“I will know if you tell me.”
He grinned. “It would give you nightmares.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “I trained at Blackchurch,” she said. “I was there for three years. There is not much you can say to me that will give me nightmares.”
He took another bite of his bread. “Forgive me,” he said. “I keep forgetting this delicate flower in front of me has trained with some of the most brutal trainers England has to offer.”
“Did you see this delicate flower fight off the outlaws in the ambush three days ago?”
“I saw her spear a man and disarm another in a highly impressive move. But I am still not convinced.”
Susanna fought off a grin, knowing he was trying to insult her but not trying nearly as hard as he had been in the past. “Then shall we have another go-around like we did the first night of our journey?” she asked. “You sported a beautiful bruised eye that is only now starting to look normal again. Let me try for the other eye.”
He started to laugh. “Nay, Sparks, I have no desire to roll around on the floor with you again,” he said. “But I will admit that you were stronger than I had suspected.”
“Thank you.”
“And I am sorry I called you an Amazon. That was unkind.”
She looked at him, surprised he had apologized for that, and tried very hard not to smile at him. “If you start being nice to me, I will not know what to do,” she said. “I may have to punch you in the arm every time I see you.”
“That would be lovemaking, coming from you.”
Susanna did laugh, then. She was coming to feel warmth and comradery with Achilles, something she’d not expected. Truthbe told, he was rather handsome with his high cheekbones and green eyes. She delved back into her food, but she kept looking at him.
“May I ask you a question?”
“I do not know. Ask me and I shall tell you.”
“Do you shave your head or do you simply not have any hair?”
He was well into his pottage at that point. “I have hair, and a good deal of it,” he said. “When I was in The Levant, I got into the habit of shaving my scalp because of the vermin there. They easily infested in a man’s hair and on his body if he was not careful. So, it was simply easier to shave it off. It is a habit that has never left me.”
“What color is your hair?”
He looked at her, rather saucily. “It is the same color all over my body,” he said. “Certain areas are quite hairy. I can show you if you’d like.”
Her eyes widened at the vulgar suggestion. “I wouldnotlike,” she said. “And just when we were coming to be pleasant with each other.”
“Did I offend you?”
She turned her nose up at him and went back to her food. Achilles laughed low in his throat. “Very well,” he said reluctantly. “I apologize, Sparks. I will not say something so rude again.”
Her cheeks were pink, a bit of a flush that he thought was rather pretty. But he didn’t say so for fear he’d offend her again, so he turned back at his food. Just as he took another bite, the door to the street opened and Bric and Alexander entered. They headed straight for Achilles.
“Where is Kress?” Alexander demanded.
Achilles sensed immediately that something was wrong. “Out in the livery,” he said. “Why? What has happened?”
Alexander sent Bric off for Kress before answering. “I am not sure,” he said. “I have men at the northern end of town, simply watching for anything we should be aware of, and they have just returned to say that a small army is heading our way.”
Achilles was on his feet, as was Susanna. “We need to clear out the common room,” he said. “I will move the wounded upstairs.”
Alexander nodded quickly. “Go,” he said, watching Achilles turn for the men who were in a group over near the hearth. When Susanna moved to help him, he grabbed her by the arm. “You go upstairs to Lady Cadelyn. Bolt the door and do not come out unless one of the knights releases you. Is that clear?”
Susanna nodded swiftly, leaving her half-eaten meal on the table and rushing up the stairs for Cadelyn’s chamber. Achilles was already moving the wounded and Alexander went to help him, moving them upstairs to a larger chamber that Alexander and Bric had shared the night before. It overlooked the street and had a birds-eye view of everything.
Truth be told, Alexander had no idea who was coming but he didn’t want any trouble. He’d been across the road at another livery, a barn where most of the escort had spent the past two nights. It was warm and dry and roomy, and Alexander had paid the man who owned the barn handsomely for the use of it. But those men had been ordered to stay out of sight and now it was just a matter of securing everyone else.
