The Merchant's Daughter (16 page)

The boy’s eyes grew twice their size, clearly believing Annabel thought him capable of assisting the other men. She smiled at the child, and then he ran out of the room.

Gilbert started after him then turned and asked, “My lord, do you need me? The men may need help — “

“You may go.”

As Gilbert left the room, Mistress Eustacia came closer, watching as Annabel continued pouring water over his arm. Then she placed a hand on Annabel’s shoulder. “Such a good, gentle lass you are. How did you come to know so much about healing a burn?”

“My brother burned himself very badly a few years ago. I watched how my mother and our servant, Alice, treated it.”

She looked a little self-conscious after admitting her family once had a servant. She kept her eyes on his burn and didn’t look up at him.

Ranulf couldn’t help comparing her circumspect behavior to some other serving girls he’d encountered, including the one who had tried to flirt with him at the evening meal.

“Such a fine lass,” Mistress Eustacia murmured, and blew her nose on her apron.

A fine lass.
Ranulf stared at her. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, with the most flawless features, and he would have needed to lose both eyes not to notice.

And her outward beauty wasn’t even the comeliest part about her.

Mistress Eustacia caught him looking at Annabel and raised her eyebrows at him. Ranulf scowled.

Eustacia turned to Annabel. “How fortunate Lord le Wyse has such a gentle, knowledgeable nurse among his servants.”

Instead of blushing and looking embarrassed, or smirking and taking advantage of the situation, as most maidens would have, Annabel frowned and shook her head. “I’m merely fortunate to know a little about caring for burns.”

The old woman raised her eyebrows at Ranulf again. He answered with a glare so menacing a growl escaped his throat.

Annabel jerked her hands away. “Did I hurt you?”

He made an effort to compose himself. “Nay. You’re as gentle as a kitten.” He looked at Mistress Eustacia. “You may go.” Though he hadn’t intended it, the words came out as a bark.

She smiled at him. “I’ll go comfort the servant girls. They looked terrified, they did.”

She obviously wasn’t afraid of him, more’s the pity.

Eustacia quit the chamber, leaving him and Annabel alone.

Annabel held one hand under his arm while she took a cloth, dipped it in the water, and began to dab at the soot around the border of his burn.

“How did you get such a burn, if I may ask?”

“There was a fire … in the barn.”

She frowned up at him in that clever way of hers. “I know that. But how — ?”

“I herded the sheep out the back door. One ewe lamb was frightened, however, and wouldn’t come out, and so I went in to get her. Even then she wouldn’t let me lead her. I had to pick her up and carry her. On the way out, some burning thatch fell on my arm and burned away my sleeve.” He said dryly, “So you see what a hero I am.”
For the second time in my life.

“Hero? I’m not familiar with this word.”

“’Tis from the Greek, a word meaning someone with great strength and courage. Someone who protects and defends.”

“Oh, yes, indeed.” She put the cloth aside and reached for the flask. “Indeed, you are a hero. I like this word hero.”

She was so beautiful and seemed so unaware of it. The wisps of blonde hair danced around her pink-tinted cheeks just as he had captured them in his painting. But even more devastating than her physical beauty were the glimpses he had seen of her heart and soul.

God help him.

“So what did you do? How did you put out the fire on your arm?”

He stretched out his right hand, palm up.

She gasped. “Oh, my lord, you should have told me.” Before
he knew what she was about to do, she took his unmangled hand and plunged it into the bucket of clean water. She stuck her other hand in and began to rub his palm to clean it, since it was black with soot and ashes. The hand was not badly burned, and he struggled to steel himself against the sensations spreading through him from her massaging fingers.

She pulled his hand out. “No blisters. That is good.” Then she began dabbing it dry with a clean cloth.

She turned her attention back to his badly burned arm. She picked up the flask and poured honey over the blisters. The thick, golden liquid felt cool and soothing, sending a chill up his arm and across his shoulders.

“How did the fire start?” she said.

“I don’t know, but our entire barley and oat crop is gone, I’m sorry to say. It is a tragedy, especially because of the severity of this drought. By God’s grace we still have the wheat supply in the smaller barn.” The wheat by rights belonged exclusively to him, but he couldn’t let the villagers starve. He resolved to buy enough barley and oats to last the village through the winter.

A worried furrow creased her brow. “Surely no one would have deliberately set the fire.” She took his hand and poured honey over his palm, rubbing it in with her finger.

He pulled his hand away. She looked up in surprise.

He shook his head. “That isn’t necessary. The hand isn’t badly burned.”

Annabel stared at him a moment. “I’m sorry. Let me clean it off.” She picked up the wet cloth, but he took it from her.

“I can do it.”

“Of course.”

After he finished, she began loosely wrapping his blistered forearm with a strip of cloth.

The pain seemed to intensify as she did so. “It is a severe burn, my lord. You must allow either me or Mistress Eustacia to inspect it every day and continue applying the honey.”

She took another cloth and wet it in the bucket. Then she leaned forward and wiped his forehead.

Surprised by the action, he started back and examined her face. He could see from her expression that wiping his face did not embarrass her.

Because she feels nothing for me, nothing a sister wouldn’t feel for a brother, or a servant for her lord.
She reached out to wipe his right cheek, but he took the cloth from her and wiped his own face.

For a few moments — when she said she’d been searching for him — he’d wondered if her feelings for him were deeper, more tender than was appropriate. But no. She felt only the natural compassion and concern she would have felt for an animal — the same emotion he’d felt for the sheep in the barn.

“I’ll get you something for the pain. I believe I have some chamomile in the bag I brought from home.”

“Nay. Pray have someone fetch another bucket of water. That is all I require.” Dawn was beginning to show a gray glow at the windows.

She held his gaze for a moment then curtsied. “Yes, my lord.”

As he watched her leave, the pain in his arm seemed to spread all through him, giving him a headache. The pain was intense, but as he closed his eyes, he couldn’t stop remembering the sweetness of her expression, the kindness of her words and actions … the gentleness of her touch.

His chest constricted painfully. He was a fool.

Annabel only managed to take a short nap before she was needed in the kitchen. When she stepped out into the manor courtyard, it seemed the entire village was milling there, staring at the smoking ashes and blackened walls of the barn. A sad sight indeed, weighing her down with a feeling of dread. The tragedy of the fire had ignited emotions, and angry grumblings emerged from the throat of more than one villager. Annabel could understand why. They’d all helped with the harvest, even Annabel’s family for once, and every family was to get a share of the harvest. Now all their hard work would yield them nothing.

Stephen broke away from the crowd and came toward Annabel. He said quietly, so no one else could hear, “Bailiff Tom is saying that this is the work of a curse, that someone has brought a scourge to our village.”

Stephen’s words made the back of her neck prickle. There had been ugly talk when Annabel was a small child about a curse on Glynval, started when frost killed all their spring crops and their grain harvest was ruined by drought. Some had pointed fingers at Stephen, who was barely six years old. Because of his twisted body and the odd way he walked, some people were afraid of him, afraid he was cursed. Even though she had been young, she remembered her terror for her friend.

Annabel felt ill. “I hope nobody is listening to him.”

“I hope not, either.” Stephen brushed his blond hair out of his eyes.

“Who does he say brought the curse?” she whispered. “He isn’t saying it outright, but I believe he means Lord le Wyse.”

Annabel felt her mouth go dry. “That’s terrible.”

“I know.” Stephen stared thoughtfully across the yard of the manor house, his face deceptively calm and peaceful.

“Perhaps I should tell Lord le Wyse, warn him.”

“I don’t think you should get involved.” Stephen’s expression changed to concern as he looked at her. “Lord le Wyse can take care of himself. He’s wealthy and powerful, and the people he brought with him from Lincoln are very loyal to him. No, you shouldn’t say anything. He might blame the messenger.”

Perhaps Stephen was right. Lord le Wyse was rather unpredictable. Who knew how he might react to the news?

With a final nod, Stephen walked away to begin his day’s work, while Annabel went to help Mistress Eustacia with the morning meal.

As the manor staff and castle builders sat down in the upper hall, a little later than usual, to break their fast, impassioned discussions arose over the cause of the fire. As she listened to the various theories, Annabel hated to think that someone in the
demesne, including the workers gathered at this table, would have set the fire deliberately. Surely it had been an accident, as some men suggested. Annabel heard Beatrice spout, “But whether accident or no, whoever did this should be banished from Glynval. We’ll have to survive on thin pea gruel this winter, if we survive at all, thanks to the scoundrel who started that fire.”

Their situation was dire. Most lords would simply let them starve, but Annabel didn’t believe Lord le Wyse would allow that. She hoped he would find a way to get more grain.

If only they could have the kind of faith she had read about in the Bible. Of course they should leave their doubts behind and trust God, but ever since the Great Pestilence had killed a third of the people of Glynval, the ones who were left seemed determined to blame God. She’d heard them speak of it many times. They believed God was a cold, unfeeling Sovereign who inflicted suffering on people arbitrarily. Their distrust and hopelessness did not bode well for her village.

Annabel looked over the morning’s kitchen duties, hers to tend until Mistress Eustacia returned from settling an argument between two servant girls. From the chastisement coming from outside the door, Annabel realized she could be alone for some time.

Suppressing a sigh, she stirred the frumenty with a wooden paddle then swung the pot back over the fire so it would continue to cook.
There, the worst is done. Now for the sweeping.
She lifted her arm to wipe the sweat that had beaded above her lip and saw that Lord le Wyse stood just inside the door. Her heart fluttered, she supposed from seeing him so unexpectedly.

“Mistress Eustacia sent me to have my bandage changed.” He looked disgruntled.

She adjusted the pot so that it wasn’t directly over the fire then wiped her hands on her apron.

He sat down impatiently on the bench against the wall.

Annabel rummaged through the shelves until she found a
container of honey and some bandages, smiling to herself at his reluctant compliance. Then she took the cloth bag of comfrey leaves Mistress Eustacia had sent someone to pick.

Lord le Wyse’s appearance was as sophisticated and tidy as she’d ever seen. His dark hair and beard were neatly trimmed, any minor singes from the flames gone. Not the smallest smudge of soot could be seen anywhere on his face, and he wore a crisp white shirt and bright blue velvet waistcoat that smelled of fresh air and dried lavender. Her lord was quite proper in his elegance. If only he would shave off his beard, he’d look positively noble.

“One would never guess you were a hero last night.”

“What do you mean?” He sounded irritable and his eye was narrowed. But the harshness of his voice no longer intimidated her as much as it once had.