Page 19 of Sweet Mead for Lady Martine

“Yes. I healed Robin.”

“I hired Gar to sail my trade ship,” Josefina reminded her.

“You both had jobs that brought you together with your husbands. That’ll never happen for me. I don’t have a job. My job is just being a lady and marrying a noble and bearing him male heirs.”

“Don’t give up on him,” said Sage. “If you two really want to be together, I’m certain you will find a way.”

“I wish that were true, but I’m not so sure about that,” answered Martine, knowing there was nothing she could possibly do to bring her back here to David Stone.

David watched the nobles disappear down the road and raised his hand to wave goodbye. He and his family were there to see them off.

“Well, now that they’re gone, we can get back to normal,” said Joe, clinging to Greta’s arm as they turned to go back to the inn.

“I, for one, felt very uncomfortable with them staying in our quarters,” Dirk told the others. “I didn’t like it.”

“I didn’t mind. I felt comfortable around them,” said Matilda. “Even if they were nobles.”

“I liked them, too.” Cecelia rubbed her broadening belly as they walked. “I am glad we helped them. If that was me birthing my baby in that situation, I’d welcome any help I could get. Commoners, or not.”

“Step it up,” his mother called back over her shoulder. “David, you’ll need to haul your pallet outside and burn it since it is soiled with blood.”

“Aye,” he answered, not really caring about pallets at the moment. He didn’t think he’d feel so sad when Martine left, but he truly did. Since they’d kissed and talked, he felt like all nobles weren’t alike. Martine was special. She didn’t look down on commoners the way the rest of the nobles did. She was easy to talk to and made him feel comfortable around her. Yes, Martine was a special lady and he wasn’t going to easily forget her.

“Dirk, help David with the pallet. I’ll keep an eye on the tavern if anyone should come in,” his Uncle Joe offered.

“Yes, you keep an eye on things,” said David with a chuckle. Even though the man was blind, there wasn’t anything that got past him.

They entered the tavern and made their way to the living quarters.

“Those girls weren’t hard to look at,” said Dirk with a chuckle as they entered the room.

“Those girls are ladies,” David corrected him. “Show some respect. And quit talking about them because they were married.” David bent down and picked up the pallet, throwing it over his shoulder, not needing Dirk’s help.

“Not that Lady Martine. She was fine and not married. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you really did take her out by the creek to have your way with her. I’ll bet she is a real vixen in bed.”

“Shut up! She’s not like that.” David threw the pallet at Dirk, catching him by surprise and knocking him to the floor.

“What’s got you so uptight?” grumbled Dirk. “We always talk about the girls that come into the tavern.”

“Martine is not just a girl. She’s a lady, and I’ll not hear you say another word about her or I’ll bust you in the mouth. Understand?”

“Ooooooh, I see.” Dirk got up and brushed off his tunic. “I got a little too close to home, did I? Sorry. I didn’t know you fancied the girl or I wouldn’t have said anything about her.” He threw the pallet over his shoulder and headed to the door.

“I don’t fancy anyone. I just think you need to be more respectful of the nobles, that’s all.”

“Is that really it?” Dirk looked over his shoulder as he headed out the door. “Keep telling yourself that, Cousin, and mayhap you’ll someday believe it. However, you’re never going to convince me that you don’t have the same thoughts swarming around in your head about the girl that I have.”

“I said, stop calling her a girl.”

“Holy hell, you’ve got it bad,” said Dirk, repositioning the pallet on his shoulder. “It’s just too damned bad you’ll never see the girl, I mean, the lady again.”

As Dirk left with the pallet, David realized that his cousin was right. The kisses they’d shared had been stupid on his part. Just thinking about it was always going to get him hot and bothered. After kissing Lady Martine, not even Cinnamon the whore would be able to suffice the burning he felt inside for the noblewoman. She was a woman he could never have because they were from two different worlds and would always be.