Sweet Bea (18 page)

Garrett left the pouch on the ground as he rose.

“Newt is gone,” Ivy said as he walked toward the fire.

He looked back to where Newt had spread his blanket the night before. The boy was gone, but the blanket remained, sprawled across the ground like a stain. He wasn’t surprised.

“Beatrice will worry herself over him.” Ivy folded her hands in front of her.

“Beatrice.” Tom shook his head. “She will not believe the worst of anyone.”

“Aye.” Ivy’s hands clenched. “It is a unique gift.”

“Or a curse.” Tom strode over to the blanket and snatched it up. “Did he take anything?”

“Not that I can see.” Ivy’s mouth tightened. She rose and moved to where Beatrice lay.

The boy’s face fell.

Garrett clapped a hand on his shoulder.

Tom started and straightened his shoulders.

“I would check to see what the little turd has taken,” Garrett said.

Shyness beset Beatrice when she faced Garrett in the morning. Her cheeks burned hot as she returned his greeting.

Tom gave her a sharp look, but carried on packing the camp.

She and Ivy found a small stream and insisted on bathing before mounting. The stream gurgled through low rocks, hidden from view with the bright green of new leaves. The water was biting cold, but it felt good to be clean once more.

Beatrice eyed her dirt-encrusted chausses with dislike and wriggled into a dark blue bliaut. It was square necked and plain, made of serviceable linen, but after her days spent in chausses, the dress made her feel softer and more feminine. As did the look she earned from Garrett as he helped her mount Breeze.

“Are you well this morning?” He adjusted her stirrups for her. His hand lingered on her calf.

“Aye.” Beatrice smiled down at him. She was better than well. She was alive to the ends of her toes.

“We should make London by nightfall.” Muscles bunched beneath his tunic as Garrett mounted Parsley.

Her fingers tingled. She’d touched all that male power. Her cheeks heated, and she ducked her head. She followed his lead out of the clearing and onto the road. The road was paved now and the horse’s hooves clattered over the stone.

It might be her fondness for him, but he looked less awkward atop the large horse.

“We will need to stop.” Tom rode behind them. “We are short on supplies.”

“When we find my father, he will see us fed.” Beatrice smiled at the rest of the party.

Ivy looked doubtful, and Tom merely rolled his eyes. Garrett’s face almost dispelled her cheer entirely.

His expression remained carefully blank. He returned her smile, but it was one of his practiced, clever smiles. Not one of the others she hoarded to herself.

It was like a slap. The Garrett of the night before had disappeared. So quickly, between one moment and the next, her Garrett was gone and in his place, this smooth stranger. Unease crawled over her skin like ants.

As with the day before, the road grew busier. All manner of people slid past them. Great wagons loaded with wheat and hay, herds of cattle or sheep and people from lords to paupers, all heading for London.

“I have never been to London.” Beatrice looked forward to her first sighting of the city. “I hear it is very large.”

“Aye.” Ivy’s tone was curt.

“We will not be there long. I must get home.” Beatrice peered over her shoulder.

Ivy pursed her lips and frowned.

“When I have found my father, we will return to Anglesea.” Ivy need not be concerned with staying in the city long. “I would like it if you came with us.”

Ivy’s arms tightened about her middle. “You would have me come home with you?”

“Aye.” Nurse would take to Ivy. God help Ivy then, because Nurse could fuss and coddle a soul to death.

They wove their way through a small group of travelers with large baskets strapped to their backs. The baskets were filled with wrapped bundles. Wares to be sold in London.

“My lady,” Ivy said. “I realize you intend only to be kind, but surely you can see, you cannot arrive home towing one such as me.”

“I do not see anything of the sort.”

“I am a whore.” Ivy sighed.

“Nay, Ivy, at Anglesea you can be what you wish to be. I shall not tell them anything, other than we found you on the way to London. The rest is up to you to tell.”

“And Tom?”

Beatrice looked at Tom.

He raised a brow in question.

“Tom will honor whatever I say.” Beatrice patted Ivy’s knee. “He behaved badly toward you and I know he is sorry for that. Tom has lived a simple life. Everything to him is either right or wrong. He knows what you suffered was wrong. It just took him a bit of time to sort through the other part.”

“Me being a whore?”

“I do not like that word.” Swift irritation spiked through Beatrice. Ivy should not denigrate herself in that manner.

“It is the truth.”

“It was the truth.” A new life awaited Ivy. She would see to that. “What happens now is up to you and Tom will not do or say anything to make it otherwise.”

“He disapproves of me.” Ivy sniffed.

“And me at times.”

Ivy chuckled.

Beatrice guided Breeze past a small herd of goats. The mare snorted at them and sidled.

“Tom is very moral and his morals sometimes war with his big heart. But his strict principles are also what make him the best sort of man. The sort a person can rely on. He has been my rock since I was a girl.”

“Do you love him?”

“As one of my brothers.” Beatrice laughed. “Perhaps even more than my youngest brother, Henry.”

“And you were never in love with him?”

“Tom?” The notion was so silly. Tom sat atop Badger, outwardly a man, but always the boy to her. Good Lord, they’d gone tadpoling together. He’s pushed her into the stream. “Nay. Tom and I are great friends, but any more than that and we would likely bludgeon each other to death.”

The horse’s hooves rapped against the stone in a steady rhythm. They passed a family. A stout father and mother herded a large group of children between them. A small girl glanced up as they passed. She smiled and waved her little hand.

“Will you come with us to Anglesea?” Beatrice waved back.

“I shall think on it,” Ivy said.

It wasn’t the firm “aye” she sought from Ivy, but Beatrice had time to work on her.

For a stretch the road was empty. It wove through cultivated land. Villages dotted the hills here and there. The road dipped and they followed it between neat hedgerows. Sparrows argued in the top branches.

Suddenly, Breeze tossed her head and sidled away nervously.

Beatrice tightened her grip on the reins.

“What is it?” Tom pulled Badger out of the skittish mare’s path.

“I do not know.” Beatrice searched the road to see what disturbed Breeze. “It could have been a wild animal.”

Breeze whickered and Beatrice ran a soothing hand down her neck.

Parsley was his normal stolid and Badger, as per usual, merely looked annoyed.

Newt slid out of the undergrowth and into the road before them.

“Look, a feral beast.” Tom crossed his arms over the pommel.

Newt. Whole and well. Beatrice was glad. She kept it to herself. Neither Tom nor Garrett had said a word to her about the boy’s disappearance, but Beatrice guessed what they were thinking.

“Where did you get to?” Garrett drew rein beside Newt.

For once, Parsley didn’t carry him a good ten paces beyond where he wished to stop. It wasn’t her imagination. Garrett was improving on horseback.

“Here and there.” Newt shrugged. He gave her a lavish bow. “My lady.” He held up a large sack. “I bring you something to fill your noble belly.”

“And where did you get that?” Tom rumbled behind her.

Newt’s sack bulged. She was hungry, they all were, but she didn’t like to think of some poor family going without this evening.

“I gave him some money,” Garrett said.

Garrett looked at Tom.

Tom gave Garrett a hard look, then nodded. “Aye, Garrett gave the boy some coin.”

“I did not know you had money with you.” Beatrice glanced from one to the other. There was something between the two men. Their faces wore such a studied lack of expression.

“Only a small amount, if we should need it.” Garrett shrugged.

A little too cool and dismissive. But the sack was full and her belly wasn’t. “I will repay you.” Except she’d already given away all her coin. Her cheeks heated in mortification. “When we get to my father, I will make sure he returns your coin.”

Garrett’s lips tightened.

The uneasy feeling shivered through Beatrice.

“Have we time to stop and eat?” Ivy peered around her shoulder, her eyes locked on the sack. “I, for one, am starved.”

“What a fine idea, my other lady.” Newt jabbed his grubby thumb in the direction he had come. “There is a small stream back a short ways. It would be a fine place to feast.”

All eyes turned to her.

Beatrice’s stomach grumbled. With a flush, she signaled Newt to lead on.

Newt’s bag was like a treasure chest. He drew forth fresh breads, apples, cheeses, a couple of long links of sausage, and a small ham. He spread the food on a cloth Beatrice handed him.

She wanted to ask, again, where he’d found this. The more she thought on it, the less likely Garrett’s explanation became. She opened her mouth.

A hand on her arm jerked her back.

Her back met with the resistance of Garrett’s front. His arm slid around her waist to keep her in place.

“Do not ask, my lady.” His lips were warm on her ear and it distracted her from what he was saying. “Just this once, will you not let that conscience of yours rest?” His fingers stroked lightly over her belly.

Desire stirred beneath where he caressed.

His tongue touched the skin behind her ear.

The spot tingled. Beatrice shot a quick look at the others.

Tom watered the horses, and Ivy sat on a log with her back to them, rearranging the food.

“I am no saint.” Certainly not when Garrett was doing such things to her, she wasn’t. Beatrice delighted in the tease of his lips against her neck. She leaned into him.

His chuckle vibrated against her ear and sent stronger prickles of sensation over her skin. “Do you think Tom would notice if we disappeared for an hour or two?”

Tom threw himself down beside Ivy.

“Aye, regrettably.”

“Then, I suppose we should eat.” He placed another searing kiss against her neck before he released her and stepped to the blanket.

It took Beatrice a few moments more to compose herself. She sank onto the log beside Ivy.

“I have news.” Newt stuffed bread and cheese into his mouth with both hands.

Beatrice winced as he sprayed half-chewed crumbs everywhere. He wasn’t a winsome boy.

“Oi!” Tom cuffed him lightly. “Swallow before you speak.”

Newt ducked the blow with the speed of long practice. “Is someone looking for you?”

Beatrice froze.

Newt puffed his chest up. His dark eyes darted in his face, alive with delight. He took his time selecting a link of sausages.

Garrett gave him a swift prod with the toe of his boot.

“I was in a village.” Newt wriggled away from Garrett’s foot. He made a vague waving motion with his hand. “And there were some men asking after a woman traveling.”

Ivy tensed.

Beatrice took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “It could be anyone.” She dearly hoped she was right.

“Rudd will not give up until he finds me.”

Neither will my family if they are after me.

Ivy’s fingers trembled.

Beatrice tightened her hold. “He will not find you.”

Ivy looked away.

“Do you know who they were?” Garrett braced on his elbow.

“Did not want to get close enough to ask.” Newt filled his mouth with sausage.

“Then, what did the men look like?” Garrett’s glance met hers before returning to Newt.

His expression told her nothing. She wanted him to reassure her. A chill rippled through her. Beatrice put aside her meal, no longer hungry.

“One of them was a knight.” Newt shrugged and took another huge bite of sausage. “He was armored up and all.”

“You will choke.” Beatrice tucked her shaking hands beneath her thighs.

Garrett and Tom were intent on Newt. Both of them tense, their faces grim.

“I do not know any knights.” Ivy gave a soft sigh of relief.

“And you still do not.” Newt grinned at her. He rubbed his filthy hands together. Leaning forward he let his eyes linger on each face in turn. “Because those men were looking for the lady.” He sat back with a brisk nod. “They described her and everything.”

Beatrice’s belly clenched. They were looking for her. Their pace was slow and their path clear for any searching eyes.

Newt pointed a scrawny finger at Tom. “They said you might be with her. Or a man what looks like you.” He paused for effect.

“How many?” Garrett asked.

“Do not know.” Newt turned his attention to the apples. “Cannot count, but there was a knight and some men.”

“Lots of men or a few?” Garrett snatched the apples away from Newt.

“Only a few.” Newt kept his beady eyes on the apple.

“Garrett?” Beatrice turned to him. She was icy cold inside.

He tossed the apple at Newt. “Could it be your father?”

Newt snapped it out of the air and grabbed another hunk of cheese. He skittered out of reach with his horde.

“Nay. He does not know I have left.” Beatrice’s thoughts clattered about in her brain. Faye must have shown her note to the family. Did her mother know? Henry?

“It must be your brother.” Tom got to his feet, his hand rubbing at that infernal spot behind his neck. “He has come looking for you, and there will be the devil to pay when he finds you.”

“Then,” Garrett got to his feet, “we will make sure he does not find her.” He stopped and turned to Beatrice. “If this is what you want?”

“Beatrice, it would be better to wait here until Henry catches up with you.” Tom loomed over her. It made her head spin even faster. Tom might be right, but it didn’t sit well.