“I heard ye. I just wonder why ye think ye can do it now when no one has accomplished the task in nearly a year.” He frowned when David blushed. “No one has really tried, have they? They decided on her guilt or innocence, and went no further. What is it about that wee lass that makes ye think she would do that to a mon with no cause?”
David’s eyes widened. “You think she did it.”
“I am nay sure what I believe about that. I ken only what I have been told and, since I first heard the tale I havenae had the time to seek out the whole truth for myself.”
“But why would you work so hard to protect a woman you think killed her husband?”
“Because the bastard deserved all he got and more,” Nigel answered coldly.
“Well, he was unkind. We have learned that much.”
Nigel laughed harshly. “Unkind? Ye have learned nothing at all.”
As succinctly as he could he told the youth all Gisele had told him. He also told David what he had guessed at simply by watching the way Gisele acted at times. It pleased him to see the youth grow pale with horror and fury. David sank down onto the grass and covered his face with his hands. Nigel quietly sat down facing him, patiently waiting for the man to control himself.
“We should have seen it,” David finally whispered.
“Someone should have kenned what was going on,” Nigel agreed. “Gisele might not have been too clear in her explanations or too exact in her complaints, but the scars are there if one but bothers to look. I saw them, and I dinnae e’en ken the lass, not as her family should have.”
“Non, not as her family should have. She did not speak to me.” David grimaced. “And now I but reach for a way to excuse my own blindness. I cannot be sure I would have heeded her or seen things more clearly than the ones she did turn to. I cannot even be sure that how she was treated would have made much difference, even if we all knew it.Oui, some would have cried out, and she and her husband might have been more closely watched, but I do not feel certain that anyone would have tried to take her home again. Bastard though he was, he was her husband. Those are bonds that are not easy to break. In truth, killing him was one of the few ways to do that, and you see what trouble that has wrought.”
“Better this than what she was enduring.”
“Mayhap. If all of his cruelty had been known, it certainly would not have made us believe in her innocence any more than we did, mayhap even less.”
“I fear I will probably ne’er understand how so many of ye could believe it at all. Aye, the lass has a sharp tongue and speaks her mind more than some would find comfortable in a woman, but a killer? Nay, I would ne’er have thought her one. I only doubt now because I ken what she went through. Weel, some of it. I am nay sure she will e’er tell anyone all of it. When a mon treats a woman like that she will either grow weak and terrified and be lost to it all or she will o’ercome that fear and run. And, if there is nowhere to run to I believe she will kill, and I cannae fault her for that.”
“Non, I do not think I can, either. It will be easier to stop the DeVeaux from trying to kill her if she is truly innocent, however,” David drawled, and he smiled briefly, then grew solemn again. “These are not men who will see her killing of that beast as justified, will not see what he did to her as wrong. They are all of the same ilk. We just had not listened, or not believed how evil that ilk was. It will be best if we can find another who did the killing.”
“I am nay sure they should suffer, either, but better them than Gisele, if she truly is innocent. She wouldnae stomach ye setting someone on the scaffold in her place unless they deserved to be there.” He smiled faintly, rose to his feet, and gave David a hand up. “So ye had better put that thought from your mind. Dinnae rush into some foolish solution. The lass is safe with me.”
“Is she? Even if I ignore the fact that you will probably try to seduce the girl.”
“Probably?” Nigel murmured.
David ignored him and went on. “There are few places she can hide from the DeVeaux or the ones seeking the huge bounty they have set on her head. I think even some of your countrymen may be tempted by it. And do not think that your plan to take her to Scotland will not be guessed at. It is already known that she rides with a Scotsman.”
“It is?” That was not good news. Nigel had hoped that secret would not get out for a little while yet.
“It is. So, if they cannot find her in France they will look elsewhere. They will follow you, or send others after you. The coin offered for her head will only make this hunt grow fiercer each day.”
“The bounty is that tempting?”
“Oui, and it may continue to grow. The DeVeaux have more coin than the king.”
“Then ye had best get to work, laddie, and prove her innocence. I am returning to the inn. It is nay a good idea to leave her alone for verra long.”
“You intend to share that room with her?”
Nigel just smiled at David’s outrage. “Aye.”
“A gentleman would sleep elsewhere.”
“Nay, he wouldnae, unless he had no choice. And, Sir Lucette, ’twill be verra hard to protect her as I must if me and my sword arenae e’en close at hand.” He patted the younger man on the shoulder, then started back toward the village. “And I dinnae think I need to tell ye that Gisele has the wit and the strength to cry me a nay if she chooses to. Sleep weel, lad.”
Gisele barely had the strength to open one eye when Nigel entered the room. She had waited for him, but soon after her bath she had swiftly grown too tired and had crawled into bed. A light meal had been delivered just before she had fallen completely asleep, and she had roused herself enough to have some food but then hurried back into the soft, warm bed.
“You were gone a very long time,” she murmured, watching him as he spread his damp clothing out to dry then sat on the edge of the bed and helped himself to some food.
