Chapter 9
Tighter! She tugged the thick cloak about herself; was her muddied hem hidden as well? Looking down, she gave an inward nod while they walked toward the stablemaster after halting before the towering stable’s entryway where air flavored by hay and dung and sweat washed over them like rain.
“Good eve, Nigel.” She smiled at the familiar weathered face.
The weathering upon the solemn features turned into grooves deep as the mortar washed between the stones under their feet when he burst forth with a grin. “My Lady Fawnella! Such an honor to have you upon these grounds. Oh, Lady Alaina will be filled with joy!”
“May I be received at this hour?” Nella inquired, cautiously.
The grin widened. “Dawn, midnight, the time matters not! Lady Alaina is at your charge after the gift you bestowed. Wait here but a moment, let me fetch the stable lad to take your steeds and then walk you to the keep myself.”
Nella nodded as the stable marshal covered as much ground down the straw-laden aisle as his short legs would allow.
“A gift?” Callum murmured, holding Luss’s reigns standing beside her and Brayden.
“Years past when my husband paid call here to hunt with Lady Alaina, their eldest lad, who was still only wee, wandered off.” Her hand rose toward the impressive eastern stone curtain wall which matched the stables and keep.
“Drowning. I heard the splashing in the river.” After focusing every strength to do so.
“Nella, you saved him?”
“Aye.”
Callum took her hand. “A most noble manner you hold. Calling to mind a knight’s honor should be bestowed upon you, my lady.”
Ohhh, if only Callum knew! A dry laugh escaped her throat as he cocked a brow at her in question. She should tell Callum, it would shine light on what a colossal liver-spotted toad she had endured.
“Callum, my late husband would declare you ignorant for such a rendering. He turned sour at me right after. In private he… Let me see… His precise words were, ‘I brand you a fool to have saved a wee lad who was as daft as he was weak. You should have left him to meet his maker!’”
Callum’s fingers tightened in hers gently as even Sir Brayden turned somber, muttering, “The bastard deserved to meet his, but I would say ’twas the devil who took his hide.”
“Aye,” Callum ground out, and the muscles on his jaw flexed as he clenched it.
“My Lady Fawnella,” the stable marshal called. She and Callum parted instantly. He needed to be her guardsman and above suspicion. Look but don’t touch! “The stable lad shall be along in but a moment.”
Her hand; huh, it felt as if she had shoved it into a snow drift without Callum’s touch. Maybe the colossal liver-spotted toad had been right; she was a fool, for only a fool would seek the touch of one who had broken her heart. Focus on the task. Abbot and Abbess needed to be kept safe.
***
“My dear Lady Fawnella!” Callum heard the robust greeter’s voice echo the stone walls where the spaces in between tapestries hung within the massive hall.
The lady of the keep looked as grand as the surroundings about to unfold upon the morrow.
The enormous gathering by tables formed in a horseshoe shape with the center a raised dais.
Servants were already laboring at placing goblets which gleamed by the torchlight flickering from the sconces around the room like a druid circle.
“When I was told you had paid call” – the lady flattened her palm over her chest in dramatic fashion – “I summoned the chamberlain at once! Prepare a chamber for Lady Fawnella, I commanded. He, of course, grew flustered then turned whiny as a bairn lacking a teat.” Brayden’s brows shot up.
“Regarding the lack of chambers, with all the lowlander guests seated in the keep, he fussed about the want of chambers. Ha! I demanded he find a chamber to bequeath you, my dearest Lady Fawnella. ’Tis done!
The finest we may offer, the first door upon the left of the stairs on the second…
” Alaina broke from the rant to examine Nella.
“What has happened to you? Your hem is riddled by mud. Ack! It is of nae concern. I shall have a bath brought straight away, and fresh garments. We shall make you sparkle the same as the gem you are. For upon the morrow the highest chieftains and chiefs of the border clans will vie for a mere promise of a dance with you upon their arm.” Shite!
Had he considered this part in the plan ahead?
Only if torture were sought as a pastime.
“Even more when the Scot with the offered arm hears you have a hefty widow’s dowery; alas, it should have been your whole dowry from an annulment given that limp-pricked.
…” The lady paused to take a breath, and her eyes strayed toward him, widening like an effect by shock.
“My dear Lady Fawnella, have you found a new husband since the cruel bastard’s death?
” Yeah, he liked her. The lady’s eyes narrowed as she studied him.
Wait a moment. Why did he feel like a stallion being sized up for the breeding shed?
“Nae, Lady Alaina,” Nella replied. “This is my guardsmen, Brayden and Callum of Clan Scott.” Aye, they were now lowlanders for a short time.
Alaina glanced over Brayden, who suddenly grew thinner after he tightened his girth.
“I do say.” Alaina leaned back slightly to get a better view at him next.
“Brayden Scott is a hearty one, but Callum, dashing as the sun is hot. Gracious, after that sour dried-up cock, which was also the cruel bastard of a husband, may he rot in a pit. I applaud your talents in acquiring such a prize stallion.” His own jaw dropped.
Nella turned pink as the flower petals gracing the rushes as decoration. “You are too kind; however, Callum is a guardsman, naught more.”
Alaina dashed her eyes back at Nella then whispered, “’Tis time, time you took a lover. You are young, bountiful, bonny, and I would wager my left teat that guard is hung longer than my finest stallion in the stable.” Brayden choked on his own spittle.
Alaina glared at the gesture. “Have you something to say, Brayden?”
Ahem. “Nae, my lady, I believe you have seen to all which needed to be declared.”
“Excellent!” Alaina nodded, resolute, and turning, she wove her arm through Nella’s.
“Let us seek the chamber for you first.” She glanced at the “guardsmen”.
“If you care to see yourselves to a place here in the great hall, I shall have mead and meat brought briskly.” Pulling Nella along, she continued, “Tell me why you have not ventured here after disappearing from that sour twit—”
Quick as the noblewoman appeared, she vanished with Nella in tow, looking over her shoulder at him. Aye, they needed to talk – privately.
***
Mortified! If she could have summoned a hole wide enough in the floorboards to swallow her whole she would have down so in the great hall!
Covering her face with her hands, she shook her head again.
Oh, Alaina! The lady and confidante meant well but the sheer embarrassment wore upon her same as the linen bath sheet after making use of the half cask filled with warm water.
Fluttering her tresses about her shoulders, she stood before the fire drying them.
Her eyes strayed toward the immense tray on the table.
It was filled by trenchers overflowing with cheese and chunks of fresh bread and rich churned butter and sweet fruits.
Her stomach was twisted into a knot by hunger.
Soon as the hair was dry this would be her next endeavor.
So, where exactly was her long-hung stallion? She should smack her palm against her brow by embarrassment. Slap!
What would be the greatest parchment heading in the Foolish Chronicles of Fawnella MacHearin?
That she had been married yet never knew a man’s touch.
If one could count stench-filled breath huffing over her lips and breasts and neck as he tried to turn hard a man’s touch.
You are the cause I remain limp! Nae curves befittin’ a lass or lady!
She smoothed her palms over breasts. They were small but there.
Her shoulders dropped quick as her confidence.
Would Callum think her bonny? Ugh. Enough!
He was being kind at her unfortunate plight…
Wait, was he not part of the reason for such a plight?
A few kind words, one life-saving gesture at the tavern snuffed out all the pain he had caused her.
She pounded her fist into her palm. No, it did not!
Sitting down on one of the two chairs flanking the small table, absently she began munching on a blackberry.
The tray was too much; she could never finish all the bounty.
Perhaps Sir Brayden would wish for a nibble given he was at watch outside her door while her Highland stallion was looking over the great hall, studying entries and passageways and vantage points to endeavor the best result upon tomorrow’s feast in care of her safety.
There it was again; he meant to keep her safe. Why now?