The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest (40 page)

Mathis, still pale, just stared at her with his mouth open.

“I will not marry you, Mathis. But Lord Thornbeck has approved my marriage to Jorgen Hartman. And now you may go. I do not wish to see you again.”

Odette grabbed Jorgen’s hand and led him inside her house—soon to be the orphanage—without saying another word.

Once inside Odette’s former house, Jorgen said, “You certainly set Mathis Papendorp straight. I almost felt sorry for him.”

She slipped her arms around his back. The invitation in her eyes was too much to resist. Pulling her closer, he kissed her.

Oh, but she was sweet and mysterious and almost too good to be earthly. He had to rein himself in and cut the kiss short. After
all, they had a lot of planning to do, a lot of moving, and a lot of decisions to make. He couldn’t spend all day kissing her, no matter how much he wanted to.

She nestled against his chest in the sweetest way, making his breath hitch in his throat. He hugged her close, brushing his cheek against her silky hair.

“When can we marry?” She sounded breathless.

Was she so eager? His breath hitched again. “The margrave said I should take my lawless young woman to wife as soon as possible.”

He squeezed her tighter and she laughed, a soft sound.

“Are you sure you are able to keep me from being lawless?” She pulled away and looked up at him.

“I believe I am.”

There was a dangerous glint in her eye. “I hope you do not start talking like the margrave now that you’ll be working so closely with him. ‘Take to wife this lawless woman,’ ” she mimicked in an approximation of Lord Thornbeck’s gruff voice.

“No wife of mine is allowed to mock the lord of the land.” Jorgen looked down at her, trying to feign a stern expression.

She grinned and pulled his head down for another long, satisfying kiss.

Marriage. Yes, how soon could they marry? “I suppose it will take three weeks to cry the banns.”

“Three weeks,” she breathed, then pushed him away. “You had better go see the priest, then.”

He touched her cheek, then squeezed her shoulder. “I will leave one horse here, in case you need it.”

He leaned down and kissed her, harder than he meant to, and when he pulled away, her eyes were still closed, as if she hadn’t wanted the kiss to end. His heart skipped.

Three weeks. Just three more weeks.

32

A
FTER TWO WEEKS
, Jorgen was pleased to report to Lord Thornbeck that Odette already had a dozen children living in the former Menkels home. Their cook had stayed on, and Kathryn had also moved in to help and seemed to enjoy taking care of the younger children. His own mother was helping, and she had never seemed happier, as she now had many children to care for.

“Odette will be staying at the house for one more week, until our marriage, and she will help with managing the women’s workhouse at Rutger’s old storehouse. We are still trying to get that set up since the storehouse needed to be cleared out and made a bit more comfortable.”

“Excellent,” the margrave said. “I shall come and inspect it and the orphanage when all the work is complete. And I hear the townspeople are being generous, but I shall not allow anyone to outgive me.” Lord Thornbeck gave a half smile.

“Yes, my lord.”

And now that things were working out so well, Jorgen was more and more preoccupied with getting the chancellor’s manse ready to bring Odette home as his bride.

But first . . . He and his mother had prepared a basket of food, and Jorgen left Thornbeck Castle, bound for the orphanage. He
found Odette playing a game with several of the younger children. When she saw him, her eyes widened and she smiled. She left the children to play with Kathryn and walked toward him.

The children were making a lot of noise, so when she came near, he figured it would be safe to say quietly, “I wish I could kiss you. Would you think it improper if I did?”

“Yes, I would.” Her cheeks turned a gratifying pink.

“Then will you go on a picnic with me? I have not been able to talk with you alone since the day you agreed to marry me.”

Her lips curved deliciously, and she leaned toward him. “That sounds lovely.”

He waited while she went to tell Kathryn that she was leaving, and after giving some instructions to those in the kitchen, they were on horseback and headed to his favorite spot by a small stream, deep in Thornbeck Forest.

“I don’t think I have ever gone on a picnic.” She smiled at him from atop her horse.

“Never?”

“Never alone with a handsome young man.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. If she was trying to be flirtatious, she was doing a worthy job.

They reached the spot, and she jumped down from her horse before he could help her. He unstrapped the basket from the back of his horse and carried it to where she stood with the blanket still folded under her arm.

“This is beautiful. Look at the blue flowers there, and the pink ones. And the stream sounds peaceful.” She spoke in a hushed voice. “I have never seen this place . . . well, not in the daylight, leastways.” She spread out the blanket on the ground and he set down the basket.

She was quiet as they set out the food, sat down, and began
to eat. Perhaps she was listening to the birds or the stream gurgle over the rocks, but he got the feeling that she was thinking, hard, about all the things that were still between them. Or maybe that was only because that was what he was thinking about.

When they had eaten their fill of the bread and cheese and drunk some water he had brought, she took a handful of walnuts and raisins and picked them up one by one with her fingertips and put them in her mouth. A strand of blond hair fell loose from her braid and waved against her cheek. He longed to brush it back, imagining how it would feel against his palm.

But that was not why he had brought her here.

“Odette?”

She turned to look at him, her eyes wide and innocent. Then her face sobered. “What is it?”

“I want to know, honestly, how you feel about marrying me. I would have asked you to marry me anyway if Lord Thornbeck had not practically ordered you to. That is not the way I would have wished to have done things.”

She gave him a half smile. “I meant what I said to the margrave. You are the best man I have ever known, and I love you.” Her tone sent a shot of warmth through him.

They were seated a little too far apart for him to touch her. He should have brought a smaller blanket.

“But I keep wondering, what must you think of me?” She looked away, then down at her hands. “I know you were very angry with me, and rightfully so, when you realized you had been telling me about your struggles to find the poacher, and all along I knew exactly who the poacher was. You cannot deny you were furious with me. Why would you want to marry me?”

Jorgen stood and held his hand out to her. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. The pained-but-hopeful look in her blue eyes
made his heart expand and fill his chest. “I wanted to avenge my father’s death so much that I wanted to shoot the poacher. But I only wanted to wound him, not because I had mercy on him, but so he could suffer execution for what he had done to my father.”

He closed his eyes a moment. When he was able to speak again, he went on, determined to say it. “When you were bleeding, and then again when your leg turned septic, I thought it was my fault . . . because of my hatred for the man who had killed my father.”

He brushed back the strand of hair that had escaped her braid, letting his fingers linger on her soft cheek. “And then when you saved my life by shooting Ulrich . . .” He looked into her eyes to convey the truth of his words. “It was not difficult to forgive you.”

Odette’s warm smile sent an ache through his chest. “And I forgive you. You did not know you were shooting me, and you were only doing your job.” She placed her hand on his shoulder.

“You could have died. And you almost did.”

“But I didn’t die. And it was my own fault, anyway.” After a pause, she said, “I am glad we found out that it was Ulrich trying to kill you, but I’m sorry you still have not captured the poacher who killed your father.”

“Perhaps someday we will. Even though I do still want to capture him, it no longer seems to matter as much.” He thought for a moment. “You know, I would not be marrying you if you weren’t such a good archer.”

“How is that?”

“Because if you had not been so good at poaching, Rutger might have convinced you to marry Mathis months ago.”

“Very amusing.”

“I love you, Odette.” In case she was still wondering, he made it very clear. “Even though I did feel hurt when I realized you were
the poacher, it was not difficult to forgive you. I love you too much to stay angry with you for long.”

“Good.” She nestled her face against his neck. “I do not think I was able to forgive Rutger that quickly. But he has suffered too. I am thankful the margrave allowed him out of the dungeon after three days. He found a small house near the south gate. Did you know?”

“Yes.”

She sighed, her breath warm against the base of his throat. “I keep thinking how everything has turned out, how everything is the reverse of how it began . . . the opposite of what I thought would happen.”

He rubbed the back of her shoulder, wondering when he might kiss her again. “I know.”

They stood like that for several moments. Then Odette lifted her head and looked him in the eye. “I am so overjoyed to be marrying you. I hope you don’t change your mind.”

She was looking at his lips. He kissed her but purposely kept it brief.

One more week. Just one more week.

Odette awakened with a sense of anticipation, a bit of crispness in the late-summer air.

Her sleepy eyes flew wide. No wonder she felt a sense of anticipation. Today was her wedding day!

She jumped out of bed as Anna came into her room, bearing a tray of food.

“I was astonished at you sleeping late on your wedding day!” Anna said. “I did not sleep at all the night before my wedding.”

While they ate breakfast together, Odette was thinking that
she would never wake up in this room again. Already she shared it with two other girls. With Odette married and gone, more girls could come and have a home here. It felt so good and so fitting. Odette sighed.

When they were finished, Anna helped Odette on with her dress. A shade of blue green, the dress was made from Flemish fabric Rutger had brought home eight or nine months ago. The fabric itself was decorated with a repeating pattern of silver and green stitching, with a matching border around the neck and a belt that settled below her waist on her hips.

The style of the gown was simple and fitted, with sleeves that hung down to the floor. When she had first tried it on, Anna said, “It brings out the color in your eyes.”

“I will go see if the children are getting ready to go to the church.” Anna hurried out of the room while a servant finished preparing Odette’s hair.

A few minutes later, her hair was ready and Anna was running up the stairs. “Jorgen is here! And he is impatient to see you. He sent me to hurry you down. Odette, you look beautiful.” Anna stood staring at her from head to toe. “That dress is perfect.”