Lord Of Lyonsbridge

Sarah looked up from her kneeling position, the same grateful smile on her face. “Thank you, milady.”

John looked doubtful. “Sir William will like not being bothered with such a matter, milady.”

“Sir William will like what I tell him to like,” Ellen said. There were several long moments of silence as the widow’s coughs continued to subside, turning into relaxed, deep breaths.

“You’ve calmed her, milady,” Sarah said, awe in her voice.

Rather self-consciously, Ellen withdrew her hand from the woman’s shoulder. She looked around the cottage, suddenly feeling out of place. “I believe she wore herself to sleep with her coughing, child.”

Sarah shook her head. “Nay, often when she starts in like that it lasts nigh on forever. ‘Twas you who calmed her.”

“The girl’s right.” Connor had walked over to crouch beside the twins and put his arms around them. “I’ve seen the spells last an hour or more with nothing to stop them.”

“Look, she’s sleeping,” John added, his tone as awed as his sister. It was true. The widow’s breast rose and fell in the even breathing of slumber.

Ellen gave a small, uncomfortable laugh. “Then mayhap we should leave her to rest.”

Connor stood, lifting a twin in each arm. The two children had not made a sound since she and Connor had entered the cottage, but secure in the horse master’s long arms, they each ventured a smile. There was an unfamiliar melting sensation inside Ellen’s chest. She walked over to the trio and asked softly, “Which one is Karyn and which is Abel? Will you tell me your names now?”

The child in Connor’s right arm ducked his head and said in an almost inaudible voice, “Abel.” Then he unfurled a tiny arm from where it was clasped against Connor’s side and pointed around the horse master’s broad chest to his sister. “Karyn,” he said.

The little girl would not look at Ellen. “Mayhap Karyn will tell me her name herself,” she suggested.

“Karyn will hear you, milady, but she doesn’t speak,” Connor told her.

“She was struck dumb,” John explained. “But my brother talks for both of them.”

The girl lay her head on Connor’s shoulder and at last looked up at Ellen. Her eyes were light crystal blue, her features tiny and perfect. Ellen was smitten. Without thinking, she reached for her, but Karyn clung to Connor’s shoulder. “What do you mean, struck dumb?” Ellen asked, dropping her arms and stepping back.

She’d addressed the question to John, but the boy merely exchanged an uncomfortable glance with Sarah and remained silent.

“Me mum says ‘twas a sign from God, to make her special like,” Sarah said. She made the sign of the cross and her brother did likewise.

Ellen looked back at the child. With her blond curls wreathing her face, she looked like one of the cherubs painted on the ceilings of the grand churches back home. “Mayhap your mother is right,” she said.

Connor gave each of the children a final squeeze and set them down. “Are you ready to go, milady?” he asked.

Ellen nodded. She was feeling shaky inside, as if she’d not had food in overlong, though she’d eaten well that morning. She turned to Sarah. “I promise that you’ll have a tonic for your mother by this afternoon. I’ll come again in two days to see that it’s having some effect.”

All the children, even the twins, bobbed their thanks, and Ellen turned to leave, with Connor following behind. When she emerged into the fresh air, it felt as if she’d been inside for a long time, though the total stay in the cottage had surely been only minutes.

This time she let Connor help her mount. Neither spoke as they made their way back through the village and out onto the road. Finally Ellen said, “They are a special family, are they not?”

“Aye. You saw her in a weakened state, but Agnes Cooper has single-handedly raised extraordinary children.”

They rode abreast. His big horse swayed easily next to hers. “A remarkable woman, I trow,” Ellen agreed. “But she’s had some help, it appears. The boy seems to look to you for guidance.”

“John’s a good lad,” was all he said in answer.

After several more moments of silence she asked, “Do you take such an interest in all the villagers, horse master?”

He looked at her with that amused smile she was beginning to recognize. “Surely ‘tis not against Norman law for neighbors to help one another?”

“Of course not.” It was infuriating how he managed to skirt her question, how he refused to satisfy her curiosity about him, which seemed to burn brighter the more time she spent with him. She would have to be more direct than her gentility would normally allow. “I find myself pondering the nature of your relationship to these village folk. Does your family live here?”

“I have no family left, milady, other than my brother Martin, with whom you’re already acquainted.”

“But you grew up here?” she persisted.

“Hereabouts.”

She gave it up. If this strange manner of servant didn’t want to reveal more of his background, of what concern was it to her? But the frustration still stung. She spurred her horse into a gallop, expecting to leave him in her dust, but somehow his horse managed to move at the exact same instant as hers, keeping them abreast.

“Do you favor a race, Master Brand?” she called to him.

He grinned back at her. “I’m escorting you, milady. I go where you go. I’ll not leave your side.”

“We’ll see about that,” she shouted with a laugh, flicking the reins against Jocelyn’s neck. She knew it was all the urging her mount needed to stretch out into a pace that was difficult for most others to maintain.

His horse didn’t miss a stride. Side by side the two animals raced up the road, scattering dirt and pebbles in their wake like a minor dust storm. It seemed they’d scarcely begun when suddenly Lyonsbridge Castle loomed into view over a small hill. Ellen reined in and Connor’s horse slowed in tandem.

“We’re here already.” Her tone was disappointed.

“Aye, milady. ‘Tis a short journey at such speed.”

Ellen wrinkled her nose. “I wasn’t trying to win,” she said.

There was that mocking smile again. It quirked the corners of his mouth in a most annoying fashion. “I wasn’t,” she repeated. “And, anyway, ‘tis easier with a regular saddle.”

Connor raised his eyebrows. “Surely milady doesn’t ride astride?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I did in Normandy when my father and my chaperons weren’t around to see.”

“I imagine your mother cautioned you against such unladylike behavior.”

“My mother died when I was but ten years of age,” she said, then immediately regretted the confidence. The man had told her nothing of himself, but now had her trusting him with this most sensitive detail of her life’s history.

A shadow crossed his face. “I’m sorry. I venture to say that she’d be proud to see the lovely lady her daughter has become.”

It was another of his totally inappropriate comments, but in spite of herself, Ellen felt a flush of pleasure.

They were almost to the stables. Connor moved his horse ahead and pulled it up neatly next to the fence. By the time Ellen reached his side, he’d dismounted and was ready to help her down, in spite of the fact that she’d dismounted without assistance back in the village.

“I’d not have you break your neck within sight of your father’s castle, milady,” he explained, holding up his arms, but his smile was no longer mocking. His blue eyes looking up at her seemed younger. The guarded look was gone, as was the insolence. For a moment she wished that she and this horse master were simply a man and a maid like any other, free to ride the countryside and laugh and tease.

Shaking the notion from her head, she slid into his arms. He smelled not of horse, but of fresh straw and something more tangy, perhaps mint. His hands clasped her waist firmly and he set her on the ground, rather than letting her drop. They lingered there for just an instant, then he stepped back and, for the first time in their acquaintance, made a slight bow. It was almost as if he, too, felt the need to remind them both of their respective positions.

“Thank you for the escort, Master Brand,” she said after a moment. “Next time mayhap I’ll ask to use one of your saddles and we’ll have a true race.”

But as soon as he stepped away from her, his face had changed back to its old expression, and it appeared his thoughts were once again on his villager friends. “If you do send the tonic to the widow Cooper, it will be a gesture looked on kindly by the rest of the populace,” he said.

Ellen felt a touch of pique at the abrupt distance in his tone. She realized that she’d wanted him to banter with her. She suspected that Connor Brand, in spite of his servant garb, could offer gallantries that would rival any of the courtiers in Europe.

“The tonic,” he prodded gently when she didn’t reply.

“I don’t need to be reminded of my duties by my horse master,” she said finally. “’Twas I who chose to go into the village today. I promised the widow her tonic, and she shall have it forthwith.”

The intensity of his eyes dimmed as he gave another light bow. “By your ladyship’s leave,” he said, reaching around her to grasp Jocelyn’s reins. “I’ll see that your mount is well combed down this morning after her run.”

Leaving her standing where he himself had placed her in the dirt of the yard, he led her horse away without looking back. She stood watching until the man and animal disappeared into the cavernous stable.

All the way back up the hill to the castle, she worked to soothe her rising temper. He’d done nothing untoward. He’d even bowed this time, as befitted his station. But she knew as certainly as she knew her own age, that there was nothing subservient about Master Brand and never would be.

And perhaps the most annoying thing of all was the knowledge that, contrary to Master Brand’s assertion, her mother would not have been proud of her at all this day. For after the exhilaration of their ride together, until Master Brand reminded her, all thought of the widow Cooper’s tonic had gone totally out of Ellen’s head.

Connor knocked with his fist on the huge slab of wood that guarded the Abbey of St. John. The gesture made scarcely a sound. He pulled his knife from his belt, intending to use the hilt to announce his arrival with more authority, but before he could do so, the big door creaked open. A tall monk, thin even in his robes, smiled at him and said, “Welcome, Connor.”

Brother Augustine was older than Connor by a score of years and had always seemed to him to be among the wiser of the brothers who spent their tedious days and nights in holy contemplation. If Connor were ever in need of a spiritual counselor, he might choose Brother Augustine.

But it was not a spiritual matter that had brought him to the abbey this day. “Good day, Brother. You are well, I trust?”

“By God’s grace,” the monk answered, making the cross.

“Have you seen my bro-ah, Father Martin?”

The monk nodded briskly, causing the sunshine to gleam across his totally bald head. “Your brother is at the church. In the sacristy, I believe. The new masters have decided to refurbish the chapel up at the castle, and he’s trying to decide what needs to be taken there.”

Connor thanked the monk and made his way across the abbey courtyard to the stone church at the opposite end from the gate. He found his brother as the monk had predicted, seated on the stone floor of the sacristy, sorting through a box of silver vessels used to administer the sacraments.

“So now the Normans want to take over God’s possessions, as well as ours,” Connor observed as he walked over to him.

“Everything is God’s possession,” his brother argued quietly, “be it housed in His holy place or in a humble hut.”

“Or in a Norman castle,” Connor added dryly.

“Aye.”

“Are you going there today?”

“As soon as I finish here. You may help me transport some of this, if you will.”

Connor wrinkled his face in a scowl. “’Twould sit ill. These things belong in the church.”

“They’ll be in a holy chapel.”

“But no longer accessible to the people, only to those the Normans choose to invite.”

Father Martin sighed and struggled a bit to boost himself to his feet. “Leave it be, Connor. ‘Tis not something you’ll miss, after all. You won’t be taking sacraments at either place.”

Connor bent to help his brother lift the heavy box back into a chest. “Nevertheless, I’d as soon not be a party to the looting of God’s church, if you can find other assistance. But I’ve come to ask a favor of you.”

Father Martin lifted his eyebrows, aware, as was his brother, that Connor Brand asked favors of no man.

Connor hesitated. Next time, she’d said. She’d promised that the next time they rode together, it would be a contest. Indeed. He was afraid the true contest would not be between their two mounts, but between his own reason and his unruly impulses. When she’d dropped into his arms at the end of their ride, it had been all he could do to keep from clasping her closer. The urge had been that strong, against all good sense. The lass had bewitched him, and he simply couldn’t afford to succumb to the spell.

“What would you have of me?” Father Martin asked as the silence stretched out.

“’Tis not for me, really,” Connor said, looking away from his brother. “’Tis for the safety of the lady herself.”

Father Martin’s eyes gleamed. “I assume you’re speaking of the lady Ellen?”

“Aye. You must tell her and her cousin that she needs an escort if she’s to travel around the countryside.”

“Are you hoping for the post?”

“Lord, no. I’m hoping to avoid having to leave my own duties to nursemaid her, as I was forced to today.”

“Ah.” Father Martin slowly unrolled the sleeves of his robe, watching his brother out of the corner of his eye. “Did you find the duty onerous, then?”

Connor’s face reddened. “You may well guess that I did not, brother. But you yourself warned me about the dangers of such proximity.”

The amusement faded from the priest’s eyes. “Aye, brother, I did. I do. And I shall speak to the lady myself today.”

Connor nodded, his face stiff. “You’ll not tell her that ‘twas I who sent you?”

His brother’s voice became gentle. “Nay, brother. I’ll not tell her.”

“I’m in your debt, Martin,” Connor said. He cleared his throat awkwardly, then turned toward the door saying, “I’d best get back.”

Father Martin’s eyes were troubled as he stood watching his brother until his tall form had disappeared through the door back to the courtyard.

Chapter Five

Father Martin’s words had not had the desired effect Two days following their ride to the village, Lady Ellen appeared once again at the stables, alone.

Connor had two of the village boys helping him to repair a stretch of rotten fencing in back of the stable. Both the boys stopped work to stare at Ellen as she approached, and Connor found himself hard-pressed not to follow their example.

“Master Brand,” she called. “I’ve come for our race.”

The lads looked up at Connor in wonder. He tried to keep his reply casual, belying the sudden acceleration of his pulses. “Good morrow, milady.”

Heedless of the mud, she made her way around the corner of the stable toward where they were working. “Are you up to the challenge, horse master?” she asked with a smile and a defiant tilt of her head.

Connor took in a deep breath. “I’m in the middle of fence mending today, milady. I thought you were going to find another escort for your travels abroad.”

She stopped a couple of yards from him. “I was well satisfied with my escort of the other day. I’d engage his services again.”

“Jem and me’ll be fine by ourselves, Master Connor,” said one of the lads. “’Tis an easy enough task for two.” As if to prove his words, he single-handedly hoisted in place the final railing.

Ellen clapped her hands. “There, you see? Your crew no longer needs you. You’re dismissed. And it’s a fine day for a ride.”

In this, at least, he had to agree with her. He’d not ridden in two days, separated by two nights of restless tossing in his bed. It would be good to feel Thunder underneath him and go hurtling across a green expanse of lush English countryside.

He met her eyes. They shone with challenge. “Very well, milady,” he said. “We’ll have our race.”

And he’d not be responsible for the consequences.

They’d agreed to visit the cooper’s family first, and during this visit Ellen felt much more at ease, though perhaps it was simply the contrast between the friendly warmth of the cottage and the icy tension of the ride there. She’d seen yet another side of the horse master. He was neither the audacious servant nor the charmer she’d seen in glimpses. Instead, he appeared to be almost angry, holding himself in readiness against some unknown foe.

But as soon as they entered Agnes Cooper’s home, his demeanor changed. The twins came running to them, and he scooped them up in a double embrace. Sarah’s pale face flushed at his greeting and John’s brightened with a big smile.

To Ellen’s surprise, the widow was sitting up in a rocker by the fireplace. “You are better today, mistress?” she asked her.

“Aye, milady. No doubt thanks to the physic you sent.” She struggled to stand up, but Ellen motioned for her to remain where she was.

“I’m so pleased to hear it,” she said.

“Sir William himself brought it, milady,” John added. “Everyone in the village is talking about it.”

Ellen was gratified, though a little surprised to hear that the bailiff had been so diligent in personally carrying out her instructions. “We shall see you continue to get it until you’re on your feet again,” she told the woman.

She hadn’t noticed that one of the twins had crawled out of Connor’s arms and crept up beside her. The child was carefully tracing the gold-embroidered pattern on Ellen’s overskirt with a single tiny finger.

“Karyn, leave the lady’s dress,” Sarah admonished.

The girl looked straight up, her blue eyes meeting Ellen’s with a tentative smile. Ellen felt that same warm rush again. “It’s fine,” she said. She crouched down and spread her skirt out in front of her. “You see?” she said to the child. “It’s a dragon, but it’s not a fierce one like the creatures at the ends of the earth. Mine’s a friendly one, don’t you think?”

The girl bobbed her head, her eyes still fixed on Ellen’s face.

“You can trace its tail, if you like.” She grasped the girl’s hand so the two could feel the pattern together. Karyn turned her attention to the skirt and carefully followed each bump of the beast’s tail, then she looked up again at Ellen, her smile brilliant.

Ellen had a strong urge to hug her, but she wasn’t sure how the embrace would be received, so she merely said, “I’ll bring you a dragon of your own one of these days.” When the girl’s eyes registered some alarm, she added, “A wooden one, not a real one, cherie. Another friendly one, like the one on my skirt.”

Once again the girl looked up, and this time her eyes held something akin to adoration.

“She says thank you, mum,” said her twin brother, who still stood clasped in the kneeling Connor’s arms.

Karyn nodded a silent agreement.

It was heartbreaking to think that such a perfect little creature could not speak for herself. Ellen wondered what could have caused the affliction. She’d been “struck dumb,” they’d said. Had she once spoken, then? Of course, Ellen knew that such things occurred, and that sometimes it was best not to inquire too deeply into the why of it, lest it be a witch’s spell. She couldn’t imagine that even a witch could be so evil as to wish harm on a sweet little child such as Karyn Cooper.

“You are good to us, milady,” the widow said. “As soon as I feel better, I’ll be bringing up a pork cake for your table.”

Ellen blinked. She couldn’t ever remember a tenant in Normandy offering food for the master’s table. The idea seemed almost absurd. It was obvious that this peasant family had so little, while her father’s household wanted for nothing. She didn’t know how to reply.

Connor saved her from doing so. “Widow Cooper’s pork cake is famous in the shire,” he said, smiling first at the older woman, then at Ellen. “’Twill be a rare treat for you.”

The widow seemed pleased with the praise, but looked noticeably more tired than when they’d entered the cottage. “I should get me mum back into bed,” Sarah murmured, her eyes downcast.

Ellen straightened up quickly. “Of course you should, child. I didn’t come to tire her further. We’ll take our leave, Master Brand.”

She looked at Connor, who gave little Abel a final squeeze and stood. She’d almost forgotten about him for several moments as she spoke with the tenant family, but now, looking at how his tall form dwarfed the shadowy cottage, she felt a stir of excitement. They’d yet to have their promised race.

After John and Sarah refused their offer to help get the widow back into bed, they said their goodbyes and left. Once again, Ellen was struck with a sense of freedom as she emerged from the gloomy cottage into the sun. What would it be like to live with five people in such a tiny place? she wondered for the first time in her life. But her thoughts did not linger long with the question.

As on their first visit, there had been no one to greet them when they’d ridden through town, but on the return trip, Ellen could spot a villager here and there, usually behind their cottages tending gardens. None were near enough to hail, so they rode through without stopping. If any of them thought it unusual to see the lady of the land riding astride a big horse, her skirts bunched up about her, at least none was rude enough to stare.

“I have to give you the right of it, milady,” Connor told her as they left the village. “You ride that saddle almost as well as a man, in spite of the difference in raiments.”

Ellen’s eyes flashed gold. “Almost as well, Master Brand? Now there’s a challenge if I’ve ever heard one.”

“I didn’t mean it so,” he replied with an easy smile. But he didn’t withdraw his words.

“I can see I’ll have to convince you with deed rather than word.”

“You’d fancied a race, as I understood it.”

“Aye, but since I know not the countryside, you’ll have to set the course, which gives you the advantage.”

He drew up his horse and stood in the stirups to survey the landscape. The road from the village back to Lyonsbridge was gently hilly, but to the west lay. a stretch of meadow that was mostly flat and even. He pointed in that direction. “We can cross Anders’ Lea for nigh on five miles without an obstacle. ‘Twould seem fair enough to you?”

It was the charming Connor she was glimpsing today, but as he indicated their route, his expression challenged. There was something between them, she and this horse master. It wanted resolution. She needed to defeat him at his own game and put this to rest once and for all.

“Aye,” she said, gathering Jocelyn’s reins firmly in hand. “Give the word.”

“Nay, ‘tis always the privilege of the fairest lady to start the race.” His eyes lingered on her face as he spoke.

Ellen tamped down the knot that rose in her throat. It was past time to put this foolishness over a servant behind her. She’d show up the man at his own mastery, then she’d go back to concentrating on putting her father’s castle to rights, which was, after all, the reason she was here.

“Then let it begin,” she said with a toss of her head.

Before the last word even left her lips, both horses had sprung into action, moving smoothly, side by side, the sleek bay mare and the heavier black stallion, hooves reverberating hollowly on the grassy terrain.

They rode in silence for several minutes, riders as well as horses lost in the sheer enjoyment of speed and freedom. Ellen clutched Jocelyn’s back between her legs, ignoring the indecorous bit of hose showing at her ankles, and laughed with delight. They neared a middle section of the meadow where the grass grew higher, but Jocelyn was undaunted by the weeds whipping around her legs. Connor’s horse slowed slightly, and she pulled ahead.