Chapter 3
The first clear thought Simon had was that he was very glad that woman was not a nun.
It made no sense since she was swathed in a nun’s clothing so he shook that thought right out of his head.
It was not as easy as it should have been to do so as he stared into her wide, bright blue eyes.
There was innocence in those eyes, an innocence he was not sure he should put his trust in.
There was also an odd mix of fear and determination to be read in her expression.
“I believe I was just reading about you,” he said, and held up the message from the king, the royal seal easy to recognize.
For a moment he feared she would faint as all the color fled her heart-shaped face.
Simon took a step toward her and then hesitated.
Instead of swaying, she stiffened, her shoulders going back and her faintly pointed chin lifting.
Some of the color began to seep back into her soft cheeks.
There was a glint of anger in her beautiful eyes now.
But, was the anger due to lies being told about her or the fact that he had already been told the truth?
Simon wished he could trust his judgment when it came to women, trust it without indulging in a long time of subtle testing and spying.
He had once and it had cost him dearly. Now it always took a lot more than a fine pair of eyes and full, tempting lips to win his trust.
“Your bairns?” he asked, and nodded at the two children, even as he decided she was far too young to be the boy’s mother.
“Now,” she replied. “Elen and Reid. Are ye willing to hear my tale or do ye take me straight to the king?”
He should, Simon thought. He should see her well secured in a prison while he searched for the truth.
Good sense told him to hear her tale and then have her imprisoned while he verified all she told him.
Instinct told him she was no more than a pawn caught up in someone else’s deadly games.
If she was a he, Simon knew he would trust his instinct.
It was enough, however, to make him hesitate to hand her over to the king’s soldiers, who would not treat her kindly.
After so many betrayals, the king might not let her live long enough for Simon to find the truth and that would not only be a tragic waste but wrong.
“Sit,” he said. “I will listen to what ye have to say and then decide.”
Ilsabeth studied the man her family had sent her to.
He was tall, six feet in length or more, and almost too lean, nearly lanky, but she did not doubt the strength in those slender limbs.
His face was not one to make anyone expect any mercy from the man.
It was all sharp lines from the high cheek bones to the firm jaw.
Even his nose was a sharp angle and nearly too big for his face.
Thick black hair was tied back and she suspected it was longer than many men wore their hair.
Straight black brows and long dark lashes did nothing to soften the hard cold steel color of his eyes.
The only softness she could see on his face was in the touch of fullness in his bottom lip.
There was certainly no hint of it in his deep, cold voice.
So why was she thinking of nipping at that lip?
she asked herself. Something about the man had her blood singing in her veins.
Ilsabeth began to fear that her mother and cousins had not been simply fanciful when they had spoken of meeting the man meant just for them, of pounding hearts and heated blood.
A part of her mind was almost purring in delight as she stared at this cold man who held her life in his elegant, long-fingered hands.
Shaking free of her bemusement, she ushered the children toward a settee near the fire.
She sat down and the children huddled close to her on the seat.
Ilsabeth watched Simon turn his seat to face her squarely and found herself fascinated by the graceful way he moved.
She inwardly cursed herself for that. Now was a very poor time to go all dewy-eyed over a man, especially since she had been so horribly betrayed by one only days before.
It did, however, prove that she had not been in love with Walter and she found a small comfort in that.
“Ah, your confession will have to wait a moment,” Simon said when MacBean and Old Bega entered the room with trays of food and drink.
Ilsabeth glared at him, annoyed by the word confession, but her attention was quickly taken up with the woman Sir Simon introduced as Old Bega.
Plump, gray-haired, and plainly not intimidated by her stern master, the woman fussed over the children.
The bone-thin man named MacBean just scowled at them.
“Och, look at these wee beauties,” said Old Bega, almost cooing at the children.
“They need washing and some clean clothes. Aye, they do.” She grasped Elen, picking the little girl up in her arms, and took Reid by the hand.
“You two just come with me and I will see to that right now. Then ye can come back and join in this feast.”
“But–” began Ilsabeth, not sure she wanted to be left alone with Sir Simon.
“Wheesht, dinnae fret,” Old Bega said as she began to walk away. “I will bring them back to ye as soon as they are clean and out of these rags. Come, MacBean.”
“Come, MacBean,” grumbled that man, but he followed her. “Fetch this, do that. Wheesht, ye do ken that I dinnae work for ye, old woman.”
The door shut firmly behind them and Ilsabeth stared at it, fighting the strong urge to follow the group. She then looked at Sir Simon with suspicion. It was difficult to see how he could have planned such a thing, yet the removal of the children from the room was very convenient for him.
“I had naught to do with that,” he said. “Bega cannae abide dirt and loves bairns. ‘Tis all that was. It is, however, verra convenient and I willnae deny I would have done it if I had had time to think of it. ‘Tis best if we discuss this matter without the bairns here.”
“Mayhap.” Ilsabeth helped herself to a drink of cider and a honey-sweetened oatcake. “So, ye wish me to begin my confession right now, do ye?”
“That stung, did it?” He pushed aside the strong urge to kiss away the scowl that twisted her soft, full lips.
She rolled her eyes and then asked, “Do ye want me to start from the moment I began to sink into this mire? Or, do ye wish to just ask me questions?”
“Just start at the beginning and ye can take that thing off your head first. Ye dinnae need to play the nun any longer.”
The moment she took off the wimple, Simon wished he had not told her to do so.
In taking it off, she had loosened whatever had kept her hair pinned up beneath it.
Thick waves of hair so black the fire’s light bounced off hints of blue in its depths fell to her waist. His hand tightened on his goblet of wine as he fought the urge to touch it.
When she idly ran her fingers through her hair, obviously relieved to be rid of the headdress, his body tightened with a rush of lust so strong he almost groaned aloud.
He was relieved when she began to speak despite the allure of her husky voice for it gave him something to concentrate on, something aside from his need to feel all that glorious hair brushing against his naked skin.
“I now see that it all began when Sir Walter Hepbourn began to court me.” She scowled. “I should have been more wary, looked more closely, for no one of his ilk had ever done so before, but I am one and twenty and didnae wish to miss my chance to have my own household and some bairns.”
Simon wondered how such a tempting armful of woman could ever fear becoming a spinster. She was small and the nun’s attire hid a lot but not enough. He could see that she had softness enough to please a man.
“So, we soon became betrothed. Then, as the time to marry drew nearer, I sensed a change in the mon. I thought he might have gotten himself a mistress.” She blushed. “He is a virile mon and, weel–”
“Wasnae being verra virile with you?”
“Nay, he wasnae. He tried once and I pushed him away. After that he ne’er tried again.
‘Tis why I began to think he had a mistress. So, after I visited his home for a wee while, I said my fareweels, walked away, and then, after hiding away for an hour, mayhap longer, I crept back. Instead of a mistress, I heard him talking to his cousin David. David was praising Walter for his great sacrifice.” She knew bitterness and anger were seeping into her voice but could not help it.
“Walter declared that his sacrifice would be short-lived. What David said next told me what had happened.”
“And that was?” he asked when she fell silent.
“David wondered how Walter could claim he was making no sacrifice when anyone accused of murdering a king’s mon didnae live long.
I thought it was Walter who would be sacrificing himself but soon realized that I was a fool to think that.
He planned to use me as his sacrificial lamb.
He also said he planned to rescue me, that I would certainly have to flee Scotland then, and he had a wee house in France where he planned to keep me. ”
Simon could see that it pained her to tell him that and he wondered just how much she had cared for Hepbourn.
Ilsabeth took a deep breath in an attempt to push aside her growing anger.
“David was appalled because he thought Walter still intended to marry me. Walter made it verra clear that he had ne’er intended to marry me, that I was beneath him, and that he would ne’er sully his fine bloodline with an Armstrong.
He just didnae wish for me to die until he had me and was weary of me.