The Baron's Bride Page 6

  'Lady Isabella will be down in a minute,' he said to Eva. 'Sir Piers is already seeing to the horses.'

  Eva stared at him in dismay.

  'I beg your pardon?' she stammered.

  It was Sir Piers who replied. Unnoticed by Eva he had entered the great hall and was standing just behind her.

  'We are ready to leave, my dear. You are clearly none the worse for your distressing experience, and I have decided to take the longer way round. We can be sure of crossing the river higher up, whereas this continual rain makes it very uncertain when the ford here will be low enough. Besides, your father will be anxious, and I am eager to make you my wife.'

  *

  Chapter 5

  Before Eva, too startled to be able to speak, could answer, Sir Piers picked up a cloak from a maid who had followed Lord Henry into the hall and draped it about Eva's shoulders. Then he took her arm in a painful grip and led her out of the hall and down the steps into the courtyard.

  The same two men who had accompanied them before were already waiting with the pack ponies but this time there were also two others who rode powerful horses. One of the latter held Sir Piers' big black mount.

  'No! Where is Fleet? I cannot ride her, she is hurt too badly! Where is Lady Isabella?' Eva babbled distractedly.

  'Here, my dear child, ready to bid you farewell once more, and hope your journey will not be attended by such ill fortune this time,' Lady Isabella replied, appearing beside Lord Henry.

  'You'll ride pillion today, my dear,' Sir Piers said in a quiet voice, but to the frantic Eva it sounded full of menace. She swallowed, cast a despairing look about her, and knew there was no hope of sudden rescue. Gilbert was not to be seen, but even had he been there he could have done nothing.

  Eva mumbled some indistinct words to Lady Isabella and Lord Henry, and saw several of the ladies had come on to the steps and were waving to her in farewell. Numbed with shock she waited while Sir Piers mounted and Lord Henry lifted her onto the pillion seat behind him. It was only when Sir Piers spurred his horse into motion that Eva came back to life, grasping at his cloak to keep her balance as the horse swung round towards the main gateway of the castle.

  Eva was able to look back at the great fortress as they rode down the slope away from it. Would she ever see it again? It had been her home for several years, as was the custom when children were sent to great households to be trained for their future positions. Lady Isabella, although she was too stern a disciplinarian to command affection as well as respect, had been in some sense a replacement for Eva's own mother who had died before she could remember her.

  Nonetheless, Eva had found friendship at Holdfast amongst the other girls, and she had felt safe in the great square keep surrounded by the high walls. And since Gilbert had come to join the household she had also found love. Was she now to lose that love?

  She felt a sense of despair enter into her as they rode away. On the previous occasion she had her own horse beneath her and a means of escape. This time she would find few if any opportunities to evade the vigilance Sir Piers would be sure to keep. When would Gilbert be able to ride to her own home? Would he be in time, and would her father listen to him?

  *

  In the heat of planning means of escape Eva had never before permitted herself to think so far ahead. Somehow, she had been certain, they would escape before her father need be faced. She had depended on it for her father had little good to say of his wife's family.

  'A set of ne'er do wells,' he had once exclaimed. 'They all live on their wits, and when they do win a fortune it vanishes faster than you would have thought possible.'

  There had been no friendship between the two families. Sir Edmund had no brothers and his only sister Elizabeth had entered a convent before Eva had known her, so she had been a lonely child. Her mother's parents had died early and her three brothers, the eldest father to Gilbert, had spent most of their lives fighting in Gascony and Germany, wherever they could find someone who would pay them. Then, according to Sir Edmund, they had squandered what they had won in ways so dubious he had never expanded on his occasional derogatory remarks to Eva.

  All she knew was that her father had never willingly entertained her uncles in his manor on their occasional visits. Hospitality had demanded Sir Edmund furnish them with food and lodging, but he never urged them to extend their stays, and breathed sighs of relief almost before they were out of earshot when they departed.

  Gilbert had remained with his mother until he had been sent as a page to a castle on the Marches. Eva could recall seeing him once, when she had been five years old and his mother had brought him for some still unexplained reason to see Sir Edmund. Even now Eva could recall the fury with which her father had raged about his room when, after just one night, the pair had departed. It was soon after that visit Eva overheard her nurse talking about the poor orphan, and she always assumed Alice had referred to Gilbert.

  When they met again at Holdfast Gilbert told her his father had been killed in a battle somewhere in Germany, and that it had been Sir Edmund who had given his mother the means to live, for all but the run down and neglected manor which had been left to him had been lost. His mother had died a few years earlier and a steward was, Gilbert told her proudly, at last making the manor self supporting.

  *

  She reflected on this until they were out of sight of Holdfast, and then turned her attention back to her own dilemma. Would there be any opportunity for her to escape? They would ride right past Meadside, but today there would be no chance of claiming sanctuary from her aunt.

  Nevertheless, it offered some hope. The journey would take several days, and they would probably stay for at least one of the nights at a monastery.

  She could throw herself on the mercy of the monks or nuns, beg for sanctuary until her father could be summoned. Eva's agile brain began to elaborate on the story. She could claim to have been abducted by Sir Piers. It would be her word against his, and since she was unwilling to wed him it was in a sense true.

  By the third day, however, Eva's hopes were low. On both previous nights they had stayed at small castles where Sir Piers had been a known and apparently welcome guest. The owners of the castles had treated Eva with every courtesy, but she had known instinctively that they would never believe anything against him.

  For most of the time they rode without speaking. Sir Piers occasionally pointed out landmarks to Eva, but she responded with so little interest he grinned sardonically and relapsed into silence.

  By nightfall they were approaching a large manor house set on the side of a hill and overlooking a wide river valley. Sir Piers indicated it with a wave of his hand.

  'We stay here tonight, and then it is but a few hours to Granfort tomorrow.'

  'Granfort?' Eva exclaimed. 'I thought we were going to Rudge Manor, and that is still some distance away.'

  'We will be wed at Granfort tomorrow, there is little point in travelling further now. You may visit Rudge Manor some other time.'

  'But my father!' Eva exclaimed. 'I must speak to my father!'

  'Of course,' he replied calmly. 'One of the men is riding on now, and will bring him back to Granfort tomorrow. He will be in time for our wedding, do not fear.'

  Eva was so perturbed by this she took no heed of their approach to the manor house, and looked up in surprise when two little boys ran shouting from the house and came towards them.

  'Uncle Piers! Uncle Piers!' they screamed in shrill excitement and jumped about his horse in imminent peril of being trampled.

  Sir Piers halted the great black horse and, swinging his leg over its head, slid to the ground. The children, aged about five and six, danced about and seized his hands, clinging and giggling as he laughed and swung them aloft on either side of him.

  'Well, rascals, where is your mother?' he asked, setting them down.

  'In the still-room,' the eldest replied. 'She sent us to our room but we saw you coming. Now she won't be cross.'

 
He laughed, and rumpled the lad's dark hair.

  'What mischief have you been up to to make her cross?'

  'Piers lost his lizard in the dairy,' the younger piped up, and Eva glanced at him, her attention riveted. How strange one of these children should have the same name as her companion. She could not, even now, think of him as her husband-to-be.

  Sir Piers was trying not to laugh. How different he looked when his face lost the stern look he had worn throughout their journey, Eva thought.

  'Well, you took your spiders in, and that was worse,' the elder said quickly. 'One fell in the cream,' he added over his shoulder.

  'That was bad for the spider,' Sir Piers commented gravely, and Eva was surprised into a spurt of laughter. He glanced up at her and the hard look came back into his eyes.

  'I beg your pardon, I was forgetting my manners,' he said in a cool voice and disengaged himself from the children to come and lift her down from her perch on the pillion of his horse.

  Before he reached her they heard a woman's voice calling to the children. 'Piers! Roger! Where are you both?' Sir Piers moved back and at the same moment a woman came out of the house. She halted in surprise, and then with a glad cry came running towards them.

  'Piers! What a lovely surprise, why did you not send to tell me you were coming?'

  *

  She was taller than Eva, who was tall herself for a woman, with a slender waist but ample curves, a proud bosom and shapely hips outlined by the close-fitting orange-dyed dress she wore. Her face was oval, surrounded by corn-coloured hair which obstinately refused to stay in the confines of the lacy coif tied beneath her chin, but escaped in enchanting wisps of curls to frame her lovely face. Her eyes were a deep blue, almost violet, and startling with her fair complexion.

  Then she saw Eva and came to an abrupt stop, sending a swift glance from the girl to Sir Piers.

  'Oh, I beg your pardon, I had not seen,' she said in some astonishment and began to walk slowly forwards, her glad smile of welcome replaced by a puzzled frown.

  Sir Piers, who had taken an involuntary step forward as she appeared, halted and glanced back at Eva.

  'Lady Blanche, greetings,' he said formally in an even voice, and continued towards her, halting a yard away.

  She took another step forward and he smiled gravely, taking her hands in his and raising them to his lips, all the time looking into those huge violet eyes which regarded him with anxious enquiry.

  'May I present the Lady Eva de Beauville, to whom I am betrothed. We travel to Granfort for the wedding.'

  He stood completely still for a moment, the woman's hand clasped in his, and then, with a slight nod as if of satisfaction, he released her and turned to indicate Eva, still sitting on the pillion.

  'Welcome, Lady Eva,' Blanche said evenly and walked past Sir Piers towards Eva.

  Sir Piers fell into step beside her and, as they halted together, reached up to seize Eva round the waist and lift her to the ground.

  Eva made some response, but her thoughts were chaotic. During the next hour, when Blanche showed her to a small room between the solar and the one the two boys shared, and then led her to supper in the large hall in the centre of the house, she found her curiosity unsatisfied. Who was this woman, who lived alone and mentioned no husband, and whose sons called Sir Piers uncle?

  *

  At first the conversation between Sir Piers and their hostess was concerned with family matters, exchanging news about his cousins and the children. They were clearly on very familiar terms. She referred to his lack of brothers and sisters, but mentioned no husband or other family of her own. Then the talk turned to speculation about the rebellious barons and whether Llywelyn of Wales, now so powerful, would come to their aid if they openly defied the King. Blanche was exceedingly well-informed, even about Richard of Cornwall's sojourn in his new kingdom.

  When supper was almost finished Sir Piers turned to Blanche. 'It is almost time for Piers to go away. I have plans for him. May I ride over some day soon and talk of them with you?'

  A flash of something like fear crossed Blanche's face, and she bit her lip. 'So soon? He is too young! I need him here with me a while longer. Could he and Roger go together in a couple of years?'

  'We will talk of it, but you know I will not force you to agree to anything you disapprove of. I value your opinion.'

  Eva thought again of those words as she lay in bed later. Why should this woman, whose connection with Sir Piers was still unclear, be given so much tender consideration? How did he have any control over her children? Were they his wards? Why did they call him uncle and why was the elder named Piers?

  *

  Suddenly Eva heard the sound of a woman sobbing, and realised the thin lath wall permitted some sounds to penetrate. It must be Blanche who sobbed in the next room. Was she constrained to obey Sir Piers when he suggested sending her sons away, despite his promise of listening to her views?

  As Eva pondered on this she heard a deep voice from the same room and then silence for a few minutes. Suddenly Blanche laughed, a carefree, happy sound, and the deep voice replied. The murmur of conversation and laughter continued for some time, with long silences between the bursts of conversation, and Eva's suspicions grew.

  There could be only one reason for Sir Piers' presence in Blanche's room. Suddenly the image of the older boy floated in front of Eva's mind, and she realised he was dark and bore a faint resemblance to Sir Piers himself.

  It all fitted. Blanche was his mistress and the children must be his own.

  A wave of sheer fury swept over Eva, and it was all she could do to stop throwing off the covers and running to confront them. How dare he, while forcing her into marriage, bring her to his paramour's house and sport with the wanton baggage in the very next room!

  Eva began to think hard. She had been dulled into acquiescence, she fumed. On the two previous nights she had slept with the ladies in large dormitories and there had been no possibility of escaping from those rooms where someone was always wakeful, or from the castles where the defences prevented unseen entry or exit.

  But tonight she had a room to herself in a manor house with no surrounding wall or fortifications. It should be possible, particularly with Sir Piers so pleasantly occupied with dalliance, she thought disdainfully, to leave the house and, if she could not travel far, hide until morning. It would be a long walk if she could not take a horse from the stables, but it was possible and she could reach Rudge Manor and appeal directly to her father.

  This held out the only hope, small though that was, and then Eva recalled her father would on the next day be going to Granfort for the wedding ceremony. Well, Eva thought grimly, he would return when he discovered she had eluded the detested Sir Piers, and there must be an opportunity for her to plead with him.

  Or should she make straight for a nunnery? There was one a short distance from her home, but her father was generous with alms and Eva was dubious whether they would give her shelter when they heard the story. It was a girl's duty to obey her parents, and she knew full well she would meet with no sympathy just because she wished to marry some other man, and one who, in the eyes of the world, was much less suitable than Sir Piers.

  Only the dogs, their heads resting on their paws, were there to watch her as she crossed to the door. It was bolted but she drew the bolts back easily, and they made only a faint noise of protest. A moment later and she was out in the frosty night air, a pale moon glimmering in the sky and casting grotesque shadows over a grey and silent landscape.

  Eva shivered and dragged on her shoes, then drew the fur lined cloak round her. Slowly, glancing nervously from side to side, for she had never before been out of doors at night in a strange place where there were no walls and sentries to guard her, she sped along the front wall of the house towards the stables.

  She could hear horses inside the small building, snorting and moving about quietly, but to her dismay the door was firmly locked. No doubt some of the men, including their
own escort, slept in the loft, and the door was probably bolted on the inside too. She would have to walk, and the sooner she set off and found some way of hiding from the pursuit which would follow as soon as her absence was discovered, the more likely she would be able to evade that pursuit.

  *

  The country to this side of the river was unknown to her, although fairly close to Rudge Manor. She would have to go higher up the valley which lay before the house until she could cross the river. Then she would be in familiar country not far from her home. Squaring her shoulders she set off resolutely, making for the dark shape of a wood which loomed some way ahead. In the shadow of the trees she would feel safe from the eyes which she felt were all about her, although she forced herself not to glance back at the house she had left.

  When she reached the shelter of the trees Eva found she was trembling and breathless, and paused to steady herself. It was partly the cold, which was bitter, she told herself fiercely, and partly that she had been holding her breath as though any sound of breathing would have given away her position to pursuers.

  She tried to laugh but at that moment there was a sharp squawk and the beating of wings, and a bird, disturbed, fluttered past her into the darkness of the trees. Eva gasped, bit back a scream, and clutched at a low flung branch of a tree.

  After a few moments she was able to go on, but she dared not leave the faint illumination of the open for the dense blackness under the trees. Sundry sounds, crackles and rustlings from the night creatures came to her, and she could not force herself to penetrate that unseen world. Besides, she consoled herself, she would not have been able to see her way.

  She skirted the wood and then came to open heath land, where a faint track was visible going slightly downhill. It seemed the right direction and Eva plodded along it, hugging her cloak around her. Here in the open there were fewer sounds, but occasionally she heard rustles and the noises of animals moving, and once a deer leapt across the path some way in front of her, startling her into giving a shriek until she realised what it was.