Page 36

“W ELL, MY LAMB ?” she demanded as Bea quickly closed the door behind her lest Maloren rouse the entire castle in her rage. “Just where have you been?”

“Washing my shift,” Bea replied, which wasn’t precisely a lie.

“In the middle of the night?”

Bea was seriously tempted to tell an outright falsehood, to make up a story about falling from the bed and reopening a wound in her hand so that it bled on her shift. But Maloren would want to see the cut, to wash and tend to it anew.

“I was with Ranulf,” Bea admitted as she set the damp shift on her dressing table.

She cringed as Maloren threw up her hands in horror and cried, “Oh, my poor lamb! You didn’t! Not after— how could you? That scoundrel! That blackguard!”

“Maloren, listen to me,” she said quietly, regarding her surrogate mother with steadfast resolve.

“He’s not evil incarnate, nor did he seduce me.

I went to him willingly and without an invitation.

He tried to send me away, but I wouldn’t go.

I love him. I’ll always love him. He’s a man who sinned and feels terrible remorse for what he did, but he’s good and kind and honorable, and I’m going to be his wife. ”

“Wife!” Maloren gasped. She felt for the dressing table, then sat heavily on the stool, staring at Bea as if she’d just announced she was a ghost.

“Wife,” Bea confirmed as she went to her former nursemaid and took Maloren’s hands in hers, regarding her with the love of a daughter who hates to disappoint her mother but knows that, this once at least, she must. “I love him, and he loves me, and we’re going to be married.”

“Married!”

“Yes, married,” Bea repeated, still determined, although she was sad that Maloren didn’t share her joy.

“I know he’s done bad things. Believe me, Maloren, so does he—none better.

He doesn’t claim to be innocent. He’s confessed everything to me, and with such heartfelt remorse, you would call him noble and more than worthy of my love if you had heard him, too. ”

“Was he kissing that woman?” Maloren demanded.

“Of that he’s innocent,” Bea answered. “Because I love you like a mother, Maloren, I’m going to tell you what Ranulf has told me about his past. You aren’t going to like it, but it will be the truth. And know you this, Maloren, despite what he’s done, I respect and admire and love him.”

Bea would have no more secrets, no more hidden past, no rumors to rise up to plague their future.

She would have Maloren understand Ranulf as she did, and forgive him, as she did.

Surely Merrick, who had kept a serious secret for fifteen long years, would understand, too, and remain true to his friend.

Constance would no doubt agree that Ranulf was a finer, better man than he had been in his youth.

He had done wrong and suffered and learned from his mistakes.

Bea told Maloren about the death of Ranulf’s brother, and the wager that he’d made.

As she’d expected, and to judge by the occasional hiss Maloren made, her former nursemaid was upset to hear these things.

But better they should come from me, Bea reasoned, than for Maloren to hear them from another source.

When Bea finished her explanation, Maloren jumped to her feet. “That…that…!”

“You must understand why he did those things,” Bea said quickly, determined to calm her. “He was hurt and he—”

“Him?” Maloren retorted. “It’s that brother of his, drowning his poor dog! I’d like to get my hands on that lout myself! I’d give him more than a drowning!”

“Then you…you forgive Ranulf?” Bea asked hopefully.

“Are you mad? Forgive him? For seducing all those girls and taking my lamb’s virginity without marriage or betrothal? I should say not!”

Maloren’s eyes flashed with anger. “I don’t blame you, my lamb. I don’t doubt he said some very pretty things and that he’s a fine lover, too, with that body and those eyes. He could probably look a woman into his bed, that one.”

“Maloren, he didn’t seduce me. If anybody seduced anybody, I seduced him —and I’d do it again. I love him, Maloren.”

Finally Maloren understood that Bea would not be dissuaded. She sat down again. “What will I say to Lady Constance?” Her eyes widened. “Or Lord Merrick?”

“You won’t have to say anything to Constance or Merrick. Ranulf and I will go to them when the time comes and ask to be married. I’m sure Merrick won’t object.”

Maloren’s wrinkled face flushed. “You’re right about that! Lord Merrick’ll make certain that redheaded devil marries you.”

“Maloren, I wish you didn’t hate Ranulf,” Bea said as she knelt beside the stool and took Maloren’s work-worn hands in hers.

“If you could have heard the things he said, you’d understand why I’m the happiest woman in England right now, except for one small thing.

My dearest, most protective Maloren doesn’t like the man I’m going to marry. ”

Maloren’s thin lips trembled. “He’s not good enough for you, lambkin. He’s a bad, bad man.”

Bea sighed. She was never going to be able to change her servant’s mind about Ranulf. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Maloren, because I am going to marry him. I suppose Constance could find a place for you at Tregellas and you can stay in her household.”

“Tregellas?” Maloren cried, aghast. “Are you sending me away?”

Bea rubbed her forehead with agitation. “Well, if you hate the man I’m going to marry—”

“I hate all men, but I’m not about to let that stop me from looking after your children,” she declared.

“My lamb and her lambkins will need me, especially with such a father. But I promise I’ll not say one word against him to you, or them, or anyone, as long as you let me stay with you.

Did you ever hear me say one bad thing about your father while he was alive? No, you did not.”

This was, Bea realized, quite true.

So while Maloren’s acceptance of her marriage to Ranulf wasn’t perfect, this would be enough. And yet… “What if our children have red hair?” she asked warily.

“Thank God you’ll be their mother, then, and me their nurse. Otherwise…” She shook her head as if to say, without their good influence, Bea’s children would be doomed by the heritage of their hair.

In spite of that possibility, Maloren gave Bea a satisfied smile.

“So that’s decided. I’ll tend your babies and keep my mouth shut about your red-haired devil of a husband.

At least Lord Merrick will make sure you marry.

Sir Jowan couldn’t make that son of his do the right thing if he’d been the one whose bed you’d shared tonight.

I feared you had when I saw him creeping in the corridor in the dark as if he was up to no good.

” Maloren’s expression grew as sour as Bea had ever seen it.

“Sneaking around like a tomcat in an alley, he was, so if he wasn’t with you, I’d say he was meeting another woman. ”

Bea found that difficult to believe. “Kiernan isn’t the sort to dally with his host’s servants.”

“Don’t tell me you’re forgetting that hussy staying here?”

I T WAS ALL Ranulf could do not to start humming during mass that morning. He did hum as he followed his beautiful Bea into the hall to break the fast. It was a rollicking, happy little tune he’d heard Henry sing in the past.

This behavior wasn’t exactly dignified, Ranulf realized, and he was castellan here, so he should at least attempt to act in a manner befitting a commander.

That proved nearly as difficult as not kissing Bea when he sat beside her at the high table.

“Lady Celeste has sent her regrets that she’s unable to join us this morning,” Bea remarked after the blessing and sliding him a glance that instantly piqued his curiosity.

“Given Kiernan’s absence at mass and something Maloren saw last night, I believe she may no longer be pining over you, my lord. ”

“Really?” Ranulf asked, leaning as close as he dared.

Was it possible that Celeste had decided to assuage her disappointment with handsome young Kiernan, whose appearance and friendliness toward Bea had caused him some envious pangs in the past?

“You think our other noble guest might be responsible for this change of heart?”

“Maloren’s convinced he went to Celeste’s chamber during the night.”

“I don’t suppose she actually asked him where he was going?”

Bea smiled and shook her head. “No.”

“Perhaps he was merely on his way to the garderobe.” Bea’s smile drifted away. “Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“On the other hand,” Ranulf continued, “it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if they’d been together.

Celeste knows she has absolutely no chance for me, and we both saw how Kiernan looked at her when they met.

Celeste is still a very attractive woman, after all.

” He found Bea’s hand and squeezed it lightly before letting go.

“She’s not nearly as attractive as my bride-to-be, though. ”

Lightly brushing her fingers along his thigh, Bea kept a straight face as she whispered, “And here I thought Kiernan was desperately in love with me.”

“Just as well if he’s not,” Ranulf replied with bogus severity as his hand meandered from her knee to her hip. “Otherwise, I might have to challenge him to combat for my lady.”

Bea shifted away. “Stop that.”

“I like it,” he said softly in return. “I think you like it, too. And who has been blatantly caressing my thigh?”

“I suppose we should be a little circumspect,” she said with a note of real regret, “at least until we have Merrick’s permission. I don’t want everyone watching us.”

“They’re watching us right now. They’ve been watching us ever since you arrived. We seem to make a very fascinating couple.”

“We may not be able to keep our desire to marry a secret much longer anyway,” Bea conceded, finding it too difficult to ignore or prevent his clandestine caresses. “Maloren was awake and waiting when I returned to our chamber. I had to tell her about us.”