Chapter Nine #2
He cleared his throat softly. “I was wondering if tonight after sup, if you would join me in the solar for warmed wine and conversation,” he said, somewhat awkwardly. He wasn’t a man used to asking anything; all he ever gave were commands. “I would be pleased if you would be agreeable.”
Nicola smiled broadly. “Conversation?” she repeated, toying with him. “Whatever could we speak of?”
“Many things.”
“You must give me an example.”
Kenton pursed his lips. He could see that she was jesting with him. “We will discuss how obstinate you are. And how beautiful.”
She laughed softly. “May we also speak of how forceful and determined you are?”
“Those are my good qualities.”
Her laughter grew. “Then I would be honored to converse with you about such things,” she said. “I must put the boys to bed first but I would be happy to join you when I have finished.”
“Then I shall look forward to it.”
Nicola flushed sweetly, flattered by his invitation.
So much had changed between them over the past week that it was as if they were two entirely different people who had only just met, and whose attraction to one another had been obvious and strong from the onset.
She was so caught up in gazing at the man, who was looking at her rather bashfully, that she was genuinely startled when the lamb butted Tiernan, catching the boy off balance, and he fell down on a rock. He howled at his scraped knee.
Forgetting the sweet flirt with Kenton, Nicola picked her son off the ground and soothed his tears. He had a bit of blood, and his breeches were torn, so she begged leave from Kenton and took both twins into the keep with her.
Kenton watched her go, his gaze lingering on the seductive sway of her hips as she walked.
In fact, he couldn’t see anything else but her.
He was consumed by the shapely vision, recalling snippets of her voice and flashes of her smile now that she was out of his sight.
He had no idea how long Conor had been standing next to him when he finally noticed the man.
He tried not to appear surprised or off-guard, but he couldn’t quite manage it. He flinched.
“God’s Bones,” he muttered. “Why would you sneak up on me like that?”
Conor was looking at him with a glimmer in his eye. “You have always heard me approach before.”
Kenton knew exactly what he meant. He’d been very distracted with Nicola, so distracted that those uncanny senses he usually had, like feeling a man sneak up on him, had been dulled.
Rather than become angry about it, because it was the truth, Kenton simply shrugged and avoided acknowledging what Conor already knew. He tried not to appear embarrassed.
“What do you want?” he asked simply.
Conor threw a thumb over his shoulder, in the direction of the inner ward. “Wellesbourne and de Russe have need to speak with you,” he said. “Are you available?”
Kenton nodded. “I am,” he said as he began to move towards the ward. He was eager to move past the fact he’d flinched like a woman when Conor came upon him. “Where are they?”
Conor moved with him. “By the stables,” he said. “They were looking for you. I told them I would send you to them.”
Kenton’s gaze was moving to the ward and the stables beyond as he approached the gate in the wall that separated the kitchen yard from the rest of the inner ward. “Did they tell you what they wished to speak of?”
Conor shook his head. “Nay,” he replied. “Do you want me to accompany you?”
“You may as well.”
They passed through the kitchen gate, an arched portal that was built into the thickness of the wall.
A very heavy iron grate was built into it, separating the kitchen yard from the inner ward.
Kenton and Conor moved into the inner ward, which was crowded with men camping in various circles.
Since there were so many men stationed at Babylon now, what men couldn’t fit into the keep or hall had to stay outside in the elements, so the inner ward was peppered with small encampments that surrounded small fires.
Smoke from those fires lingered heavy in the cold air, so much so that Kenton’s eyes were stinging because of it. As he and Conor approached the stables, they were met by Wellesbourne and de Russe emerging. Wellesbourne smiled, that easy smile that came so readily to him, at the sight of Kenton.
“Can I talk you into selling me your stud?” he asked. “I have a beautiful roan mare that would breed spectacular animals from him.”
Kenton shook his head firmly. “That stallion is closer to me than a brother,” he said. “I would sooner cut off my right hand than sell the beast.”
Wellesbourne shrugged. “It was worth a try,” he said. “Mayhap you will permit me to breed my mare to him, anyway. We shall breed them twice and each take a result.”
Kenton cocked his head thoughtfully. “I would consider that,” he said. “But I will get the first offspring.”
Matthew chuckled. “Agreed,” he said. “My mare is at Wellesbourne Castle so at some point, we will need to take your stud to Wellesbourne to accomplish this great task.”
Kenton simply nodded, looking between Wellesbourne and de Russe, who had thus far remained silent. That wasn’t unusual with Gaston, however. The man didn’t speak much. Kenton’s gaze lingered on the pair.
“I understand you two wish to speak with me,” he said. “Shall we go inside the keep or do you wish to speak to me here?”
Wellesbourne immediately moved for the keep. “Inside,” he said. “The smoke in the ward is burning my eyes to cinder. If I remain out here any longer, I shall go blind.”
Kenton nodded silently but suspected that wasn’t the only reason they wanted to move inside.
It was much more private in there, away from the ears of the soldiers, and he sensed that Wellesbourne wanted that privacy.
It made him very curious as to what, exactly, Wellesbourne and de Russe wished to speak with him about.
His curiosity grew to epic proportions, so much so that by the time they reached the solar inside the keep of Babylon, they were barely inside the room when Kenton came to a halt and turned to them. He was out of patience.
“What is this about?” he nearly demanded. “What is so important that we had to come where it was private to discuss it?”
Matthew kept his gaze on Kenton even though Gaston cast Matthew a long look.
As the knight known as The Dark One moved for the pitcher of wine that was over near the cluttered table, Matthew didn’t keep Kenton waiting.
It was clear that the man was impatient, which already put the conversation on edge before it even started.
“Matters of Warwick, my lord,” Matthew said evenly.
“The last we were told, you were to be planning the acquisition of Rochdale and Manchester for Henry. We have been at Babylon over a week and have not heard of these plans yet. We would like to offer to help you with the planning if you have not already done so.”
It was a very polite way of asking Kenton if he’d moved forward with obeying Warwick’s directives.
Kenton knew that; he knew it very well. Wellesbourne was asking it in the kindest way possible – there were no accusations or condemnation that plans which should have been made, or at least discussed, days ago had not yet even been considered.
Even so, Kenton could already feel guilt creeping into his veins.
He felt defensive. These seasoned knights knew he had orders and they further knew he hadn’t done anything about them.
They would have been fools not to have figured out why he hadn’t acted on anything yet, and these men were no fools.
It was then that Kenton began to realize that every knight under his command must have known his distraction with Lady Thorne.
There was no way they could not have known.
He’d been far too obvious about it, even careless about it.
Wellesbourne’s question should have come along much sooner than it had.
Kenton, struggling to know what to feel about the query and the reasons behind it, turned for the messy table that held maps and parchment and other implements that a warring commander needed to carry out orders.
That he needed to carry out orders. Orders he had, for the past week, soundly ignored.
“The truth is that I have not considered any plans to march on Rochdale or Manchester yet,” he said, sighing.
It was the truth. “My priority has been to ensure the men inside the castle were fed and there was some semblance of a military installation formed. One cannot launch attacks if one’s men are not well fed or even well rested.
Most of the men within these walls have been fighting battles for the better part of six months, me included.
A few days rest for them has been the priority. Has that not occurred to you?”
Matthew shook his head. “It has not,” he admitted. “I suppose that is why you are the commander and we are not. You are correct in that they need food and rest. Forgive me for questioning your methods, le Bec. We were only offering to assist if you needed it.”
Kenton couldn’t get too angry about it although he knew that wasn’t entirely the truth. “Is it?” he asked, cocking a doubtful eyebrow. “This would not have anything to do with the time I have spent with Lady Thorne, would it?”
Wellesbourne lifted his eyebrows, unwilling to answer, as he turned to glance at de Russe, who was already halfway in to a full cup of wine.
De Russe noticed that Wellesbourne was looking at him, perhaps seeking some support for their actions.
Even if Wellesbourne was unwilling to answer, perhaps trying to be tactful, de Russe had no such compunction. The man was candid to a fault.