Page 14 of Lord of Misrule

“Well...I...I, yes, I suppose so. Yes. Yes, I will.”

“Then you’ll need extra help. Oliver is your man.”

“I suppose I could use more help. All right. They can stay.”

“In a private room with me and my son.”

“You will be working in the kitchen. I can’t give you a room to yourself.”

“We are not serfs nor servants, my lord, if I must remind you. I own a business. A flourishing bakery that might fail now that you’ve taken me away during my busiest season. I’d think a small private room off the kitchen for my family would be a fair trade.”

“Fine, fine,” he said, not liking anyone to say he wasn’t fair. “There is an empty room off the kitchen. You need to move the extra food supplies in the room to the undercroft but you can use the space for yourself and the boy during your stay.”

“And my sister, too? I mean, she is very pregnant and won’t be able to sleep on the floor of the great hall in her condition.”

“Nay, I suppose not,” he found himself saying, not even sure why. “All right, but the man will sleep in the stable. I won’t have him in the same room as the women.”

“Oliver is married to my sister,” she told him. “It’s not like he is a lusty stranger.”

“I don’t care. I won’t have rumors stirring in my father’s castle in his absence. No man, just the boy in the room with the women, and that is final.”

“Fine.” She snatched up the heavy bag and continued to walk. “However, I think you should be the one to tell Oliver that he won’t be able to see to his wife’s needs during this crucial time.”

“Well, it’s not like she’s having the baby now. Is she?” He hurried to catch up with her.

“She is due in a week’s time. And I am sure you know that births cannot be planned. A child will come when it is time, no matter what you or anyone else says.”

“That is just great,” he mumbled, taking the heavy bag back from her and escorting her into the castle. He could just hear his brother Rook right now, reprimanding him, telling him that he was doing everything wrong. It would be hard enough to confront Rook when he found out he didn’t really punish the thief after all. But if Tolin gave a private room to not only the baker wench and the boy thief, but a pregnant woman and a strange man, too, all hell was probably going to break loose. He couldn’t lose control so easily. Nay, the wench was not getting everything she wanted. This was supposed to be a punishment, not a reward. Still Tolin didn’t have it in him to turn away a child and pregnant woman.

“I’ll tell Oliver he needs to sleep in the barn,” he said, not wanting to lose. He needed to keep the upper hand. Once again, the wench bested him with her little games and he didn’t like it. Well, he had games he’d play with her and next time he would be the one to win. That was something he would be sure to make happen. Now, he just needed to keep a close eye on the wench because he had a feeling wherever Kit Baker was, trouble was about to follow.