Chapter Five #2
Emberley gazed steadily at him, feeling joy at his request that she couldn’t begin to describe.
She’d spent eight years with Julian in a hellish existence and the thought of kind, male attention was incredibly inviting.
But she just as quickly knew that allowing him to stay might not be a wise decision in more ways than one.
Not only would Julian become furious if he ever found out, but given the way she felt about Gart when she looked at him…
nay, it would not be wise at all. Disappointment flooded her and she averted her gaze.
“I am not sure…,” she started and then regrouped. “Surely we hold no particular interest for you. We live very ordinary lives, without excitement. You would become grossly bored within a week.”
He gave her a half-grin. “With these children?” he looked to the group of them; two on the bed and two going through his bags. “You underestimate their entertainment value. I would like to get the chance to know Erik’s nephews. Will you please allow me this privilege?”
“But….”
“I have nowhere else to go, Emberley.”
She cocked her head, her expression somewhat curious. “Do you not have a home?”
He shook his head. “Only Denstroude Castle or Bellham Place in London, neither of which are my home. They are de Lohr’s homes.”
“But your father’s brother is William de Fortibus, the Earl of Albemarle,” she pointed out. “Surely your father….”
He shook his head, cutting her off. “If you remember anything about me, then you will also remember that my father and his brother had a disagreement long ago that severed all ties between them,” he reminded her.
“That is why my father changed his name from de Fortibus to Forbes. My father has been dead and buried for quite some time in the dark soil of Shropshire and left nothing for his only son.”
She grew serious as the children around her began to play more loudly. Her gaze upon him was intense. “I remember,” she murmured. “But it does not seem right, Gart. You are a great knight from a great family. Your uncle is an earl. Surely he is proud of his nephew and has provided for you.”
His murky green eyes were riveted to her, ignoring the fact that Romney and Orin had emptied all three of his bags and were happily looking for valuables.
“The only thing my uncle ever did was ensure I fostered in a prestigious house,” he said quietly.
“I am sure you do not remember all of my past, as it was long ago when you and I last knew each other, but I have had to fight for everything I have accumulated. Fortunately, serving de Lohr has allowed me to build my fortune and someday, I will have a home of my own. But not yet.”
Emberley watched his handsome face, sensing no distress and only determination. She shook her head sadly.
“It is not right that you should have to fight for everything when birthright alone should have dictated some manner of secure future,” she sighed after a moment. “Perhaps you can marry well and that will seal your status. There must be a worthy bride for you somewhere.”
He just looked at her, thinking of a thousand different replies and not one of them was appropriate. He couldn’t say what he was thinking. I should have married you. After a moment, he smiled weakly.
“Perhaps.” was all he would say. “Meanwhile, will you allow me to remain as your guest until I am called back to battle?”
Her expression grew serious. “I do not like the sound of that,” she muttered, hardly noticing when Brendt climbed off the bed with the tunic over his head and began running around with Lacy toddling after him.
“The last time I saw someone off to battle, he did not return. I should not like it if you did not return.”
He smiled at her. “I would not want to disappoint you. May I stay, then?”
Against her better judgment, she reluctantly nodded. “Very well,” she said softy. “I would like that.”
His smile broadened in a warm gesture but he was cut short from replying when Brendt, still with the tunic over his head and running from his sister, bashed into his legs. He reached down to steady the boy.
“Orin?” he called over his shoulder. “Where is my tunic? Have you forgotten? And stop robbing my bags.”
Orin popped up from the pile on the floor with a dark blue garment in his hand, running it over to Gart. Gart took the tunic, pulling it over his head as he turned to Romney and Orin and the complete mess they had made out of his saddlebags.
He sighed heavily at the sight, resting his giant fists on his hips as he surveyed the situation. Everything was all over the place.
“You two have made a mockery out of my possessions,” he grumbled. “Start repacking those bags and if it is not neatly done, I will make you repack them again until you get it right.”
Romney and Orin may have thought it great fun to go through Gart’s possessions but they did not think it fun to repack everything.
They scowled and made faces but did as they were told, trying to figure out where to start in the mess they had made.
They looked a little lost. Gart pointed to the pile of tunics.
“Start there,” he told them. “Roll them up neatly and pack them tightly together.”
Romney sighed with displeasure and started to do what he was told but Gart suddenly grabbed the boy’s arm and began frisking him. As Romney grumbled and tried to pull away, Gart began pulling all sorts of valuables out of Romney’s pockets.
“My purse,” he pulled out a heavy leather pouch from the front of Romney’s tunic and tossed it into his bags. “What else of mine have you stolen?”
As Emberley stood by, mortified, Gart removed two small daggers, a pouch containing flint and stone, a couple of other small pouches, one of which contained white willow powder for the terrible headaches that Gart was prone to, and two spoons.
He patted the boy down until he was sure there was nothing else of his that the boy had stolen before letting him go.
“Now,” he pointed at his bags. “Pack. And if I find anything else of mine that you have stolen, you shall be very sorry.”
Romney was defiant and contrite and the same time. “The money was not for me,” he insisted. “It was for Mother.”
Emberley rolled her eyes. “Romney de Russe de Moyon, you will not dare pull me into your thievery.”
Romney turned his big, blue eyes to his mother. “But I was going to buy you a present,” he told her. “I was going to buy you something nice.”
Emberley sighed with exasperation. “I do not need for you to purchase anything for me with ill-gotten gains,” she scolded. “Apologize to Sir Gart and finish packing his bags. We must break our fast.”
Gart gazed down at the unhappy little heads and felt his stance soften as a thought occurred to him.
“Romney,” he said. “I have a proposition for you. If you promise to stop stealing, we shall go into town after the morning meal and I will purchase something nice for your mother. How would you like that?”
Romney’s expression cleared up immediately. “Can we buy sweets, too?”
Gart lifted his eyebrows. “I suppose so,” he said. “Hurry, now. Pack my bags so we can go.”
“Gart,” Emberley grasped his arm gently. “Please… you do not have to purchase anything for us.”
He turned to her, feeling her soft hand on his arm as one of the greatest sensations he had ever known. “I know that,” he said. “I want to.”
Her dark blue eyes were fearful, beseeching.
“But… well, people in town know my husband,” she whispered so the boys couldn’t hear her.
“They will see you and… and I am afraid that Julian might find out somehow. I am already risking much by allowing you to stay here simply because the entire castle will see you. It is quite possible that someone, at some point, will tell Julian.”
He understood her concern and, for the first time, felt some doubt about staying on.
If the baron did find out at some point, his wrath would fall on Emberley.
Gart knew that. But it wasn’t enough to convince him to leave because he very much wanted to stay.
Against his better judgment, he very much wanted to enjoy Emberley’s company. He simply couldn’t help it.
“It is possible,” he conceded quietly. “Do you think someone will run off to tell him?”
Emberley held his gaze a moment before finally shaking her head. “Nay,” she admitted. “There is no great love for Julian at Dunster. If he were told, it would be by mistake.”
He wasn’t surprised to hear that Julian wasn’t well liked. He had already seen in the few days he was here how much everyone at Dunster loved and admired Emberley. If there were loyalties, they were to her. He veered back to the subject of shopping.
“Where is the closest town to Dunster?” he asked.
Her delicate brow furrowed in thought. “Carhampton to the south and Minehead to the northwest, but….”
“Which one is larger?”
“Minehead.”
“How far is it?”
“Perhaps a mile or less. It is not far. But….”
He put an enormous, warm hand over the small fingers on his wrist and squeezed. “Then we shall go to Minehead,” he told her. “Please, kitten… do not refuse me the privilege that Erik has been denied. Let me do something nice for my best friend’s sister and her children.”
When he put it that way, she could not refuse him at all. With a faint sigh, this one of resignation, she nodded once and removed her hand from his arm.
“Very well,” she said. “But let us break our fast before we go anywhere. I will take Lacy and Brendt with me if you will bring Orin and Romney when they have finished their task.”
Gart nodded, watching her leave with the two youngest children, allowing his gaze to drift over her luscious backside.
The woman had a round, healthy bottom that he could see beneath the fabric and it was extremely alluring.
With thoughts of her round backside on his brain, he returned his attention to Romney and Orin.
The pair was packing furiously and he lifted an eyebrow at them.
“What did I tell you?” he asked. “If you do not pack it to my liking, I will make you do it again.”
Romney slowed down, gazing up at Gart. “But we are packing neatly.”
Gart crouched down by the boys to show them what he meant.
For a man who usually did not have an abundance of patience, nor did he normally associate with squires or pages in any fashion, he was showing a good deal of natural understanding with two small boys.
For the two small boys who had rare interaction with their own father, the presence of the patient man they had tried to rob did them a world of good.
Two hours later, they were on the road to Minehead.