An Honorable Rogue (30 page)

Ben bowed. 'I am sorry,
madame,"
he said, using the few words of English that he knew. 'But please do speak slowly.'

A strand of shining flaxen hair had escaped the woman's veil and curled down past her waist. Her eyes were blue as cornflowers, and her features were fine and delicate. She was stunningly beautiful.

'My apologies.' The woman switched effortlessly to Norman French. 'May I help you?' Her accent was faultless.

'If you please. My name is Benedict Silvester, and this is Rozenn Kerber. We are looking for--'

But the woman's attention had gone straight to Rose. 'You...
You
are Rozenn?'

'Yes. And we are--'

Face alight, the woman surged towards her. child still on her hip. 'Oh, I am delighted to meet you! Adam will be overjoyed you have arrived!" The woman turned, started back to the hall, then whirled back again and laughingly indicated that they were to follow her. 'Please, come with me. Adam will be so happy when he returns, he is out in the practice field with the men.'

The woman's pleasure was so pure, Ben had to smile back. 'And you,
madame?
Are we to know your name?'

'My apologies, my manners! You caught me by surprise. I am Cecily. Cecily Wymark." Her smile lost some of its force as her gaze met Rose's, as though she was suddenly unsure of what her reception might be. Unconsciously, protectively, her free hand came to rest on her rounded belly. 'Rozenn, I am your brother's wife.'

Following Lady Cecily, Ben led Rose to the hall entrance and helped her to dismount. He steeled himself to face the music. It could not be that bad, surely? He had had some practice at this, having lost Rose before, when she had married Per.

'Brian! Brian!" Lady Cecily called.

A lanky lad came to stand in the doorway, a fellow Breton from Quimperle. Ben recognised him.

'Brian? Brian Herfu?" Rose smiled and flung her arms about him. 'I am right glad to see you!'

Reaching past her, Ben took Brian's hand and gripped it hard. 'Rose speaks for us both. Brian, it
is
good to see you.'

'My thanks.' Brian looked at Adam's wife. 'My lady, you want me to stable the horses?'

'If you please.'

The doorframe of Fulford Hall was deeply carved in the ancient style. Ben caught a glimpse of a winding snake, of trailing vines, of flowers, artfully entwined. Someone was moving about inside. Tension balled in his stomach like a steel fist. Rose would feel humiliated when she learned the truth, and as for himself, the guilt was killing him. He hated himself. In his life Ben had committed many sins, but guilt had never hit him so hard. He felt sick with it. physically sick. He hoped to God Sir Richard was absent.

Rose was smiling at the child on Lady Cecily's hip, holding her arms out to her. The girl returned her smile and permitted Rose to take her.

Ben gripped Piper's reins and stared at Rose, drinking in that familiar profile. She had the prettiest smile in Christendom, the most tempting lips. And her dimples too, they were just begging to be kissed...

His heart felt cold as a stone.

'Benedict?' Hand outstretched to take Piper from him. Brian Herfu shot him a puzzled look. 'You can trust your horses to me. Adam taught me himself. I won't neglect them. I'll have your belongings sent in.'

'Yes, come inside, do." Lady Cecily waved Brian away with a smile. 'You will want refreshments.'

Ben watched the horses go, but his feet did not seem to want to move in the direction of the hall.

'They are fine horses,' Lady Cecily said politely--no doubt she too was misconstruing his reluctance to enter as concern for Piper and Jet.

'Yes,' Rose put in eagerly. 'Ben's Piper was a gift from Duke Hoel." The pride evident in her voice deepened Ben's sense of self-loathing.

'Your Breton duke?"

'Aye.'

Lady Cecily cast knowledgeable blue eyes over Jet as Brian led her out of sight round the corner of the building. 'That black has good lines to her too.'

'Jet is more placid than her appearance would lead you to believe, but she suits me. I cannot claim to have been born to the saddle.' Rose grimaced. The child perched on Rose's hip tugged experimentally at the edge of her veil. Rose laughed, the child giggled, and Ben felt as though the life was being squeezed out of him. 'Ben had to teach me to ride, when we first set out.'

Ben sensed Lady Cecily's eyes skim over him, as though she were measuring him. Briefly he wondered what her thoughts were. 'Your Jet is a fine animal."

Rose nodded, and again the child tugged at her veil. More giggles. 'Oh, Jet does not belong to me.' Rose said. 'Ben hired her. I expect he will take her back when he leaves."

Ben cleared his throat. 'No,
cherie.'
His voice was rusty, like an unoiled hinge. He did not seem to be able to control it. 'I thought you understood. Jet is yours. I bought her for you.'

Rose blinked. Her dimples vanished. 'But, Ben--'

Walking up to her, Ben fixed her with a look. 'We have been through this before, and you would not listen, Jet is
yours.'
The child stuck her thumb in her mouth and started to suck; she misliked his manner. For the child's sake. Ben gentled his voice and forced a smile. 'Accept her gracefully, little flower. Would I want to be trailing back to Quimperle with a spare horse on a leading rein?'

Lady Cecily's expression was thoughtful. She laid a careful hand on Rose's arm. 'I think you should accept, Rose--if I may call you that. Rozenn seems very formal, and I am used to hearing Adam refer to you as Rose."

'I... Oh, yes, of course you may.'

Lady Cecily smiled, and a delicate brow arched upwards. She looked from Ben to Rose. 'Well, do you accept this gift?"

Rose's brown eyes met his. Her dimples reappeared.

'I accept, of course I do. My thanks, Ben, you are more than generous.' Pressing a light kiss to his cheek, she surrendered to Lady Cecily's urging and went into the hall. 'He did mention it before,' she added confidingly, 'but I did not believe that he meant it.'

'Oh? Why so?'

Rose snorted. 'Because Ben is...Ben." She hesitated, and lowered her voice and Ben found himself hurrying after them, practically tripping over the hem of her blue gown in order to catch the end of her sentence. 'When you get to know him, you will realise why. Ben... Ben is such a performer, such an entertainer, it is not always easy to find the truth in what he says.'

Ben took in the hall at a glance. Wooden walls, plastered and limed, but stained with smoke from the central fire. Great beams arching overhead. A man and a woman sat talking in the light of one of the unshuttered windows.

A trestle was set up at the other end of the hall, under the overhanging ceiling of a loft room. It was set with flagons and a number of pottery cups on a tray. A loaf of bread sat on a board, partially covered in a cloth and a bowl of green apples seemed to glow in the square of light that fell through a shutter. Lady Cecily directed Rose towards the trestle. Ben followed. He felt as though he were walking to his execution. This did not feel right, this...

'Gudrun--' Lady Cecily gestured at the woman by the shutter'--come and meet Adam's sister, come all the way from Brittany. And this is their good friend...'

Ben nodded and smiled while the introductions were made, and hoped he said the right things. A small boy, scarcely more than a baby, was held up for his inspection.

His name was Philip, apparently, and he was Lady Cecily's brother. As Ben gently touched the boy Philip's nose, he came to a decision.

'My thanks,' Ben said, accepting the cup of wine--
wine,
thank God, Fulford was civilised--that Gudrun pressed into his hand.

Rose turned to Adam's new wife. 'My lady?'

'Please, both of you, call me Cecily.'

'My thanks. Cecily, is Sir Richard on the practice field with Adam?'

Ben stopped breathing.
Oh, Lord, here we go.
This could be very awkward. Had Adam told Cecily that they had used Sir Richard to tempt Rose into this journey? He prayed not. However, he would say nothing, just yet. Ben had been in awkward situations before and sometimes the best course was to say nothing. In his line of work, discretion was often the better part of valour.

'I am sorry. Sir Richard is not here.' Cecily said. 'He was recalled to the garrison at Winchester. He left this morning."

'This morning?' Frowning, Rose reached for the cross at her neck, twisting the chain round her forefinger.

Round and round, round and round. 'We only missed him by a few hours?'

'Aye.'

Confusingly, Rose's brow cleared, as though she were relieved by this news. Relieved? 'And Sir Richard will not... He will not be returning?"

'I don't think so." Cecily laid her hand on Rose's sleeve, her eyes conveying both concern and puzzlement. 'Was it important that you see him? I believe Sir Richard has new orders from the King, but I do not know, precisely. Maybe Adam will know more.'

Ben breathed again. It would appear that Adam had
not
let Cecily in on their plans.

'I see.' Rose let go of her cross and glanced across at Ben. And. yes, her expression had lightened, it had definitely lightened. Ben's heart began to thud. 'I hope my brother does not mind if I stay at Fulford until we may get word to Sir Richard.'

'Would you?' Genuine pleasure lit Lady Cecily's eyes. She gestured admiringly at the cut of Rose's gown and reached for her veil, tracing the embroidery that decorated the hem. 'You made these beautiful clothes yourself, did you not?'

'Yes.'

Lady Cecily smiled, and that curl of yellow hair gleamed like gold in a beam of light, 'I would
love
it if you could make your home here. You see, Rose, I am not very accomplished in the--how shall I put it--in the ladylike arts. In truth, I make a sorry wife for your brother.'

Rose made a dismissive movement, 'I am sure that is not true.'

Lady Cecily's eyes shone. 'No, it is true. I spent many years in a convent, and my time there was spent helping the sisters in the herb garden. I know when the season is right for the sowing of seeds; I can train an apple tree along a wall; I can plant out herbs, manage a vegetable plot--but as to needlework..." She gave an expressive shudder, and laughed. 'Why, you will have seen for yourself, how quickly I laid aside my spindle when I saw you ride up. I was glad of the diversion. I assure you." She let out a heavy sigh. 'And as for sewing... It is a great flaw in me. and it has never mattered until now...' she rested her hand on her stomach '...when I ought to be making clothes for our baby, but believe me, Rose, I cannot even hem swaddling bands. My maid is, I am afraid, equally unskilled and Gudrun is far too busy. Will you teach me?'

Rose's lips curved and her dimples, both of them, peeped out. 'Assuredly.'

'My thanks. I do want to be a good wife, you see.'

Ben's heart warmed towards Cecily of Fulford. It could not have been easy for her to become Adam's second wife, particularly when his first wife, Gwenn, had been so beloved. Seeing the conversation was turning to domestic matters, and that the danger appeared to be over for the moment. Ben turned away and wandered to the door. Half of his mind listened to Rose and Cecily, while the other half was busy giving thanks that they had indeed missed Sir Richard. He propped a shoulder on the carved doorpost and watched a couple of hens scratching about on the green in front of the hall. In the distance he heard the low rumble of the mill-wheel, and the cackling of geese.