Page 8 of When I Fall in Love (De Piaget #4)

N icholas looked at what his brothers had collected in the woods and wondered just what in the hell he was supposed to do with it. Make it into soup? Feed it to the horses? Plant it in the garden and hope it would turn into something else come next spring?

He cursed fluently. A fortnight with a very empty larder had proved to be a very inconvenient and expensive venture. He’d hunted, true, and managed to keep his company from starving, but that had grown tiresome. He’d traveled to Seakirk Abbey several times and paid them handsomely for their meal to make porridge, but he’d had his fill of that as well. Not even the dried vegetables and cured meat he’d been able to buy had made much difference to the variety of his supper table.

It was possible that he might have done damage for a loaf of bread.

Obviously, feeding the inhabitants of his keep was not what he did best. He needed someone else in charge of that business so he could be about the business of attending to the affairs of his estate.

Or the other compelling business of doing his damndest not to fall under Jennifer McKinnon’s spell.

A sudden ruckus coming from the great hall interrupted his ruminations. He happily tossed his spoon onto the work table and went to see what madness was being combined. Perhaps this was something he could see to with his sword.

He walked out into the hall and came to a sudden halt. The sight that greeted him so surprised him that he couldn’t move. His younger brother, Miles, was standing inside the hall, trying to listen to both John and Montgomery at the same time. Miles had been followed inside by a pair of lads carrying in things that looked to have been transported by wagon.

Nicholas sighed with unrestrained relief. He sincerely hoped that his mother had sent along something to eat as well.

It likely should have galled him to need such aid, but he supposed if it had galled him in truth, he would have packed up his brothers and sailed a fortnight ago for France where the larder was always full and his cook was without peer.

He frowned thoughtfully. Perhaps a small journey at midsummer wasn’t out of the question.

But for now, he would be grateful for whatever he stood to receive. He would also stretch himself and endeavor not to kill his next-youngest brother for immediately setting his sights on Jennifer McKinnon.

It was, after all, something he should have expected.

He knew the exact moment when Miles noticed her. John and Montgomery were left babbling into thin air as Miles deserted them to cross the hall without delay. He reached Jennifer, took her hand, then bent low over it. He straightened and gave her his most charming smile. Nicholas had no doubt that his brother was girding up his loins for a lengthy siege of her common sense.

He scowled. Perhaps it didn’t serve him to have spent so much time with his family. He knew his brothers far too well for comfort. Miles could be tremendously charming, but Nicholas was fairly sure he wasn’t truly interested in finding a wife. He would woo Jennifer until he was faint from the effort, but he would not desire to win her heart truly.

Then again, and more terrifying still, perhaps Miles was in the market for a bride.

That Miles’s intentions might have changed was alarming enough to make Nicholas leave off with his casual observations. He strode over to the hearth and glared at his brother.

“Stop drooling on her,” he said shortly, “and tell me you brought food.”

Miles smiled pleasantly. “A good e’en to you as well, brother. Aye, I brought food. And a bit of furniture,” he added pointedly, “which is well since all I see in your hall is a stool. A beautiful woman should have a chair with a cushion to sit upon, don’t you agree?”

Nicholas struggled to unclench his jaw. “Did you perchance bring a chair with a cushion?”

“I did.”

“Then why don’t you go fetch it?”

“I’ll keep our lovely lady here company while you go fetch it.”

“I’m unfamiliar with how the wagon is packed,” Nicholas growled.

“The men will acquaint you.”

Nicholas didn’t dare look at Jennifer. Well, he did dare, but only from the corner of his eye. She was looking from him to Miles and back with an expression of slight confusion, as if she couldn’t understand why in the bloody hell they would be arguing about chairs. Nicholas scowled at Miles, but his brother only stared back at him, a hint of a smile playing about his mouth.

Nicholas knew he had no reason to feel possessive of Jennifer. She was no doubt counting the hours until she could return home. He had no desire to have her leaving affect him. Then again, he supposed that if Miles fell in love with her, his heart would be shattered when she left.

There. That was a happy thought.

Nicholas glared at Miles, glared at Jennifer just on principle, then walked over to the hall door, keeping himself company with a few curses.

Why was it that his brother could walk into his hall, see the same beautiful woman that Nicholas had been looking at for a solid fortnight, and begin to woo her before he even removed his cloak or unbuckled his sword belt whilst Nicholas couldn’t bring himself to spew out three kind words in succession her way?

Because Miles didn’t know where she was from and what she would be giving up if she didn’t return home.

The Future.

What a bloody terrible place.

He loped down the steps to the courtyard floor and tried to distract himself with the very large wagon full of goods that were apparently intended for him. It was his mother’s doing, that much he knew. His father would have let him sit on the floor for a decade before he would have stirred himself to send along a stool.

Nicholas had to smile at that. He had learned to rely on himself from his sire and how to accept aid from his mother. It had been a very good combination.

And aid was what he would gladly accept now. Chairs, blankets, bedding, a bed, fabric, and sacks of things he would have to investigate at a later time were all unloaded and carried inside. He found makings for supper and took those himself back to the kitchen. He did his best to hide behind the large sack he carried. It was safer that way. He was quite certain that if he’d had to watch Miles and Jennifer together, blood would have been spilt.

He assumed someone would come to help him, but he apparently assumed incorrectly. He sorted through the things his mother had sent along, yet still no one came to his aid. Finally, when his disgust exceeded his patience, he cursed and walked through the passageway that linked the kitchens to the hall itself. He peered around the comer.

He was unsurprised to find that Jennifer had been placed in the most comfortable chair nearest the fire and that his brothers were seated in a little half circle in front of her, hanging on her every word. Even the men his father had sent along as Miles’s escorts were standing nearby—and Nicholas would have wagered Beauvois that it wasn’t because they were cold and wanted to make use of the fire.

He grunted and turned back to the kitchen. Perhaps Jennifer would notice him when he brought her something to eat—though he was certain that he would not care if she did. He busied himself instead by finding a keg of ale and jamming a spigot into it. It was somewhat satisfying, that pounding, but he would have been the first to admit he almost crushed the lid.

Truly, this had to end. At this point, he wasn’t sure he cared how it would end. He just wanted it to be over, he wanted her to go so he could get down to the business of wallowing fully in his miserable future.

He looked up suddenly when he sensed that someone had come into the kitchens. He supposed it was Montgomery come to offer aid. He was wrong.

It was Jennifer.

He caught his breath before he could help himself. By the saints, what was it about her that was so fascinating? That she was lovely? That she was intelligent? Unafraid of hard work? That she looked more beautiful in his brother’s clothes than any woman had a right to?

He scrambled for something to say. Finding nothing, he latched onto the first thing he could think of.

“I’ve no idea what to do with the weeds the boys gathered,” he said curtly.

She blinked, then smiled faintly. “I’ll make a salad.”

“A what?”

“A bowl of greens to eat. It’s good for you.”

He wasn’t so sure, but he didn’t stop her as she sorted through the weeds, then put them into a bowl. That said, he had no intention of eating them when there was real food in the hall. He laid out dried fruits, cheese, bread, and meat on the work table.

“I’ll fetch the lads,” he said, then walked away before he had to either look at her or speak to her. He couldn’t stop himself, though, from glancing back casually over his shoulder to see what she was doing.

She was simply standing there at the table, looking down.

Nicholas cursed himself. He was a hard-hearted whoreson and deserved whatever unhappiness came his way. ’Twas obvious even to his jaundiced eye that she suffered. He should have been offering her his aid. Instead, all he could manage to offer her was nothing at all. By the saints, he couldn’t keep a decent woman when she was plunked down into his castle—

He stopped short. Was that the case? Had she been sent back for him?

“Supper?” Montgomery said, skidding to a halt in front of him. “I can smell it from here!”

“Smell what?” Nicholas demanded, then staggered as all three of his brothers pushed past him and hurried into the kitchens: “Don’t eat it all!” he bellowed after them. It was a good thing he hadn’t laid out everything. It would have been gone within moments.

He turned and looked back into the kitchens. The lads were storming the tables, forcing Jennifer to step back to avoid being trampled. She watched them with a half smile, standing there with her arms wrapped around herself. Nicholas shook his head. Had he been in her place, he would have been urging his brothers out of the way with his foot against their backsides, not waiting patiently for them to remember their manners. Yet there Jennifer simply stood, smiling a bit wistfully.

Or perhaps it was a bit sadly. Nicholas winced. She looked very alone, in spite of the confusion going on around her. No doubt she was missing her kin and worrying if she would see them again.

He pursed his lips. His mother would have had something to say to him about his disagreeable behavior where Jennifer was concerned. He put his shoulders back, turned, and walked back into the kitchens. He could be polite. He would be kind yet aloof. He could keep his heart uninvolved.

Or so he hoped.

He lifted Montgomery off the only stool, then looked at Jennifer and gestured. “Sit,” he said. He paused. “If you please.”

Jennifer looked at him in surprise, but she sat.

Nicholas cursed silently. Was she so astonished that he could actually be pleasant?

He slapped his brothers’ hands away until he’d given Jennifer the best of everything there. He even fetched a cup and poured her ale. Only then did he see to his own meal.

He ate and drank, but tasted none of it. He couldn’t take his eyes off her, that glorious McKinnon wench, who was bewitching him as easily as she had his brothers.

Her laugh was like water tumbling over smooth stones, her face like a perfect flower in spring sunshine, her eyes as warm as an intimate blaze on a chilly night. Nicholas watched her smile at his brothers, tease them, be interested in their conversation, compliment their chivalry. She was arrestingly beautiful and terribly charming. Even with her hair falling off the top of her head, her clothes less than clean, and her hands showing the extent of her toil, she was simply spectacular.

The lads basked in her approval. They only half concentrated on their food, no doubt fearing to miss yet another smile or gesture that might make them preen even more.

Nicholas wanted to slap them all smartly on the back of their heads to dislodge a bit of sense.

He suspected they might think him mad if he did the same thing to himself.

When everyone had eaten, Nicholas bid Montgomery inquire after the state of the men Miles had brought with him. Petter and his lads were self-sufficient; Nicholas assumed his father’s lads were the same. John went with Montgomery, but Miles was not so easily gotten rid of. He sat on the edge of the table and smiled at Jennifer.

“At least Nicholas had provided you with a bed,” Miles said. “I wonder that he hasn’t seen you provided with something more comfortable to wear than Montgomery’s clothes.”

Nicholas started to open his mouth, but Jennifer answered first.

“He didn’t need to,” she said easily with half a smile. “I was very grateful for the loan of Montgomery’s things.”

Nicholas looked at her in surprise. He wasn’t sure that even his mother would have been so patient. He was positive his sister Amanda would have at least demanded another pair of hose by this point.

“You are too accepting,” Miles said, tossing Nicholas a brief frown. He turned back to her and smiled. “I will see something else found for you, if Nicholas will not.”

“Oh, don’t trouble yourself,” Jennifer protested. “I probably won’t be here much longer.”

Nicholas didn’t mean to clench his jaw. Somehow he just couldn’t help himself. He’d known it all along, of course, but he’d grown accustomed to ignoring her each day. What would he do now?

Whatever Miles and Jennifer conversed about after that he couldn’t have said. He busied himself storing the food that his mother had sent him, then, despite his earlier vow to be solicitous, ignored Jennifer a final time and walked from the kitchen before he had to listen to anything else or see Miles fawning over a woman who couldn’t possibly be interested in him. At least he had a pair of keeps to his name. All Miles had to offer a wench was his surly disposition.

He strode out of the great hall and saw to the putting away of the wagon and the stabling of the cart horses. That didn’t take nearly as long as he would have liked, even though he was particularly careful about it. When he had finished with his father’s horses, he tended his own again and more thoroughly than he normally did.

Finally, he rested his hand on the stall door and blew out his breath. She would go and there was nothing he could do to stop her.

A woman from the Future.

What in the bloody hell would he have done with her anyway?

He turned to leave the stables only to find Miles standing at the entrance, looking at him gravely. Nicholas suspected he had jumped half a foot, but he tried to cover that with an itch or two that he had to reach over his back to address.

Miles was apparently not fooled.

“She’s lovely,” he said.

Nicholas grunted and looked about himself for something else to do. Unfortunately, it was all done and to perfection, else he might have had a task to repeat and thereby ignore his brother a bit longer.

“By the way, you’re missing your front gates,” Miles added.

Nicholas looked at him crossly. “Did you come all this way just to remind me of that?”

“I was just being helpful.”

“Go be helpful elsewhere.”

“Perhaps inside,” Miles said thoughtfully. “I could procure another pair of shoes for Jennifer. Hers are a bit odd, don’t you think?”

“I hadn’t noticed.”

“I can understand that,” Miles agreed. “She is so fetching that her shoes are the last thing a man in his right mind would pay heed to. Do you know she is a musician?”

Nicholas looked at his brother in surprise. “How in the bloody hell did you find that out so quickly?”

“She has beautiful hands. I wondered.” Miles looked at him with wide eyes. “Surely you took the time to ask her a question or two. Nay, it isn’t possible that you’ve been ignoring such a creature.”

“I’ve been busy,” Nicholas said through gritted teeth.

“I find I always have time for a beautiful woman.”

“I’m quite certain you do. I daresay, though, that this woman is not the one for you.”

“Do you think not?” Miles asked, furrowing his brow in an exaggerated fashion. “Why not?”

“Because you want to crusade. You said so.”

“I have thought about it,” Miles admitted.

“Perhaps you should think about it more now, lest you find yourself falling in love with a woman who would not have you.”

“Why wouldn’t she have me?”

“She has two eyes and a decent collection of wits,” Nicholas growled as he pushed away from the stall door and past his brother.

He was half surprised Miles didn’t demand some sort of satisfaction for that nasty comment. That he didn’t led Nicholas to believe that he was contemplating Jennifer far more intensely than he should have been.

“Nick.”

Nicholas stopped on the steps leading up to his hall and turned to look at his brother. “Aye?” he said wearily.

“She’s of Jake’s ... sort. Isn’t she?”

Nicholas considered denying it, but decided that there was no point. Miles knew Jake better than he did. It followed that Miles knew quite a bit more about Jake’s origins than he did. He nodded. “Aye, I suspect so.”

“What will you do?”

Nicholas snorted out a laugh that contained no humor at all. “Do? What in the bloody hell is there to do? She will return home to her life and count this a pleasant adventure, nothing more.”

Miles looked at him searchingly. “I think you fancy her.”

“For all the good it does me,” Nicholas said darkly.

Miles smiled. “Perhaps if you were pleasant to her, she might not want to go.”

“Obviously, you have spent too much time with Grandmère and have begun to think that romance alone will win the day. In reality, brother, that simply isn’t so.”

“Hmmm,” Miles said thoughtfully. “I think I see.”

“I imagine you don’t,” Nicholas said. He nodded toward the hall. “Find a comfortable place on the floor inside and seek your rest before speculation unbalances your delicate humors.”

“Nick, if you asked her to stay—”

“Go,” Nicholas commanded. “And leave me to my own business.”

Miles hesitated, then sighed and walked past him up the steps and into the hall.

Nicholas remained outside and considered.

Would she stay if he asked?

He almost couldn’t bear the thought of it.

He supposed he could refuse to aid her. It was an unpleasant thought for it went strongly against what he’d practiced from the time he’d first thought chivalry an ideal worth pursuing. To not aid a woman when she needed it? He wondered if he might be able to manage such a refusal.

But the thought of her remaining was so compelling, so irresistible ...

’Twas too tempting by half.

He walked into the hall. Fortunately, Jennifer had apparently already gone to bed. At least he wouldn’t have to look at her again that night.

Or, rather, he wouldn’t have the pleasure of looking at her again that night. He rolled his eyes. Obviously, he had been too long without a decent meal. He wished that Robin was there, for then at least he could have worked out his frustrations in the lists.

That he was longing for such torments from his brother said much about his state of mind.

The saints pity him.

Nay, she would return to her time, and he would let her. That bloody abbey... it had all started with Ledenham accusing Jake Kilchurn, which led again back to the Future. A place he was learning to loathe with a passion.

Aye, she would go and there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it. After all, it wasn’t as if he could refuse to aid her.

He paused.

Could he?

He turned away from that thought before it became far more appealing than it should have.