Noble Hearts 03 - The Courageous Heart (38 page)

“Quiet!” he snapped at her. Being spoken to directly made the little mouse squeal louder. “I said quiet!” He smacked the writhing shape without much effect.

Pennington’s men were staring at him, smirking at his unease. He squared his shoulders and yanked the sack containing Lady Madeline towards him. Without taking his eyes off of the thugs he hoisted the sack over his shoulder and headed for the tavern, the mouse squealing even louder.

She went still when he passed through the door into the noisy tavern. Men talked and laughed, drinking their fill as if the world wouldn’t shift out from under their feet. He wasn’t there to have a drink. Matlock sat at a table near the fireplace, sipping on a mug of something. When he saw Roderick he nodded and gestured towards a staircase near the door.

Hefting the sack higher, Roderick headed up to the second floor
, passed through the hall and up to the third floor
. The higher Roderick climbed the more nervous he became.

“Let me go, you bastard!” The shout from the room at the end of the hall raised Roderick’s eyebrows. Lady Aubrey. A sharp smack followed his recognition of her voice.

“Is this the kind of gratitude I should expect for having you freed?
” Pennington answered the slap.

Roderick turned the corner into the room in time to see Lady Aubrey fuming, hair disheveled around her and fists balled, ready for a fight. Pennington rubbed his red cheek. He snapped a glare at Roderick and opened his mouth to speak.

“You!” Aubrey shouted before Pennington could get a word in. “I should have known you were involved in this!”

“Aubrey!” Madeline’s muffled cry came from the sack.

“Madeline?” Aubrey blinked. She lunged towards Roderick but Pennington caught her and held her back. “Let go of me!”

“You little weasel,” Pennington snarled at him. “What have you got there?”

“My daughter.” Matlock appeared in the doorway behind him. “If he’s done what he was told.”

Roderick swung the sack around and dropped it on the floor in front of him. He untied the knot and pulled open the mouth of the sack to reveal Madeline. Her short hair stood up at odd angles and her eyes were wild with fear. She struggled out of the sack, reeling as she regained her balance and searching frantically around her. As soon as she saw Aubrey she leapt towards her. Aubrey caught her and the two women clung together.

“What is the meaning of this?” Pennington roared at Matlock. Roderick’s eyebrows rose even further. He’d never seen Pennington in such a rage. He took a large step to the side of the room to watch the battle.

“I have reclaimed my daughter,” Matlock blustered. He pointed at the two women. “What the hell is the meaning of that?”

Pennington bared his teeth in what was far more of a sneer than a smile. “The king has assigned Lady Aubrey’s care to me,” he announced with pride.

“With everything we have at stake, you wasted your time stealing
her
?” Matlock fumed.

Pennington puffed himself up. “
We
agreed to help each other’s causes.
I
happen to have more at stake than petty revenge.”

“Since when did forcibly bedding a woman who wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire become a higher priority than
obeying Prince John
?” Matlock demanded.

“At roughly the same time that spanking some peasant dog’s bitch made you think you could disobey my orders!” Pennington shouted in reply.

Roderick grinned with glee, licking his lips, eyes darting between the two men.

“Your
orders
?” Matlock boomed. “You don’t give orders to me!”

“It is my orders which have kept you from being treated like the provincial boob that you are!” Pennington shot back.

“Run!” Aubrey cut into the argument. Sh
e and Madeline bolted forward.

They weren’t fast enough. Roderick lunged in front of them, catching them in a clumsy embrace and shoving them towards the room’s lumpy bed.

“You wretched coward!” Aubrey bellowed at him. “I saved your life all those years ago! I never should have stopped the caravan to set you free.”

“Probably not,” Roderick shrugged, licking his lips and eying the way Aubrey’s chest heaved against her bodice. Pennington had good taste at that. “But I thank you kindly for it.”

“What would your father say?” Madeline scolded.

Roderick’s heated thoughts vanished and he raised a fist to her. “You leave my father out of this!”

“Roderick, not now.” Matlock gestured for him to get away from the women.
Roderick seethed in offense
. “You’re a fool!” Matlock rounded on
Pennington, unaware of the danger Roderick presented
. “What do you expect to do with her?” He pointed at the bed where Aubrey and Madeline huddled together, Aubrey whispering in Madeline’s ear.

“Not what you intended to do with your daughter, I hope,” Pennington drawled in reply. “Even I must draw the line somewhere.”

“How dare you!” Matlock drew the sword from his belt.

“Roderick!” Pennington barked the order.

Roderick jumped to action, pulling a long knife from his pocket and swinging it around to hold against Matlock’s throat. It would have felt so good to let the knife slice and do its work.

“What are you doing?”
Matlock
swallowed
. The motion of his neck against the blade caused tiny droplets of blood to form.

“You wanna pay me more than he’s payin’ me
,
then maybe we can talk.” He flicked his head over his shoulder to Pennington.

Pennington’s sly grin had returned. “Why is it that in spite of my repeated insistence people continue to forget Prince John? You’re not here on holiday, you know
.
”
H
e
nodded to Roderick to let Matlock go
.
Roderick reluctantly stepped back.
“I have gone to a great deal of expense to pay your way and I want results!”

Matlock crossed his arms,
fuming
. “If you
want
results then don’t bribe a girl to do a man’s job.”

“That girl has come closer to succeeding that you ever have. I have faith in her still.”

Matlock laughed. “I suppose you think Ethan will help her.” Pennington’s mouth twitched. “You’re a bigger fool than I thought.” He took a step closer to the bed. “Madeline, come!”

Mad
eline clung tighter to Aubrey.

“You stay away from her!” Aubrey defended her.

“This time I have to agree with her,” Pennington added, stopping Matlock short. “I think I’ll just hold on to your darling daughter until I am sufficiently
convinced
that you are as devoted to Prince John’s cause as I am.”

Matlock bristled. He pulled himself to his full height, several inches taller than Pennington. “We’ll see who has the last laugh in the end,” he threatened. With a final glare he turned and marched out of the room.

Pennington lost his sly bravado. “You,” he snapped at Roderick. “Stay here and make sure they’re well-guarded
. We both know how clever the c
ountess can be, so if she
escapes it will be your head.”

As Pennington left the room Roderick chuckled. Blood would definitely be shed. He strode towards the bed, rubbing his hands and imagining all of the delightful things he could do with them.

“Alright, ladies,” he said with a smile. “Who’s up for a little bondage?”

Chapter
Twenty
-One

Dear Joanna,

Why did we come on this crusade? When we started out from Windale I was so sure that Ethan was right in every way to follow King Richard in his quest to fight for God’s cause. But there is nothing godly here in the heat and the sand and the blood of this war. Such things have happened that I wish I had never seen, that Ethan wishes he had never seen. Baldwin as well. In the secret corners of the camp at night we whisper to each other that this is not the cause we wanted to give our souls to. Ethan has been particularly scarred by the events that have unfolded in the last few days.

We were victorious at Acre, but that victory came at such a price. The king was ill as were many of the men. Our allies, Leopold and Phillip, deserted us and took their men home with them. We were left with reduced forces and the petty squabbles of local politics. That is when the unspeakable happened, Joanna.

Our forces had captured thousands of Saladin’s men. Women and children as well. Nearly three thousand from reports I have heard. With Acre safely in our hands, King Richard has his sights set on Jerusalem. As I write this we are on the march down the coast towards the port city of Jaffa. But Richard decided before we left Acre that such a large number of prisoners would only slow us down and make us vulnerable. So rather than ordering them held or released in Acre, he ordered them killed. Every one of them.

Oh Joanna! You cannot imagine the horror of that day! I don’t want you to ever imagine it. Thousands slaughtered uselessly, women and children among them, because our king didn’t want to be slowed down on his all-consuming quest for glory. Richard gave the order with such cold calculation
,
then turned his back as his men
ended thousands of innocent lives. There were some amongst the soldiers who relished the order, becoming animals in their bloodlust. I don’t think I will ever recover from the sight.

You would have been proud of our Ethan though. While others did the king’s bidding, even those who wept as they did, Ethan refused to take an innocent life. He stood his ground firmly, Baldwin backing him up. He argued with the king. I was certain he would be struck down with the rest of the poor Turks for defying his sovereign. Imagine my surprise then when Richard laughed at Ethan’s protest! Yes, the man laughed and told Ethan he was suffering from heat stroke. He ordered Ethan and Baldwin to find water and shade and recover so that they could follow the order when they were rested. I have never seen someone so filled with anger and disappointment as we three
when we
left the king’s presence.

Neither Ethan nor Baldwin “recovered” enough to join the slaughter. We sat in silence together for most of the day, listening to the cries for mercy and the sounds of hell as mercy was not given. I was so overwrought that I wept in Baldwin’s arms when Ethan was called away on some other minor business. And I am proud to say that Baldwin wept bitterly as well. He really is a good man, Joanna, and it is my sincerest wish that the two of you will meet someday.

I have learned a strong but bitter lesson from our Ethan today. Courage is not the bravado that causes a man to rush off into war to seek his
own
glory, or even the glory of God. It is the staunch refusal to shed innocent blood, even when a king g
ives the order.
Courage is doing the right thing, fighting evil in its trickiest guises, even if it means your own life could be forfeit. I have never been prouder of Ethan. He has grown from a flighty young man concerned with himself to a true and noble hero.

But Joanna, as deep as my love for Ethan has grown, I know yours runs deeper. My only mission now is to bring him home to you. For I now believe that he will be able to see your love for what it is and see ho
me for everything it could be.

Most of all, I just want to go home.

-Toby

Joanna folded the letter and slipped it back into her pouch with the others. She’d taken out Toby’s letters in the hopes of finding comfort after a wretched day of frustration. She’d strained her eyes to read her brother’s words by candlelight long after dark. But instead of finding solace
,
she felt as though fury and hatred might consume her.

“What’s wrong?”
Ethan startled her as strode into the garden from the dark of the
street
.
His shoulders were hunched and exhaustion drew lines in his face.

“
Did you find anything?” Sh
e ignored his question, setting the candle on the bench beside her
and working to swallow her frustration
.

Ethan shook his head, sinking to the bench on her other side and rubbing his face. “We searched all through the sections of London near the Tower and near Pennington’s
estate
. If anyone saw or heard anything they aren’t saying.”

“Aubrey and Madeline can’t just have disappeared.” Joanna balled her fist in the fabric of her skirt. “I refuse to believe that there wasn’t a soul who saw anything.”

Ethan covered her fist with his large hand. The sudden warmth of his calloused palm confused her senses. In the midst of her anger she took a deep breath. Inch by inch she leaned closer to him until, reluctantly, she rested her head on his shoulder. She felt Ethan’s
muscles
relax.
His arms closed around her.
The words Toby had written so long ago had never seemed so present to her. She just wanted everything to be over so that she could go home and live in peace.

“
Toby
wrote to me about the massacre of inno
cent lives at Acre,” she said.

Ethan stiffened. He held his breath.
“What did he say about it?”

She
hesitated
. “He said that King Richard ordered thousands of men, women, and children killed for no other reason than that they would have been a burden to take with
him
.”

Ethan nodded. “That’s right.”

She lifted her head to look at him. “He said that you and his friend Baldwin refused to take part in the slaughter.”

“That’s also right.” His words were strained.

“And that Richard laughed at your refusal and said you must be sick.”

Ethan nodded in silence, his shoulders dropping. His profile was outlined in the moonlight and glow of the city. Joanna had never seen him look so old or so human.

“Why didn’t he kill you?” she asked in a whisper. “You disobeyed a direct order.”

Ethan shook his head and shrugged. “Richard sees what he wants to see. Only days before that I had fought at his side, killed men for him.”

Joanna’s heart caught in her throat. “You killed men
for
him
?”

He glanced sideways at her. “
He is my king, like it or not. We were at
war. Men were killed on both sides, some at my hands.”
He drew in a shaking breath. “But those people were different. The whole crusade was different from that moment on.”

“Why did you continue to fight
it
then? Why didn’t you leave and go home like Leopold’s and Philip’s men?”

He hesitated before saying, “I couldn’t desert. If I had and we had been caught we would have been killed. It was my duty to continue to fight so that I could go home.”

“But Richard is an evil man,” she insisted, lowering her voice so that her treason wouldn’t be overheard.

Ethan nodded. “In many ways he is. And in many ways he’s just a warrior with one goal in mind: conquest.”

A new rush of energy soared up from Joanna’s gut.
“Pennington wants the king dead,” she whispered. “I don’t know what his reasons are, but after reading Toby’s letter I can understand why.

“No, Joanna,” Ethan replied gently.

She twisted in his arms to face him fully. “We could do it.
Together. I know we could.
We could find a way into the Tower tonight. I could steal up to his bedchamber, I know the way. While he’s still asleep, before anyone knows I’m there, I could slit his throat.”

He brushed his fingertips across her cheek. “Could you? Could you really kill a man in cold blood like that?”

Her lips quivered with emotion. “Pennington will release Aubrey and
Crispin and Jack and maybe
Madeline too if we do it. T
he man deserves to die.”

“If he deserves to die,” Ethan murmured, “then it should be at God’s hand, not yours. Killing a man with a blade is not the same as slipping poison in his food.”

“
Why were you willing to drink
the broth
to save him then?” she asked.

He lifted his eyes to meet hers. “I didn’t do it to save him,” he confessed. “I drank that broth to protect you.”

“But you wouldn’t have.” The lump that had risen in
her throat choked her words. “If it had been real poison y
ou would have died and they would have killed me anyhow.”

His hand squeezed over hers. “Then at least we would have been together.”

She let out a breath. It was quickly caught up as Ethan leaned close and kissed her.
The warmth of his lips filled
her
, banishing the tangle of frustration that had kept her in its iron grip
.
His taste was so familiar. His lips were soft even as they possessed her. She couldn’t resist surrendering to the love for him that she could never get away from. He was there
,
in every part of her.

“Joanna, I
’m so sorry
,” he whispered, nipping at her lips and nuzzling her cheek. “Every step I’ve taken since I left you has been wrong.
Everything I’ve done to help myself has hurt someone else.
I don’t want to live like that anymore.
Help me.
”

“Ethan.” She breathed his name, the glow in her heart consuming her. She twisted to fold herself into his arms, sliding her hands around to his back and holding him close as he kissed her again. His mouth covered hers, demanding and sure. Their tongues slid together, teasing and twining in a dance that was always meant to be. The distance between them vanished and for a moment she was that young girl again, flushed with the first heartbeats of passion.

Ethan stood, lifting her in his arms. He kissed her again, studying her face in the moonlight. The garden seemed to hush as he carried her away, through the stable and up the narrow stairs to his loft room.
He set her on her feet at the top of the stairs. His hands worked deftly at the laces of her kirtle. She untied his tunic, reaching under it to pull his shirt out of his chausses. All she wanted was to touch the heat of his
body
, to feel the hardness of his muscles underneath his smooth skin. He stepped back to pull his tunic and shirt over his head as she wriggled free of her kirtle and dress.

When their bodies met again she sighed in relief. Her hands traced the lean lines of his sides, caressed the muscles of his back. She kissed his shoulder and neck as he traced the curves of her hips up to her breasts. He had always known how to touch her
, as if he knew her body as well as his own
. His palm held the weight of her breast, squeezing as his thumb brushed across her nipple, causing her heart to skip a beat. She sighed and strained up to kiss his lips.

He was there, waiting for her with all the passion she needed. His mouth was hungry for her, his tongue invading her. He slid his hand from her breast to cradle the back of her head, bending her towards him as his fingers twined in her hair. His other hand dropped lower, kneading her backside before
delving between her thighs to find her hot and wet in anticipation. She felt him tense, felt the hardness of his shaft pressed eagerly against her belly.

“I love you, Joanna,” he said, gruff with desire.

She answered with a sigh, urging him towards the bed. He followed her lead, lifting her long enough to lay her across the rough mattress and spread himself over top of her. His weight and size above her stirred wild passions within her. She knew the feeling of him so well, knew the sensation of the plane of his stomach pressed against her
s
, of the muscles of his thighs wedging between hers. He parted her thighs with
delving movements that settled his hips firmly
where she wanted them
. She wriggled in anticipation, tracing her toes up the side of his leg as he kissed her neck.

Every part of him
pressed
tight against her pumped urgency through her body. He balanced himself on one arm and circled her breast with his hand, dipping down to suckle. She moaned with the pleasure of it, but more for the joy of having him in her arms. He teased her nipple relentlessly, nipping it with his teeth as he knew she liked. They had explored so deeply, pleasured each other so relentlessly all those years ago that
her body responded to his touch without hesitation. His mouth left her breast to lick and nip its way up the line of her neck.