And Judith was a wonder with the breeding of animals. Bronwyn was fascinated by the way Judith had bred and cross-bred her sheep and cattle until she produced more meat, milk, and wool.
When Bronwyn retired for the night, she was too tired to stay awake. Charts and numbers swam before her eyes. A hundred faces and names floated through her dreams.
In the morning she was up early and in the stables before most of the castlefolk were awake. She wore her Highlands dress again, since she found the people responded enthusiastically to the simple clothes.
She swung a light saddle onto the back of a strawberry mare.
“My lady,” came a strong young voice from beside her. “Allow me.”
She turned to see a short, handsome blond man, one of Miles’s men, who’d accompanied her and Mary the day before. “Thank you, Richard.”
His eyes, a dark green, warmed as he looked at her. “I had no idea you knew my name. It is an honor for me.”
She laughed. “Nonsense! In Scotland I know all my men’s names, and they call me by mine.”
He bent to fasten the cinch. “I’ve been talking to some of Lord Stephen’s men who were with him in Scotland. They said you often traveled at night, alone, with your men.”
“True,” she said slowly. “I am the MacArran, and I am the leader of my men.”
He smiled in a slow, provocative way. “May I say that I envy your Highlanders? In England we are seldom led by a woman and never one so beautiful.”
She frowned and reached for the reins of her horse. “Thank you,” she said stiffly and led the animal from the stables.
“What do you think you’re doing?” snapped a man behind Richard.
Richard glanced at the door Bronwyn had used before turning to the man behind him. “Nothing that would interest you, George,” he said, shoving his way past the knight.
George grabbed Richard’s arm. “I saw you talking to her, and I want to know what you said.”
“Why?” Richard snapped. “So you can have her all to yourself? I heard what you and the rest of Stephen’s men said about her.”
“LordStephen to you!”
“You’re a hypocrite! You call her Bronwyn and talk to her as if she were your little sister, yet let someone else speak to her and you want to draw a sword. Let me tell you that I for one don’t mean to treat her like anything but the Scots whore she is. No lady would talk to the men and the serfs like she does unless she was after what they carry between their legs. And I—”
George’s fist smashed into Richard’s mouth before he could say another word. “I’ll kill you for that!” George yelled as he went for Richard’s throat.
Richard was able to sidestep the second blow. He clasped his hands together and brought them down across the back of George’s neck. George went sprawling forward, face first into the straw.
“What’s going on here?” Bronwyn demanded from the doorway.
George sat up and rubbed his neck. Richard’s nose was bleeding, and he wiped the blood away with the back of his hand.
“I asked a question,” Bronwyn said quietly, watching the two men. “I will not ask the cause of your quarrel, as that is personal, but I want to know who struck the first blow.”
Richard looked at George pointedly.
“I did, my lady,” George said as he started to rise.
“You, George? But—” Bronwyn stopped herself. There must have been a good reason from someone of George’s quiet, steady nature to strike a first blow. She didn’t like Richard and she didn’t trust him. Yesterday he’d too often leered at the young serf girls. But she couldn’t leave George and Richard alone together, and she couldn’t take George with her because he was the one who started the quarrel. It was better to keep Richard with her and protect Stephen’s man.
“Richard,” she said quietly, “you may go with Lady Mary and me today.” She gave one look of regret to George and left the stables.
“Hot for me, the woman is,” Richard laughed as he left the stables before George could attack him again.
Chapter Fifteen
MARY SWUNG INTO THE SADDLE AND GAVE HER SISTER-IN-LAWa sleepy look. She wondered if cold or exhaustion were words Bronwyn knew. They’d ridden all day yesterday until even the guards who followed them were tired. Then Bronwyn had sat with Judith, eagerly talking and asking questions until after midnight.
