Ruby - Book 1 (Daughters of the Dagger Series) (14 page)

“He sounds as if he spends most of his time
in bed – and not always his own. Tell me about his mistress
Jocelyn.”

He didn’t answer at first, and his
hesitation caused her to be suspicious.

“Is his mistress the same Jocelyn that
Ascilia spoke of, the one she said you loved?” She already knew the
answer but wanted him to tell her.

“Ruby, it is not for me to say anything
about the king’s affairs. All I want to tell you is that the king
has ordered you to help me with this child.”

“I didn’t hear him tell me directly to do
anything.” She pulled her hand away and walked toward the creek. He
waited a moment and then followed.

“Please, I am asking you, will you help me –
as my wife?”

“Doing what?” she asked. “You seem to be
attached to the boy for some reason, and want him at Sheffield bad
enough to go marry and bury three wives without a bit of remorse,
so you do it.”

“That’s not true,” he told her. “I mourned
every one of my wives, though I barely knew them.”

“I see,” she said turning toward him. “But
since they weren’t really your wives in every way, mayhap it wasn’t
as hard. I wonder if you would have mourned me if that foot soldier
had succeeded in slitting my throat.”

“Sweetheart, I don’t want to argue. Now, the
king wants us to pretend this is our baby in front of everyone else
until he returns.”

“Our baby? Hah! We were married a day ago,
and I’m sure no one will believe it.”

“Nay, but they would believe that this is
your baby from . . . from another time.”

Her eyes opened wide and she looked like she
wanted to slap him.

“So you’re expecting me to let everyone
believe I wasn’t a virgin on my wedding night after all? And that I
was some sort of harlot who birthed a bastard and then left him
behind and went off to marry you? You have got to be jesting.”

“Well,” he said, running a weary hand over
his face, “most of the castle already know me and ’tis no secret I
haven’t a child. But they don’t know you. And if you don’t like the
idea, then do you have a better one?”

“You wanted to marry me just to take care of
a child that you will never see again as soon as the king
returns?”

“I . . . I . . . yes,” he answered instead
of telling her if things worked out the way he planned, Tibbar
would be staying with them at Sheffield forever.

“Before I agree to anything, I need you to
tell me the truth.”

“I have,” he said.

“Nay, you haven’t. The handmaid said that
you, not the king, had a child with this Jocelyn. So tell me, whose
child is this boy – yours or the king’s?”

Nyle thought about that for a moment, and he
knew that no one really knew the answer. But if he told her he
wanted her to help him because he thought it might be his child, he
knew she’d never agree. But if it were a request from the king,
then she would have no choice.

He couldn’t risk her telling everyone this
could be his child and it getting back to the king. After all, he
chopped off the head of the last man found in Jocelyn’s bed. He
really didn’t fancy being the king’s next victim. He put his
fingers around his throat rubbing his neck, already feeling the
blade of the axe or perhaps the burn of the noose tightening. He
didn’t want to be dishonest with his new wife, but he also couldn’t
risk losing his own life or losing a boy who may be his son –
forever.

“’Tis by the order of the king that you play
out the part and watch over his child,” he said instead, without
answering directly.

“I see.” Her words were cold and clipped and
her arms were now on her hips. “Fine,” she said, heading toward the
horse and mounting it quickly.

“Really?” he asked, surprised she’d agree so
easily.

“I will play the part of your little
charades, but if you just once tell me I can’t practice in the
weapon yard or wear a tunic and hose instead of a gown, then I will
tell everyone your little secret.”

Well, he didn’t expect blackmail, but at
least she’d agreed to work with him. And though she should be
reprimanded heartily for her tone as well as her threats, he could
do naught about it. If so, his secret would be out. She was winning
this round, but that would change soon.

He lifted himself into the saddle, turning
his horse a full circle and looking back to her as he spoke. “The
king’s secret, not mine,” he corrected her. “And you would do well
to remember that, Wife.”

He rode off before she could answer, hoping
to hell he’d be able to tame her before she made a mess out of the
whole blasted situation.

Ruby rode into the castle gates following
Nyle with the boy in his arms. Locke followed behind her. A crowd
of people rushed up to him, the stable boy grabbing the reins of
Nyle’s horse.

“Lord Sheffield,” called out his steward,
Lewis. “Who is the young boy?”

Nyle looked over to her, and she ignored him
as she dismounted.

“This is Lady Ruby’s child,” he told them.
“She has had the child brought here from Blackpool.”

Ruby dismounted and handed the reins of her
horse to a groom. Nyle’s sister Linette ran up to join them, and
her handmaid followed behind. For some reason, she didn’t seem to
be bent over as much as the other day and was moving much
quicker.

“You have a child?” asked Linette, putting
her arm around Ruby’s shoulder. “I want a child badly but have not
yet had one.” Then she turned and looked at her brother still
sitting atop his horse. “Nyle, why didn’t you tell me this
yesterday when I arrived?”

“I wanted to let Ruby tell you,” he said,
dismounting with the one-year-old in his arms. “Come, darling,” he
said with a nod of his head toward Ruby, “take the baby.”

“Take the baby?” Ruby froze, not knowing a
thing about rearing children. Her sisters had always tended to the
young ones of the castle, and helped the nursemaids with the
children of the lords and ladies of her father’s castle. In the
meantime, she’d been out watching the knights practice instead. She
knew naught about children and neither did she think she could fake
it.

“Oh no, he needs to know his new father,”
she said.

“He needs his swaddling changed . . .
Mother,” Nyle said with a smile, holding out the baby who she could
see had wet himself.

She walked up cautiously, and no more than
raised her hands to take him before Nyle was pushing the boy into
her embrace. Little Tibbar started crying immediately, and she felt
like crying as well.

“There, there, now little Tucker, calm down
for your mama.”

“Don’t you mean Tibbar, darling?” Nyle
corrected her in a low, hoarse whisper.

“Oh, yes. Tibbar, my boy,” she said trying
to bounce the baby in her arms. He only cried more and she could
feel the wetness of his swaddling leaking into the front of her
tunic. She held the crying baby at arms length in front of her,
wondering just what to do.

“I’ll take him,” said Ascilia,” moving
forward to grab him.

“Nay!” Nyle stopped her with an outstretched
arm and Ruby just pursed her mouth in response.

“Ascilia can help me,” she told him, but he
just shook his head, meaning for her to do it by herself.

“Haven’t you got the stomach yet for
changing a dirty swaddling?” asked Linette. “Here, I’ll take him
and you come with me and we’ll do it together.” Ignoring the
protests of her brother, Linette pulled the boy out of her arms and
he calmed right away. “After all, in the Highlands I get plenty of
practice with the babies and children within my husband’s large
clan.”

She walked away talking gibberish to the
baby and Ascilia followed right behind.

“Don’t let that handmaid touch my baby,”
Nyle told her. “I don’t trust her.”

“
Your
baby?” Ruby looked at him and
raised a brow.

“I meant our baby. You know I am only
playing out the part,” he said softly.

“Yes, I see. And you play it so convincingly
that I would have sworn you really were the boy’s father.”

With that, she hurried off after Linette
hoping she would only be a bystander in the swaddling changing
ceremony, as she wasn’t looking forward to playing mother.

* * *

Nyle watched Ruby walking away with his
sister and the old handmaid and just shook his head.

“She seemed to be trying,” said Locke,
coming to his side.

“She wasn’t trying hard enough,” he said.
“If so, mayhap she would have remembered the boy’s name.”

“Do you think this is going to work, my
lord? I mean the ruse of her being a mother and all?”

“Not in the least. And now besides having to
teach her how to act like a lady, I will have to teach her how to
tend to a child as well.” Nyle ran a weary hand through his
hair.

“You have a real challenge, my lord, if I
may point out.”

“You don’t need to remind me,” he said. “I
only wish I knew what to do to make her more receptive.”

“To you, or the baby?” he asked.

“Both,” Nyle answered. “Keep an eye on her,
will you? I am worried about what may transpire.”

“But I need to keep an eye on the falconer’s
apprentice,” he told him. “I’ve only got two eyes, my lord.”

“Then an eye on each of them will be
beneficial, now go.”

“Aye, my lord.”

Locke took off at a run after them, and Nyle
headed toward the barracks of the garrison. He needed to tend to
the knights and their training and also the many other duties
required of him in trying to run and maintain such a large
household. He was really hoping Ruby would be able to help out with
the baby, but now he was having his doubts. He was only glad his
sister had showed up, but he knew she wouldn’t be staying here
long. If only he could trust a nursemaid with the baby, but it was
too risky. They needed to watch over this child personally.

He also needed to take Linette to his
father’s gravesite soon. He had his body buried at the back of his
mother’s favorite church in Lancaster, near the coast. While it was
far from his home, ’twas where his mother’s grave was also, and
where she insisted to be buried as it was the same graveyard as her
relatives. Nyle needed to spend time with his sister and take her
there, as he knew she needed to mourn and he hadn’t even allowed
her that since she’d been here. Aye, he decided. He would tend to
the needs of his family very soon indeed.

* * *

Ruby spent most the day with Linette and the
baby, and she had to keep reminding herself his name was Tibbar.
What kind of silly name was that and what did it even mean? She was
sure Nyle had a hand in naming the child. Because, to her
recollection, King Edward’s sons had normal names like Edward,
Edmund, John or Thomas.

Who, she wondered, would ever burden their
child with such an oddity?

“So, Ruby,” said Linette carrying the baby,
walking next to her as they made their way across the courtyard.
Ruby had managed to get rid of Ascilia by sending her out to get
supplies for the baby, but it wasn’t easy as the woman seemed to be
shadowing her lately and it was starting to make her uncomfortable.
“Where did you get a name such an odd name like Ruby, anyway?”
Linette asked.

All of a sudden Ruby realized she’d been
fast to judge Tibbar’s name when she and her sisters were saddled
with odd names also. She smiled and almost laughed.

“Well, we were all named after daggers with
gemstones in the hilts that my mother bought from a blind hag in
desperation as she was trying to conceive.”

“What?” she asked with a giggle, bouncing
the boy up and down as she walked. “The old hag was trying to
conceive?”

“No, no,” said Ruby with a giggle of her
own. “My mother was barren and trying to give my father an heir.
’Twas an old superstition that anyone who bought a blade from this
woman would conceive. One child for every blade bought.”

“I don’t believe in those things,” she said.
“Don’t tell me you do?”

“Well, it worked. My mother bought four
daggers with gems in the hilts and I have three sisters.”

“Really? That’s very odd.”

“And she was told that if she named us after
the stones, which she did, we would all find our true loves in this
lifetime.”

“And you are all named after the gems?” she
asked.

“Yes,” she explained, “Ruby, Sapphire, Amber
and Amethyst.”

“That’s wonderful! Then you have found your
true love with my brother.”

“I’m afraid that part didn’t work as
planned,” she answered. “You see my mother also tried to steal a
fifth dagger. Because of that, she was more or less cursed by the
blind woman. She told my mother she’d have only daughters – which
came true. She also said she’d lose her true love.”

“So your father’s dead?” she asked.

“Nay, my mother is dead. She died giving
birth to a son who didn’t live either. Because of that, my father
got rid of the daggers.”

“Oh, I am so sorry, honey. So you don’t
think that Nyle is your true love?” she asked.

“Nay. We don’t love each other. I think he
despises me.”

“That’s not true. I’ve seen the look in his
eyes when he watches you when you don’t know he’s looking.”

“That’s not love, that’s lust,” she pointed
out. “And I don’t think your brother knows the meaning of the word
love. At least not for me. But if what Ascilia said is true, he’s
known love with a woman named Jocelyn.”

“Really?” she asked. “I’ve never heard him
mention anyone by that name. But tell me, did you not love the man
who gave you this beautiful baby?”

“I have no baby,” she said, realizing only
too late what she’d just said.

“So, if Tibbar isn’t your son, than whose is
he?”

“Oh, Linette, please don’t let Nyle know
what I just told you, or he will kill me.”