Chapter 17 #2
He touched her cheek. "That's my brave girl..." Hand curled around her neck, he kissed her lips. Then—almost with a sigh—he gathered her into his arms to kiss her more thoroughly.
Aline's conscience and her sense of caution commanded that she resist.
She lacked the will.
She suspected that if he tumbled her onto the bed, she'd probably lack the will to resist there too.
As she savored the taste of his mouth and pressed closer to the hot strength of his body, she began to think of tumbling him to the bed!
He drew back from the kiss, slowly, like a person pulling out of honey, and she felt the same sticky attachment protesting their separation. "Don't go." The words escaped from her heart, from her demanding desire. "Oh, don't listen to me!" she added quickly. "I know I'm safe."
"Do you, indeed?" he murmured, arms still around her. "I'll have to come back here for the night, you know."
She knew why he made it a warning.
There really wasn't any choice, however, except returning to the convent. "I wouldn't want to spend the night here alone."
"That's what I mean."
"But you'd better go."
"Yes."
They were talking like idiots, or drunkards deep in their pots.
Aline braced her hands on his chest and gave a mighty shove so his hold broke, and he fell back a step. Suddenly he grinned. "Remember that push later. Here." He gave her his knife, a long, gleamingly sharp blade with a hilt of chased silver set with amber. "Can you use it if there's trouble?"
"Yes."
"I thought so. But don't knife one of the king's guards if they find you. That's for rapists." He turned at the door. "Including me."
"You couldn't rape me..."
"I wish I had such absolute faith."
"...because I can't imagine resisting."
He closed his eyes briefly. "Then God help us both."
"Amen," whispered Aline to the closed door.
* * *
Raoul made his way through the London streets, trying to keep his mind on the serious matters at hand, aware only of aching desire and a luscious maid who perhaps wouldn't fight him hard enough in the night.
He wanted Aline, but he wanted her as his wedded wife. He didn't want to dishonor her. But he wanted her in a way he'd never wanted another woman in his life.
He groaned aloud, gaining him a funny look from a merchant hurrying by. Galeran and Jehanne, he said silently to himself.
Almost having to move his lips to make his mind concentrate, he went over recent events.
The king had agreed to hear Galeran's case.
Galeran intended to ask that Jehanne be forgiven by society as well as himself, and that they keep Donata.
There was no reason to think the king would deny these petitions, but then, why had he seized Jehanne and Donata?
Organizing an escape would be very dangerous. Galeran had returned from the convent concerned and angry, but he still seemed to think the confinement there of little importance. He was confident that the king would approve his case and Jehanne would go free.
So why did Jehanne want to be rescued so she could intrude upon the king?
Aline was right, Jehanne was no fool. Nor, despite her past mistakes, was she foolishly willful.
Raoul very much feared she was intent upon offering herself up for punishment to prevent Galeran from having to face Lowick at sword's length.
If Raoul aided and abetted her in that, he'd probably end up facing his friend in combat himself!
When he arrived at the convent, he rang the bell hanging beside the portal. When the peep door opened, he asked, "I come seeking news of the Lady Aline. Has she been found?"
"No, sir."
"May I come in and speak to the mother superior on the matter?"
Somewhat reluctantly, the convent door was opened fully so he could step through. In moments he was in the mother superior's plain room.
"You have news of the silly child?" the mother superior asked, annoyance warring with concern.
"I came with the same question. She is not used to such a city. I fear for her."
"As do I," snapped the woman. "I have no idea what can have possessed her to do such a thing. And she almost a nun herself."
"Could I speak to the Lady Jehanne? I wonder if Aline has relatives or friends nearby with whom she might have taken refuge."
The mother superior frowned at him for a moment, but then nodded and led him out of her room, around the cloister, to another. Raoul took in as much of the place as he could.
She unlocked a door and led him in. Jehanne was kneeling in prayer, but when spoken to, she jerked around as if startled.
"Does she know?" Raoul asked. He tried to make it soft, but Jehanne heard anyway.
"Know what?" she asked, rising sharply and giving a gasp, almost of pain.
"That Aline has disappeared," Raoul said, watching her carefully.
She was steadying herself with a hand on the prie-dieu, and looked paler than usual. "Disappeared? How? What is going on?" Her very blankness told him she was hiding something. Then she added, "Donata?" But Raoul knew she had no real fear for her child.
"The child is safe with her nurse," said the mother superior. "For some reason, your cousin tricked her way out of St. Hilda's and has not been seen since. London is a city of many dangers."
Jehanne's eyes moved to Raoul, seeking truth. He deliberately didn't give it to her. "I wondered if she might have friends or family in the city."
"No. None that I know of." Her hand on the prie-dieu tightened so her knuckles shone white. "Oh, God help her...."
He couldn't torment her like this. He gave a tiny nod.
She almost gave them away then, but covered her sigh of relief by turning it into a sob, covering her face. "Oh, by the sweet Virgin, what other disaster can there be? And it is all my fault, all my fault!" She pulled down her hands and stared at him. "Find her, Raoul. Help us!"
That last plea, he knew, was not about Aline.
He was still troubled by the whole matter, especially about keeping secrets from Galeran, but he nodded. "I'll do my best. The king has men out searching for her too. Do you have any idea why she might have run away?"
She shook her head.
"You know that the king is to hear your case tomorrow?"
"Yes. I wish I could be there."
That was direct. "I doubt you will be called to attend. And I doubt Galeran would want it."
"Galeran seems to want to pretend I had no part in this."
"Even he cannot hide it. There is no reason for you to attend. You have nothing to offer or prove."
"Perhaps not." But her eyes sent a different message.
Raoul saw the mother superior growing impatient at their talk. "If you have a message for Galeran, I could take it to him."
"You can tell him I want to be at his side during the hearing, but I doubt it will sway him."
Raoul nodded. "And meanwhile you are all right? I feared some mistreatment had made Aline run from here."
"I am content."
With that, he had to leave. It was getting dark—the bells of compline sounded as he left—and he must return to Aline. He stopped at Corser Street to find Galeran pacing, haggard.
"Aline is safe," Raoul said.
"God be thanked!" Galeran grasped his arm. "Unharmed? Where is she?"
"In a safe place. I didn't feel able to bring her back here."
Galeran ran his hands through his hair. "No. I wouldn't be surprised to find the house is watched. I wish I understood what is behind all this."
"I think I should return to her. She is rather frightened."
"Then why flee the convent in the first place?" Galeran was relaxing enough to be irritated, but—thank heavens—too distracted to pursue his own question. Instead, he looked sharply at Raoul. "Are you intending to spend the night with her?"
"In a manner of speaking."
Galeran pulled out his silver cross containing water from the River Jordan. "Swear on this. Swear that you will not dishonor her."
"You might trust me, my friend."
"I do. I trust you not to break your sworn oath, no matter what the temptation."
Raoul placed his hand on the cross and made the oath, feeling a comfort from it, from the reinforcing of his good intentions. This made him wonder yet again about the wisdom of keeping secrets from Galeran.
Ah, well. He had a night to consider it, since he wouldn't be doing more interesting things.
"I also stopped by the convent," he said, "and spoke to Jehanne. She seems well, though rather strained by it all. That's hardly surprising. You look stretched tight as a bowstring yourself. Everyone is safe for now. Get some sleep."
Galeran laughed and rolled his shoulders. "Yes, nursemaid."
"You may have to fight tomorrow. You need your wits sharp and your body rested."
And, by God, thought Raoul, he could sympathize a little with Jehanne. Standing by to watch Galeran face death would be harder than facing the ordeal himself.
* * *
In the convent, the mother superior returned to the cell, armed with her rod. "What is your foolish cousin up to, Lady Jehanne?"
"I don't know."
"I think you do. You are a wickedly willful woman, and you need to pay for her peril as well as for your sins."
Jehanne turned to kneel, accepting the mother superior's judgment. She had not considered how Aline was to recruit Raoul's help, and thus had put her into danger. She'd do it again, though, to keep Galeran safe.
"May the Lord forgive his wretched sinner."
"Amen."
Jehanne sincerely prayed for forgiveness as the strokes began, applied this time with considerably more vigor. By the fifth stroke, her control broke, and she cried out.
* * *
Raoul returned to Helswith's house by a circuitous route, making as sure as possible that he wasn't followed.
As he went he considered the options. He'd assessed the convent, and it would be child's play to remove Jehanne from it.
Violating a church establishment, however, was not a risk to be taken lightly.