“I hope so, truly,” she said softly, sincerely. “It is wonderful to wake up every morning next to the person you love most. I pray you know that feeling, Max. I truly do. Meanwhile, do not let Tiberius upset you so. I believe that if he truly knew the depths of your feelings on the matter of Lady Courtly that he would not be so quick to taunt.”
Maximus grunted unhappy. “I hope so,” he said. “I do not wish to kill my own brother, but if he continues along his path, it may come to that.”
Jeniver laughed softly. “Let us pray it does not,” she said. “I will make sure he understands that there is to be no mention of Lady Courtly from his lips. I am sure he will see reason.”
Maximus cast her a long glance. “You will not tell him what I told you?” he asked hesitantly. “I… I do not wish for him to know what I am feeling, at least not yet. I will tell him in time.”
Jeniver shook her head firmly. “I will not breathe a word of it,” she said. “But may I tell Gallus? He will want to know. He will not taunt you. Moreover, he will want to know why I am going into town to buy gifts for a woman I have never met.”
Maximus was forced to agree. “Then you must tell him,” he agreed. “He will not be able to go with us because de Montfort has sent for him this morning. Did he tell you?”
“He did.”
“I do not want Tiberius going with us, either.”
Jeniver laughed softly. “As you say,” she said. “He can go with Gallus to meet with de Montfort.”
“De Montfort called for Gallus only. Tiberius can remain here for all I care. Whatever he does, I do not want him going with us.”
“I will make sure he does not.”
Satisfied, Maximus turned back to his horse, slapping the big neck affectionately. “Let me tend to my horse first and then we shall gather gifts when I am finished. Will you be ready in an hour?”
Jeniver was already moving from the stable. “I am ready now,” she said. “But tend your horse. I will tell Gallus where we are going.”
Maximus watched Jeniver as she moved halfway across the yard before coming to a halt. Slowly, thoughtfully, she turned back in his direction.
“Max,” she said pensively, as if she were stewing on a great idea. “What if I were to invite Lady Courtly to come shoppingwith me rather than taking gifts to her? Your time with her would probably be better spent. How much will you really be able to speak with her if we take gifts to her home and her father is around? What if we deliver the gifts and he asks us to leave immediately? You will not be able to spend any time with her at all.”
Maximus cocked his head curiously. “What makes you think her father will not let me speak to her?” he asked. “I spent a good deal of time speaking to her last evening.”
Jeniver shrugged. “But if we bring her with us to town, then your time with her would be… uninterrupted, I would think,” she said, rather slyly. “You may even take her shopping, alone, while I go about my business. You could not do that if her father was around. I am simply suggesting that you might like some time alone with her.”
Maximus liked her idea very much. “And you would be correct,” he said. “Very well, then. We shall go to Kennington and invite her to go to town with us and shop for her needs.”
With a clever grin, Jeniver turned back for the inn, and Maximus watched her until she disappeared inside. Then, he turned back to his horse, bending over to feel for the swollen tendon he felt last night. All the while, his thoughts were lingering on the anticipation of shopping with Lady Courtly. He didn’t tell Jeniver about the rose oil. He didn’t know why. Perhaps because it was the first gift he had ever given a woman and it seemed like such a deeply personal thing, just between the two of them. He wanted to keep that memory private for the moment, something to savor.
As he headed back into the inn to make a poultice for his horse’s swollen leg, he imagined all of the grand things he would purchase for Lady Courtly. He was eager to see her expression when he bought them for her, lavishing gifts upon a woman who had lost everything. He hoped that de Lara wouldn’t be insultedby the gifts but he told himself that de Lara’s angst didn’t matter. He planned to ask for permission to court Courtly and he was sure Kellen would have no reason to deny him. He had, after all, saved the woman’s life and Kellen had declared that they were all in Maximus’ debt. Perhaps it was time for the debt to be paid.
As he thought on the joys of seeing Courtly again, he could not have imagined a very different scene happening that moment at Kennington. Had he known, he would have stopped what he was doing and raced for the manor.
He didn’t know he was about to lose Courtly before he ever truly had a chance to gain her.
*
“But, Papa… Ido not understand,” Courtly pleaded. “Why are you sending us home? What have we done?”
It was after sunrise following the evening with Maximus de Shera as their guest. The morning was bright if not cold, and somewhere during the night rain had fallen, leaving the bailey a soupy mess of mud. De Lara’s men were milling about, starting cooking fires to warm over the remains of last night’s pork stew, but along with those men going about their duties, there were about ten of them forming a traveling party near Kennington’s iron gate.
It was this traveling party that Courtly was referring to. Standing in the doorway of the lower level of the wing where the bedchambers were, she was wrapped in a woolen coverlet against the morning’s chill. She had nothing else to use against the cold. Her father had awoken her and Isadora just after dawn, telling his daughters that they were returning to their home on the marches that day. Then he had turned and walked away, but the news had Courtly on her feet and running after her father toconfront him. Now, the confrontation was here as Kellen turned to answer his daughter’s question.
“You have not done anything,” he said stiffly. “I am sending you home because I do not believe Oxford is a good place for you. With the fire yesterday, now you have nothing at all by way of possessions, and I do not see Ellice providing anything to you so it is best to send you home. It is safer and better for you there.”
That wasn’t the truth behind the directive and Courtly knew it. She suspected from the onset what was behind her father’s sudden decision to send her home and she would not tactfully couch her accusation. It came out in force as her father tried to turn away from her.
“That is not true,” she hissed. “Could this have something to do with Maximus de Shera, Papa?”
Kellen paused to look at her, eyes narrowing. “I do not know what you mean,” he said, trying to turn away again. “Make sure Isadora is ready to leave within the hour.”
