The Wolfe (67 page)

“Lady Jordan,” the earl greeted her
before William could speak. “To what do we owe the honor of your presence?”

There was not a man in the room who
had ever seen Jordan angry, and it was a sight to behold. The woman was as hard
as rocks. “I would know why ye have summoned my lady-in-waiting, sire.”

De Longley contemplated his answer a
moment. “As you are her mistress, ‘tis your right to know,” he glanced at the
big, blond girl. “We have decided that Lady Aloria does not fit our needs here
at Northwood. She will be returning to London with the king and queen.”       

“Nay,” Jordan stamped her little
foot, and when she suddenly realized who she was talking to, added: “Sire. I
dunna want her to leave.”

William walked around to stand by
the earl’s desk. “‘Tis not your decision to make, my lady.”

She was furious with him to say the
least. “But she is to be my lady, is she not? Then why canna I have a say in
this decision?”

William and the earl glanced at each
other, wondering why she was defending this abrasive woman. But they also knew
Jordan had a big heart and it would probably be wiser to reason with her than
to give her a blunt order.

“Then I will hear you,” the earl
said after a moment. “Why do you wish her to stay?”

Jordan eyed William as she spoke. “Because,
sire, I like her. She will make me a fine lady and teach Jemma and I about
courtly things. Please dunna send her away. I want her to stay.”

William was sitting on the edge of
the earl’s massive desk, his gaze on his wife less than pleasant. Jordan
ignored him, instead, focusing on the earl.

Aloria was stunned at the entire
conversation, shocked that Lady Jordan would defend her. She’d never had anyone
defend her, and she could see that the earl and the captain were displeased
with the lady’s boldness.

“If I may, my lord earl,” she
stepped forward. “If you deem it best that I go, then go I will. I will not
argue the point, although I do thank Lady Jordan for her fortitude on my
behalf.”

The woman was a smooth talker,
William thought. And he was not surprised to hear that his wife liked her, but
he still wanted her gone. He turned his head away from both of them.

“Lady Jordan is impressionable, Lady
Aloria, and needs to be handled with that in mind,” he said. “You are too
forceful and commanding, in our opinion, for this duty.”

“Ye mean in
yer
opinion,”
Jordan spit out before she could stop herself. “Ye dunna like her because she
stood up to ye.”

The earl fought off a grin at her
bravery, misplaced though it may be. William turned a cool gaze to his wife.

“Whether or not I like Lady Aloria
is not the issue here. The point is that she is not suited to you. And she will
go.”

Jordan was livid at his arrogant,
unforgiving attitude. This was the captain she had grown to despise, the
unmovable man she had seen on unwelcome occasions. She frowned mightily at him,
apparently at a dead-end.

Well, they could not have Aloria.
They had no right to send her back when the queen herself had selected her. She
was not going to let her new lady go without a fight.

Whirling on her heel, she charged
past Aloria, reaching out to grab the woman’s hand. “Come with me,” she
snapped.

Shocked beyond making a rational
decision to refuse, Aloria did as she was ordered. Jordan yanked the woman
along with her to the door, coming to a grinding halt as she but reached the
latch. Her glowering gaze settled on her husband.

“Ye canna have her.” she spat at the
roomful of men. “If ye want her, then ye’ll have to fight me for her.” With that,
she jerked open the door and pulled Aloria along after her.

Once outside the door, as if she
suddenly realized what she had done, she passed Aloria a panicked glance. She’d
never been remotely disobedient in her life and was shocked at herself. Her fury
dissipated, overrun with fear of the coming wrath.

“Run.” she instructed hastily.

William and the others sat a moment
in stunned silence. Kieran and Deinwald stared at each other and at William,
wondering what he was going to do to his lovely new bride for her insolence.

“Your wife is a woman of deep
feeling,” the earl commented, on the verge of giggles.

A muscle in William’s jaw ticked as
he thought on her behavior. “The only thing she is going to be feeling is my
hand on her backside when I catch up with her.”

De Longley released a pent-up giggle.
“Do not be too harsh with her, lad. She’s had a rough time of it today.”

William stood up abruptly. “Aye, but
it does not excuse her rudeness to you or me. I apologize for her, my lord.”

“No need,” the earl waved him off. “However,
the most pressing issue at hand is the wedding ceremony. I knew Henry spoke
Latin and I was a fool not to imagine that he would pay attention to what was
being said. I had hopes that he would doze through the service but it appears
to be a foolish trust. So it remains; what language do we perform the mass in?”

William crossed his arms. “Jordan
speaks and writes Gaelic. Why not that? Aloria said Henry had no working
knowledge of the language.”

De Longley nodded in agreement. “That
makes the most sense. I will send for Father Sutton immediately and your wife
can write the mass for him. We’ll tell Henry that Jordan wished the service to be
in her native language for purely female sentimental reasons, or some other
story along those lines, and pray that he is not offended.”

William nodded, moving for the door.

“And William,” the earl said with a
twinkle in his eye. “Be easy on her. ‘Twould not do for a bride to show up at
her wedding bruised from head to toe.”

William realized how harsh he must
appear outwardly and forced himself to relax. “No need to worry, my lord. I’d
sooner cut my own arm off than lay a hand on my wife in anger. However, she
will receive an earful and mark my words, the court lady returns with Eleanor.”

He left the room, leaving the earl
with Kieran and Deinwald. The two knights glanced at the earl where the man sat
with his chin in his hand behind his desk. His eyes were distant and amused.

“Mark
my
words, lad,” he
muttered with a chuckle. “That remains to be seen.”

***

William burst into his wife’s rooms
without a knock. Jemma, who moments earlier had been advised of Jordan’s
stupidity, yelped at the sight of him and fled to her room, slamming the door. William
frowned at Jemma’s reaction, wondering if he would get the same response from
his wife.

“Jordan.” he roared.

Jemma screamed again from behind her
door and he glared irritably at the closed panel as if his wife’s cousin could
see his distaste at her behavior. Not waiting for an answer, he barged into
Jordan’s bedchamber to find her standing calmly at the foot of her bed, her
green eyes wide at him.

She met his gaze with an up thrust
chin, an action suggestive of Jemma of which he highly disapproved. It only
served to fuel his outrage.

“Where is she?” he demanded.

Jordan was grinding her teeth. “Packing
her things, thanks to ye. Seems I am the only one willing to fight for her to
remain here. She willna stay where she’s not wanted.”

His eyes narrowed. “What possessed
you that you would be deliberately rude to the earl and to me? What is the
matter with you?”

“Ye treat me like a brainless nymph,
William,” she shot back. “Ye treat me as if I am only good as a pretty little
piece of chattel on yer arm or good in bed. Ye already run my daily life as it
is. Am I not even allowed to choose my companions now?”

He was slightly taken aback with the
passion of her statement. “Is that what this is about? You are trying to assert
a certain amount of control with me?”

“Nay.” She came around the bed to
stand in front of him. “I would simply like to have a say in a decision that
will directly affect me. Is that too much to ask of ye? I am capable of making
an intelligent decision.”

“I am well aware of that,” he said
evenly, seeing that she was truly angered by the situation. “Jordan, we have
been through this before. You must trust that I know what is best for you.”

“And I dunna?” she asked pointedly,
though calmer. “William, I am not daft. I think Aloria is a fine addition to
Northwood and I wish her to stay. Why do ye want her to leave so badly? Because
she stands up to ye?”

“Why do you keep bringing that up?
You stand up to me, yet I do not send you away,” he said, a bit sarcastically. “I
told you from the beginning that if I did not feel the queen’s lady was a
proper companion for you, then I would send her back. And from the looks you
were giving her in the grand hall, I didn’t think you wanted her. Why the
change of heart?”

Jordan deflated a little, sitting on
the edge of the bed. “Because I have had a chance to talk to her, to get to
know her,” she said. “Did ye know she’s the bastard daughter of the Earl of
Devon’s wife and he sent her away when she was five years old? She has never
had a home, English, or a place where she belongs. Even the queen was eager to
be rid of her because she dinna fit in at court. Canna ye see? I dunna want her
discarded again. Aloria just wants to find a place where she belongs, and I
want her to belong here.”

William listened to her and let out
a heavy sigh, his anger evaporated for the most part. Scratching his head
thoughtfully, he moved over to the window.

“She will keep us apart, Jordan,” he
said, gazing out over the bailey. “‘Tis too soon to let her in on our secret,
if indeed we ever feel we can. Did it ever occur to you that she told you those
things simply to gain your pity, when in fact, she could be a spy from Henry?”

Jordan looked shocked. “Nay…, I
mean, I dunna think she is.” She was suddenly uncertain and feeling foolish. “Why
would the king have a spy here at Northwood?”

William shrugged and turned away
from the window. “Henry is a greedy, shallow man. Northwood is very wealthy and
powerful. ‘Tis possible he is looking for an excuse to expropriate her lands
and wealth to fill his own coffers.”

Jordan opened her mouth in surprise.
“Do ye think so? But why?”

“I am not saying this is the case,
Jordan, but it is always a possibility. That is the primary reason I am
uncomfortable with Aloria around.”

“Then why did the earl send for a
court lady in the first place? If it was an easy opportunity for the king to
plant a spy, then why would he make himself vulnerable?”

William shrugged and sat down next
to her. “A court woman, a knight, a soldier, makes no difference,” he said
quietly. “We have several spies in our midst right now and that is not unusual.
But we do not have one in the heart of the family, as Aloria would be.”

Jordan looked back at her husband,
frightened at his words. Yet, in her heart, she did not believe Aloria to be a
spy. And she still believed everything the woman told her. Mayhap it was her
naiveté, but she still wanted the lady. She just could not believe that she was
there to destroy them.

“English,” she said softly and he
turned to her. “I dunna believe she is a spy, but I shall do as ye ask. Yet I
will ask one thing; talk to her before ye send her back. Gain a bit of insight into
the woman before ye condemn her.”

He studied his wife’s beautiful
face, relishing every feature but found his eyes constantly drawn to her
bow-shaped lips. He leaned over and kissed her softly, lingeringly.

“If you wish it, I will do it. You
are a very wise woman, Lady de Wolfe, when you are not being so blatantly
impudent.”

From outside the bedchamber door
they suddenly heard a loud thud. William leapt to his feet and yanked open the
door with his wife on his heels.

Aloria was picking herself up off
the floor from where she had tripped over a small foot stool. Her eyes were
wide as William came charging at her, grabbing her by the arms, and she could
read her own death in his eyes.

“You were spying.” he accused
viciously.

“Nay, my lord.” she shook her head,
scared out of her mind and terribly cognizant of the painful grip he had on her
arms. “I would not do that, I swear.”

“Damnation, woman, do not lie to me,”
he seethed. “You were spying. How long were you standing outside the door? How
long?” He punctuated the last two words with a rough shake.

Aloria’s face was white and she was
trembling violently. “I…I entered to seek out Lady Jordan and thank her for defending
me. I had just only approached the ajar bedchamber door when I heard her voice,
asking someone to speak with me and gain insight. And then I heard your voice, my
lord, and I hastened to leave.”

William muttered a silent curse,
knowing before he asked what the answer would be. “What did you hear?” he
growled.

Aloria swallowed, knowing very well
she could be sealing her own death. But he knew what she had heard and it would
be of no use to lie to The Wolf.