the ones she did turn to. I cannot even be sure that how she was treated would have made much difference, even if we all knew it.
Oui
, some would have cried out, and she and her husband might have been more closely watched, but I do not feel certain that anyone would have tried to take her home again. Bastard though he was, he was her husband. Those are bonds that are not easy to break. In truth, killing him was one of the few ways to do that, and you see what trouble that has wrought.”

“Better this than what she was enduring.”

“Mayhap. If all of his cruelty had been known, it certainly would not have made us believe in her innocence any more than we did, mayhap even less.”

“I fear I will probably ne'er understand how so many of ye could believe it at all. Aye, the lass has a sharp tongue and speaks her mind more than some would find comfortable in a woman, but a killer? Nay, I would ne'er have thought her one. I only doubt now because I ken what she went through. Weel, some of it. I am nay sure she will e'er tell anyone all of it. When a mon treats a woman like that she will either grow weak and terrified and be lost to it all or she will o'ercome that fear and run. And, if there is nowhere to run to I believe she will kill, and I cannae fault her for that.”

“
Non
, I do not think I can, either. It will be easier to stop the DeVeaux from trying to kill her if she is truly innocent, however,” David drawled, and he smiled briefly, then grew solemn again. “These are not men who will see her killing of that beast as justified, will not see what he did to her as wrong. They are all of the same ilk. We just had not listened, or not believed how evil that ilk was. It will be best if we can find another who did the killing.”

“I am nay sure they should suffer, either, but better them than Gisele, if she truly is innocent. She wouldnae stomach ye setting someone on the scaffold in her place unless they deserved to be there.” He smiled faintly, rose to his feet, and gave David a hand up. “So ye had better put that thought from your mind. Dinnae rush into some foolish solution. The lass is safe with me.”

“Is she? Even if I ignore the fact that you will probably try to seduce the girl.”

“Probably?” Nigel murmured.

David ignored him and went on. “There are few places she can hide from the DeVeaux or the ones seeking the huge bounty they have set on her head. I think even some of your countrymen may be tempted by it. And do not think that your plan to take her to Scotland will not be guessed at. It is already known that she rides with a Scotsman.”

“It is?” That was not good news. Nigel had hoped that secret would not get out for a little while yet.

“It is. So, if they cannot find her in France they will look elsewhere. They will follow you, or send others after you. The coin offered for her head will only make this hunt grow fiercer each day.”

“The bounty is that tempting?”

“
Oui
, and it may continue to grow. The DeVeaux have more coin than the king.”

“Then ye had best get to work, laddie, and prove her innocence. I am returning to the inn. It is nay a good idea to leave her alone for verra long.”

“You intend to share that room with her?”

Nigel just smiled at David's outrage. “Aye.”

“A gentleman would sleep elsewhere.”

“Nay, he wouldnae, unless he had no choice. And, Sir Lucette, 'twill be verra hard to protect her as I must if me and my sword arenae e'en close at hand.” He patted the younger man on the shoulder, then started back toward the village. “And I dinnae think I need to tell ye that Gisele has the wit and the strength to cry me a nay if she chooses to. Sleep weel, lad.”

 

Gisele barely had the strength to open one eye when Nigel entered the room. She had waited for him, but soon after her bath she had swiftly grown too tired and had crawled into bed. A light meal had been delivered just before she had fallen completely asleep, and she had roused herself enough to have some food but then hurried back into the soft, warm bed.

“You were gone a very long time,” she murmured, watching him as he spread his damp clothing out to dry then sat on the edge of the bed and helped himself to some food.

“Weel, I felt a need to bathe and then met with your cousin again.”

“You did not fight, did you?”

“Nay, lass, although I think the lad wished to strike at me a time or two.”

“You taunted him.”

“A wee bit. He confesses that it is deserved. They should have been there at your side from the start, lass.”

She sighed. “I know, and their desertion cut deeply, but I can also understand why they were not. The DeVeaux are nearly as powerful as the king, at least in this province. They are feared by everyone. To stand with me was to stand against them, and few have the stomach or the strength to do that. And one must not forget that the DeVeaux are very close to the king, so if one stands against them one also runs the chance of being seen as standing against the king, too. That is a dangerous place to be.”