Castles in the Air by Christina Dodd Read Free Book Online

hand of a lord, men do all they dare to do and still not break the law.” She flinched, and he asked, “What enemies have you?”
    “Enemies?” The bitter smile rested ill on her piquant face. “No enemies, only the men I once called my friends.”
    “I see.” For the most part, he did. Friends turn greedy when confronted with a chance to enrich themselves, and her friends had proved fickle. “Your husband?”
    “Millard was a sickly youth, and my father’s ward. He died ten years ago while I was in childbed with my younger daughter.”
    No regret shadowed her face, no recollection of love nor faded sweetness. That union, he surmised, had been a political one, arranged by her father to add to the family’s wealth. An unimportant part of her life, and not the reason for her back-stepping caution.
    “That was also the time Richard was born to the queen and designated as the queen’s special heir to Poitou and Aquitaine. My elder daughter carries eleven years, born the month Henry ascended to the throne.” Her mouth smiled, but her eyes dimmed with sadness. “My father said my fertility prophesied the events of a nation.” Flushing as if she’d said too much, she demanded, “Why do you stand there? We’ll never get home before dark if you don’t move.”
    “As you say, my lady.” Turning back to his exhausting job, he wondered if this half-formed plan of his was worth carrying out, if Juliana would see through his ruse, and what she would do if she did.
    One flake of falling trouble interrupted his musing, and he looked skyward. Another flake, and another, floated on the still air. “Saint Sebastian’s arrows,” he swore. “Now we’re in for it.”
    “Should we go back?” she asked.
    “We should never have left,” he answered savagely.
    She sounded abashed when she said, “Cavilling at our dilemma will accomplish nothing.”
    “It will make me feel better.” But he already felt better, for someone had had to make the judgment to leave the hut. Juliana had taken the responsibility without flinching, and if he didn’t agree with her decision—well, at one time, he’d made some painfully stupid decisions, too.
    “I thought it best to try to reach Lofts Castle during the first break in the weather. The squirrels’ coats grew abundantly this year, and the caterpillars were thick on the ground, so I know it’s going to be a hard winter. We could have been trapped through the new moon.”
    He blinked against the snow, now hurtling along on the freshening breeze. “The wind’s at our back. We will arrive on the wings of the storm.”
    His conjecture proved ridiculous. By the time they crossed the drawbridge, the wind howled and snow blinded them. He had his arm around Juliana, carrying her, and his gelding plodded behind them with many a reproachful nudge. The bailey was empty. No one patrolled the wall walks. The keep had no door on the lower level, a primitive defense and very effective, but it meant Lady Juliana would have to wait until a ladder was lowered to enter her own home.
    Raymond shouted and kicked at the stable door for too long before the stable boy came running. Theboy’s eyes widened. He backed from the two frozen figures who resembled nothing so much as walking snowmen.
    “Care for the horse,” Raymond snapped. “I’ll take care of the lady.”
    The boy responded to the anonymous voice of a lord, and in moments, the horse was being groomed and fed. As Raymond peeled the icy scarf from Juliana’s face, another man stepped out of the shadows. “M’lady?” His voice rose. “M’lady Juliana? Saint Wilfrid’s needle! What be ye doin’ out in a storm such as this?”
    “Coming home,” she croaked.
    “Oh, m’lady, we hoped ye holed up somewhere, but we were afraid ye’d do this.” He clicked his tongue and eyed Raymond with more curiosity and less respect than necessary. “Well, blessed be th’ moment o’ yer return. I’ll go tell ’em at once.”
    He raced