Chapter Three #2
Tiberius was distracted from playing with his nieces, knowing that Jeniver was simply being gracious so that Lady Douglass would not have to wait by herself.
He also thought it was rather stubborn and selfish of Lady Douglass to make Jeniver and Courtly wait with her simply because she refused to come inside.
His thoughts must have been reflected on his features because when he eyed Douglass, the woman was gazing back at him with some indecision and unease.
“If that is your wish,” he finally said to Jeniver, although he sounded displeased. “I will….”
“Wait,” Douglass cut him off, looking to Jeniver. “My lady, you should not be outside in the elements. I… I will go inside and wait with you, if you will permit me to do so.”
Jeniver was glad the frightened woman was being somewhat reasonable because she truly hadn’t been looking forward to a long wait in the hot sun.
“Of course,” she said, reaching out to take Douglass’ hand. “Please come along with Courtly and me. You will tell us all about your traveling adventures while we wait for your father and brother. Where are you coming from?”
She was deliberately changing the subject away from missing fathers and brothers and husbands.
Douglass found herself pulled along by Lady de Shera.
As small as the woman was, she had the iron will of a thousand men.
It was in her manner and everything about her.
She was not a woman to be disobeyed or denied.
“I have been fostering at Codnor Castle in Derbyshire, my lady,” Douglass said, finding it difficult to speak on something other than her apprehension about her father and brother.
“Lord Richard de Grey is a loyalist to the king and a friend of my father’s, so I have enjoyed a happy home there for the past six years. ”
Jeniver and Courtly were listening with interest, although neither one of them commented at the mention of de Grey being the king’s loyal baron.
Since the de Sheras were on opposite side of that rebellion, it was best not to bring that to the surface, at least not at this early state.
But both women silently wondered if Lady Douglass was even aware that the de Sheras fought for de Montfort.
Loyalties, and barons choosing sides these days, were complex and sometimes painful issues for the friends and families involved.
“I have never been to Derbyshire,” Courtly said, veering the subject away from any discussion of loyalties or rebellion. “Is it quite lovely there?”
Douglass nodded as they crossed the bailey into the shadow of the stalwart keep. “I think so, my lady,” she replied. “Codnor is not a very big castle but Lady de Grey and I were close companions. She was very sad to see me go.”
Courtly took Lily’s little hand as they neared the steps to help the child climb the stairs. “Where are you going?” she asked as Lily took careful steps. “Why did your father collect you from Codnor if you were happy there?”
Douglass was hesitant to answer the question although she wasn’t entirely sure why.
All she knew was that she could feel Tiberius’ big presence walking behind them and she didn’t want him to hear the truth.
It made absolutely no sense that she didn’t want the man to know why she had left Codnor.
Perhaps it was the silly woman inside of her who was attracted to him.
She didn’t want the handsome knight, the one she had insulted and assaulted, to know that she was potentially betrothed because there was something inherent in her that wanted to attract him.
That silly, foolish woman who found him attractive wanted him to think she was unattached and therefore open to his interest, if he were so inclined.
But Douglass knew it was an idiotic thought, as the man most certainly would not be interested in a woman who had been rude and aggressive towards him.
“A betrothal, my lady,” she said after a moment. “The king has a husband in mind for me and the man is in London. My father is taking me to London to see if an agreement can be reached.”
Tiberius heard her. As Courtly and Jeniver pressed her on the wealth and status of her prospective husband, Tiberius trailed behind the women, listening to the chatter, wondering why he felt oddly disappointed at the knowledge that the lady had a husband waiting for her in London.
Well, at least a man that could possibly be her husband.
Tiberius wasn’t surprised, of course. She was well-connected as de Moray’s daughter and quite eligible. She would make some man a fine prize.
Tiberius’ gaze raked Douglass’ backside as she entered the keep in front of him, all the while thinking that she had a rather pleasing backside.
Beneath the layers of linen, he could see it.
She had a long, slender torso and a heart-shaped bottom when the folds of material would pull tight against it.
He wasn’t hard-pressed to admit that Garran’s sister was quite beautiful, even if she had the disposition of a shrew.
Still, all he could feel was displeasure at her statement and he had no idea why.
There should be no earthly reason that he should be interested in the woman, but he realized with mounting horror that he was.
He was interested.
The dark, cool innards of the keep swallowed them up and he found himself following the women into the small, vaulted-ceiling solar that was just off the entry.
Violet and Lily rushed into the room because the servants had already put bread with cinnamon and raisins on the table and they were begging Jeniver to put butter on the bread so they could eat it.
As Jeniver went to do their bidding, Courtly took Douglass in-hand and led her over to a seat at the table, politely making sure she was seated before assuming her own seat.
As the servants began to place trenchers of eggs with a custard sauce in front of the women, Tiberius hung back in the doorway, watching, digesting the situation. Mostly, he was watching Douglass.
She was still uncertain and hesitant. It was clear that she was distracted by the whereabouts of her father and brother even as a good deal of delicious food had been placed within her easy reach.
The old majordomo, the one who had served three generations of de Sheras, hovered over Lady Douglass to ensure that she, as a guest, had everything she needed.
When Violet began calling Tiberius over to the table, demanding he sit and eat with them, Tiberius forced himself out of the observation role and into the situation at hand.
Violet and Lily were quite happy to have their favorite uncle sit between them.
The moment Tiberius sat, however, the girls plopped onto his lap and he found it fairly impossible to eat what was put before him.
There was no way to move around the little heads that were bobbing and weaving all over the place.
But he managed a few bites, keeping his conversation limited to Violet and Lily, mostly because Lady Douglass had made it fairly clear what she thought of him.
She had no desire to speak or interact with him at all, so he respected that.
Besides, she was sitting on the far side of the table, well away from him.
Whether or not he was attracted to her, he would make no attempts to initiate any contact.
“Ty,” Courtly addressed him from across the table. “What was happening in Coventry when you left? Was there a fight happening?”
Tiberius nodded his head, swallowing the eggs in his mouth.
“From what I could gather, while the lady and Sir Bose remained in their rented room at the Castle and Chain tavern, Garran went out to see if he could find the men who had been trailing them,” he said.
“When last I saw him, he was racing down the street with about twenty men chasing him. When the lady and I left, there was a rather big scuffle at the front of the tavern.”
Jeniver didn’t like the sound of that. “Was Gallus fighting?”
Tiberius shrugged, avoiding Lily’s hands that were covered in custard sauce.
“I think he was trying to ease the situation more than he was actually fighting,” he said, daring to glance at Lady Douglass.
“But the lady and I had some struggle in order to leave the tavern. We had to jump from the window to escape.”
Shocked and dismayed, Jeniver and Courtly turned their attention to Douglass, who had devoured the eggs and sauce and was currently mopping up what was left of it with a piece of bread.
She had been hungrier than she originally thought, but when she felt the stares upon her, she looked up from the remains of her meal.
“Indeed, we did,” she said, confirming Tiberius’ story. “A knight tried to make his way into my room but Sir Tiberius stopped him. We jumped from the window and came here as fast as we could.”
She made it all sound as if she and Tiberius had been working together, as a team, when that clearly hadn’t been the case.
She made it almost sound as if she had been a willing party to everything, which confused Tiberius somewhat.
He met her gaze across the table, those same black eyes that her brother had, and he wasn’t entirely sure what to say to all of that.
Should he mention the fact that she nearly bashed his brains in when he first entered the room?
Or should he mention that he had been forced to spank that utterly lovely backside?
As he was deciding just how to proceed, Jeniver spoke.
“You were very brave, Ty,” she said sincerely. “It sounds as if you did indeed face some opposition.”
If you only knew, Tiberius thought wryly. Gazing at Lady Douglass, his eyes riveted to her, he couldn’t help the somewhat sarcastic tone in his voice.
“Aye,” he replied. “Opposition indeed. Fighting, shoving, yelling… it was quite a struggle to get the lady out of harm’s way.”