He shook his head. ‘The duke’s man presented this to me when he gave me the grant of lands and the betrothal contract. I did not remove this from your father’s hand.’
‘Truly?’
Such terrible images of this knight killing her father and taking the ring from him had plagued her since she’d seen it on the chain around his neck. Those thoughts had plagued her even more so in the aftermath of the pleasure she had received at his hands.
He took her hands in his then and lifted them before her. Kissing each one, he met her gaze. ‘But do not be fooled into believing I may not have been the one who cut him down. I know I ended many lives on the battlefield that day. I cannot know who died by my hands.’
Brice called again outside and she watched a smile fill Giles’s face now. ‘You see how exasperating he can be, my lord?’ she said.
He yet held her hands as he lowered them, but kept one in his grasp. Bringing it back to his mouth, he turned it and placed his mouth on her wrist. The heat from his mouth made her blood race and she could feel the pulse of it under his lips.
‘I do not ask you to forget our differences, lady, but only to allow time for us to become accustomed to each other before laying judgement on me.’
A strange request coming from the man who had fought his way here, allowing no one to stop him from taking her and her lands. And from one carrying the orders of his duke and the rights to all he claimed in service to his lord. And from a man who had the power and the strength to take whatever, and whomever, he wanted with no one to stop him.
Yet, he asked.
‘Very well,’ she whispered.
‘Brice is anxious to get to work. Come, I will take you to the village so you may begin your work there.’
‘Verily, my lord?’ Stunned as he acquiesced to her earlier request, she wondered what had caused him to change his mind.
‘You may only go there with my express permission and never without Brice or Roger with you. Do you understand my words on this?’
‘Yes, my lord.’
Her heart lightened at the thought of leaving the keep for even a short time, to see how the surrounding lands had fared after the attacks, and how the rest of the villagers were coping, as well as tending to the needs of those who lived outside the walls.
Fayth watched as Giles pulled open the door of the chapel and followed him outside where, indeed, the sun did shine as Brice had reported. The Breton stopped to speak with his friend, who continued to look round at her. Did he think she’d been harmed in some way?
As she gazed around, many of those working in the yard stopped and watched her, too. Even Father Henry, who stood near the well speaking to the boy Durwyn, stared openly. It was obvious that the exchange between them in the hall and her escape to the chapel had drawn some untoward attention. Excusing herself from Giles with a word, she made her way to the priest.
‘How do you fare, Lady Fayth?’ he asked, searching her face intently as though the answer could be seen there. ‘Was I mistaken in placing some trust in this new lord’s word?’
‘I think some things are settled between us, Father,’ she said, nodding at him, yet looking back at the man under discussion.
Who stood looking at her.
Heat pulsed then through her as he stared at her, his thoughts clear in his gaze. Her body ached to feel his touch then, indeed, it remembered the pleasure wrought by his hands on her skin. Shivering even in the sun’s warmth, she shook herself free of such thoughts and listened to Father Henry’s counsel.
‘Marriage is not easy in the best of times, but it is your duty now to cleave to your husband and accept his rule. Even your father would have counselled you so.’
‘Even if he is the enemy?’ How could that be reconciled with faith or conscience?
Taking her hand and drawing her close, he answered in a soft voice. ‘Many of these Norman invaders are not honouring their pledge to accept the daughters of fallen lords to wife. I have heard tales of Saxon women being used—’ he paused as though searching for the correct word ‘—harshly and then being put off their own lands.’
He patted her hand and smiled. ‘This lord looks as if he knows both the good and bad life has to offer and appears to be seeking the better way here. It is not wrong to help him along that path, child, or to accept his efforts in good stead.’
Father Henry’s words gave her hope. She could not and would not forget her husband’s part in the battle between their peoples and their lords, but it was not sinful to allow him to prove himself to them.
‘Lady?’
She turned when Giles called her. ‘I will take you to the village now for a short visit. Come, gather what you need from the keep and we will go.’
‘You see? He listens and considers your words before he acts.’ Father Henry released her hand. ‘Go now, child. Seek your lord.’
Fayth went off to the keep to get her cloak and her parchments on which she was keeping records of their stores.
