By Arrangement (42 page)

He watched as Christiana walked down the dock to meet her brother. He could tell that this leave-taking weighed heavily on her. She had seen far too much of war's ruthlessness last night, and knew that Morvan might not survive this campaign.

David could not avoid contemplating the implications of that. He did not even try to. The son of Senlis was incapable of ignoring the fact that it was in his interest to have Morvan Fitzwaryn never return to England.

For with Morvan gone, Christiana became the heir of Harclow, and one day Edward would indeed reclaim the lands in the name of his dead friend Hugh Fitzwaryn.

With Morvan gone, David de Abyndon, bastard son of the noble Theobald of Senlis, would become the lord of Harclow as Christiana's husband.

Being an English knight was one thing, being an English baron was quite another.

But in truth, the land and status were the least of it. The merchant in him knew the real value of Harclow. He had been there, just as he had been to most of the estates along the Scottish border. He alone knew that in the hills of Harclow and other Cumbrian lands there were many caves, ancient caves, in which animals had lived since time began. And in the caves of Harclow alone there lay an earl's ransom of the rare stuff called saltpeter that was essential to make powder for gonnes.

And he had paid King Edward one thousand pounds for the right to be the crown's exclusive agent for the purchase and sale of saltpeter, and had taken Christiana Fitzwaryn to wife in order to hide the arrangement.

He watched brother and sister meet and embrace. His mind began involuntarily calculating the tremendous loss of profit when he actually paid Morvan for the contents of those caves.

Aye, it was very much against his interests to have Morvan return. In fact, having Sieg guarantee that Morvan fell during battle …

Christiana looked up at her brother with glistening eyes. Even at a distance, her worry was palpable.

Her sadness twisted his heart. His mind emptied of everything but the desire to comfort her.

Theobald had been right. Recognizing one's options was not the same as choosing them. He would turn his back on these golden opportunities which Lady Fortune had capriciously offered him.

He would do it for Christiana, because he loved her.

Christiana and Morvan stood arm in arm while men burdened with booty jostled past.

This was what war was really all about. Profit, of the most primitive sort. All of the talk of chivalry and honor appeared very false to her today.

“Every farmhouse in England will have new cookware and cloth,” Morvan said, surveying the boats riding low in the water.

“Is any of it yours?”

“Nay. My prize is your safety. It is enough for me.” He glanced to where David waited fifty paces away. “And for your merchant, I think. This time, at least.”

“David. His name is David.”

“Aye. David.”

“I know that you still do not favor him, Morvan, but he is a good man. You can not deny that he proved that.”

“He has goodness in him, but much more too. Things that I do not understand. But he has proven that he can protect you. I can part from you today with an easy mind, if not an easy heart.”

“It will not be such a long parting. This war cannot last once winter threatens.”

He turned his attention from the boats to her. “However long it lasts, I do not think that we will see each other for many months. Knowing that you are safe and have a home frees me to leave the court. I may not return with the army. I think that I will seek some adventure when this campaign ends.”

Her spirits had been battered by the destruction of Caen, and now a new sadness spread through her.

She embraced him. “I pray that you change your mind. My place with him does not dim my love for you. If you must seek adventure, let it be for a short while only. And my home is yours too. Please believe that.”

“It will not be so long. But you have found your future, Christiana, and now it is time for me to find mine.” He set her away, and smiled down at her. “I must leave you now. Edward has duties for me. No tears, sister. This is not forever. Go to your husband.”

He walked away, and soon the sight of him became lost in the bustling crowd. She kept watching, hoping to see his dark hair one more time, praying that his words were true, and not the last that she would ever hear him speak.

David came up behind her. She felt his presence, and then the comfort of his arms surrounding her, holding her closely.

“I love you,” he said.

How like him to know that she needed that right now. But then those blue eyes had always seen into her heart. She turned to him, and to the sanctuary that his declaration offered.

“I worry about him,” she said.

“He is skilled and strong, Christiana. And in battles, they do not try to kill knights, but take them for ransom.”

“Aye. But I know the value of a knight's ransom and there is no father to pay it. He could live his life in the hole of some French keep if Edward fails.”

“If he is captured, I will get him out.”

She looked in his eyes and knew that was true. Whether it took coin or a dagger, he would do it for her.

The horrible images of the last day receded. The brilliance of his love and care burned away the fog of melancholy that had thickened with Morvan's departure.

“Where is Sieg? Isn't he returning with us?”

“He decided to join this war. It is his nature to enjoy such things.”

“But he has gone to your father first, hasn't he? You sent him to return the documents, didn't you? Your mother's
picture was missing from the book in your study. You sent that too. So he would know who you really are and why you did it.”

That surprised him. His smile showed amazement. And admiration. “You are becoming dangerously clever, darling.”

“So how long do you think that we have?”

“I will be in England. He cannot harm me there.”

“Of course he can, but that is not what I meant. How long do you think the Comte will live? How long before Senlis is yours?”

Not just surprise this time. Astonishment. That in turn astonished her. He had not considered this possibility. He truly had not foreseen how this would end.

“He is a nobleman, David, and the last of an ancient line. In this one thing I know him better than you. He does not want the line to die out and the lands returned to the crown. Such men will do anything to assure they have an heir. Despite what you did, he will not forget that you are all he has left once he learns the truth.”

He stood very still while he absorbed that.

“So how long do you think we have?”

“He is about fifty-five. If you are right, and I think that you misjudge him, it should be a long while before I face that choice again.”

He said it lightly, but she felt a change in him. She sensed his mind and emotions begin to churn. She knew him very well now, and easily recognized the quiet drama that his soul controlled and contained.

He had seen that she was right, and that Senlis could one day be his after all. He had begun waiting again. He was good at waiting.

She reached up to caress his face. “I love our life, and I am not sorry that it will probably be a long while. And I
love you. I thank God for our love, David. There is beauty and goodness in it, and in you, always waiting for me.”

“Whatever goodness you see in me is merely a reflection of yourself, my girl. You make me better than I was ever born to be.”

“That is not true. For a man who sees so clearly, there are parts of yourself that you do not know very well.”

“Parts I would have never known if you had not touched them.”

She began to object. The intensity in his expression stopped her. Maybe he was right. Hadn't his love taught her things about herself that she might have never learned without him?

Two men carting a bed jostled by. The din on the docks intruded.

“Maybe love is all that stands against what we have seen here in Caen,” she said. “That is sad.”

He shook his head. “I understand the darkness in men like your innocence never will, Christiana, and the acts of war are the least of it. Trust me when I say that love is a formidable foe. Perhaps the only foe.”

For a moment his gaze revealed his soul like it had the night of their reunion, and it was all there. The shadows that he spoke of, and the power of love to contain them. Aye, Morvan had been right. There was goodness in him, but other things too.

“Then let us love each other as well as we can, David. Let us build a life full of hope and light that never dims, no matter what the world brings us. I want our love to be the hearth at the center of our home, wherever it is, burning hotly forever. I never want to look back on what we shared here and wonder if it was an illusion that we embraced in our desperation.”

“It was no illusion. You owned my heart long before I found you here, and it is yours forever. Our love is as real
as the arms embracing you, and always will be. I am not a man who loses hold on something precious once it is in his possession.”

He kissed her, his mouth lingering and claiming, a welcome reminder of the passion they had found. He held her so closely that they molded as one and made an image of love amidst the greed swarming the docks.

He turned her under his arm. “Let us leave this place now. Let us go home.”

A few men had paused their hauling to watch the lovers. She met their eyes frankly, and hoped that the display had reminded them about the true value of things.

“Aye, David, let us go home. Take me back to our garden and our bed.”

They walked down the pier side by side, with no prize in their arms except each other.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MADELINE HUNTER has published sixteen nationally bestselling historical romances. More than two million copies of her books are in print in the U.S., and her books have also been translated into nine languages. She is a five-time RITA finalist, and won the long historical RITA in 2003. Madeline holds a Ph.D. in art history, which she teaches at the college level. She currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two sons. She can be contacted through her website:
www.MadelineHunter.com
.

Look for
MADELINE HUNTER'S
nationally bestselling “Seducer” series …

THE SEDUCER
THE SAINT
THE CHARMER
THE SINNER
THE ROMANTIC
Available from Bantam Dell

If you loved
By Arrangegment
, stay tuned for this scintillating novel from Madeline Hunter.

THE
SINS
OF
LORD EASTERBROOK

Coming from Dell in 2009

The Sins of Lord Easterbrook on sale in 2009

L
eona paced back and forth in her opulent prison, simmering with vexation.

It was difficult to maintain one's dignity when one had been hauled off the street like so much lost baggage. Leona hoped that she had managed anyway.

She had spent the short ride to Grosvenor Square ignoring her captor and treating him like the lackey he was. Only once did she almost lose her temper, when she perceived that her young abductor found her pose of hauteur amusing.

A seed of worry sent out a vine to wind through her anger. While scathing scolds formed in half her mind, the other half assessed the implications of this insult. This lord's treatment of her reflected his view of her lowly status. He had concluded that she deserved no better.

When others learned about this lack of courtesy, they would imitate it. Nothing, not her mother's blood or her letters of introduction, would help her cause now. Her plans here in London would be more difficult after today, and some of them might be nigh impossible.

She stopped walking. Her gaze took in the applegreen silk bed hangings and drapes, and the elegant, fine-boned mahogany furniture. She noted the exquisite watercolor paintings lending rainbow hues to the cream-colored walls. Then she saw nothing at all of her surroundings, but only the mental image of her brother, Gaspar, smiling as his boat pulled away after he had transferred her to the ship at Whampoa.

Gaspar had appeared so young to her that day. Far younger than his twenty-two years. Perhaps his unquestioning trust caused him to look juvenile. He had agreed to risk everything on this journey. His patrimony and his future were at stake, but he had handed the fate of both to her.

His image faded, and she again saw the luxury surrounding her. Her heart still beat heavily, but no longer due to insulted pride. Calm determination had replaced anger.

Her father had taught her that if one viewed adversity from a different angle, one could often see an opportunity hidden within it.

If one looked at this development from a different angle, one might say that she had just obtained an audience with one of the highest titles in the realm. A man of such consequence could be very useful. She might want to slap Easterbrook's face, but it would be wiser to win him over.