Quick, Amanda by Desire Read Free Book Online Page B

loyal household. I'll wager that she is giving them instructions for
    the defense of the hall."
    "What in the name of the devil are you talking about? This hall is not under attack."
    "That, my friend, is clearly a matter of opinion. It seems to me that your lady is preparing to withstand
    a siege."
    "From me?"
    "Aye."
    Gareth shrugged. "Then she is wasting her time. The battle is over and won."
    "I'm not at all certain of that." Ulrich started to grin. The grin became a chuckle and the chuckle
    exploded into laughter.
    Gareth made no attempt to reason out what it was that Ulrich found amusing. More important matters
    awaited him.
    * * *
    "All of the men and horses are properly settled?" Clare frowned intently as she paced the garden in front
    of her assembled household.
    Her makeshift family, composed of people who had no other home, sat on the stone bench beneath the
    apple tree or stood nearby.
    William, his face still aglow from his first ride astride a real war-horse, was positioned on the bench
    between his mother, Joanna, and Dalian, the thin, anxious young troubadour.
    Eadgar, the elderly marshal of the hall, stood at the end of the bench, his expression one of great
    uneasiness. He had good reason to be alarmed. As marshal, he was charged with the day-to-day tasks
    of running the household. He was the one who had to make certain that the kitchens were supplied with
    the vast quantities of food required to feed the new arrivals. It was also his responsibility to ensure that
    the servants saw to such matters as preparing baths, mending clothes, and cleaning the garderobes.
    It was all a great nuisance, Clare thought.
    She was concerned about Eadgar's ability to cope with the crowd. Although loyal and hardworking, he
    was nearly seventy and the years had taken their toll on his joints and his hearing.
    When Eadgar did not respond to her question, Clare sighed and repeated it in a louder voice. "I said, are
    all the men and their horses settled, Eadgar?"
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    "Oh, aye, my lady. Certainly. Indeed." Eadgar straightened his stooped shoulders and made an obvious
    effort to appear in control of the situation.
    "I am amazed that you found room for so many. I trust I shall not find any of these great oafs sleeping
    on the stairs or in my solar?"
    "Nay, my lady," Eadgar assured her earnestly. "There were chambers enough for his lordship and some
    of the others on the upper floors. The rest will sleep on pallets in the main hall or in the stables. Rest
    assured all will be carried out properly."
    "Calm yourself, Clare." Joartna looked up from her needlework and smiled. "All is under control."
    Joanna was five years older than Clare. She was a pretty woman with golden blond hair, soft blue eyes,
    and gentle features.
    Married at the age of fifteen to a man who had been thirty years her senior, Joanna had soon found
    herself widowed and penniless with a small son.
    Desperate, she had arrived on Clare's doorstep three years earlier to claim a very distant relationship
    based on the fact that her mother and Clare's had once been close friends. Clare had taken Joanna and
    William into the household.
    Joanna had immediately begun to contribute to the income of Desire by virtue of her brilliant needlework.
    Clare had been quick to see the possibilities inherent in Joanna's talent. The revenues from the sale of
    Clare's dried flower and herb concoctions had increased markedly due to the fact that many were now
    sold in exquisitely embroidered pouches and bags of Joanna's design.
    The demand had grown so great that Joanna had instructed several of the village women in the art of
    embroidery. Some of the nuns of Saint Hermione's also worked under her supervision to create elegantly
    made pouches for some of Clare's fragrance blends.
    "Eadgar, inform cook that she must resist the temptation to dye all of the food blue or crimson or yellow
    tonight." Clare stalked