“Why not wed?”Quinn sat back and raised his hands.“It might please you well.”
“You and your lady wife argue with fervor!”
“There is much at stake and all has changed for my lady.”Quinn’s expression turned rueful before Bayard could ask for details.“What of the maid?You watch her as keenly as she watches you, and you match wits with her.There is more than a pretty smile prompting all of this.”
Bayard dropped his gaze, unwilling to share his secrets.“It has been too long since I savored a woman.She is here and she is pretty.It is no more than that.”He scowled when Quinn cleared his throat and ceded another increment.“I like that she is keen of wit, and fearless.”
“She does not fear you, that is for certain.Perhaps she sees your truth.”
“Yet she calls me a rogue,” Bayard retorted.“She might be disappointed to know that I am nigh as chaste as you have been.”
“Perhaps not.You do not like when Niall talks to her.”
Bayard frowned, feeling disgruntled.“Perhaps you make much of little.”
“Perhaps you have forgotten the gift that Marcus granted to you.”
Bayard fairly growled that Quinn spoke of it.He had hoped that his comrade might have forgotten.“A perfume that will win the heart of the most reluctant maiden,” he said, repeating the innkeeper’s words.“I have not forgotten.”
“Then think upon which maiden it shall be.”Quinn made to rise, evidently believing the matter to be concluded.
Aye, they knew each other well.
“Where do you go so early in the morn?”Bayard demanded.“All are yet asleep.”
“I mean to ride to Tulley.There are matters I would discuss with my overlord.”
“Details he neglected to share?”Bayard raised his brows but Quinn did not confide in him.“And you will ride alone?”
“Aye.I intend to return this day, although the hour will be late.”Quinn nodded as Amaury came down the stairs, as neatly attired as if he had risen hours before.Bayard immediately felt as if he looked to be a mercenary of no repute, perhaps one who ravished maidens and abandoned them with his seed ripening in their bellies.“I would ask you two to ensure that the gates are not opened in my absence.Until I know more, I would have all at Annossy remain at Annossy.”
“You cannot ride alone when there are brigands abroad,” Amaury protested.
“I carry neither coin nor treasure, and Fortitude is swift.”Quinn was adamant.“I will arm myself and none shall trouble me.I will not wait for any other rider to join me.”
Bayard and Amaury exchanged a glance.“I will go with you,” Bayard said, but Quinn shook his head.
“I do not like how we are divided,” Amaury noted.“Quinn, think of it.Solitude makes you vulnerable.”
Quinn shook his head.“Not so much as you fear.So long as the gates are closed, there will be no peril to me.See that it is so.And I will grant you a task for this day.”
“Any deed!”Amaury said.
“You have but to name it,” Bayard agreed.
Quinn tapped his fingertip on the board, even as he lowered his voice.“I would know every way in and out of this keep, even if it is only a passage of sufficient size for a rat.”
“Not all rats are small,” Amaury murmured as the men exchanged glances.
“There must be more than the gate itself,” Quinn said.“And there may be breaches in the wall.”
“The sewer,” Amaury mused.
“The kitchens,” Bayard said and the others looked at him.“The keep itself may have more entries than you realize.Any soul in the village might be able to reach the solar.”
“Aye.I would know them all.”Without allowing for further discussion, Quinn left them there, walking to the kitchen with purpose.
“I never knew him to be impetuous,” Amaury said.
