“There is no other lord I would serve,” he declared staunchly.
“Then let me put your mind at ease, Sir Evarard. I will tell you something if you swear you will not repeat it.” She waited for him to nod, then told him, “I ask you not to repeat it, because I have not told Sir Rolfe this. I want him to think I accept the blame for the trouble my people caused him. I accept all the blame. But the truth is this: my people didnotact on my orders. There were no orders. But my people are loyal to me, overzealously so. They acted on their own after they heard me curse Sir Rolfe.”
“You only cursed him?”
It was her turn to blush. “It was a—rather heatedcurse. But if I had known what events it would set in motion, I wouldn’t have lost my temper that day.”
His eyes lit with unexpected humor. “It is a good thing your men-at-arms are not as loyal as the others.”
“They are,” Leonie said with a grin. “They just didn’t hear me cursing the Black Wolf that day.”
“He does not like that name,” Sir Evarard said hastily.
“What?”
“My lord does not like to be called the Black Wolf,” Evarard repeated.
“Oh. I thank you for the warning.”
He smiled at her. “I thank you, my lady, for telling me what you have.”
“Do not mistake me, Sir Evarard. You were correct in thinking I am not content here. But that is between my husband and myself. I wanted you only to know that you need not fear I will ruin anything that is his. It is my lord who will know what I feel, not his possessions or his people.”
She could see it in his eyes. Their truce was over. She should have left well enough.
Leonie sighed. “I am sorry, Sir Evarard, but we differ in our opinions of Rolfe d’Ambert. He has offended me too grievously for my opinion to change, but I will say no more to you against him.”
Sir Evarard held his tongue. He was drawing his own conclusions, and they were the wrong ones. He assumed the lady had been offended by being sent away from her husband directly after the wedding. But she was back now, and she ought to have forgiven that slight. He did not guess that she was referring to Lady Amelia’s presence at Crewel Keep. He knew she had been told Amelia was Rolfe’s ward, and he saw no reason for her to suspect the truth.
Too, if anyone knew how thoroughly Rolfe’s affair with Amelia was over, Evarard did. Amelia was now sharing Evarard’s bed. More exactly, he was sharing hers. He would never have trifled with his lord’s former mistress, but she had convinced him that Rolfe had relinquished all claims to her. Proof was, the lady said, that Rolfe did not even care if she stayed in his household, so completely had he dismissed her from his mind.
Sir Evarard brought himself to the present situation. “You sent for me, my lady?”
Leonie stepped back into her role as mistress of Crewel, however empty that role often seemed. To display her authority, she would give orders, not make requests.
“I want one of your men to ride to Pershwick. He is to speak to Sir Guibert, or if he is not there, then to my aunt Beatrix. He is to say he comes from me, that I need wormwood and chamomile from my supplies. They will know why I need those herbs.”
“We have supplies here, my lady. I do not think Sir Rolfe will like you taking from Pershwick.”
“My husband has no say in what I take from Pershwick, for Pershwick is mine,” Leonie stated firmly. “And since those herbs have not been in use here, I doubt that you have them in supply. I want the herbs today. The wormwood will help combat the fleas here. It must be strewn before the new rushes are brought into the hall, and afterward as well. The chamomile will curb the odors in the rest of the keep until all the rushes can be changed. I will not tolerate filth. Sir Evarard, and please do not question my motives when I give orders.”
“As you will, my lady,” he replied brusquely and turned away.
“I am not finished,” she said sharply.
He turned back reluctantly. “My lady?”
“How often do you hunt, Sir Evarard?”
“Every day. For sport as well as for the table.”
“You use the dogs or do you have hawks?”
“Hawks are too tedious to carry with us and we did naught but move from place to place before we settled here. My lord has not yet purchased good hawks. The few we have here bring down an occasional bird. I do not use them. I prefer the dogs.”
“Then I can assume the hunting dogs get enough exercise, and if not, that can be seen to outside the walls of the keep. Inside, they will no longer have free rein. And I do not mean just inside the hall. Their habits are too foul.”
“But they are fed in the hall.”
