“Truly.”
Thrilled, Annavieve began pulling more garments out of the chests as Kevin turned to the priest. “You mentioned jewels?” he said. “What do you have?”
The priest appeared hesitant. “Indeed I do,” he said. “However… my lord, you must understand that this is a world with little trust. Men do desperate things sometimes and….”
Kevin cut him off. “I swear upon my oath as a knight that I will not have you show them to me only to rob you of them,” he said, reaching into his tunic and pulling forth the very heavy coin pouch. He tossed it to the priest and the man caught it, off-balance. “Now you have my coinage in your hand. Show me the jewels.”
The priest did. The jewel chest, small, had been hidden behind a loose stone in the wall of the dormitory. Still holding Kevin’s coin purse, the priest pulled out the chest and Kevin picked it up off of the floor, putting it on one of the beds. Throwing back the rusted latch on the lid of the iron and wood chest, he peered inside.
Necklaces of sapphires and brooches of pearls and rubies met his gaze in the weak light of the dormitory. All things glittered like stars against the night sky, jewels seeing the first light of day in years. Already, Kevin could see that it was a spectacular cache and he pulled forth a gorgeous sapphire and gold necklace with a massive gold cross that hung from the end of it. More gold necklaces were bunched up down at the bottom of the chest and he saw a few loose earrings floating about as well. It was a horde worthy of a duchess, no doubt.
“My lady?” he called. “Come here, please.”
Annavieve, who was in the process of wrapping a silken scarf around her neck, dutifully went to Kevin as requested. She wasmore focused on the lovely silk scarf in her hands but when she looked up and saw the sapphire necklace, her jaw dropped.
“God’s Bones!” she exclaimed softly. “It is magnificent!”
Kevin, a half-smile on his lips, turned to her with the necklace still in his hand. With his free hand, he pulled the scarf off her neck and unfastened her cloak, which she helped him with. The cloak and the scarf ended up on the nearest bed as Kevin got behind Annavieve and placed the necklace upon her slender neck. He fastened it while she fingered the utterly glorious piece as it hung, in three gold and sapphire strands, down her chest with the cross nestled between her breasts.
“I have never seen anything so lovely,” she breathed as she turned to Kevin, inspecting the cross.
Kevin’s gaze was on her face. “Nor have I.”
It was that soft tone again, the same one he had used before when he had declared that he was sworn to her until the death. She had wondered about that tone then and she wondered about it now. Her head came up and she found herself gazing into his eyes. Her focus moved from his eyes to his nose and from his nose to those full, wonderful lips that had kissed her so passionately. It was those same lips that had suckled her breasts and her woman’s center, and when she remembered the ecstasy, her cheeks flushed red. Embarrassed, she averted her gaze.
“The… the necklace is truly a work of art,” she stammered, struggling to collect her thoughts. “But… but I am sure all of this is terribly expensive.”
Kevin thought the flush to her cheeks was rather enchanting. “For a duchess, it is a mere pittance,” he said, turning to the priest. “Count out what you believe all of these items are worth from my coin purse but, mind you, leave some coinage to pay the seamstress. You will send for her now. We will buy everything from you.”
The priest was delighted. “Thank you, my lord,” he said. “I have prayed for someone to purchase these great things from me. We have so much need in our town… I cannot feed people these fine clothes and we cannot use jewels to patch the roof. It is a blessing you came upon us when you did. Surely God directed you.”
Kevin wasn’t sure God had much to do with it; he’d never had any use for a God who destroyed his dreams of a marriage with the woman he’d once loved, and he was quite certain God had not been in the Levant. It was, to him, a Godless place. He simply nodded and returned his attention to Annavieve as the priest sent a small boy, who had been sweeping the dormitory, running on the errand for the seamstress.
When the boy was gone, Father Innocente spilled out the contents of the coin purse on a tabletop nearby and began to count out what he believed to be a fair price. Annavieve, with the necklace still on her chest, eyed the priest warily.
“It will be a great deal,” she whispered to Kevin. “You should not have left it to him to set the price. He will take everything!”
Kevin shook his head. “He will not,” he assured her quietly. “He will be fair. If he is not, then I will surely let him know.”
That was more than likely true. Not even a priest would try to steal from the mighty Scorpion. Smiling hesitantly at Kevin, her attention drifted back to the jewel box and the clothing, now spread out over three beds. She sighed.
“It is a great deal,” she said again. “I hope my husband will not be too angry that we have purchased so much.”
Kevin’s smile faded. It took him a moment to realize that he didn’t like it when she referred to Victor as her husband. It had been clear to Kevin from the onset that Victor was not worthy of such a magnificent creature. What he thought was distaste for Victor’s treatment of Annavieve, in fact, were the first weak pangs of jealousy. He’d experienced such feelings once beforewhen his lost love had married another. Now, he was feeling it again and frustrated because of it.
“He will be grateful to have you dressed appropriately,” he said, trying to shake off the feelings of envy. “Any man would be happy to have his wife dressed so elegantly. We were extremely lucky to come across this. Do you have any idea how long it would have taken us to collect a hoard like this? Months, if not years. Truly, this was a remarkable find.”
Annavieve eagerly agreed. “Only queens have wardrobes such as this,” she said. “I agree with the priest– God must have led us here. He knew that I needed what they had, and he knew they needed my husband’s money.”
My husband. There was that phrase again and this time, it hit him even harder. Here they were, together, and alone, and it was easy to pretend there was no husband. It was just the two of them, a massive knight and a lady he was deeply attracted to. Those walls he’d spent six years building, the ones that surrounded his soft-centered heart, were starting to show cracks. Since last night, his sense of duty was beginning to blur with his emotions and he didn’t like it in the least.This woman is married to your liege,he silently scolded himself.You have no right to feel anything for her!
“Mayhap,” he said quietly, bending over the jewel chest and pretending to show interest in what was inside. He did it simply to distract himself. “The hour grows late and I suspect we may have to spend the night in town while the seamstress works on your clothing. We can join the duke in Longcross on the morrow.”
We may have to spend the night in town.Annavieve paused in her inspection of the necklace, thinking on the implications of that statement. Would he bed her again? Or would last night be the end of it? She felt like a wanton woman hoping that it wasn’t the end of it. Never in her life had she known such comfort andsecurity. Never had she known such excitement. She was terrible in that she wanted him to touch her again; aye, she wanted it. She knew she was a very wicked woman for it.
But she said nothing as she returned her focus to the garments that lay out over the beds while Kevin continued to inventory the jewel box. They were focused on other things, or at least they pretended to be. Each could not know that the other was lingering on the previous night, of the passion they had known together. Each could not have known that feelings, one for the other, were growing. Rather than face it, they struggled to ignore it.
The seamstress appeared some time later. She was a very old woman, blind in one eye, and her daughter was with her. The daughter couldn’t speak, and the old woman could hardly see, but evidently they were quite skilled together when it came to sewing. Father Innocente vouched for their talents and, based on his recommendation, Kevin commissioned them for the alterations on the duchess’ clothing. As Kevin stood back and bartered with the priest for the price of the jewels, which the priest wanted more money for than Kevin was willing to pay, the seamstresses went to work on Annavieve.
