Candle in the Window by Christina Dodd Read Free Book Online Page B

Lord Peter assigned her before she availed
herself of the fabric he had offered. The time had come to sew new
clothes, clothes marking her as a lady and not a serving maid.
“The girl’s gone.”
    “Gone! No one has left this room!” His
anger brought him back to his feet. “And I want her
now!”
    Exasperated beyond her usual self-restraint, Saura
shouted back, “I’ll speak to your father! We’ll
make arrangements!” With a swish of her wet skirts, she
turned on Maud’s arm and went out the door held by a sewing
maid who, overcome with nervous humor, bit her hand to stifle her
laughter.
    “Do ye want me t’ warm your bath, Lord
William?” asked Linne, one of his late wife’s serving
women. “I’ve got more water heated.”
    “Nay,” answered William slowly.
“Nay, I think my bath has been sufficiently warmed already.
The cold has been vanquished.”
     
    In a screened nook off the great hall, Lord Peter
wiped his brow on his sleeve and tried to concentrate on the
accounting his seneschal was explaining to him. He would rather be
out in the bailey, training the young lads Kimball and Clare in
swordplay; anything but this everlasting boredom. This had been
William’s job, keeping track of the year’s crop yield
and their tenants’ rents and whether their stewards hadcheated them. He had no head for it, no matter
how often or patiently the intelligent young cleric explained
it.
    “Due to the raids at Fairford,” Brother
Cedric was saying, “the rents have been down again.” He
suspended his report, his attention attracted by the commotion
coming from the great hall.
    Lord Peter looked up, too, interested in anything
that would distract him from the agonizing tally. “It has
been too long since we’ve had laughter in the castle,”
he commented. “The arrival of Lady Saura has set all to
rights. The servants are well behaved and cheerful, the meals are
well prepared and I believe William is responding at
last.”
    Saura, dripping and angry, appeared in the arched
door, one hand on the mastiff’s neck, one hand on
Maud’s arm, and the words died on his lips.
    “Lord Peter!” she demanded.
“Forgive me for asking, but how long has it been since
William fornicated with a woman?”
    Stupefied, Lord Peter questioned,

“Fornicated? With a woman?”
    “His tastes definitely seem to run to
female,” Saura snapped, gathering her sleeve and wringing it
out.
    Lord Peter stared at the drenched Madonna before
him, at the puddle on the planks around her. “You’re
wet,” he said. “Did you fall in a puddle?”
    “Nay, I fell in a bath with your son, and a
lusty fellow he is! How long has it been since he was
bedded?”
    A small sound escaped Brother Cedric, and Lord
Peter turned to see him struggling against a chuckle and staring at
Saura. The utilitarian wool cotte was
drenched, the gold undergarment showed through the lacing at the
sides. Her violet eyes glittered, her cheeks were flushed a pretty
pink. Herlips throbbed full and red and carried
the delectable swelling that was the symptom of a thorough
kissing.
    Maud cleared her throat and Lord Peter’s gaze
flew to hers. The message that passed from her mind to his was
explicit and vehement and he hastily answered, “Ah, I think
’twas before he was blinded.”
    “Oh, marvelous. It has been months. Well,
that must change. Bring a woman to him now. She has to have my
shape,” Saura measured her waist with her hands, “and
have all her teeth. He has intimate experience with my teeth.
I’ll send out my clothes, she can wear them. And Lord
Peter?”
    “Aye?” Dazed, Lord Peter tried to put
together the sequence of events leading to these extraordinary
demands.
    “You promised me material from France.
I’ll get the sewing women started on my new wardrobe at
once.” She nodded regally and took Maud’s arm. Tugging
at the dog’s neck, she ordered, “To my
chamber.”
    Lord Peter stared after them and repeated with mild
astonishment,