The Maiden and Her Knight (22 page)

The cunning old bastard.
“Did you plan for Allis to meet Connor? Did you foresee them falling in love?”

He watched Oswald very carefully as the older man replied. “No. That was merely a fortunate accident.”

Fortunate for
him
. “So he is to be the arrow while you draw the bow.”

“Exactly. Richard will be dead, John will be on the throne, and you will have Allis and Montclair.” Oswald smiled. “I, on the other hand, will have more land, and more power from a grateful prince made king, and the proof that you killed Albert L'Ouisseaux's son in my possession, should you ever get any ideas about trying to outmaneuver
me
.”

As Rennick struggled not to betray his dismay and his rage, Oswald reached into his tunic and pulled out the small vial the London apothecary had sold him.
“Do not try to change a plan of mine ever again. You will do exactly what I tell you, or I will tell Albert L'Ouisseaux the truth about his son's death. His judgment would be much harsher than the king's court, as you well know.”

Rennick swallowed hard, because that was true.

“No need to look so glum,” Oswald said as he put the vial away. “You are going to have your Allis, after all. So what if she loves another and has taken him into her embrace? She can hardly fault you should you take a mistress or two, can she?”

That old reprobate would never understand his insatiable need for Allis, not if he lived a thousand years.

Oswald put his arm around Rennick's shoulder in a gesture that seemed more possessive than companionable. “What of Allis in all this? Have you convinced her that it would not be wise to repudiate you?”

He resisted lifting away Oswald's arm. “Yes, she understands what will happen if she does.”

“Good, and since she is not a fool, she knows you mean it.”

“I do mean it.”

Oswald removed his arm and started toward the door. “Ah, Rennick, such an apt pupil!”

Rennick didn't follow. “What of Isabelle? She is too good to waste as a reward to Auberan.”

Indeed, she should be in his bed, too, with or without Allis's knowledge. One sister for wife, one for mistress…. His loins tightened with that tantalizing idea.

He realized Oswald was watching him closely and made his face a blank.

“Perhaps I should reconsider,” the older man said, and Rennick wondered how much of his thoughts he had already betrayed. “But for now, let Auberan think
she is destined for him. Trying to seduce her will give him something to do.”

Rennick turned the conversation to another matter, and away from the women. “What about the Welshman? He can't stay.”

Oswald frowned. “Because you made such a show.”

“What was I to do when they were not here?” Rennick demanded. “Look as if I didn't care?”

“You might have tried.”

Oswald could afford to sound blasé. Allis wasn't
his
betrothed. “As you keep pointing out, my lord, there is the matter of my wounded pride. I should challenge him to combat for insulting my honor.”

“No, you shouldn't. For one thing, he's wounded, so how would that look? For another, although he's wounded, he would probably kill you.”

Furious at the implication that he was no match for a wounded Welshman, Rennick started to protest, but Oswald held up his hand to silence him. “That is the truth, and you know it as well as I, so don't bother to say otherwise.”

He didn't know it, but Oswald gave him no chance to speak.

“And knowing the lady as I do—although perhaps not so well as I thought I did, for I must confess myself shocked she would make love outside the bounds of marriage—I think you need do nothing. You are forgetting the very real possibility that you will gain more respect if you act the devoted, yet betrayed, husband-to-be willing to forgive his wayward bride.”

Damn Oswald for finding the one reason to do nothing.

“Either Connor will choose to leave, or she will ask him to go. The pain of being near each other under these circumstances will be too difficult. However, if it
will ease your injured pride, you would certainly be within your rights as guardian of the young earl to order Connor to leave Montclair.”

“I will.”

“I warn you that I am planning to offer my sympathies to Sir Connor and invite him to my castle until his shoulder is completely healed.”

Rennick's anger burned brighter for a moment, until he forced himself to think like Oswald. “Until you have convinced him of the necessity of killing Richard, you mean.”

“Exactly.” Oswald strolled over to the Madonna, bent over and blew out every votive candle, so that the chapel was lit only by a single candle on the small altar. “Come. Let us see if the ladies have finished their useless conversation. My throat is dry from all this talking. I need some of that fine French wine of the late, lamented earl's. And cheer up, man! You are going to have all that you desired. What more could a man ask?”

Rennick DeFrouchette said nothing, for despite all he said and all he told himself and all he planned, he knew that he would never have Allis's love, and it was the one thing he had wanted most of all.

A
fter Rennick's departure, Allis and Isabelle stood listening to his retreating footsteps.

“I'm not a babe,” Isabelle declared as silence descended.

“No, you are not,” Allis retorted. “Nor do you understand the full import of what you have proposed.”

“Yes, I do.”

“You do not know the kind of man DeFrouchette is.”

“I have known him all my life. I know what he does.”

“Not everything.” Allis readied herself to reveal some of Rennick's more sordid activities.

“I probably know much more than you think,” Isabelle said as she crossed to the window and looked out. “You are not with me all day. I hear things.”

Could it be that Isabelle had heard the stories about
Rennick and did not care? “Then you know that he punishes his tenants for the least thing, and as harshly as the law allows?” Allis asked as she went to stand beside her. “How he always claims the
heriot
before a tenant's body is barely cool, even if that is the only beast the family owns? How he makes some women ‘pay' the taxes on their family's property, or that sometimes he simply takes those he fancies.”

Isabelle colored and continued looking out of the window. “Those are only rumors, gossip spread by disgruntled tenants. Every Norman nobleman has such things said about him by his peasants.”

How she wished she had told Isabelle the truth sooner! “Isabelle, look at me.”

Reluctantly, she obeyed, and she regarded Allis with a steadfast gaze, as if as certain of her purpose as Allis had ever been.

With an even stronger sense of desperation, Allis gently took her by the shoulders. “Isabelle, in his case, the stories are true. I have spoken with Brother Jonathan, and he has tended to the victims of Rennick's justice who weren't put to death, but only had their hands cut off or their eyes put out. He has comforted the sobbing women raped by Rennick DeFrouchette.”

Isabelle didn't even flinch.

“He is an evil man,” Allis persisted, “who wormed his way into our household when our mother died and our father was sickened by his grief. He has been gradually taking control of our estate, and now, as our guardian, he has it.”

Still Isabelle regarded her steadily. “You say he is a terrible man, yet you agreed to marry him.”

“To protect you and Edmond, and our father, while he lived. I wish with all my heart I had not.”

Isabelle came closer and suddenly, Allis found herself staring into her father's eyes as they had been before her mother's death, sure and determined.

“You wish it because you love another.”

Before she could respond, Isabelle clasped her hand tightly, firmly, with a sure confidence. “Although you have not told me, I know how you feel about Sir Connor. You love him and hate the baron. I believe Sir Connor loves you with his whole heart. You should marry him.”

“Yes, I do love him,” she said, speaking to Isabelle as an equal and not a younger sister, “and nothing would make me happier than to be his wife, but I cannot. If I don't, the baron will take out his ruthless anger on you, and Edmond, Connor and even Connor's family. I have no choice but to marry him, and there is nothing you, or anyone, can do.”

“Yes, there is, and I intend to do it. I'm not a stupid child. I know what Rennick DeFrouchette is—and I know what he will do to you, even if you are his wife.
Especially
if you are his wife, because of your love for Connor. He will make your life a hell, Allis, and I will not have that happen, not after all you have done for Edmond and Father and me. I cannot let all your efforts and sacrifice be repaid with more suffering. I will not let you give up your chance for love and happiness with Connor, not while I live.” She made a wistful smile and her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “You taught me better than that, sister, and you taught me well.”

Allis put her arms around Isabelle and hugged her tight. Never had she been prouder of her sister, or loved her more. And now, more than ever, she could
not condemn her to the miserable life that awaited Rennick DeFrouchette's wife.

Isabelle began to weep. The sound tore at Allis's heart, and strengthened her resolve. “Forgive me for underestimating you, Isabelle. Forgive me for thinking you an ignorant, flighty creature, but I am older than you and so you must do as I say.” She gently wiped the tears from her sister's face. “And I will not let you throw your future away by marrying Rennick DeFrouchette. I agreed to be his wife, and I must accept my fate. Still, know you this, Isabelle. By marrying him, I will be keeping the people I love and cherish safe, and that will comfort me, no matter what happens.”

“But can you trust him not to hurt anyone, even if he gives his word?”

“No, I cannot,” she admitted as the wall around her heart began to rise again, stronger and thicker, like the stone walls of Montclair. She would put her love behind that wall, where Rennick could never go. “But if I am his wife, I will know if he harms those I love, or Connor's family.”

“What will you do if he does?”

“I will kill him.”

Allis meant that as much as anything she had ever said in her life. “Now I will hear no more of this. I have made my decision.” She went to the door. “I will go and tell Rennick that he has made an agreement, and as I intend to abide by it, so must he.”

Isabelle followed her and grabbed her hand to make her stay another moment. “Is there no other way?”

For an instant, her resolve wavered. By going to Rennick now, she was giving Connor up forever. There would be no going back. Her heart shuddered and
cracked, ready to break, behind the stone walls. “There is not.”

“I would marry him, Allis. I would!”

She caressed Isabelle's cheek. “I know, and you have made me proud and grateful, Isabelle. One day, you will make some lucky man a wonderful wife, but it must not be Rennick.”

With that, Allis hurried down the steps, determined to speak to Rennick while her resolve was at its strongest, before she weakened and sacrificed her family for the love that lived in her wounded heart.

Connor was not in the hall, or Rennick. Or Oswald or Auberan or Edmond. Only the servants, who once again didn't meet her gaze—except for Merva, who boldly stared while she laid the linen on the tables for the evening meal, although no such order had been given. Who could think of food now?

She marched toward Merva. “Where are the nobles?”

“They left.”

Allis regarded Merva with cold, stern command. That was easy to do when her heart was encased in stone. “That is no way to address the chatelaine of Montclair.”

The woman flushed and looked away. “Your brother's in the kitchen. I don't know where anybody else went.”

She started to go past Merva, then halted abruptly when the woman's murmured words met her ears. “What did you say?”

Merva stared at the ground, abashed at Allis's harsh demand. “I said, I never thought you'd disgrace your family.”

Allis blushed hotly. Yes, this was how the stories of
what had transpired today were going to go. She would be painted an evil Jezebel, and Rennick would be a good and virtuous man for marrying her anyway.

Too upset to speak, she hurried out the door, as if she could flee rumor and gossip and the mess she had made of her life, and the danger in which she had put her family, and Connor's, too.

She couldn't face Rennick now. Not yet. There was time for her to tell him what must be. First, she would find Connor. She needed to see him, to be with him. To ask him to leave and say a last farewell.

She slowed to a walk. She had cast aside honor to be with him, and dared to hope. Honor and hope were dashed; the least she could do was try to maintain her dignity.

But she didn't want to be dignified. She wanted to throw herself to the ground and wail and rend her clothes, screaming her anguish, demanding that God take pity on her and smite her enemies—

The door to the chapel opened and Auberan came out.

She could not bear to see or speak with Auberan. She ducked inside the garden and closed the gate.

Turning, her breath caught in her throat as she saw Connor. The walls around her heart quivered, then shook, and a great breach opened and her love for him poured out and through her, burning fierce and bright when he saw her and jumped to his feet.

She ran to him and threw her arms about him, holding him as if she would never let him go. She didn't want to let him go, now or ever. Only the safety of their families could come between them, and it had.

Slowly, reluctantly, she stepped back, her gaze searching his face, determined to memorize his fea
tures so they would always be in her mind. Cold comfort, but better than none.

“I know what has happened, that the baron has been given guardianship of you and Edmond and Isabelle.” He gently pulled her into his comforting embrace. “Come away with me, Allis,” he whispered, his breath light and warm on her cold cheek. “You and your brother and sister. I've been sitting here thinking about it, and that is what you must do. It is the only way we can be together and your family safe.”

Even as she held him as if her life depended on it, Rennick's threat sounded in her ears and she shook her head. “I cannot. We cannot.”

“You must!”

“If we do, Rennick will hunt us down and destroy us—and your family, too, Connor.”

His embrace tightened. “He can't!”

“He can, and he will. There is only one way to keep everyone I love safe, Connor. I have to marry him, as I have already pledged.”

He drew back and the pain in his eyes was like her own. “No! I won't let you throw yourself away on that dog. As you love me, you must come away with me. I will protect you and both our families with my last breath, if need be.”

She reluctantly shook her head. “Against Rennick your martial skills will not be enough. He will not come at you directly the next time, with a lance or sword, but he will find a way.”

“Poison?” he suggested. “Such as something to make a young man's heart fail?”

Of course! She should have seen this, too! She had truly been a blind fool.

“I know the kind of man he is,” Connor said, his deep voice full of confidence as he rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, “and that knowledge means we can protect ourselves.”

How she wished it could be so simple! “Against the assassins his money can buy? He will stop at nothing to be avenged.”

“You fear him that much?”

“I know him that well.”

“He is not above the law, Allis. He is not above the king and the king's court.”

“What good will the king's justice be to any of us if we are dead?” She took her beloved's face between her hands and as she looked into his wonderful eyes full of love for her, she willed him to understand. “My love, my dearest love, nothing but the threat of death against all those I care about would make me give you up and marry Rennick DeFrouchette.”

Connor gathered her into his arms. “There must be another way,” he murmured fervently, his lips against her cheek.

“Not without risk to everyone we hold dear.”

“Then you will not come with me?”

“Oh, my love!” she cried, her voice breaking with grief. “If it were only the two of us I had to consider, I would not hesitate. But I have to think of Edmond and Isabelle, as you must think of your brother and sister—four other people, Connor, who have done nothing to deserve trouble except be related to us. I cannot put them in jeopardy because of what I want. Can you?”

Hurt and dismayed, he twisted away from her. “I have done it before, have I not? I have spoken and acted with no thought to anyone but myself, and my wounded feelings and betrayed ideals. You stand here
telling me what I must do, as if I cannot make a sacrifice. Is that what you truly think of me, Allis? That I do not comprehend duty and sacrifice?”

“No, that is not what I think. You are chivalrous, and understand duty and sacrifice better than many a man, for you have tried to repair your past mistakes. If you were selfish, you would not be risking your life in tournaments to pay your family's debts. But there is one more sacrifice you must make, Connor, for your family's sake, as I make it for mine.”

A sob caught in her throat, and the sound ripped into him like a dagger.

“And I hope you may yet be full of dreams, and hope. That someday you will know love and happiness again, Connor, because I never will. When you leave, you will take my love and happiness and all my dreams with you. We have had a time in paradise on earth, however brief, and that is more than most people will ever have. But now it is over. You must leave here and never come back.”

As he enfolded her trembling body in his arms, he knew that he would never break her resolve. The strength he had so admired was now marshaled against him, and she would never yield. She would do what she must to protect others, no matter how much she loved him or the cost to her own happiness.

He could not make her be less than she was.

“Never is a very long time to stay away from you,” he whispered, his own voice breaking.

“For my sake, it must be so. Please do not come back. I couldn't bear to see you and be reminded of what I have lost.”

“Isn't this touching?” Rennick slammed the gate
shut. “Let go of my bride, Welshman.” Connor kissed his beloved's forehead. Then he faced their enemy and smiled his dangerous smile as he drew his sword, ready to kill for her freedom, or die in the attempt. “Make me.”

“No,” she commanded, stepping between them. She turned to him, her eyes blazing with passionate determination. “Connor, if you kill him, you will be brought before the king's court—before Richard. It will not go well with you, not after what we have done. People already suspect we are lovers, and they will believe you killed Rennick to have me.”