Noble Hearts 03 - The Courageous Heart (12 page)

“Getting in will be
a challenge
,” he conceded. “But
once I’m there I’
ll be able to find them.”

Ethan was too cocky for his own good, but there she was, wishing he was telling the truth. She
set the scissors aside and reached for the
bowl of
water. A cake of shaving soap rested at the bottom. She worked it into a lather
and spread it on Ethan’s face.

The line of his jaw, the feel of his skin, was as familiar to her as the
shape
of her own body. He had always been bold
, had always thought he could conquer the world
. He
had been
everything her young heart imagined a man should be.
But that meant nothing now.

She
released his face
, holding her breath
and meeting his eyes. She would not let herself be taken in by hi
s bravado and his smile again.

She
wiped her hands and took up the razor. Slowly, carefully, she scraped it along the plane of his cheek. Each stroke revealed smooth, pale skin, tinged pink with its first breath of air in who knew how long.

He lifted his chin, exposing his neck.
A lump caught in her throat and
she fumbled the razor
. “You-” The words caught in her throat. “You have a scar here.”

The thin, raised white line crossed o
ver the rapid pulse in his neck from his ear to his Adam’s apple. It was straight and bright and new.

“I tried
…
.
”
His words trailed off. Joanna pressed her lips together and begged him not to tell her.
“
I didn’t know what to do,” he whispered. “I didn’t know how to go on without him.
He did everything for me, was everything to me. He reminded me so much of you. I never realized.
I tried to….” He caught himself a second time. “I tried to shave myself, b
ut I couldn’t. That’s why I grew a beard.”

Joanna
let out the breath she’d been holding
, willing
herself to believe his lie
. The scar was too long to be a shaving accident.
She summon
ed
every ounce of cour
age she had to finish the job.

When at last all traces of
Ethan’s
beard were removed she took a rag that had been left on the table, dipped it in the shaving water, and wiped
his
face clean. Her hands paused, cradling the sides of his smooth face.

Their eyes met. He was there. The Ethan she knew, the Ethan
she had known for so many years.
Her brave knight.
He
was there once
more, nothing hidden from her.

His hands covered hers as she stood frozen, hardly breathing. Then he moved them up the lines of her arms to her shoulders, pulling her close. In silence, without a breath, he brought her mouth to his. She closed her eyes and parted her lips, tasting the warmth of his kiss. He was gentle, more tender than he had ever been. The heat of him so close to her, the pressure of his mouth, suffused her with remembered passion. She teased her tongue against his, inviting him to touch the part of her she had always longed to give to him.

It was complete madness. His arms slipped around her, pulling her closer. The more she struggled, the more she gave him. His mouth slanted over hers, powerful, possessive, and so familiar it made her soul ache. She sighed against him. Her fingers stroked over the scar on his neck. She couldn’t bear to live without him for one more day.

“Ah, there you are!”

David’s overloud voice
shocked Joanna like a bolt of lightning. She wrenched herself out of Ethan’s arms, pressing the back of her hand to her mouth. Her chest heaved with restless shame. Dear God, what had she been thinking? She snapped to the table, grabbing the bowl of dirty shaving water and splashing it across her dress
in her haste to clean up
.

“We’re finished here.” She snatched at the scissors and razor on the table, cutting her hand in the process.

“Whoa, whoa, careful.” David stretched out a hand to her.

Ethan jumped out of his chair and took the scissors and razor from her. “I’ll put these back.” He tried to flee the room, newly shaved face red.

“Not so fast, either of you,” David caught him. He had a hard time concealing the fatherly amusement in his glittering eyes. “Rebecca tells me that the team of Dunkirke and Dunkirke is planning to storm the Tower.”

“Yes, sir,” Ethan nodded. “
I’m
going back to the Tower.”

“I’m going too,” Joanna added breathlessly.

“No you are not.” Ethan rounded on her. “You’re staying right here where you’re safe.”

“I am going to the Tower and there is nothing you can say or do to stop me!”

“The guards will stop you,” Ethan argued.

David cut off the rest of his argument with a raised hand.
“Tell me,” he began in his jovial tone, “what reason do
either of
you have to join the insanity that is the Tower these days?”

Joanna favored caution but Ethan blurted, “We need to find out what has been done with Crisp-” He paused. “With Joanna’s master and mistress and Lady Madeline’s husband, when their trial is to be.”

Joanna
arched an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms
.

David nodded as though coming to understand. He glanced to Ethan. “I take it these are your former master and mistress as well?”

Joanna answered, “No!” as Ethan muttered, “Yes.”

“I see.” David continued to nod as he stroked his long beard.
The man was no fool. It gave Joanna a deep sense of satisfaction that he knew Ethan was lying. She waited for him to tell Ethan off.
“I can get you into the Tower,” he said instead.

Joanna gaped
and Ethan’s brow shot up in surprise
. “How?”

“Easily.” David shrugged.
“
King Richard has a pact with the Jews of London. Because we helped him finance his crusade he has placed his protection on us. We are permitted to take shelter in the Tower whenever we are threatened. That is why so many of us live and work so close to the Tower. It’s a short run.”

“Do you have cause to run to the Tower frequently?” Joanna asked.

David
made a non-committal noise
. “I’ve only gone a couple of times, but I know others who seek sanctuary more often. You English are a merciless lot when your loans come due.”

“If you
were claiming
sanctuary could you take
me
with you?” Ethan skipped straight to business.

“Us!” Joanna insisted.

“You are not going.” Ethan put his foot down.

“I don’t see why not
.
”
David
sided with her
.
Ethan fumed but didn’t contradict him.
“
Would you rather walk into the Tower with Joanna at your side
, knowing where she is,
or
would you rather
have her slip in later when your back is turned?” he put the question to Ethan. “Because I’ve seen her type before, son. You can’t tell them anything.”

Joanna crossed her arms and was halfway into a gloating smile before realizing Ethan wore
a
smug
grin. Her triumph slipped. David had baited them both.

“Now,” David went on, “
A change of clothes and a few minor adjustments and
the two of
you could pass for one of us.” He turned to Joanna. “
When is this great invasion to take place?
”

“
Today. As soon as possible,
” Ethan
answered
before she could
.

A grin spread across David’s face. “I’ve never known you to be this eager, Dunkirke. What’s gotten into you?” His grin flickered towards Joanna.

Ethan didn’t answer.
Joanna wasn’t about to open her mouth either, not when she was inches away from getting into the Tower.

David’s grin turned to a wry smile. “
I would take you today if I could, but a
group
of merchants just arrived from Cornwall and they need an introduction to my brother Saul in Cheapside
.
Are you able to wait until tomorrow?
”

Joanna’s back itched with impatience. “If that’s what we have to do.”

“I’m afraid it is. But never fear, my dear.” He patted her back. “If anyone can help you untie this Gordian knot of masters and mistresses, I’m sure Dunkirke can.” He shifted to slap Ethan on the back. “And he’ll look very fetching doing it too.” He tweaked Ethan’s smooth chin and turned to leave the room, laughing merrily.

Joanna and Ethan glanced
to
each other at the same time once they were alone. Joanna snapped her eyes away. She reached for the used towel on the table.

“Joanna, I-” Ethan began.

“I have work to do,” she cut him off and stormed past him out of the room
with the shaving things
.

She had no intention of being left alone with Ethan
to let her heart slip into a futile past
ever again
.

Dear Joanna,

How I wish you could see the Mediterranean at sunrise from a ship as I am seeing it now! The water is so blue and the sunlight so golden. Last night we could still see the
coast
in the distance, a line of green and brown splitting the sky from the sea. I have never seen
it’s
like before. Ethan, Sir Baldwin, Sir Geoffrey and I stood at the rail along the front of the ship and let the sea spray soak us as we
stared and stared and stared.

After all we saw and did in Sicily I didn’t think Ethan could be so much in awe again, but it seems that every new day brings something to excite and energize him. The Mediterranean sun and the wonder of so much to see has lightened his hair, as if the aura of something grander has entered his brain and can come out no other way but in light.

But you want to hea
r about our mission, I’m sure.

We set off from Sicily a few days ago. King Richard’s sister is at last safe, as I pray daily that you are. She has accompanied us, along with Richard’s
betrothed
. Although King Richard sails with us, the ladies are in a different ship. I don’t see how the king can bear to leave his sister and his
soon-to-be
wife in a ship that we sometimes lose sight of on the tide. I can hardly stand to be so separate from you. If you were here with us I would ensure that you were by my side through thick and thin.

Sir Baldwin tells me I’m foolish, or at least short-sighted, for s
aying that. He maintains that o
n a ship full of men
,
one beautiful woman would become like a meaty bone before a pack of hungry dogs. I suppose he is right. I have overheard more than one conversation of complaint from our fellow passengers about the lack of women on the sea. Although there is great hope that we will see a mermaid before too long. Sir Baldwin swears that he has seen them before. I think he may be teasing me though. He does like to tease. He has a fetching smile and nudges me when he laughs, so I don’t mind.

In fact, my letter writing was just interrupted by Sir Baldwin himself. He accused me of writing to a lover back home, even though he knows it is you I write to. I offered to let him read the letter, which was cruel of me as
I know
he cannot read. I offered to write a letter for him if he’d like. But he says he has no wife nor sweetheart at home. Something in the way he said it stirred me, Joanna. He is far too handsome and gallant a knight not to have someone. He is charming and well-formed, and sometimes I think that if my devotion was not already to Ethan I might….

I have written this whole letter and filled it with trifles about my own journey when it is our master’s journey I wished to tell you about. You would be so proud of Ethan. He has fought more bravely than any of the knights here, trained with more dedication, and offered more service to the king and the people we have encountered than any man. King Richard has taken notice and on several occasions asked Ethan for special favors. Granted, most of them have involved carrying messages
-
something I could have done
just as easily -
but our Ethan takes pride in it. Sir Baldwin says Ethan has quite a career in front of him
, that he could be a courtier when this is all over if he had a mind to
.

Oh Joanna. Have you ever felt your heart torn between duty and possibility? Beloved duty, mind you. A duty you would gladly give your life for. But one that is not so filled with
…
promise as the other option so suddenly available. Have you never felt that once, just once, you would like to forget who you are and what you owe and seize what comes to you, no matter how wrong it may be. Is it so very wrong to live one moment for pleasure?

But no, I
know your heart on this matter. I know that you love as I love. I only pray that you are never haunted by this specter of longing.
Remain ever
true of heart
, my dear sister.
One of us at least must remain steadfast to that dream.
It is so much more settling to the mind than the maelstrom of possibility.

I shall write again when the ship stops rocking quite so much.

Your Toby

Ethan adjusted the
cloak
David had found for him
that marked him as a Jew.
It was hot and bulky, but it had done
its
job.
H
e walked along the
inside of the Tower wall
behind
David and Joanna.
Noblemen and women
who had come to seek the king’s favor
stared down their noses
at them
, and yet not one of them quest
ioned their right to be there.

“Well, you’re inside the Tower, Dunkirke and Dunkirke,”
David
smiled as though
whisking them inside a heavily-guarded fortress
were a game
. “May you find what you’re looking for.”

“Thank you,” Joanna said. She fussed with the scarf over her head and turned to study the White Tower.

The worry creasing
Joanna’s
brow
added to
the irritation
caused by
Ethan’s
layers of clothing
.
It hadn’t mattered how reasonably he’d argued against her coming, Joanna had been determined.
She was ten times more stubborn than her brother, and that was saying something. If this had been Toby’s mission he would have….

Ethan cursed under his breath, pushing the flare of pain over his lost friend as far down as it would go. If he was going to help Joanna he would have to approach things like a campaign.

“I wouldn’t linger too long.
”
David
mistook
Ethan’s
emotion for eagerness
. “We may be allowed sanctuary in the Tower but that doesn’t mean that we can wander about like we own the place.
Although one of my cousins probably does.
If you are caught in the wrong
situation
looking as you do it may be worse than if you were dressed as yourselves.”

Ethan
worked to keep his expression neutral. If only David knew the truth
.

He scanned the nobles and their retinues waiting around the
Tower
courtyard
,
looking for
signs of
King Richard.
Clusters of nobles in the colors and dress of most of England stood talking, laughing, and eyeing the executioner’s block that stood in the middle of the green as a reminder. Richard wasn’t among them.
The king wouldn’t amble around the courtyard like any other noble
.
He would be where he could command the most attention.

“Joanna, stay with David,”
Ethan
ordered
as he started for the White Tower
.

“What?” she protested on cue.
He
stopped and turned back,
jaw
clenched
.

“
I don’t want you
wander
ing
around the Tower.
It’s a dangerous place on a good day, but
Matlock could still be here.
If
he
saw you-
”

“I’ll not stand here helpless and trust you, of all people, to find out what has become of Crispin, Aubrey, and Jack.”
She planted her hands on her
hips
.

Her stinging comment snapped his patience
.
“Joanna, for once
stop arguing with me and
do as you’re told!”
He stepped close to her and kept his voice down
.
“You don’t understand how ruthless
court politics
can be
.”

“And you do?” she seethed.
Her chest heaved inches away from him. He could feel the heat of her anger.

“Yes.
I spent the better part of a year close to the king in the Holy Land. Aside from Richard’s moods turning on a dime, every one of the
men and women who have managed to scramble close to him will do anything to keep that position. They will eat you alive if you’re not careful.
” He knew
it
all too well.
He must have been out of his mind for stepping into the fray again
.
And for what?

“I just want to
stop Crispin and Aubrey and Jack from … from a fate they don’t deserve.
”
Joanna’s
eyes flashed
up to the heads on spikes around the wall,
bright and vulnerable
.
She was terrified.

He swayed closer to her
, touching her arm
.
The urge to move mountains
to keep her out of harm’s way
thrummed through him. The soft glow of her skin, the pink swell of her lips sent his pulse soaring.
She could command him and he would obey.

“Ethan, t
ake your hands off of me.”

He blinked, sucking in a breath, and let her go. Whatever spell had captured him dissipated. He cleared his throat. “Please stay here with David,” he tried another tactic. “There’s too much going on and I don’t want you to get hurt.
I will find out what Crispin,
Aubrey
, and
Jack’s
situation is, I promise you.
”

To
Ethan’s
surprise
Joanna
pursed her lips
instead of arguing with him
. She huffed out a breath and scanned the crowd around them.

“Alright, just go,” she said at length. “Before I change my mind.”

He
didn’t hesitate.
She wouldn’t give him a second chance.
He nodded to David and sent Joanna one final
stern
look before turning and heading towards the
White
Tower.

He
searched the wide yard for
a quiet corner
out of Joanna and David’s sight
. At the far end of the stable he ducked into the shadows and pulled
off
the borrowed
cloak
.
Underneath he wore the one good set of clothes he still owned, a tunic with the old Windale colors and chausses that hadn’t seen too much wear.
He didn’t know why he had kept them all these years.
They weren’t much, but they marked him as who
he
was,
who
he
used to be
. He folded the borrowed cloak and stuffed it in a
corner.

With a deep breath he stepped out of the shadows and marched towards the White Tower. He squared his shoulders and adjusted his stride, remembering the role he hadn’t played for years, noble, knight, crusader returned home. It was as uncomfortable as the Jewish cloak.
I
t allowed him to walk up the stairs and into the White Tower without being challenged by the guards.

The sheer number of people
packed into the first floor of the White Tower
gave him pause.
The room should have been a guardhouse, but with King Richard in residence it had been transformed into an assembly hall. The room behind it that should have been a storage room had been made into an audience chamber. Ethan skirted his way around clusters and conversations and into that room. If he had any chance of learning the fate of his old rivals it was going to be from Richard
himself
.

Instead of the king,
Arthur
Pennington loitered at the front of the
audience
room. He was having an animated discussion with two men
who wore
the chains of office
.
Ethan had only met
Pennington
twice, but the second
the man
spotted him across the room he did a double-take
.
His brow rose and he glanced across the
pack of milling nobles
to
share his surprise with
someone else. Ethan followed the glance to find Matlock watching him with narrowed eyes. So much for the idea of doing what he had to without being noticed.

“Here goes nothing,” he muttered to himself and dove into the
game
.

He headed straight for Matlock. “Sir Stephen,” he greeted the man as though their last meeting hadn’t been an utter embarrassment for him.