The corners of his mouth twitched. “My apologies,” he said. “I did not mean to call you an idiot.”
She grinned at him, pointing to the provisions. “You may apologize by starting to cook that side of pork. Go and tell Tibelda what we are doing and she will help.”
With a lingering glance at her, and a lingering grin, Thomas moved back to the horses and began to quietly issue orders to his men. Then, he made his way over to Tibelda, who was still rooted to the spot where she’d come to a halt when Artus had first appeared. He muttered something to the woman, who nodded faintly. As everyone began to move, Desmond came to stand next to his sister, surveying all that was before him.
“I do not think this is the happy reception you were expecting,” he said.
Maitland turned to look at the drunk old woman and the boy standing next to her, still bearing the stick. “As I told Thomas, from what they have been through, I do not blame them for being suspicious.”
Desmond nodded faintly before turning to her. “Speaking of suspicious,” he said, his voice low. “Mae, you know I would neverintrude in your affairs, but you must not think of Thomas as anything more than what he is.”
She looked at him curiously. “What do you mean?”
Desmond sighed heavily, turning his head to see Thomas directing the men to remove the pork from the back of one of the horses. “Just that,” he said quietly. “He seems quite attentive to you but, believe me, he is not someone you wish to become mixed up with.”
Maitland tried to remain as neutral as possible. “I do not intend to become ‘mixed up’ with anyone,” she said. “He has been kind to me and nothing more. Where did you get such an idea, Des?”
Desmond lifted his eyebrows. “I know Thomas de Wolfe,” he said. “He has more troubles than you will ever know. He is the best knight I have ever seen, an outstanding commander, and treats his men well. There is no finer warrior on the borders. But he has also been known to drink and gamble, and I cannot count all of the women he has taken to his bed. Now, he is betrothed to that… that meat poppet, Adelaide, so do not think to enter into any kind of clandestine relationship with him. It would only end badly for you.”
By this time, Maitland was feeling ashamed and defensive. “I have no intention of entering into anything clandestine, Desmond,” she said. “And I do not like you calling a woman a meat poppet, no matter how poorly behaved she is. That is a terrible thing to call any woman. Do you understand me?”
Desmond put up his hands. “I do not want to fight with you,” he said. “I simply want to protect you. Do not believe Thomas has any altruistic intentions, and that he will break his betrothal with Adelaide to marry you, because it will not happen.”
Hurt, and feeling confused, Maitland sighed sharply and turned away from her brother. “No one has said anything aboutmarriage,” she said. “Thomas and I have agreed to be friendly with one another and nothing more. Satisfied?”
Desmond looked at her suspiciously. “Then he brought it up? He asked you to do something unsavory?”
She shook her head. “Nay,” she said. “He has been a completely gentle man in all ways. But I would be lying if I said there was no attraction between us. There is, and we have acknowledged it. But it goes no further.”
“Are you certain?”
“I said so, didn’t I?”
Desmond didn’t press her, for he could see that he had offended her. But ever since the introduction of his sister to Thomas, Desmond could see the spark of attraction between them. There was something there, something obvious, and he had to stop it before it got started. He loved Thomas, but he knew the man too well when it came to women, well enough that he didn’t want his sister to end up a concubine to a married knight. Even if the knight was married to Adelaide.
“Very well,” he finally said. “I just want to make sure you are taken care of, Mae. I do not want to see you hurt.”
Maitland didn’t say anything. She was already hurt by his words, perhaps not because Desmond had taken the initiative to speak them, but perhaps because of the message he bore–he has also been known to drink and gamble, and I cannot count all of the women he has taken to his bed. That, in and of itself, had hurt her, thinking of Thomas with nameless, faceless women, showing them affection that she would never know from him.
Perhaps that was what hurt her most of all.
Moving away from Desmond, Maitland headed towards the tower as Thomas, Tibelda, and Thomas’ men set up the fire pit. His soldiers were already building a big fire in the yard as some of them were still working on the gates. There was much goingon to give them warmth, food, and security. But Maitland wasn’t paying any attention to them. Her attention was on the big, squat tower.
And, perhaps, she was thinking of putting a little distance between her and Thomas.
Desmond’s words had her needing to clear her mind a bit, and the tower was her destination. Over by the long outbuilding, Artus didn’t stop her from entering the tower, but he did watch her with great suspicion. The tower, in fact, didn’t even have a door, and Maitland looked around to see that it was propped up just inside the entry.
Inspecting it, she could see that the door was intact, but the hinges were warped. In fact, she didn’t go any further, heading back out into the overgrown yard to find her brother and tell him about it. As Desmond went in to inspect the door to see if they could at least rehang it before they returned to Wark, Maitland headed over to the provisions that were being organized around the fire.
As she moved towards them, she could see Thomas and Tibelda as they worked with the men setting up the provisions. While Tibelda busied herself with the sacks, Maitland could see Thomas working alongside his men preparing the fire pit. She rather liked seeing that he was working with his men rather than simply standing there, ordering them about. Thomas seemed to be a man that was very much in the middle of his men, working alongside them, just as he had fought alongside them the night before. It seemed that he didn’t expect them to do anything he wasn’t willing to do, and that was an endearing quality.
But watching him also brought her back to what her brother told her as she watched his big body strain under the weight of a sack of dried beans that his mother had sent along. Had Desmond truly been trying to protect her by warning her off of Thomas? Desmond had always been very protective of her, evenas children, but he’d also been controlling. He liked to have things done a certain way, always his way, and, perhaps, this was just another one of those times. Surely Thomas couldn’t be a bad as Desmond said he was.
… could he?
She wondered.
“Where did Des go?” Thomas asked her.
