A Knight's Vow Part 8

care to haggle more?"

"You said you'd leave me be!"

"I will. And I'll also take your best nag before I leave. Consider yourself fortunate. I could have taken

much more."

"Honorless wh.o.r.eson," Hubert spat.

That stung, but William let it pa.s.s. "My vow was to leave you be. I daresay you wouldn't be qualified to

judge how I honor that."

Peter returned with a horse that William suspected wouldn't last the se'nnight, but at least it would carry the priest. William threw Peter up onto the packhorse, tossed the priest onto the feeble nag, then led his

trembling lady over to his own mount and helped her up into the saddle. He looked once more at the hall that was no longer his, then at his sire.

And then he looked up at the woman with the riotous hair and striking blue eyes and found himself smiling

in spite of his attempts to stifle it.

"Well?" he asked.

"h.e.l.l of a trade," she said hoa.r.s.ely.

William laughed as he swung up behind her. He looked at his sire and gestured to the keep.

" 'Tis yours, Father. May you live long to enjoy it."

Hubert glared at him, but tromped inside the gates just the same. His five remaining guardsmen followed him none-too-eagerly. Well, the man he'd left senseless on the wall would wake up soon enough, as well as the drunkard in the pa.s.sageway, and perhaps they could cheer their fellows. William felt a weight

come off his shoulders and he whistled cheerfully as he turned his horse south. Perhaps binding himself to a hall was truly not for him.

"Where are we going, my lord?" Peter asked.

"I've no idea," William said pleasantly.

He had several destinations in mind, but none of them would be reached that day, so what was the point

in worrying about it? They would ride for a while, then he would give thought to where he might take hislady."I'm-hic-sorry," she whispered.

"Nay," he said, shaking his head. "Do not be. 'Twas a fair trade."

She took several deep breaths and, miracle of miracles, her breathing returned to normal. She relaxed in his arms.

"I probably should have stayed at the chapel," she offered.

"Aye, well, perhaps that is true."

"I thought you might need some help."

He suspected that now was not the time to point out that he was the trained warrior, not she. She was

trembling in his arms, and he supposed that she either felt badly for his loss or realized how close she had come to death. He could scarce chide her for her act, especially when it had been conceived as a means to aid him.

" 'Twas a generous gesture," he said.

"I never meant for you to lose your keep."

"I gained my lady in its place." He paused. "Where is your sacred relic sack?"

"Strapped to your horse."

"Well, see?" he said. "You've your dowry to offer me, as well as your fetching self. What else could I

want?"

She twisted to look up at him. "You want me?"

He smiled dryly. "I just traded my birthright for you. What does that tell you?"

"Was that a proposal of marriage?"

He laughed softly. "I'll give you a proper one when I've decided where we'll go."

"Oh," she said, "I kind of liked being haggled over with your father's knife at my throat. Really. What

more could a girl want when it comes to romance?"

He wrapped his arms around her and held on, amazed at how comforting it was to do the like. He'd made the right choice. What was a pile of stones when compared to a woman whom he thought might just learn to love him in time?

He found himself turning toward the east and realized he was heading toward Artane. It was home enough for the present. He could wed her there properly, then perhaps they would decide what to do.

He smiled, because he simply couldn't help himself.

eight.

Julianna had learned, after three days of slow travel, how to sleep in manly arms on the back of a horse. Riding a horse was not a skill she had ever planned on having, but apparently it was something she was going to have to add to her repertoire. When in Rome-rather, when in medieval England...

They'd elected to rise in the middle of the previous night and get going. She hadn't been all that excited by the idea, but when William had promised her a soft bed instead of lumpy ground if they hurried, she'd quickly found more enthusiasm for the idea. She'd just as quickly fallen asleep in the saddle, propped up against William's chest.

The lightening of the sky had woken her-that and a healthy poke from her quasi-fiance. She'd opened her eyes.

And fought a healthy round of hiccups.

It was a castle, and what a castle. It looked horrendously medieval, in mint condition and-distressingly enough-inhabited. She'd seen a few inhabited castles during her tenure in England as a student, but they'd been updated with things like electricity, AGA stoves and indoor plumbing. There had usually been cars parked out in front and some sort of accommodations for touristy visits. Villages had consisted of quaint brick houses, nicely paved streets and hospitable B&Bs.

Not open sewers, huts made from straw and inhabitants who looked as if they had never taken a bath in their lives.

The very functional drawbridge was down and a continual stream of humanity crossed over it either on foot or horseback. Julianna felt incredibly conspicuous in her Keds and Donna Karan suit. William removed his cloak from his shoulders and draped it over the front of her. It didn't, however, cover her shoes.

"Better?" he asked.

"Oh, sure," she agreed. "It'll keep me warm until they stoke up the fire to burn me at the stake."

He only snorted out a little laugh and expertly avoided trampling a peasant boy or two who were scuffling near the guard tower.

They dismounted in the courtyard. Julianna found that she could do nothing but clutch William's hand and gape at her surroundings. Her purse found itself hoisted over his shoulder for safekeeping, and she found herself being led up steps into what she could only a.s.sume was the great hall. Maybe she wasn't much of a judge in such matters, but it looked as if whoever owned this place was incredibly rich.

"You grew up here?" she managed as he opened the door for her.

He looked down at her with an amused smile. "Aye. Does that surprise you?"

"Your family must have buckets of money."

"And my grandsire had several sons and a pair of daughters. Gold doesn't last long with so many children to see to."

She paused before they went inside and looked at the man who had not only saved her life, but had practically proposed as well. She wondered if he resented the wealth, since he certainly didn't have very much of it himself. And now he had even less, thanks to her.

"I'm sorry about your castle," she said.

He waved aside her words. "I've told you-how many times now?-that I feel myself well rid of the place. 'Twas a generous gesture on my grandsire's part, and I daresay he knew I was grateful. But there is more to life than a pile of stones."

"But-"

"It would have taken a great deal of work to have made it habitable, Julianna."

"Well, remodeling is h.e.l.l," she agreed.

He kissed her briefly. "We'll rest here for a few days, then see where our fancy takes us." He smiled encouragingly. "We'll find someplace that suits. And you'll not starve. I haven't fed you very well as of yet, but I promise I'll do better. For now, my uncle sets a fine table and we'll eat our fill."

And that seemed to be all he wanted to say on the matter. Not that he would have had a chance for much more talking because Julianna found herself swept up into activity that was almost annoying in its intensity after days out in the boonies.

To think she had once enjoyed the bustle of New York City.

William's uncle descended upon them with smiles and hearty hugs, closely followed by his wife and so many of William's cousins and other a.s.sorted family that Julianna gave up trying to keep names straight. What she did understand was the offer of clean clothes. She worried, as the women prepared to abscond with her to places unknown, that she might not be quick enough on her feet to come up with a decent explanation about her origins, but William solved it for her. He put one arm around her and the other around his aunt and spoke in a low voice.

"Julianna is from Manhattan," he began.

"Where?" his aunt queried.

"A little place that would likely seem very strange to us. They have different forms of dress and the like, and she's very tender about it all. You'll take care of her, won't you, and not hurt her feelings?" he finished, looking at his aunt with a devastating smile.

At least Julianna was devastated by his smile. Apparently his aunt wasn't immune to his charms either.

"Of course, love," she said promptly.

Julianna looked at him openmouthed, but he only winked at her and sauntered away.

"What a lovely pair of shoes," his aunt remarked kindly.

Julianna gulped and managed an inarticulate sort of response she sincerely hoped pa.s.sed as a thank-you.

A short while later she found herself in a room where she was washed, coiffed and perfumed by a handful of women she'd never seen before. She was then dressed in clothes that were made on the fly by a handful of very speedy seamstresses. Her shoes were examined closely, then cleaned expertly. The beads were lovingly and thoroughly buffed to a brilliant s.h.i.+ne. Julianna modeled her new outfit, then looked down at her feet and burst out laughing.

If any of her professors could have seen her, dressed in medieval finery with Keds on her feet, they would have swooned.

No one else seemed to find it strange though, so she turned her attentions to other things-namely a little nap. She had eaten heartily during her morning of beauty so when she was offered a bed, she took off her gown without a second thought, crawled under the sheets in her sliplike s.h.i.+ft and promptly pa.s.sed out.

She woke to find it was morning again, and she was surrounded by women bent on foofing her up forsome kind of s.h.i.+ndig."What's going on?" she asked sleepily as she was dragged out of bed.

William's cousins all laughed. "Your marriage, of course," they all said together.