Eight
Gisele almost moaned aloud with pleasure as she eased her body into the hot water. Nigel had led her into the inn, talked to the innkeeper, and presented her with a room containing a soft bed and a tub that was soon brimming with hot, rose-scented water. She knew his surprise had been conceived even as they had walked out of the alley, but she was not inclined to argue that.
As the innkeeper’s wife and daughters had filled the tub with hot water, Gisele had been so eager to climb in that she had barely waited for the door to close behind Nigel before she had begun to shed her clothes. Only briefly did she worry that by revealing she was not a page she was revealing some deep secret. The lack of surprise on the women’s faces told her they had already guessed her sex.
“I really need to find out what I am doing wrong,” she murmured as she began to wash her hair. “It would be most disappointing to think I cut all of my hair off for no real gain.”
She poured water over her hair to rinse away the soap, then groped for the drying cloth the women had left on a stool next to the tub. After she wiped her face she rubbed her hair dry and looked around the room. This had to be costing Nigel a goodly number of his hard-earned coin. It cost to have a room all to one’s self, most inns having only one or two. A tub filled with hot water and rose scent was not a luxury many could afford, either.Or rose-scented soap, she mused as she sniffed the bar of soap and then began to wash.
The more she considered the matter, the more it troubled her. She realized she had not once given any thought to how they would pay for anything. Since he had been wounded and nearly senseless when they had left him, Gisele doubted that Guy had given Nigel any money, and she had not given him any, either. She did not have any to give. That meant that Nigel was not only risking his life to protect her, but was paying for the privilege.
She looked at her amulet, which she had carefully laid on the stool. She could probably get some money for that. Then she shook her head. She could not bring herself to sell it. Even the thought of it made her shiver. It was all she had left of her grandmother, of the woman who had been more of a mother to her than her own. She would have to find some other way to make recompense to Nigel. Now that her family appeared to have accepted her back into the fold, it should not be too hard to get some money.
Sinking into the water to savor the last of its warmth, she smiled at her own foolishness. It was not just that the amulet was an heirloom that made her so reluctant to part with it. Her grandmother had said that it brought good luck, and Gisele ruefully admitted to herself that she had begun to believe that. She had a feeling that her grandmother was having a fine chuckle over that.
Closing her eyes, she idly wondered what her grandmother would have thought of Nigel, then laughed softly. She felt sure that her grandmother and Nigel would have become fast friends. Her Nana would probably have delighted in the man’s odd sense of humor.
A trickle of concern disturbed Gisele’s comfort. They had only just escaped capture, spent the whole previous day working to elude the DeVeaux. It did not seem wise to stop so soon for such luxuries as a soft bed and a hot bath. She cursed and forced the thought from her mind. Nigel had done his job well so far. She would trust him to know what was safe and what was not. She just wished she did not have to keep reminding herself to do that. It seemed disloyal to question his every move. Until she cured herself of the distrust learned over the past year she would just have to make sure that Nigel never saw her doubts. Gisele returned to thoroughly enjoying her bath, telling herself firmly not to worry, that Nigel was keeping a close watch for any trouble.
Nigel cursed and hastily rubbed himself dry. Only briefly did he resent the fact that he was bathing in a cold stream while Gisele was sprawled in a tub of hot water. She deserved the treat he had arranged for her, and needed it more than he did. It had been a hasty decision to stop over at the inn, and an expensive one, but he did not really regret it. There had been such sadness in her eyes after her cousin had walked away that he had felt compelled to do something to lift her spirits.
He shook his head as he put on clean clothes. Uncertainty still plagued him. At one moment he felt that he was right to keep her with him, that it was better for everyone, and then he questioned his reasons. Nigel suspected that would puzzle him for a very long time.
He knelt by the stream and scrubbed out his dirty clothes, praying they would dry overnight. Just as he finished wringing them out, he tensed. Too late he heard the soft footfall behind him. As he slowly rose to his feet he wondered if his gift had finally deserted him, or was trying to teach him another lesson. When he turned around and saw David standing there, he cursed even as he felt relieved. He had not felt any sense of danger because there was none. David might not trust or like him, but he felt sure the man would not hurt him.
“I had thought ye had hied away home,” he said as he sat down to lace up his boots.
“I do not leave until the morrow. My horse is being reshod,” David replied.
“Ah, so ye are the reason Gisele and I have to wait for the same to be done to our mounts. And so ye thought to take a wee stroll along the water?”
David glared at him. “You leave one thinking that you do not take him seriously as a threat.”
“Do I?” Nigel watched him closely as he stood up again. “And are ye a threat, Sir Lucette?”
“I should be—a deadly one, too. I do not believe that you are as safe a haven as my cousin does. She can be most naive from time to time.”
“She is a widow, nay a virgin who has no knowledge of men.”
“And so you feel she is ripe for the plucking?”
“When ye finally decide to concern yourself about the lass’s weel-being, ye get verra heated, dinnae ye?”
David cursed, and paced back and forth on the soft grass for a moment before facing Nigel again. “I only accept such insults because I have the wit to know I deserve them, but ’ware, Sir Nigel, I have never been known to be a patient man. I may deserve the bite of shame, but I will not endure it long.Oui, I have failed that girl, as has most of the rest of our family. That is something that must be settled between us and her, not you. It also does not mean that my concern about you is not heartfelt.”
“There is no need to be concerned over me.”
“Non?Are you about to tell me that you do not lust for the girl?”
Nigel smiled. “Nay. I am nay that big a liar.”
He almost laughed when David cursed again. The younger man was easy to torment, and Nigel knew he ought to stop. There might come a time when he needed the good favor of Gisele’s kinsmen. On the other hand, he felt David and the others who had turned their backs on Gisele did not deserve much consideration. He did not think he would be as quick to forgive them as Gisele would be, even though he was not sure why it should anger him so.
“Honesty must be praised, I suppose. If you are such a truthful man, then mayhap you will tell me exactly what you plan for my little cousin.”
“I dinnae believe it is any of your business, but I plan to get her safely to my keep in Scotland. There she can abide until the injustice she suffers from here has been ended.” He pointedly looked David over, then asked, “Do ye think ye can clear her name, and get these DeVeaux carrion off her trail?”
“I have said I would.”
