Chapter 13 #3
Una had been surprised at the request made of her and gave Lily a suspicious look.
“You say you want me to deliver a message to this Alice of Rennoc, lady? Why don’t you ask your lord’s men to deliver it? I do not have a horse to carry me or Lord Radulf’s colors to see me past any obstacles.”
Lily could not rely upon Radulf to see the urgency of the matter, and she did not want to stir his curiosity.
“Please, Una, I will reward you well. All you have to do is go to Alice of Rennoc’s uncle’s house, and tell her that Lily wishes her to visit.
Only it must seem as if it is her own idea, and she is to bring a horse and a manservant who knows the city well.
Can you remember all that? Please, Una. You have been a friend to me during my difficult times; do this last thing. ”
Una shifted uneasily, but in truth she would have done whatever Lily asked of her. Since Radulf and his lady had come to her father’s inn she had experienced life among the great ones, and her new knowledge was heady indeed. But she had also developed a true loyalty and affection for Lily.
“I’ll deliver the message as you say, my lady.”
Lily had sighed in relief. “That is good, Una. Thank you with all my heart.”
God willing, her plan could now go ahead.
It was simple enough: she would go to the meeting place and wait there.
The difficult bit would be getting to the meeting place, and to pass unseen through the streets of York, she must assume another person’s identity.
If she was Lady Wilfreda, Jervois would not allow her out of the inn.
She could play the part of Una, but she did not fancy traipsing on foot in the dark to a place she did not know.
Besides, Una’s lowly position made her vulnerable to Radulf’s anger and possible punishment.
Alice of Rennoc would be better.
After Una had gone to do her bidding, Lily took a deep breath and tried to relax.
Her fingers moved busily with her sewing; her head was bowed.
To any watchers she must appear totally unthreatening.
It would never do for Radulf to grow suspicious, and he seemed able to read her so well.
She took another deep breath. It was as if his dark gaze could pierce her very soul . . .
“My lady, that is the fifth time you have sighed. Your thoughts must be heavy indeed.”
Lily looked up, startled. Jervois gave her a questioning smile, and Lily hastily smiled in return. “If I really have sighed that many times, then it must indeed seem so. But I was only thinking of . . . of things past. There is sadness enough in such thoughts to make me sigh.”
He nodded. Although he was clearly Radulf’s man, Lily had always found Jervois approachable and sympathetic.
“Surely you have little to sigh over at present, lady. Lord Radulf has made that rogue Jacob a rich man with his attention to your attire.”
Lily laughed in pure feminine delight. “I will be the envy of all other women!”
Jervois’s eyes lit in appreciation. “And Lord Radulf will be the envy of all men.”
Immediately her animation vanished, and the cool gray eyes surveyed him consideringly.
“You are kind, Jervois, yet I do not believe I am quite what Radulf sought in a wife. Remember, he was ordered to marry me. There must be many women far prettier and far richer than I who would have climbed atop each other to become Radulf’s wife. ”
Anna, for one. And tonight he goes to meet her. And I will be there to see the truth. Aye, and I will sigh then . . .
Jervois looked evasive. He lowered his voice. “I think you wrong Radulf, lady, and undervalue yourself. King’s order or no, Radulf would not have wed you if he did not want to. Radulf rarely does anything he does not want to do.”
But Lily did not hear him.
She was looking past Jervois toward the door of the inn and the silhouette of the person who had just entered—Alice’s small, curvy form.
Jervois turned to see what she was looking at.
For a moment he gazed wonderingly at those small but voluptuous curves.
He had not forgotten Alice of Rennoc, and he straightened with a new alertness as the girl approached.
Her hair was like summer wheat and her eyes as blue as the sky, a knowing twinkle in their depths.
Lily rose quickly to her feet and, with a happy smile of greeting, hurried to meet her friend. Jervois followed her slowly, almost against his will.
“I hope you have a good reason for luring me into the ogre’s den,” Alice murmured into her ear as she hugged Lily. In return Lily gave her a reassuring squeeze. Alice’s gaze lifted beyond Lily, and her expression stilled.
Lily, surprised by the look on her face, turned to see Jervois bow his fair head. “This is Jervois, Alice, my lord’s captain. Jervois, this is Alice of Rennoc.”
Jervois’s green eyes flared with rare humor.
“We have met,” he murmured, but his voice was strange.
“Yes.” Color was further heightening Alice’s already bright cheeks. She smoothed the skirts of the green gown she wore, and fiddled with the knot of her girdle, while Jervois fixed her with his serious stare and looked more than a little seasick.
Startled, Lily wondered if this was how she appeared when she was with Radulf. Jesu, she hoped not!
“Lady?” The familiar husky growl cleared all question of Jervois and Alice from Lily’s mind.
Taking Alice’s warm hand in her own, she made her way unhurriedly toward the fireplace, where Radulf sat polishing the long, lethal blade of his sword.
He watched her come, his black eyes dancing with the flames. His face was impassive as Alice made her curtsy and stammered some excuse about passing and thinking Lily might be home.
“Do you often go about York on your own, lady?” he asked her mildly.
“I have one of my uncle’s servants with me, my lord. He is outside tending my horse.”
Radulf nodded and glanced to Lily, but as usual her eyes were cool and unreadable. He shrugged and turned back to his sword, his long fingers slow and thorough as he oiled the finely wrought steel.
“Come Alice,” Lily said in a light voice. “We will go to my chamber, where we can speak in private. I am sure Lord Radulf and his men do not want to hear the frivolous chatter of women.”
Radulf snorted a laugh, but Lily had already turned away, Alice close behind her. Lily shut the door to the bedchamber behind them and immediately felt better. As well as reducing the noise from so many men, it weakened the constant tension of Radulf’s penetrating gaze.
She took a deep, calming breath.
“I hope you mean to tell me what this is all about,” Alice said, plopping down onto the straw-filled mattress. “My uncle is from home or I would not have been able to come. Your servant was very mysterious, Lily.”
Lily sat by Alice’s side. The girl’s color was still high, and now her blue eyes shone with curiosity.
“I am going to ask something of you,” Lily began. “I will be honest. It may be dangerous and you may feel the might of Radulf’s anger, and believe me, he can be very angry indeed. But mostly, if I am discovered, he will be angry with me. In fact he will probably forget about you altogether, Alice.”
Alice’s blue eyes had grown bigger and she leaned forward in breathless silence.
“I want to take your place when you leave the inn. I will become Alice of Rennoc and you will stay here in my bedchamber and pretend you are me. I’ve thought about it, and if you pretend to be unwell, then no one will interfere with you.”
“Oh, Lily, do you mean to escape?” Alice cried out in dismay.
Startled, Lily pressed her fingers to her friend’s lips and looked nervously to the door. In truth, escape had not entered her head. All she had thought of was Radulf and Lady Anna. Now that Alice had brought the subject up, she dismissed it.
Where would she go? Who would hide her? And if she did run, what would become of her people?
Besides, how could she leave Radulf when all she wanted to do was stay?
“No, I don’t mean to escape,” Lily said, when it was clear no one had heard Alice’s voice in the other room. “I need to follow Lord Radulf, and it has nothing to do with politics, Alice. It is a personal matter. He is going to meet someone and I wish to follow him and . . . and watch him.”
Alice twitched her skirts. “I see,” she said, and from the tone of her voice Lily sensed that she did.
After a moment Alice covered her hand, squeezing it comfortingly.
“Radulf is a great lord, Lily. Great lords do not have to cleave to one woman. Even I know that, and I am still a maid. There is no place for jealousy in the lives of such as Radulf.”
Lily’s back stiffened. “I am not jealous,” she retorted sharply.
“I merely want to see the woman for myself, and read their feelings for each other by their actions. A wife needs to know these things if she is to survive in marriage, particularly if she is an English woman married to a Norman lord.”
Alice’s eyes softened with sympathy. “What you say is all very sensible, Lily, but when I met Lord Radulf at the castle he seemed more than fond of you. Why should he want another woman?”
Lily stared and then gave a high laugh. “Ah no, Alice, you are wrong. Radulf is a passionate and earthy man, and what you saw between us was but his lust. But you are a maid still and I will say no more.”
Alice flushed and shrugged one shoulder.
“Maybe I am ignorant, but it seemed he had an affection for you.”
Lily dismissed her friend’s comment as innocence and maybe wishful thinking. She rose to her feet and began to pace up and down the narrow
room. Her heart was thudding anxiously inside her and she could no longer keep still. “I do not say these things lightly or to upset you, Alice.
Please, will you help me?”
Alice hesitated and then gave an impish smile.