With that, he dropped her hand, stood up, and moved away from the table in the opposite direction. Nicola simply stood there, her hand still nearly in the position he had left it, out in front of her as if he were still holding it. She watched the enormous knight leave the hall and out into the entry beyond before disappearing from her sight altogether. All the while, Nicola simply stood there, her focus still on the last place she saw Kenton, her heart still beating wildly from the kiss to her hand.
Dear God…,she thought,is it really possible that he should want me to remain? And is it equally possible that I will?
Of course she would. She knew she would. She didn’t want to leave him, either. Nicola fought off a grin, realizing that, for the first time in her life, she was actually attracted to someone and entrenched in the throes of a giddy infatuation. She’d never experienced anything like it but, as she was coming to realize, thoughts of Kenton were making her feel rather as if she were walking on clouds. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world.
“My lady?”
A soft female voice floated up behind her, distracting her from foolish, silly, warm thoughts of Kenton le Bec. She turned to see Raven standing behind her. When Nicola looked at the girl, the young lass smiled.
“The little lads will be hungry, my lady,” she said. “It is the evening now. We should take them what food we can carry.”
Nicola nodded swiftly;tooswiftly, embarrassed she had been caught in reflections of Kenton le Bec.
“Of course,” she said, shooing Raven in the direction of the kitchen yard. “Let us take all we can. Le Bec is going to takeme into Manchester tomorrow so that we may purchase more supplies, thankfully.”
Raven scooted well ahead of her mistress, heading for the kitchens. She heard Lady Thorne’s statement about purchasing more supplies and she had seen the entire exchange between the lady and the big knight known as Kenton le Bec. Raven and her sisters were coming to suspect that there might be something of an attraction between the pair and le Bec, in spite of his fierce reputation, seemed a far better character than Gaylord Thorne. Raven, Janet, and Liesl genuinely loved their lady and they had hated Gaylord Thorne for the way the man treated her. Certainly it was not an ideal situation to find solace with the enemy, but Raven and her sisters found themselves hoping just that.
As Raven and Nicola gathered more food for the boys from the steaming pots of stew, which was by now boiled-down and very thick since it was a few days old, Raven couldn’t help but notice that her lady seemed distracted. She kept glancing to the walls overhead or looking behind her at the kitchen yard gate as if expecting someone to appear. Raven knew, just as her lady did, who the woman was expecting to appear.
The powerful form of Kenton le Bec.
~ A NEW DAY DAWNS ~
CHAPTER SEVEN
The next day
Nicola was fairlycertain that she had never been so cold in her entire life.
It was an hour before dawn as the party from Babylon set out for Manchester’s market. Wrapped in the warmest clothes she had, which included a woolen shift, woolen hose, a heavy traveling dress, and a cloak lined with rabbit fur, she was still feeling the bite of the weather. Her face felt as if it was half-frozen already and they had barely left the gatehouse.
But she kept quiet about the cold because she knew that all of them were feeling it. The clouds had cleared up overnight and a brilliant blue sky await them for their travels to Manchester. At least that part of the trip would be pleasant.
Beside her, Tab rode astride his fat roan pony because Nicola had pleaded with Kenton to allow the boy to come. Tab was mature for his age, a good traveler, and the lad had begged to go. Nicola could not deny him and Kenton had given his permission without much resistance, so Nicola and Tab rode happily, sideby side, right in front of the big wagon that they brought to carry their provisions home in.
In spite of the cold, it was already turning out to be a fine day and a good ride. The road was in unusually good condition given the weather as of late, with dirty snow drifts piled up along the side of the road. In spite of the cold, it felt good to be free of Babylon’s confines but Nicola very quickly saw the damage to the land left by two successive sieges. Trees were stripped bare and the land was generally beaten and desolate. Remnants of cooking fires littered the ground. There were also big pits spaced around, dug so the men could relieve themselves. The smell of human sewage was heavy.
But the smell cleared up as soon as they got away from Babylon and down the road a mile or two. The frozen landscape appeared a bit more attractive as they headed east towards Rochdale and Manchester. The horses were rather frisky, having been corralled for so long, and twice Tab’s pony bucked and tried to throw the boy, but he remained steady in the saddle. Kenton, who was riding in front of them, finally told Tab to run the pony up the road and back again so the beast would settle down, and Tab happily complied. Nicola watched with concern as Tab’s fat-butt pony raced up the muddy road.
“’Tis a fine animal, Lady Thorne,” Kenton said when he noticed her look of distress at her son riding at such breakneck speed. “Your son rides him quite well.”
Nicola’s gaze was on her son in the distance, riding hard as the mud flew. “He has been riding since before he could walk,” she said. “His father insisted.”
Kenton watched the boy nimbly turn the animal around at the crest of the road and head back in their direction. “That was wise,” he said. “Where did he plan for your son to foster? He is coming of age, you know. If arrangements have already beenmade, then I would know of them since I now oversee your family.”
There was haughtiness in that statement but Nicola ignored it. In fact, she began to reflect on her fantasy of Kenton being her husband and the master of Babylon as if Gaylord Thorne had never existed. It was still a lovely, secret fantasy, but one she just as quickly chased away. She didn’t want to be caught dreaming of the man.Dreaming of the enemy. She struggled to focus on his question.
“He is only five years of age,” she said. “He is too young to foster.”
“I was sent to foster at four years of age.”
Nicola frowned. “Ridiculous,” she said. “That is far too young.”
Kenton’s lips twitched with a smile. “My mother tells the tale that I was four years of age whilst my father says that I was more like eight years of age,” he said. “They cannot agree. Mother insists I was four.”
Nicola could see that he was struggling not to smile at what was undoubtedly a heated topic between his parents. She couldn’t help but grin. “I am sure to your mother, you were still her baby whether or not you were four or eight,” she said, her gaze moving back to Tab who was thundering towards them. “I know how she feels.”
Kenton opened his mouth to reply but Tab’s pony suddenly slipped in the mud and went down, pitching Tab over its head. Tab went sailing into a snow drift, face-first, as his mother shrieked. She spurred her horse towards her son but Kenton was already there well before she was, reaching out to help the boy from the dirty snow. Odd how Kenton beat her to her own son, as if the boy meant something to him. As he pulled the lad free, someone went to see to the pony.