“Do you really believe that?” Hugh asked. He actually sounded amused.
Guy drew himself up to his full height, which was the same as Hugh’s. “Tread carefully, Hugh. I am the one with the upper hand here. I am the one who holds the earldom from the king.”
“I believe we have had this conversation before, Uncle,” Hugh said wearily. “You may have the earldom from the king, but I have other options.”
“If you think that Gloucester will sanction a marriage with Cristen Haslin, you are wrong,” Guy said brutally. “He, too, will want an alliance that brings him greater political advantage. It is insane for you to think of marrying the daughter of one of your own vassals.”
Cristen said, “I did not come here to marry Hugh, my lord. I came to see if I could help Bernard Radvers. And I believe I have delayed long enough.”
Guy swung around to regard her with astonishment. “The only place you are going, my lady, is home!”
Cristen looked genuinely regretful. “I am sorry to disobey you, my lord, but I took a sacred oath never to deny my healing to anyone who asks for it.”
“Your father took a sacred oath to me,” Guy roared.
“I took my oath to God,” Cristen replied. “I believe He has the precedence.”
Guy’s face slowly turned purple. He took a step toward Cristen and raised his hand.
He was stopped by steel-hard fingers grasping him by the shoulder.
“Don’t,” Hugh said. He had moved from the fireplace with incredible swiftness.
Guy turned, looked into his nephew’s face, and froze.
Cristen looked at Hugh as well.
Don’t. She sent him the command silently. Let me handle this. Please.
Hugh met her eyes. After a moment, with palpable reluctance, he let his hand drop away from his uncle’s shoulder.
Guy’s hurried breathing was audible in the suddenly silent room.
Cristen said meekly, “I am very sorry to disobey you, Lord Guy, but I must try to heal Bernard Radvers. I can assure you, however, that once he is on his way to recovery, I shall go home.”
“If you disobey me in this, girl, then I wash my hands of you,” Guy said. “You will never win my permission to marry anyone, and when your father dies, Somerford will be mine to give where I wish.”
Cristen’s brown gaze never wavered. “I am sorry you feel that way, my lord.”
Guy’s mouth set into a grim line, and without looking again at Hugh, he stormed out of the house.
Neither Cristen nor Hugh moved until they heard the door slam behind Guy. Then Hugh went over to Cristen’s chair and lifted her out of it into his arms.
“I did take that oath to God,” she said into his shoulder. “I swore it last night.”
He nodded gravely.
The front door opened again and someone came in. Hugh and Cristen barely had time to separate before Thomas entered the room.
“My lady! I just saw Lord Guy riding away from here…” Thomas’s voice trailed away as his eyes came to rest on Hugh.
“My lord! I didn’t know you were here.” His voice was distinctly apprehensive.
Hugh, annoyed at being interrupted, frowned and said shortly, “Well, as you can see, I am.”
Thomas regarded Hugh as a deer might watch a circling wolf, and did not reply.
The irritation faded from Hugh’s face. “Don’t worry, Thomas,” he said sympathetically, “I don’t hold you responsible. I just watched Lady Cristen vanquish Lord Guy. I’m quite sure you never stood a chance against her.”
“She threatened to go alone if I wouldn’t escort her, my lord,” Thomas said indignantly.
Hugh glanced at Cristen and grinned.
“It wasn’t funny, my lord,” Thomas said sulkily. “You know Lady Cristen. She doesn’t make idle threats.”
“If you had let her go alone I would have murdered you with my bare hands.”
Thomas looked gloomy. “That’s what I thought.”
Cristen stood up. “You two obviously don’t need me in order to continue this fascinating conversation. I am going into the kitchen to prepare a cough mixture for Bernard. When I am finished, Hugh, you can escort me to the castle. I want to see him for myself.”
“Your wish is my command,” Hugh said. Amusement still lingered around his mouth.
She shot him a look, then went through the door that led to the back of the house. They heard her calling for Mabel.
Thomas said to Hugh, “Jesu, my lord, but she had me terrified. I found her a convent to stay in on the road, but I didn’t know what we were going to do once we got to Lincoln. When we found out that you were out of town and that the bishop’s guest house was filled, I nearly cried.”
“I understand that Richard Canville came to your rescue,” Hugh said blandly.
“Well, it was more Lady Elizabeth,” Thomas said. “I was that glad when she said she would take charge of Lady Cristen. God’s blood, we had discovered that it was Lord Guy who was staying at the bishop’s guest house!”
“Your own blood must have run cold when you heard that piece of news.”
“It certainly did, my lord.”
Hugh regarded Thomas with commanding gray eyes. “Lady Cristen insisted upon coming to Lincoln because I asked her to look after Bernard Radvers, who is ill.”
Thomas looked back at Hugh. “Oh,” he said after a moment. “I see.”
“Good,” said Hugh. He leaned his shoulders against the wall and crossed his arms. “Tell me, who is in charge of Somerford at the moment?”
“Lionel, my lord. Sir Nigel actually left Lady Cristen in charge, but she insisted on coming to Lincoln.”
They both knew that if there was a siege of the castle, Cristen would be a far better commander than Lionel.
“I don’t think you have to worry about Somerford at the moment,” Hugh said. “It will be safe while Sir Nigel is in Cornwall.”
“I devoutly hope so, my lord.”
“How many troops did Guy call up?” Hugh asked.
Thomas was still telling him about the levy that Nigel was leading when Cristen came back into the room carrying a bottle.
“I’m ready to visit Bernard,” she announced cheerfully.
“Excellent,” Hugh said. “I brought your horse with me from the castle, so you can ride. You should be able to keep him in the stable out back. I’ll get in a supply of hay.”
“I can do that, my lord,” Thomas said.
“Very well.”
After Hugh and Cristen had left, Thomas stood staring into the fire for a long time.
Cristen had never said a word to him about Bernard Radvers being ill.
15
At the castle, Hugh introduced Cristen to the sheriff, who gave his permission for her to visit Bernard. It took Cristen less than half an hour to demand that the sheriff remove Bernard from his chill damp cell and put him into one of the castle’s tower rooms, with a charcoal brazier to keep him warm.
“This man is very ill,” she told Gervase severely. “If you want to have a living man to put on trial and not a corpse, you had better do as I tell you.”
Hugh watched with concealed delight as his small, fragile-looking beloved threatened the sheriff with all sorts of dire consequences if he did not move Bernard.
And she did it so nicely, he thought. Cristen was never hostile or aggressive. She just backed you into a corner, and before you knew what was happening, the only way out was her way.
That was how Bernard Radvers came to be tucked into a warm bed in one of the corner towers, his cough soothed by an elixir of horehound and his fever responding to a draught of wine mulled with borage and assorted other herbs.
The only part of Cristen’s assault on Gervase that Hugh did not enjoy was her requirement that the sheriff give her the room next door to Bernard for the duration of his illness.
“I am afraid that his lungs might have been affected,” she told Gervase worriedly. “He must be watched closely.”
Hugh, who had quite other ideas for Cristen during her stay in Lincoln, listened to these words glumly.