Isabel rolled her eyes. “You will get your permission from me,” she said. “Mira’s mother does not care what becomes of her and cannot be bothered. She is a weak, joyless woman. How she managed to give birth to someone as strong and stalwart as Mira is a mystery.”
“If I ask your permission, then, will you give it?”
It was a straight question. Isabel’s eyes glimmered at him, so much so that she had the man’s attention. They smiled at one another, him in anticipation and her because she wanted to draw it out. She liked taunting Douglas because, as she’d said, he reminded her of her brother. There was a strange sort of sibling association there. They were so focused on one another, in fact, that they failed to notice Raymond leave the dais.
He’d been too far away to hear most of the conversation, but it didn’t interest him anyway. He’d finished his food and had a couple of cups of that strong wine, and quite frankly, his mind was elsewhere. While his father sat there with a cup in his hand and his eyes closed, listening to the distant strains of the lute, Raymond headed around the back of the raised platform, back into the shadows where the servants were.
Where Mira was.
He, too, was on the hunt.
*
It has beena strange hour.
That was what Mira thought as she directed the servants to clean up some spilled drink in the middle of the hall beforesomeone slipped on it, but it had been strange not for that reason. It had been strange because soldiers, men she had known for many years during her time at Axminster, were smiling and waving at her. She wasn’t sure why, so she hesitantly waved back. But it was happening at the table near the hearth, and one man even pointed to the minstrel and made swirling motions with his hands—as if he was telling her, or asking her, to dance. Strange things, indeed. But her first real inkling that something was seriously amiss was when someone grasped her by the wrist.
“Come, Mira,” Raymond said. “I’m told you wish to dance with me, so let’s dance.”
Instantly frightened, Mira dug her heels in. “I do not wish to dance,” she said. “I am busy at the moment. Mayhap one of the other girls would like to.”
Raymond continued to pull. “Do not be shy,” he said. “There is no need, not now. You are a woman grown and I am a man grown. May we finally declare our interest? I have thought of you through the years, you know.”
He hadn’t, but it sounded good. But Mira’s eyes widened in horror.
“Interest?” she repeated, aghast. “Inyou? There has never been a more untrue statement, Raymond. I do not know who told you such things, but it is not true.”
He grinned leeringly. “You do not have to lie to me,” he said. “I knew you had feelings for me years ago. How you would gasp when I touched you.”
Mira tried to yank her hand from his grip. “I gasped because I was horrified and disgusted,” she said, finally managing to pull free. “Did you not realize that? I do not like you, Raymond. I never have.”
He paused, the smile fading from his face. “I do not know why you should be so cruel to me,” he said. “I am admitting thatI have always been fond of you. You do not need to be cutting in order to hide what you feel.”
Mira took a few steps back, creating distance between them. “I am not hiding anything,” she said. “Leave me alone, Raymond. Your attention is not welcome.”
With that, she scooted off, back into the shadows, as he watched her with both irritation and confusion. He was debating whether or not to pursue her when someone walked up beside him.
“Is she taunting you, my lord?” Astoria asked. “That is her way. She is known to tease men.”
Raymond frowned. “Either you are lying or she is enjoying treating me this way.”
“As I said, she is known to tease men,” Astoria said convincingly. “The chase makes it sweeter in the end, I suppose.”
Raymond nodded as if he suddenly understood Mira’s game. “I see,” he said. “Then I suppose I shall continue the chase, but the rewards had better be damn sweet.”
“I have heard she lifts her skirts to the right man.”
He looked at her in shock. “Truly?” he said. “I would have never expected it from Mira. She did not seem the type.”
“Time changes people.”
Raymond considered that. “I suppose,” he said. Then he peered down his nose at Astoria as if looking the woman over. “Well? You seem to know so much about her. What do I do now?”
Astoria watched Mira over by the dais. “What do you want to do?”
Raymond raked his fingers through his hair irritably. “If I could only get her alone, we could speak,” he said. “But the way she is now… She is working this hall like a servant. She will not focus on me.”
Astoria thought on that a moment and an idea came to her. “Do you remember the passages and stairwells of Axminster’s keep?”
