Chapter Forty-Eight #2
When it was over and they lay entwined in each other’s arms, Dustin thought she might actually grow to enjoy this completely one day. True, her body was satisfied by his lovemaking, but it was her mind he had to win over.
*
The next day was a difficult one for Dustin.
She was embarrassed that she had responded so physically to Marcus when her heart and soul still belonged to Christopher.
She was confused and angry at herself, second-guessing her reasoning for taking Marcus to her bed.
Was it right to let him believe the child was his merely to save his honor?
Was it then right to deny Christopher his own flesh and blood?
She just did not know anymore and was sickened over it. She knew she was a silly, weak woman and she could not truly fathom why the strongest men in the realm had loved her. She certainly did not deserve them.
She was out walking with Christin in the bailey, avoiding the curious gazes of the peasants and soldiers alike, ignoring them because she was afraid to open herself up in any way with a smile or a word.
She wanted to stay to herself to try and sort out her surging emotions, hoping the sun and air would help her do just that.
Alexander jogged beside her, yapping and dancing about.
Christin watched the dog intently, yelling and screeching at the animal as Dustin all but ignored the two of them, entirely lost in thought.
Caesar and George had opted to stay inside and keep each other company, although Caesar was a bitter old thing these days. And he hated Marcus.
Dustin remembered when Christopher had first come to Lioncross, and how Caesar had taken to him immediately.
If she hadn’t known better, she would have sworn that the cat was instrumental in drawing her and Christopher together.
His timing had been impeccable and his moves, planned.
But here at Somerhill, he hissed and scratched at Marcus as if the man were the devil.
She wondered if it was because the cat felt that only Christopher had a right to his mistress.
A shadow fell across her path and she stopped, looking up to see Dud smiling at her. He was a kind man with a beaten face, and she had remembered his loyalty to her husband. She smiled back.
“My lady looks well this day,” he commented. “May I be so bold as to ask to accompany you?”
She did not want company, but she did not have the heart to refuse him. “Of course.”
He fell in beside her and they walked in silence, pacing the dusty ground of the bailey.
“Your lady daughter is looking more like her father every day,” he remarked.
Dustin looked at Christin. “Do you think so?”
“Aye,” he agreed. “Verily, she has the shape of his face, and his mouth. I can see him when she smiles.”
Dustin studied her daughter’s face a moment. “She will know about her father, Dud. I want Christin to grow up hearing of him every day so that she feels that she knows him.”
Dud’s smile faded a bit when he remembered the look Marcus had given him as he had told stories of Christopher. The man was bitterly possessive about this woman and her child. “She will, my lady,” he said. “I will tell her myself when she is old enough to understand.”
“Would you?” Dustin turned to him earnestly. “I would like that very much. You have known him much longer than I have.”
He was not surprised by the sincerity in her voice; he knew how much she and the baron had loved one another and it almost made him resent Marcus for interfering.
“I promise that Lady Christin will know all there is to know about her father. Well, almost everything,” he chuckled.
Dustin smirked and shook her head. “I do not even want to know about those things,” she said stiffly, then glanced at him sideways. “Was my husband….I mean, did he have other women when you knew him?”
Dud looked thoughtful, hell, he could think of a dozen offhand, but nothing more than passing fancies.
Christopher loved to admire beautiful women, women who had thrown themselves at him, but he had never shown much interest in them beyond a roll in bed.
Dud had known Christopher since they had been young knights, many years ago, and he had seen and heard of Christopher’s escapades with Marcus and David.
But did he have a serious woman? He recalled one, a Lady Amanda, but naught much else to the story.
Dustin was waiting for an answer as he recollected. He saw her expectant face and cleared his throat. “Outside of a wench here and there, no one that I am aware of. Christopher lived cleaner than most knights.”
Relieved, Dustin smiled and nodded, shifting Christin to the other hip. “Tell me more of his adventures in the Holy Land.”
Dud grinned, clasping his hands behind his back as he thought.
“Let me see, now. Did I tell you the story of the inn in Damascus? Aye, I told you that last night.” His brow furrowed.
“How about the road to Antioch? Or the two nights we spent in Joppa when the Muslims were running rampant about the place looking for us?” When Dustin shook her head, he smiled broadly and continued with his story.
He was nearly finished with the exciting story about Joppa when one of the main players of the tale marched up in jingling mail. Marcus’ face was grim; he knew Dud had been filling her head full of Christopher’s tales and he was angered.
“Don’t you have duties, Dudley?” he asked coldly.
Dud’s eyes actually narrowed, a rare occurrence for the no questions asked obedient knight. He was doing nothing wrong and did not appreciate the tone taken, yet he knew it was Marcus’ jealousy talking.
“They are completed for this morn, my lord,” he replied respectfully. “I was simply talking to Lady de Lohr.” He deliberately used her title if for nothing more than to remind Marcus as to who she was.
Marcus’ stiffened with hostility. “Then find something else to do. I shall take the lady from here.”
Dustin could sense the animosity and it confused her. Dud bowed quickly and was gone before she could thank him and Marcus instantly took his place.
“Where were you walking to?” he asked nicely.
She eyed him. “Why were you so rude to him?”
He raised his eyebrow. “I wasn’t. Where are you going?”
“Aye, you were,” she snapped, turning her back on him and beginning to walk away.
He caught up to her. “Do not turn your back on me. I asked you a question.”
“And I asked you one. Answer mine and I shall answer yours,” she said evenly.
His first reaction was to flare but he calmed himself.
They walked several feet before he answered.
“Let me make myself clear, Lady Dustin. I do not take orders from you. Requests I will honor, but anything other than a polite question will not receive an answer. Additionally, I expect you to respond to and obey me as a proper lady should. I am master here, not you.”