Chapter Four
Emberley’s first awareness was of someone rolling her gently onto her back.
She groaned in pain as her bruised and swollen body shifted, in particular the left side of her head.
Julian had beaten her soundly about the head and shoulders and she had covered her face with her hands, trying to protect her mouth and nose.
Consequently, her left ear was horribly swollen as was the entire left side of her head.
Both hands were seriously battered from having defended herself.
Only half-conscious, she caught a glimpse of very large hands and she panicked. But the big hands grabbed her before she could move away.
“Easy, lady,” a very soft, very deep voice whispered. “You are safe. Everything will be all right.”
Emberley managed to open an eye, seeing Gart’s unfocused face in her field of vision. She thought she might have been dreaming. “Gart?” she whispered.
He smiled gently at her. “It is me.”
She was mildly incoherent, trying to push him away and get out of bed at the same time. “My children,” she mumbled. “I must get to my children.”
He gently, but firmly, eased her back onto the bed. “The children are fine,” he assured her softly. “They are being tended.”
Confused, she allowed him to push her back to the mattress simply because the pain in her head and neck was so great. It felt much better to lie down. “Where are they?”
“In the hall, eating their meal.”
She looked up at him as if not quite understanding him. The dark blue eyes were struggling to concentrate. “What… what are you doing here?”
“I am here to help you.”
It took her a moment to understand what he was telling her. As he watched, she burst into tears.
“Nay,” she sobbed softly. “Please go, Gart. If Julian finds you here, he will kill us both.”
Gart couldn’t help it. He reached up a big hand to stroke her head simply to comfort her, but she yelped with pain when he touched her.
Concerned, he moved to get a better look at the left side of her head and he could see that nearly the entire side of her head and scalp was bloodied.
It was matted in her beautiful hair and dried blood filled her ear canal.
He sighed with dismay, struggling to keep his anger at bay.
He had only just quelled it and it threatened to surge again.
“He will not find me here,” he said softly. “He is leaving for London. I have been given permission to remain behind to tend you.”
Tears ran down her temples as she gazed up at him. “Who gave you permission?”
“My liege,” Gart began to look around for water or anything else he could use to clean her up. She was a bloodied mess. “He has told your husband that I have already gone home. No one knows I am here.”
Emberley watched him as he moved over to a table near the window and peered into a big pewter pitcher. He sniffed it and, determining it was rosewater, poured it into the earthenware basin that was next to it.
“He will kill you if he finds you here,” she whispered. “Please go.”
He looked at her. “I am not going anywhere,” he said. “I am responsible for your misery. I must make amends.”
Emberley was in too much pain to argue. She closed her eyes as Gart went in search of a rag or something he could use with the water, coming across great squares of linen that were neatly folded in the giant wardrobe.
He pulled out an armful, dropping half of them on the floor as he made his way back to the bed.
It was a children’s room and the clean linen mingled with the clutter of toys and socks on the floor.
He put the linen and the water next to the bed and took a knee.
Emberley felt him very gently begin to clean the blood from the left side of her head. She put up a bloodied hand and grasped his wrist, stopping him. Her dark blue eyes opened slowly and fixed on his intense green.
“Please,” she whispered. “I want you to go. I want you to leave and forget you ever saw me here.”
He gazed down at her, feeling something he couldn’t describe began to blossom in his chest. It was as if an unseen hand were squeezing his heart, hurting him. He’d never felt such a thing in his entire life.
“I will not,” he responded softly. “I will not leave and I will not forget you.”
Her eyes began to tear up again. “Please,” she begged softly. “Please go. I… I do not want you to see me like this. I do not want… you to remember me like this.”
He smiled gently and resumed cleaning the dried blood from her chin and jaw, completely ignoring her request.
“Do you want to know what I remember of you?” he asked her.
“I remember a little girl that looked like an angel with her long, blond hair and big, blue eyes. I remember how she used to follow Erik around and he would scold her to stop following him, but then she would pout and he would relent and let her come along with whatever he was doing. He could not refuse such a sweet little face.”
Weak, Emberley lay there as he cleaned, remembering Erik through Gart’s eyes. She remembered the brother with the dark, blond hair and blue eyes, the clouded memories of an adoring young girl of her only brother.
“It seems like an eternity ago,” she murmured.
“Do you remember what he used to call you?” he asked softly.
She closed her eyes. “Kitten.”
“Do you remember why?”
She smiled faintly. “Because I was never without a cat in my arms,” she said softly. “They would breed in the barn and I would collect armfuls of them to play with. I have not heard that name in years.”
He smiled as he focused on cleaning the blood off her ear. “It suits you. Do you still have cats?”
“Four.”
He snorted softly. “I should have guessed.”
She fell silent as he gently wiped at the dried blood, trying not to cause additional pain to her swollen ear. He thought she had fallen asleep, losing herself in blissful unconsciousness to remove her from her pain, but after several moments she stirred again.
“Gart,” she whispered. “Will you do something for me?”
He stopped cleaning and looked at her. “Anything.”
“Please leave. I do not want you here.”
He lost some of his confidence. “I only want to help. Please let me.”
She shook her head, closing her eyes. “Just… let me be.”
“Why?”
Tears began to pour out of her closed eyes. “Because,” she breathed. “If Julian finds you here, he will kill us both. That is enough of a reason.”
Gart watched her struggle. “He will not kill you and he certainly will not kill me,” he insisted softly. “I can adequately defend us both from your husband.”
Her eyes opened and she looked at him. “Why?” she asked, almost angrily.
“Gart, he is my husband. It is his right to do with me as he pleases and even though I appreciate your noble intentions, the fact remains that you have stirred up a good deal of trouble and I have suffered for it. You will leave here in a few days and I will be left with the consequences of your actions. You can easily leave the situation. I cannot. I must stay and bear Julian’s wrath. ”
He stared at her, hurt and confused by her words. His chest began to constrict, knowing she was correct but still somehow trying to rationalize it. He set the bowl and rag on the floor and stood up, deeply troubled.
“Do you remember when you were about twelve years of age, you returned from Chepstow in the summertime?” he asked, crossing his enormous arms. “Erik and I were about twenty and one years old, newly knighted and very full of ourselves. We believed we were the greatest knights to have ever lived. Do recall that summer?”
Emberley nodded. “I do. It was the last time I saw you.”
“Do you also remember that you and your silly friends went to swim at the lake one warm August day? What were their names? You know who I mean, the St. George girls.”
In spite of herself, Emberley warmed to the remembrance. “Sorsha and Caroline.”
He made a face. “Sorsha and Caroline,” he muttered with exaggerated distaste. “Caroline wanted to marry me. That is all she would speak of. She followed me around so much that I had to hide to avoid her. One time, I was running from her and tripped into the well. Erik had to fish me out.”
Emberley couldn’t help but laugh, remembering that particularly humorous event. “You cannot fault the girl for her good taste.”
He gave her a half-grin, pleased to see that his storytelling was having the desired effect. He had her interest and she was smiling. “If you want to know the truth,” he said, pretending it was a great secret, “I would have much rather have had you.”
The light of surprise came to Emberley’s eyes. “Me?”
He nodded. “You were the prettiest girl in Shropshire.”
She was flattered, bringing a flush to her pale cheeks. “You never told me. You never said a word about it.”
“I was an idiot. Besides, Erik would have run me through for lusting after his sister.”
She giggled softly. “Did you really lust after me?”
He winked at her. “Are you serious? How could I not?” When she continued to giggle, he continued with his story. “At any rate, you and your silly friends went to the lake to swim and you swam out too far. Your legs became entangled in the underwater grass.”
Emberley’s smile faded. “I remember,” she murmured.
“I would have drowned had it not been for you and Erik. You two jumped into the lake and risked your lives to cut me free. I remember that you in particular spent a good deal of time under the water cutting my legs free. Once Erik brought me back to the shore, he had to practically drag you out of the water as well. You nearly killed yourself trying to save me.”
Gart’s green eyes were intense. “As I would do the same thing today,” he said softly.
“Never doubt for a moment that I would kill or die for you, my lady. I have been doing it since you were young. Therefore, your husband does not frighten me. Not in the least. I would willingly go to the vault or worse if it meant you would be safe and whole.”