“I would never do something like that. Besides, I should think you could easily do the math.”
“How so?”
“Think of it like battle. I’m sure you do the mental calculations every time you step out and see how many men you’re facing and how many you have to subtract to win.”
“That’s different.”
She shook her head. “It’s the same. Only not as bloody.” Taking a piece of paper and his quill, she showed him. “Just think of it like this. You have twenty men here who are coming down the hill.” She wrote out the number in sharp, straight scratches. “You have to remove eight to win. How many would be left?”
“A dozen.”
“Correct. There’s your arithmetic, milord.”
“Huh.” Valteri stood there, amazed by her. No one had ever been able to simplify it like that before so that he could comprehend those numbers when applied to anything other than battle. How easy she made it seem. “But it’s not quite that simple.”
“That really is the gist of it.” She made marks on the paper. “Think of them as soldiers to add or subtract or multiply for your army, and it’ll help you keep your records straight.”
Valteri stared at the pages that were slowly beginning to make sense to him as an idea struck. Probably not one of his better ones, but still…
Certainly not his worst, by far.
Ariel was a lot more attractive than his surly steward who was terrified of him. Her company far more pleasing.
And she didn’t look at him as if he were shite on the bottom of her shoes.
“Would you care to help me do this?”
She gave him a pert stare. “Depends.”
“On?”
“Whether or not there will be cutlery involved.” Smiling, she held up the dagger and wiggled it impishly between her fingers.
In spite of himself, he laughed again. “Somehow, milady, I doubt that you’ll motivate me to such violence.”
Indeed, violence was the last thing on his mind as he stood so close to her that he could smell the sweet scent of jasmine coming off her hair.
Rather, the images in his mind were much more tender and inappropriate. Especially with the way the light caught against her pale skin and made it appear so very succulent and tempting.
Assassin she might be, but right then, he’d have gladly allowed her to cut his treacherous heart from his chest.
She set the dagger aside and looked doubtful. “I don’t know. It didn’ttake long for me to try the patience of Margaret, and Wace says that it takes much less to try yours.”
He snorted. “Wace would try the patience of Job.”
“I doubt that. He seems like a very sweet boy.”
“Easy for you to say, milady. You don’t bear the scars of his ineptitude. He trips more than he doesn’t. Drops anything he attempts to carry, usually right on top of me. And I cannot begin to catalogue the number of times he’s forgotten to tighten my saddle properly. If it wasn’t for the fact that I know he’s just that inattentive, I’d think he was trying to kill me, and I don’t think I own a tunic that isn’t stained from where he’s dropped or spilled something on me. Usually hot and near scalding. Never mind the fact that he loses anything he’s charged with tending.”
“Then why do you tolerate him as your squire?”
Ariel watched as Valteri grew quiet and sober over her question.
How strange. He’d been jovial as he accounted for Wace’s shortcomings and now…
Her gaze went to the scar on his hand. A tiny imperfection that made her think of Cecile.
A cockeyed kitten he also protected.
