Chapter Six #4
“I like it, too,” Cortez concurred. “Do you have brothers?”
She nodded. “Three older brothers,” she replied. “Tobias, Cace, and Corbin. They are all great knights.”
“And you are the youngest of the family?”
“Aye,” she replied, eyeing him with some curiosity. The conversation was flowing well and just as he had asked about her, she would ask about him. “And you? What of your family? Helene told me once that your mother was Spanish.”
Cortez nodded. “Indeed she was,” he said. “She married my father, Gorsedd, who is from a very old Welsh family. I have a younger brother, Andres. There are just the two of us, as my mother died when Andres was about two years of age. My father never remarried.”
Diamantha looked at the man with some sympathy. “I am sorry to hear that,” she said. “What was her name?”
His grin broadened. “Allegria de Montoya y la Rosa,” he said in a very fluid Spanish accent.
“Her family is very old and very wealthy. I have spent time with my grandfather, her father, in Spain. I fostered for some years in Spain before returning to England. Many years ago, King Edward thought it would be an excellent exchange to send me to foster in the house of my grandfather while my grandfather sent a few of his Spanish grandsons to foster in England. My father, Gorsedd, was a retainer for Edward when he was young. It was Edward who helped broker the marriage between my parents.”
Her brow furrowed slightly. “The king brokered a marriage for a mere knight? That is strange, is it not?”
Cortez shook his head. “My father is related to the ap Gruffydd family,” he said quietly.
“We descend from the Princes of Powys, so Edward sought to make an alliance somewhat with the Spanish house of Rosa, hereditary rulers of the ancient Spanish kingdom of Zaragosa. It’s all very complicated, but suffice it to say that it was a political match, although my father did love my mother a great deal. He was devastated to lose her.”
Diamantha was quite fascinated by his family lineage. “How sorrowful,” she said. “Where is your father now?”
“In Shropshire along the Marches,” he replied. “He inherited a castle from the de Bretagne side of the family, Coven Castle, and he has lived there for quite some time. Edward keeps men stationed there and my father keeps peace on that section of the border.”
She cocked her head. “But your father is Welsh.”
Cortez lifted his eyebrows thoughtfully. “He is Welsh on his mother’s side and English on his father’s,” he said. “He is mostly English. The only thing Welsh about him is the name. Edward made sure of that; he has conditioned my father well.”
Diamantha digested the information. “I would say that you have a very complex family history,” she said.
“Mine is not so complex. I come from a long line of English, back to the time of the Conqueror. In fact, I just discovered that I am related by blood to your knight, James de Lohr. Our grandparents were siblings, children of the great Christopher de Lohr.”
Cortez bobbed his head with interest. “Is that so?” he said. “He has served me for a couple of years. He lives here with his wife and three small boys.”
Diamantha smiled. “I should like to meet them,” she said. “Mayhap they can be playmates for Sophie.”
Cortez looked over at the little girl playing happily with the kitten.
“It is possible,” he said, then turned his attention to Diamantha.
“But I plan to leave tomorrow morning for the north. If you want Sophie to come, she will not be here long enough to need playmates. In fact, the first thing I did when we reached Sherborne was hand-pick an escort to accompany us to Falkirk. I cannot make this trip with a big army and it is too dangerous for just the three of us to go, as my wife and daughter must have protection. Therefore, the escort is currently preparing and before dawn tomorrow, we depart. I would suggest that you and your daughter eat and rest as much as possible tonight because it is going to be a very long and very exhausting journey.”
He said it in a way that was rather serious, hoping she might actually back down from wanting to accompany him.
He was hoping against hope that, after a day’s long and rainy ride, she might reconsider her desire to ride all the way to Falkirk with her young daughter in tow.
The reality of being on the road with a small child was much different than merely talking about it.
Practicality might win out. Or, at least he hoped it would.
Unfortunately for him, Diamantha didn’t back down. She didn’t even hint at backing down. Instead, she nodded obediently. “We will get as much rest as we can tonight,” she said. “How many men will be coming with us?”
His lips twisted wryly when he realized she wasn’t going to reconsider her position. Thwarted for the moment, he scratched his head pensively.
“We do not want to be so big that we attract attention,” he said, “but if we encounter trouble, I want to be sure we can defend ourselves. I have selected twenty-five men to accompany us, including a wagon with which to carry Robert’s remains, and four knights including my brother.
That should be sufficient. But I may have to arm you as well because the open road can be a deadly place.
Dangers abound everywhere. There’s no telling when a crazed assassin might come flying out at you. Can you use a dagger?”
It was a question he once again hoped would deter her. He was trying to make it all sound so terrible. Instead, she nodded bravely. “I can,” she said. “My father taught me.”
He sat back and rolled his eyes, defeated. So much for her changing her mind. After a moment, he nodded in resignation.
“Good,” he muttered. “I will give you a dagger, then. But God help the man who truly tangles with you.”
Diamantha wasn’t quite sure what had him so discouraged, but she thought it was perhaps because it was costing him a great deal of money to make this trek north.
It was the only reason she could think of.
The quest was turning into a rather large production that would undoubtedly be expensive.
All of those men would need to be fed and housed, and their horses fed and housed.
Aye, it was coming to be expensive. But no matter; she had some wealth of her own.
She would make it up to Cortez somehow. This trip was her idea, after all.
She needed to take some financial responsibility for it.
She needed to show Cortez that she wasn’t a complete and utter burden, making demands and expecting him to make all of the sacrifices.
“Then Sophie and I should eat and retire,” she said softly. “If you would show us where we are to sleep, I would be grateful.”
Sleep. Cortez looked at her with only one thought on his mind; it is our wedding night, lady.
Marrying her was one thing, and that had been difficult enough, but consummating the marriage…
he knew she wasn’t ready for that. If he were to try, the consequences could be disastrous.
He could take her body, but her mind was something completely different.
He didn’t want their first intimate encounter to be wretched and painful for them both.
He wanted it to be the most beautiful thing they’d ever experienced.
God, he was so impatient. He didn’t like waiting for anything, and especially not something that rightfully belonged to him.
So much of this situation was unpalatable to him and had been from the start.
Had he known then what he knew now, he might not have agreed to Robert Edlington’s deathbed plea.
He might have told the man to take a flying leap.
But no, he thought to himself. Looking at Diamantha as she turned her kitten over to her daughter, and then watching Sophie’s utter joy, he knew his answer would have still been the same.
Once the turbulence settled and once they came to know one another, and became comfortable with one another, the situation would improve.
At least, that’s what he hoped for. He had to keep telling himself that, ’else the temptation would have been great for him to march back to St. Edward’s Church and demand an annulment.
He had to have faith that this would all work out in the end.
But he was positive the wait was going to kill him.