There was a moment of silence and then, harshly, he said, “Enough, Leonie. Order the gate opened.”
“No.”
His expression was darkly turbulent. “No? You have heard me say that no one will keep me from my wife. That includes you, wife.”
“You also said you would kill anyone who tried. Doesthatinclude me, my lord?”
“No, indeed, Leonie, but if you force me to break down these walls, I doubt there will be many left alive to rebuild Pershwick. Do you want your people dead?”
She gasped. “You would not!”
Rolfe turned toward his knights. “Sir Piers, order the village torched!” he shouted.
“Rolfe, no!” Leonie called.
Rolfe turned back to Leonie, waiting
“You—you may come inside, my lord—alone. And only to talk. Do you agree?”
“Order the gate opened,” he said coldly.
Leonie’s features marked her defeat. Rolfe had called her bluff. Her advantage was lost and they both knew it. He knew he was safe inside her keep, for he had an army outside.
“Do as he says, Sir Guibert,” Leonie said quietly. “I will await him in the hall.”
“Do not take it so hard, Leonie,” he said gently. “Perhaps he will give you what you want, now that he knows how strongly you feel.”
She nodded sadly and left.
Guibert’s temper rose as he watched her go. He could not bear seeing her so desolate. He didn’t approve of what she had done, but her motives were understandable. Angrily, he went to meet Rolfe d’Ambert.
Chapter 46
ROLFE rode into the bailey and dismounted from his large war-horse. He was furious. He had left Crewel with a light heart, deciding to believe that Leonie loved him. After all, how could she respond to him so passionately if she really loved Montigny? he had chided himself.
The question was as irrelevant now as Alain was dead and buried. Rolfe hadn’t been there to see it, but he had been told about it. In the stupidest action imaginable, the young fool had managed to enter Blythe Keep and incite the besieged occupants to attack Rolfe’s small camp outside the keep. He had then led them on to Warling, thinking the occupants under siege there would come out and join the battle. They did not, but it truly would have made no difference if they had. Either Montigny was simpleminded, or he had greatly underestimated the size of Rolfe’s army. There was no real battle at all. Montigny had gathered less than a hundred men. They were quickly overcome, and many died, including Alain Montigny.
The occupants of besieged Warling, witnessing the slaughter, quickly came to terms of surrender.
Rolfe had not been there to see this astonishing turn of events because he was called away to Normandy only a few days after leaving Leonie. He had spent the last weeks tending to his late brother’s estate.
It was an unsettling time, trying to sort out his feelings for his brother. He finally realized he had none. He felt no particular grief over the death. He did find, however, that he had no desire to ignore the widow and her children. Altogether it was a trying time.
And then! To come home and learn that Leonie had been closed up in Pershwick all that time, that she was prepared to fight him to stay there! Once more, she had made a mockery of his trust. He decided this was the last time she would hurt him. If she was so set against him as to do such a thing, then he did not want her back. That decision was firm.
Or so he’d believed. For three days he resisted all impulses to change his mind. The problem was, hedidwant Leonie back, and at any cost, too. He’d even brought his army to prove that to her. And now, to find that all this drama was motivated only by jealousy! He didn’t know whether he wanted to shower her with kisses or throttle her.
He did know one thing. She would not come out of this free of retribution. She had to be made to see that she couldn’t run to her vassals every time he and she disagreed.
If Rolfe’s anger had simmered to mild exasperation, it did not stay that way. Sir Guibert met him in the bailey and told him flatly that Leonie would not leave Pershwick at all unless she left willingly. He was prepared to support his stand with all necessary force.
Rolfe was livid. “Do you understand in what cause you are prepared to die?”
“I do, my lord.”
“Do you know also that my wife’s jealousy is unfounded? There is a good reason for Lady Amelia’sbeing at Crewel.Ido not prefer it that way, but so it must be.”
“We are aware there is a child involved,” Guibert replied, undaunted.
