And as Andrew watched Adair, Robert watched his sibling, and a small, knowing smile touched his lips. The girl was just the sort his brother should wed. She was beautiful, and she had spirit. No milksop of a girl would satisfy Andrew. His grandsire was going to be well pleased with the success of this visit, Robert thought.
And then Albert was announcing that the meal was ready to be eaten. He surreptitiously nodded to Andrew to escort Adair to the high board, watching as he seated her and she turned a smiling face up to him.Good.
Good,he thought to himself. Then he settled down to eat the very excellent supper that was served them. If Andrew could woo and win the lovely Adair Radcliffe he would be a most fortunate man. After the meal they settled before the fire, and Adair played her lute for them. Then they told of the region that she had left so precipitously as a little girl.
“What are you doing about the cattle?” Robert asked her. “I saw none grazing as we rode your lands, lady.”
“There are none,” Adair said. “The Scots pillaged them, but I will restock come the spring. I did not think it prudent to do so now. There would not have been enough to feed cattle over the winter months. My parents left me a small inheritance, and I know they would want me to bring Stanton back to its small glory.” She arose. “Now I will bid you good night, sirs. My day begins early. Elsbeth has made up your bed spaces on either side of the hearth. You will be quite warm.” She curtsied to them and left the hall, followed slowly by an aged wolfhound.
“She is not horse-faced,” Robert said softly to his brother.
“Nay, she certainly is not,” Andrew Lynbridge answered.
“You will come courting in the spring?”
“I will come courting this winter,” Andrew said.
“None shall have her but me.”
“Grandsire will be pleased,” Robert noted.
Andrew laughed. “Aye, he will, the old devil. But Stanton lands will be mine, Rob. I will not share them with Grandsire. You and I understand each other, but the old man can be greedy.”
Robert Lynbridge nodded. “Agreed. But first you have to get the lass to accept you, little brother.”
“Make no mistake, Rob, I mean to have her. If she cries nay I will convince her otherwise, even if it means forcing her to the altar. Women will generally come around if you handle them properly and love them well,” Andrew said.
“You’re ruthless, like Grandsire,” Robert remarked.
“Perhaps I am,” Andrew Lynbridge agreed slowly,
“but God’s foot, she is lovely! I can’t let anyone else have her. And Grandsire is correct in one thing: Why should the Nevilles and the Percys have all the land hereabouts?”
“She has spirit,” Robert replied. “Treat her gently and you may win her over. But should you woo her too roughly she will fight you.”
“I enjoy a good challenge,” his sibling said with a wicked grin.
“I suspect you have found one,” Robert responded, grinning back at Andrew.
Chapter 4
The following morning dawned clear again, but there was a hint of snow in the wind that blew from the northwest. As the good chatelaine she had been taught to be, Adair was up long before her guests.
She saw to it the servants brought them water in which to bathe, and there was breakfast at the high board almost immediately. Adair joined the Lynbridge brothers as a trencher of bread filled with hot oat stirabout was placed before each of them. Newly baked bread was set upon a cutting board along with half a wheel of hard yellow cheese. Cups were filled with sweet cider.
“You keep a fine table, Mistress Adair,” Robert Lynbridge complimented his hostess. “When the spring comes I hope to visit you again, and mayhap I will bring my wife, should she be recovered from her childbed.”
“I will certainly welcome you both,” Adair replied graciously.
“I will come before the spring,” Andrew Lynbridge said.
“Why?” Adair surprised him by asking.
“I would ask your permission to court you,” Andrew answered her.
“I do not choose to be courted,” Adair told him frankly. “I have just returned home after ten years away.
Do you not think I know my own value? Every man who says he will court me wants my lands, sir. But I am not ready yet to give up my newfound freedoms for the marriage bed and childbirth.”
