The Captive Bride

When he was sixteen he’d been miraculously rescued by Sir Justin Baldwin, the man who had saved Isabelle from Baron Hersell and taken her as his wife. Sir Justin had given him a home, a family, and had trained him for knighthood. In his selfless, gentle manner he had also given Senet something far more—the courage and the means to fight for his honor again. And Senet had done just that, serving England for the past ten years in its bloody, hopeless war against France, proving his loyalty time and again on the battlefield. Whatever his father had given away to France, Senet had taken back again, not letting himself think too long or too hard on who it was that he killed, or that his enemy might also be of his own, half—French blood.

And now he was nearing the last of it. His final goal. Castle Lomas would be his before the day was out, as it should always have been, and he would have his honor restored in full.

“The king’s messenger is returning.”Kayne, standing beside him, pointed to where the small figure of a man on horseback moved across the valley floor. “I wonder if Lady Katharine’s response was any different today than it has been these past many weeks.”

“It matters not,”Senet said. “Today is the finish of her wavering, whether she said ‘nay’ or ‘yea.’ Today I will have Lomas, either by reason or by force, and tomorrow, by the same reckoning, Lady Katharine will become my wife.”

“What I wonder,”said Aric, standing on Senet’s other side, “is if she’s ugly. A woman that age, twenty and one, and unmarried—there must be a reason for it.”

“It matters not,”Senet repeated. “I’ve no care for what she looks like, even if she should be an ugly hag. She will be my wife. Tomorrow.”

“’Tis indeed a goodly land,”Kayne remarked, crossing his arms against his chest. “I can understand why you longed for it. But, God’s feet, what a price you’ve been made to pay.”

Aye, he’d paid a price for it, Senet thought, in blood, with his very soul. Nothing would take it from him now.

“I give you good day,”a voice behind them greeted, accompanied by the sound of a horse’s hooves.

“John, well met.”Senet moved to hold that man’s horse as he dismounted. “How is it that you’ve returned before the king’s messenger? Did all go well?”

With a good—natured smile, John Ipris joined his friends at the edge of the hill, his stance leisurely and relaxed compared to the ready manner of his warrior companions.

“I’ve completed my survey of the castle proper, Senet, if that is what you mean. As to Lady Katharine—from what I overheard of her conversation with Sir William, your suit has not yet met with acceptance. She invoked the name of Lord Hanley again and insisted upon her loyalty to him.”

“’Tis an admirable quality in a woman,”Kayne said. “Loyalty.”

“And not often found in the fairer sex,”Aric added somewhat bitterly. “She’s a fool to waste the virtue on a dead man.”

“If what John says is true, and we will discover the full of it when Sir William arrives, then we must fall upon our next planned course of action.”

Kayne sighed. “I had prayed it would not be so. I am heartily weary of killing.”

“As am I, my friend,”Senet said soberly, “but it will not come to that, if we are carefuL John can tell us what weaknesses Lomas possesses, if they are any different from what I have remembered, and we will easily take it. Indeed, I have no wish to bring harm to any in the castle. Certainly not to my future wife or those belonging to her.”

Aric chuckled. “’Twould not be the most befitting way to begin a marriage.”

“She’ll have every opportunity to give way in peace,”Senet said. “Just as soon as the attack has begun.”

“And what if she will not do so?”Kayne asked.

“Then I’ll know what manner of woman I’m taking to wife, will I not? And she,”he continued evenly, “will discover what manner of man she shall have for a husband.”

Chapter Two (#ulink_c1e8822d-14f6-5e02-9d9b-d73ddfbdea5d)

The battle for Lomas was a brief one, in part because it came without warning—so shortly after Sir William had departed—taking Lady Katharine by surprise, and in part because it was so well—executed that none of the men—atarms had a chance to obey their mistress when she gave the order to defend the castle. Still, Senet admired the effort those same men had put forth before being subdued. Lady Katharine might know little about keeping a castle safe at all times, but she clearly possessed enough intelligence to make certain of the loyalty of those beneath her hand.

No one was killed, a fact for which Senet was fully grateful. Kayne had spoken truly—they were all weary of killing. Ten years of it was sufficient for any man. Kayne, especially, was near the edge of enough.

The fighting men of Lomas were corralled in the inner bailey, looking about in a bewildered way at the smaller force that had so readily bested them. It was proof once again of how invaluable John’s remarkable skill in memorizing exact details was. He’d shown them the way to steal into the castle without detection, his facile brain remembering each entrance as if he’d held a map in his hands. But it had ever been thus with John, since Senet had known him. Indeed, his own rescue from slavery had been made possible only because of John’s amazing skill.

Apart from their ease of entry into Lomas, there had been the actual fighting that had made the difference in their quick victory. Months it had been since he and Kayne and Aric had fought side by side, and yet it was as if it had merely been days. They each knew what the other would do and how he would act without having to think on it. It was what had given them such strength during all their years in France—an instinct that proved the difference between life and death. The small forces Duke Humphrey had lent Senet to aid in his conquest had merely filled in the missing spaces.

It was over now. Castle Lomas was in his hands again, at last, and Senet stood before the men of the castle and addressed them as rightful master.

“I am Senet Gaillard,”he said loudly enough for all to hear. “Some of you will remember my father, Ignace Gaillard, who was the lord of Lomas for many years before he was tried and executed as a traitor to England. I am his heir, and have proven myself loyal to the throne. The crown has therefore declared it right and fitting that I should regain the estate which my family held for four generations before it fell into disgrace. This is my inheritance, given by God and king, and I am your rightful lord. Any man among you who finds it impossible to vow his fealty to me may take his things and leave. Whoever stays will make his pledge of loyalty on the morrow, before the priest and Lady Katharine.”

“We have vowed fealty to Lady Katharine!”one of the men shouted, and the others murmured and nodded. “’Tis she whom we serve!”

Senet exchanged a brief look with Kayne, who shook his head. That soldiers should declare for a woman over a proven fighting man was almost beyond belief.

“And where is your lady, then?”Senet demanded. “I do not see her here, to guide or support you, or even to do her duty and make terms for you. Is this the woman you wish to serve?”

“I am here, Senet Gaillard.”

The strong but clearly female voice came from behind, and Senet turned to see the speaker standing on the arched walkway above him, gazing down into the bailey. Their eyes met and held, and he realized, with a distinct certainty, that he was looking upon his future wife. Lady Katharine.

His first thought—an unsettling one—was that she was going to prove a handful. There was a defiance in both her stance and expression that boded no good for either of them. His second thought, even more disturbing, was that she was an uncommonly beautiful woman, tall and elegant and admirably formed. Her eyes were green—he could see the vivid color even from the distance at which he stood, and her hair, which was partly covered by white silk, was a mixture of gold and red. The stubborn set of her lips detracted only slightly from what he perceived to be a heart—shaped face, delicate and lovely and fully at odds with the bold manner in which she held herself. She looked like more of a battle—ready Valkyrie than a soft female. But she wasn’t soft—she’d proven that time and again by her actions during the past two months—and it was a fact Senet knew he had best remember if he wished to master the woman. And he would master her. He had not thought, since he was a much younger man, that he would marry, but if he must do so, he would at least be lord of the union.

“Lady Katharine,”he said, inclining his head toward her slightly. “We are honored by your presence. Do you come to speak terms for your men?”

“For all of my people, aye,”she stated, and he noticed for the first time the three women standing behind her, each as unfriendly in their manner as she was. “Come to the great hall, Senet Gaillard,”Lady Katharine said curtly, making it a command, not an invitation. “I will receive you there.”

Chin high, she turned about and strode away, leaving everyone present with the clear impression that she yet held herself as the lady of the castle. Senet allowed the behavior for the moment. It was an insult to him as the new master of Lomas to be treated with such contemptshe’d not even deigned to address him by his knightly title—but he was the one who had time on his side. For Lady Katharine, both time and power had slipped away; Senet could afford to be generous if it would in any way soften her before their marriage. It was a false hope, perhaps, to strive for some measure of peace with his wife. It didn’t particularly matter if they remained enemies, but he would rather gain her willingness and friendship than forever be wary in her presence.

“Kayne, Aric,”he said, glancing at his friends. “Attend Lady Katharine with me in the hall and we will make our terms. John, go and fetch Clarise and escort her safely to the castle. Bring her to the hall as soon as may be.”

“God in Heaven,”Ariette murmured as she followed her mistress into the hall. “He’s even more handsome than rumored. Did you see his eyes? So blue and clear. I’ve never seen the like before.”

“And his hair!”Magan said, scurrying beside her. “Black as coal, and straight and fine as a woman’s. I couldn’t help but stare, though I tried not to.”

Katharine had made the same attempt, but had found it impossible. Senet Gaillard must have been fashioned by the very devil to appear as he did. His coloring alone made it impossible not to look at him; those icy blue eyes seemed almost inhuman against the black of his hair. But he was very much a real man. A real, large and muscular, thoroughly masculine man. She’d seen the intention in the expression that his handsome face had held. There was no softness in him whatever. He meant to give up nothing, to take what he wished. It was to be battle between them. He’d clearly understood it, just as he had clearly understood her open disdain for him and his men.

Lifting her sweeping skirts with a tight fist as she moved toward the great hall’s dais, Katharine said, “His eyes and hair have naught to do with the man. He is our enemy. Don’t let his outward appearance cause any of you to forget that. Has the missive gone out to Kieran?”

Dorothea nodded. “The messenger was able to get away before the fighting began—but only just. I fear he will not find Kieran FitzAllen in time. What if Sir Senet should demand that you marry him at once?”

With a graceful gesture, Katharine turned about and sat in the large, thronelike chair that had served as her father’s seat of judgment. “He may demand as he wishes, but it will avail him nothing. I do not intend to wed him. And I certainly do not intend to cede Lomas to him. At least not forever.”

She couldn’t lose Lomas. It was all she had, all she’d ever had that truly belonged to her. And she had managed both the land and the castle successfully, putting the full of herself—all of her heart—into the task. Her father had been Lord Lomas in name only, never having much interest in the details involved in maintaining such an estate, preferring instead to busy himself with the grandeur of his title and fortune. She was the one who had labored so hard on Lomas’s behalf. She was the one who had devoted her every waking hour—and hours when she might have been sleeping, too—to the welfare of the people who had lived beneath her father’s hand. She wasn’t going to give over all she’d striven for, or the people she’d striven for, to the son of a traitor.

The doors to the great hall opened and Sir Senet Gaillard walked through. He was yet dirty and sweat—soaked from the battle, and carried in one hand his sword and in the other his helmet, as if he were still ready to fight. He advanced toward her unsmiling, and Katharine felt a strange, unbidden clutching sensation in her heart, something akin to fear, she thought, although she wasn’t afraid of him in the least. She forced the odd feeling away and made herself meet his gaze directly. Walking behind him were two other men, one as blond and fair as day and the other as dark and formidable as Senet Gaillard was, though far less appealing in face.

They stopped directly before her. Senet Gaillard alone took one step closer.

“Lady Katharine,”he said, and again she felt that strange sensation thrumming deep within. “As you have seen fit to ignore the edicts of the king’s regents to receive us peacefully, I have come in the only manner left me. Having taken Castle Lomas by force and possessing it fully, I make my formal claim to the land, the castle and the title, as well as to all those people, moneys and chattel. belonging to them. Including,”he said more slowly, “yourself.”

What on earth was wrong with her? Katharine wondered. It was impossible that she would be affected simply because a man was so handsome. Indeed, she had known many men who were far fairer to gaze upon than Senet Gaillard, yet not one of them had produced as much as a quickened breath. The sight of Senet Gaillard, the sound of his voice, affected her horribly. Not only was her heart pounding in her chest, but she had somehow suddenly gone dumb. All of the biting words she would have said faded away. She struggled to speak, even to think of how to answer him, and felt utterly foolish.

He stood where he was, waiting, finally arching one eyebrow upward questioningly.