Margaret Moore - The Norman's Heart

That night, Mina sat in the place of honor at Sir Roger’s right hand. She was trying to concentrate on the food, but she was all too aware of the man beside her. She could smell the scent of the crushed wildflowers that lingered about his clothing, an evocative reminder of their confrontation that day.

After what had happened, she had expected to see Reginald hurrying toward her with the news that Sir Roger had decided not to marry her. Instead, her betrothed was sitting beside her as if nothing at all untoward had taken place, and Dudley had already begun preparations for the wedding feast the next day. The ceremony would be at noon outside the chapel, presided over by Father Damien.

Nor was she the only one anxious in the hall, she realized. Everyone assembled seemed to take their cue from Sir Roger, and his silence was most unnerving. She had to remember that her actions might influence his mood and thus the tone of the gathering in the hall. It was not a responsibility to be taken lightly. Nevertheless, at this particular time, she could not bring herself to speak, especially when her gaze kept being drawn to Sir Roger’s right hand and the lean, sinewy fingers that had gripped her arm that morning, the slender fingers that tomorrow night would touch and perhaps caress her.

Unbidden, her gaze strayed to his handsome profile. The black-browed eyes. The straight nose. The full lips. The strong line of his jaw.

Suddenly Sir Roger turned to her. With a flushed face, she quickly looked away as he spoke, his inflection as placid as his countenance. “I have arranged to have an escort at your service whenever you wish to ride out again,” he said, his voice deep and low in her ear.

“That will not be necessary,” she answered, staring straight ahead.

“I am afraid I must insist.”

“I thank you for your kindness, Sir Roger, but I believe I will have too much to do to allow me the pleasure of a ride anytime soon.”

“I see.”

Was he disappointed? A strange and unfamiliar pleasure at the thought that she could make him feel any disappointment whatsoever made her heart miss a fraction of a beat. She hadn’t thought it possible this simple and quite honest refusal would have any effect on him at all. “I fear I am going to be too busy settling into my new duties and responsibilities,” she explained.

“Are there any other requests you would care to make?” he asked after a moment.

“None, Sir Roger,” she answered truthfully. Then she made a little smile. His lips twitched slightly, as if he wanted to return her smile but wasn’t sure how—or perhaps how such a thing would be received.

For the first time since she had arrived, Mina felt that Sir Roger was not looking at her as if she were an article he had paid too high a price for, or a creature that filled him only with fury. She imagined ... hoped...he was looking at her the way he usually looked at a woman he was attracted to.

The notion excited her, a flame kindling in the region of her heart and spreading outward until her whole body felt warmed by its glow. She yearned to tell him how a favorable response from him would please her, yet she could not, with all the people in the hall.

Instead, she reached out and touched his hand lightly. Instantly he pulled it back, then grabbed his goblet. His action had more rebuke in it than anything he might have said. He had reacted as if her touch were leprous.

The burning heat of shame washed over her, and she quickly returned her attention to the food, to Reginald, to Sir Albert, or to anything other than Sir Roger.

After the last of the fruit was cleared away, a minstrel and small group of musicians appeared bearing a lute, tabor, fithele and harp. Sir Roger didn’t seem the type of man to find solace or enjoyment in music and, indeed, when the opening chords were struck, he appeared quite bored. She was in no mood for entertainment, either, but she gave the men her attention as if enthralled.

The minstrel was a very thin young man with a pockmarked face and straggly blond hair. Every other minstrel Mina had ever seen had been as vain as Reginald. She could only assume that this minstrel’s voice would supply the beauty his visage lacked.

She discovered that she had surmised correctly about the minstrel’s voice. It was deep and rich, and he infused the appropriate emotion into every word. Nevertheless, her interest flagged considerably when he began a long lay about a woeful knight trying to win the heart of his lady. The knight sounded like a dolt for persisting where he was so obviously unwelcome, and the lady seemed a vain, dishonorable creature for believing the fellow’s flattery and finally giving in to his constant pleas, thereby committing adultery. If that was love, she could certainly do without it.

“My lord!” Dudley whispered, appearing at Sir Roger’s elbow. “The Baron DeGuerre has arrived.”

Sir Roger stood at once, mercifully cutting short the minstrel’s verses, which seemed composed entirely of the knight’s exclamations of his lady’s perfections. “Is his chamber prepared?” he asked, with the merest hint of anxiety as he hurried to greet his overlord.

Mina looked at the table, hiding her satisfied expression as excited murmurs raced through the hall. So, even the great Sir Roger de Montmorency could be intimidated.

When the baron entered the hall and received the kiss of greeting from his host, Mina could see why he would be. The two men looked quite capable of defending Montmorency, or any castle, singlehandedly.

The baron was a formidable man, with piercing, icy blue eyes, a powerful build and brown hair that, like Roger’s, fell to his shoulders. He wore a long tunic of unrelieved black, with no ornamentation of any kind. Suddenly everyone in the hall looked vastly overdressed, except for Roger. Even the little bits of embroidery around the neck of her own gown seemed ostentatious.

She also noted that whatever anxiety Roger had felt before, it disappeared—or was very well hidden—when he was in the baron’s presence. They seemed much more like two good friends, perhaps even brothers, than overlord and underling. The other wedding guests rose and bowed as they passed by.

Mina stood as the men approached the high table, wondering if this new gown were quite fine enough. It was the nicest one she possessed, apart from the dress she was to wear to her wedding, yet she found herself wishing she had more jewels, blond hair and no freckles, especially when the baron ran his eyes over her as if she were a mare brought to market.

She straightened her shoulders. She was not a horse, and her father’s family was of higher rank and greater antiquity than the baron’s. She knew exactly how the baron had risen in the world, so she would not allow herself to be dismayed by him, either.

Reginald hurried around the table and made a deep, obsequious bow. “Baron DeGuerre, I am honored to meet you at last!” he exclaimed, acting as if the baron were the king instead of an upstart born in obscurity who had fought and married his way to a higher station. “Allow me to present my sister, Lady Mina Chilcott.”

The baron nodded at Reginald and stopped in front of the table. Mina made her obeisance, not once taking her eyes from the baron’s face.

“Lady Mina,” the baron said, his voice low and mild. There was a very shrewd look in his blue eyes, though, and she guessed the mildness was a deception.

“I am honored,” she replied softly, darting a glance at Roger, whose mien was annoyingly inscrutable.

Roger continued to introduce the baron to the wedding guests, starting with Sir Albert, who had evidently met the baron before. As they made their way through the hall, Mina sighed and sat down, still watching them. So, that was the great Baron DeGuerre. He was certainly an impressive man, and one, she guessed, like Roger—used to unquestioning obedience.