Page 36 of Hers To Command
“And you, too, Father,” she said, opening the door for him.
The mention of Evans had momentarily pushed the bishop and their troubles from her thoughts, but when she turned and saw Sir Henry still seated on the dais as if he were the lord here, her worries returned with even greater force.
“Why didn’t you tell me you knew the bishop and that you were enemies?” she demanded as she marched toward the dais.
He rose and gestured for her to sit, still acting as if this werehishall. However, since she wanted to hear his answer, she made no comment on that, but plopped down on the nearest chair and raised a pointedly querying brow.
“I didn’t tell you I knew Christophus,” he said with infuriating calm, “because when you told me you were writing to the bishop, you never mentioned his name, and as I told that arrogant fellow, I never expected that he would be in England, let alone in Kent or involved in your dispute with Roald.”
Was that possible? “I never mentioned the bishop by name?”
Henry shook his head. “No.”
She could not fault him for this particular trouble then. With her elbow on the arm of the chair, she rested her cheek in her palm. “I wish I had.”
“So do I,” Sir Henry admitted, throwing one long leg over the arm of his chair and slouching down into the seat. “If I had knownhewas the bishop you were talking about, I would have stayed with the men rather than rush here when I heard a bishop had come. It was my intention to help you, not make things worse. Did he ask for a bribe?”
“Not precisely, but as good as,” she confirmed. “Apparently Roald had already offered him something.” She shook her head. “It seems a terrible thing to bribe a man of God.”
“Not all clergymen are as holy and good as Father Thomas,” Sir Henry replied. “Christophus is a man of large appetite, for many things. Most ambitious men of the church keep their offspring a secret. Unfortunately for him, his son was too much like him not to brag that his father was an important man.”
“You’ve met his son?”
Henry smiled, but it was the closest thing to a smirk she’d ever seen him make. “His father sent him to Sir Leonard, too. James did not take kindly to instruction, to put it mildly. He complained morning, noon and night. Worse than that, he was a braggart and a bully, and one day, when I’d had enough of the way he teased Merrick for his silence, I hit him.”
The smirk became a disgusted frown. “All I did was bloody his nose, but you’d think I’d cut it off. Christophus arrived a week later. I gather he wanted Sir Leonard to send me home in disgrace, as if I had a home to go to.”
This was the first time he had ever spoken of his childhood, apart from tales of training with Sir Leonard, and it hinted at troubles and sorrow he never spoke of—and perhaps wanted to forget, as there were memories she would banish forever if she could.
“I don’t know what Sir Leonard said to him,” Henry continued, oblivious to her sympathetic reflections, “but the bishop was pale as a lamb’s wool when he left, and took James with him, to the regret of no one.”
“He condemnedmefor sinfulness,” she muttered with disgust.
“Whatever he said to you, forget it. That man’s a greedy pig.”
While she appreciated Henry’s ire for her sake, it would be impossible for her to forget the bishop’s words or the pain they inflicted. He had said to her face what so many others would be whispering behind her back.
Sir Henry sat up straight and reached out to lightly lay a hand on her arm. “Please don’t let that man’s words upset you, my lady. He’s a fool and a weakling. His own acolytes detest him. You’re clever and strong, and your people justly love you.”
He smiled at her, and his eyes that could harden like flint when angry, were now gentle and full of compassion. Her gaze roved over the sharp, attractive planes of his cheeks to settle on his full, enticing lips.
Her body warmed with desire and her heartbeat quickened. Yes, she was a weakling, or she would send him away from Ecclesford, because if they were alone now and not in the hall, who could say what she might do?
She didn’t even have the strength to get up from her chair, but sought a way to keep him here in the hall, if only for a little while before he returned to his duty, or went to his chamber to wash. “How goes the training? Are you pleased with the men’s progress?”
Sir Henry’s hand slipped from her arm, and she told herself she was relieved.
“They’re fast learners, I’ll give them that,” he said. “Some of them are a bit foolhardy and keen to show off, but a few bumps and bruises quickly teach them to be more careful.”
“And Cerdic? He obeys your orders?”
“Without qualm or question, thank God. He’s determined to learn all he can, and the men certainly respect and look up to him, although he has a long way to go when it comes to using a lance. He took quite a tumble today. I’d feared he’d broken his leg, but he was up and hobbling about quick enough. Nevertheless, I sent him to your sister to make certain his ankle was only sprained, and not more seriously injured.”
That must be why she hadn’t been able to find Giselle; she’d been in the barracks tending to Cerdic.
Henry leaned a little closer, nearly as close as when he’d almost kissed her.
She tried not to panic or act as if his proximity affected her at all, whether for good or ill. “If I might make a request, my lady?”
