The Wolfe (44 page)

His statement was met with silence. De
Longley looked at his captain, disturbed that his future bride was not even
safe in her own home.

“This is necessary, William?” he asked
softly.

“Aye, sire, it is,” he replied. “I
do not relish the thought of going into battle without my full complement of
knights, but Lady Jordan’s safety is of primary concern to me, as it is to you.
With the majority of the knights away, ‘tis possible that there might be
another attempt on her life. She might not be so lucky a second time.”

He didn’t want to have to order
anyone to stay. It would be much easier all the way around if someone, anyone,
volunteered. He would have gladly stayed if he could have, but it was out of
the question.

The silence was growing
uncomfortable. Fearing that he was indeed going to have to issue an order and
deciding who would best fill the need, William pushed himself off of the wall
and opened his mouth to speak when he was cut off.

“I shall stay.” It was Ranulf.

William was surprised. Ranulf was
his oldest knight, but certainly one of his most aggressive. The man lived for
a good fight. To hear him volunteer for sitting duty was astonishing to the
point of amusement. But before William could acknowledge him, he was
interrupted again.

“Nay, old man, I shall stay,”
Deinwald said curtly.

Ranulf’s bushy red mustache twitched
menacingly. “I volunteered first, lad. You should have spoken sooner.”

Deinwald tried to intimidate him by
staring him down; a useless tactic. Ranulf was a master at intimidation. Kieran
stepped between them.

“I will solve this right now,” he
said amiably. “I shall stay and you both can go.”

Both Deinwald and Ranulf told Kieran
to stay out of it in no uncertain terms. Their voices grew louder as they
started in on each other again and William raised his hands to silence them.

“Well, well, this is a first,” he
said. “I have three knights who would rather stay here and read poetry than
ride into battle. A strange occurrence indeed. Ranulf, since you graciously
volunteered first, you may have the duty. Paris, go inform Bartholomew that
Ranulf will be holed up in the castle with Lady Jordan and that he is in charge
while we are gone. The rest of you, mount up. We ride.”

The knights moved from the room,
their armor banging and clanging as they walked. The soldiers from The Lyceum
fell in behind and the room was quickly vacated, save De Longley, William and
Ranulf. William pulled Ranulf aside.

“I need not stress to you the
importance of this, man,” he said in a low voice. “She must be kept safe. You
must never leave her, even for a moment, without protection.”

“Aye, my lord,” Ranulf agreed
solemnly. “I shall protect her with my life, I swear it.”

William clapped him on the shoulder
in a rare display of affection. “I know you will,” he glanced over Ranulf ‘s
shoulder and saw de Longley looking at them. “Get to it,” he told his knight.

Ranulf left and de Longley moved to
William. “Send word as soon as you can as to Harringham’s situation,” the earl
said. “I am concerned.”

“I will, sire,” William replied. “And
I expect Earl Lowell’s men to arrive here shortly after dark this eve. Ranulf will
direct their placement.”

“Good,” de Longley nodded, but then
looked hesitant. William was waiting for him to express some sort of sentiment
over Lady Jordan, but instead, he let out a blustery sigh. “Adam… he is not a
full knight yet, William. You will watch for him, won’t you?”

“Aye,” William understood his lord’s
concern. Adam was the only child the man had that was worth anything. “He is a
good fighter, my lord. I would not take him on if he were not.”

De Longley nodded shortly,
embarrassed he had said anything at all. “Thank you, William,” he said quietly.
“And thank you for thinking of Lady Jordan’s safety as well.”

‘Tis my duty, my lord, and I do it
to please you,” William said smoothly when what he really wanted to say was he
did it because he loved her madly.

All of his troops were assembled and
waiting but William had one more item to take care of. He had to see Jordan
before he left, if only for a brief second.

***

Jordan was sitting up in her bed when
William appeared in the doorway, dressed from head to toe in full armor. From
his breathing she knew he had been running and his hurried manner caused
anxiety to explode in her chest. Before she could chase Jemma away, he hurried
the little Scot out of the room and closed the door behind her.

Jordan crept onto her knees, her
apprehension full-blown as he turned to her.

“Where are ye going?” she demanded. “I
heard the Scots attacked another fortress. What are ye going to do?”

“They have requested our assistance,
Jordan,” he said patiently. “We are allied with them and must respond.”

To his distress, tears welled in the
pale green eyes. “I dunna want ye to go into battle,” she sniffed.

He went to her, soothing her as much
as the bulky armor would allow. He took her face between his hands and forced
her to look at him.

“This will not take long, I am sure,”
he promised. “Hopefully we will be home in a day or two, three at the most. I
am leaving Ranulf here in charge of you and you will obey him without question.
Jemma, too, although if she obeys at all it will be a first.”

She blinked and fat tears glistened
on her lashes. “I am afraid for ye, English.”

He kissed her forehead, her nose,
listening to her ragged breathing. “I told you once that there has not been a
sword made that can cut me down,” he said softly. “I shall be back, and in time
for your party, too.”

She nodded, sniffing, trying to be
brave for him. He smiled and kissed her again, this time sweetly on the lips.
Then he settled her back on the bed and pulled up the coverlet around her.

“Rest now, love,” he told her. “I
shall return before you know it.”

With a wink, he turned for the door
and opened it. But he paused on the threshold, turning one last time to look at
her.

“I love you,” he whispered.

She hiccupped. “And I love ye,” she
said. “Be safe, my Wolf.”

He gave her a brief nod and was
gone.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

The army had been gone for four
days. Four long, long days. Every day, Jordan would sit by the window watching
for any sign of their return, but so far the horizon had remained green and
unmoving.

She was depressed and apprehensive.
Literally trapped in her rooms, she spent her time doing needle work and Ranulf
had set up her tapestry loom in one corner. She kept as busy as she could, she
and Jemma spending all of their time together. But her heart ached for William.

The earl spent a good deal of time
with her, even escorting her for a walk once with Ranulf and several soldiers
in tow. God help him, Ranulf had never been so nervous in his entire life and was
exceedingly glad when the earl had decided Lady Jordan had had enough fresh air
for one day.

De Longley had even seen it fit to
sup with her every night in her rooms, and Jordan grew to know the man little
by little. She was especially interested when he spoke of news from William and
the battle for The Lyceum, frustrated when he would give her little information
and then turn from the subject.

He was a kind man and she was
beginning to like him. How such a man could have raised two vipers, she didn’t
know. He did apologize for Analiese’s and Alexander’s behavior once, trying to
explain it in terms she did not understand. But he did mention that his two
eldest children were becoming used to the idea of Lady Jordan as the countess
and he was positive they would eventually become civil to her. Jordan didn’t
care; as far as she was concerned, she would be happy if they stayed away from
her forever.

The earl spoke of the party often,
as planning it was taking most of his and Analiese’s time. She came to
understand that many important people had been invited, and it thrilled and
frightened her at the same time. He was quite eager to describe the food and
the entertainment, but seemed more concerned where to lodge various English
houses. It ‘twould seem that some families did not get along so well with
others and that caused him great concern.

Every so often he would make
reference to the absent army, most often mentioning Adam in the same breath,
and Jordan was touched at his obvious concern for his son. Of course the man
only had one decent offspring and it was apparent he loved the boy dearly.
Jordan found herself reassuring him that Adam would be all right, that William
and the other knights would see to that. He would quickly nod and change the
subject, but a shadow of concern would linger on his tired face.

This fourth day Jordan was ready to
climb out the window, anything to be free of her confinement. After the first
day, she had insisted that Ranulf stay inside her rooms instead of outside and
keep her company, and from his vantage point in the antechamber he could see
her pacing by the window in her bedchamber.

“My lady will wear a hole in the
floor,” he said to her. “Not to mention wearing out your slippers. Sit and I
will read more of Homer.”

She looked at him and, with a
resigned face, went out into the antechamber. Jemma sat in the high-back chair,
sewing in hand.

“I dunna wish to hear Homer today,”
she said listlessly. “I want to hear of yer battles. How many have ye seen
since William has been captain?”

Ranulf pursed his lips thoughtfully.
“Too many to count, my lady. Many, many skirmishes.”

“And how many knights have ye lost?”
she asked.

He cocked his head in recollection
of the fine men that had fallen under the sword. “In the six years I have
served under Sir William, we have only lost two knights,” he said. “The first
was Northwood’s former captain, John Winebald. The second was a knight by the
name of Alec Hage. He was Kieran’s younger brother.”

At that, Jemma let out a small gasp
but quickly stilled herself. Jordan let her gaze linger on her cousin a moment.

“When was he struck down?” she
finally asked.

“Last year,” Ranulf replied. “In the
same battle that so severely wounded William. In fact, nearly all of the
knights suffered some sort of battle wound in that round. We were lucky we only
lost one; we damn near lost two.”

Jordan and Jemma’s eyes locked, both
remembering the battle well. Especially Jordan. Yet both women were thinking
the same thing - that it could have been one of their kin who cut down Kieran’s
brother. Jemma’s stomach twisted painfully with the thought.

“What was Sir Alec like?” Jemma
asked quietly, going on with her sewing.

Ranulf sighed, thinking back. “He
was younger than Kieran by a few years, tall and very blond He and Kieran had
the same sort of smile, but he was much more arrogant than his brother. He and
Deinwald were the best of friends.”

Jordan didn’t want to hear anymore
of Alec Hage. She unconsciously rubbed at her arms, even though the day was
very warm.

“Will they return today?” she asked
Ranulf.

“Aye, I am sure of it,” he replied. “William
sent word to de Longley that they were remaining behind to help clean up and
secure The Lyceum. He also wanted to make sure the Scot’s would not change
their mind and launch another attack after being so soundly defeated the first
time.”

She looked at Ranulf, her eyes
lighting up. “They were magnificent, weren’t they?” she asked. “Fending off
wave after wave, even after Earl Coe joined the attack. I almost wish I could have
been there.”

Ranulf was confident. “Aye, with The
Wolf at the helm, the troops are always magnificent,” he replied, the light in
her eyes not going unnoticed to him. “I would serve none other than him. ‘Tis why
young Adam wished to serve here at his home instead of at Beverley. He wished
to serve the best.”

Her chest swelled with pride and she
turned away so he would not see the smile on her lips.

The nooning meal came and went, and
the weather was quite sticky for late August. Jordan’s thoughts kept drifting
to the lovely little lake on the outskirts of the fortress and wished
vehemently she could go for a swim. Physically, she was feeling perfect again
and her strength had returned almost fully. Being a prisoner in her rooms was
very nearly driving her insane and she felt from time to time she could
literally climb the walls, anything to relieve the monotony.

Not only had her strength returned,
but so had her devious little mind. It was harmless, really, but she could be
quite manipulative. She eyed Ranulf where he stood by the windows, wondering if
she could coerce him into letting her out for a swim. Had it been William
standing there, she knew she could convince him to let her go. But Ranulf was
crusty and coarse and she was unsure of herself with him. But, she must try.
She was going insane in her rooms.