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“Aye, I am,” Alexander agreed. “But I know what I am saying. Leave the bitch alone.”

William reached out his foot and rapped on the door. It was almost simultaneously opened by a grim-faced Kieran, who was gazing hostilely at Alexander. He had heard the voices.

“Take Jordan,” William said quietly, handing her carefully over to his knight.

“Give her to him.” Alexander crowed. “By all means, let Kieran have the whore. He’s a big man with big needs. Hell, there’s enough to go around for everyone.”

William’s nostrils flared in a rare display of his fury. A hard lesson was coming for the viscount.

“William,” Kieran stopped his advance. “Let me take Alexander back to his rooms. You take Lady Jordan.”

Kieran was afraid William was going to commit murder by the sheer look on the man’s face. But William shook him off.

“Nay, I shall be but a moment,” he assured him evenly. “Put her to bed.”

Kieran watched as William put a crushing hand on Alexander’s shoulder and turned the man back around, forcibly escorting him down the hall. William was speaking to him, but Kieran could not hear the words. But he knew the tone and he didn’t like it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

An hour later, William came back. Kieran admitted him, looking closely for any signs of blood on his hands. William saw his expression and waved him off.

“Nay, I did not kill him, but I wanted to,” he said. He sat heavily in the high-back chair, feeling his fatigue as he did.

Kieran studied him. “What’s that cut on your eye?”

William put his finger to it as if he had forgot it was there. “That? Just another one of Alexander’s tantrums. Seems he didn’t like what I had to say. But I, on the other hand, was most interested to hear what he had to say.”

Kieran sat opposite him. “And what was that?”

William let out a sigh, resting his head against the back of the chair. “ ’Twas not Analiese that made an attempt on Jordan’s life. It was Alexander.” When Kieran appeared shocked, he went on. “He did not exactly admit it, but he had knowledge of the attack that only my knights knew. Unless we have a spy among us, which we do not, Alexander made the attempt.”

Kieran let out a long hiss. “Bastard,” he said with conviction. “What did he say that led you discover him?”

“In his drunken state he mentioned the Welsh archer, the fact that the man was murdered with a dagger, and of Analiese’s necklace. Had he mentioned only one correct fact and not several, I would simply have assumed that he was guessing.” He exhaled wearily and scratched his forehead. “But then there was the curious statement that he believes himself in love with me and does not like the attention I have been paying Jordan.”

Kieran wasn’t surprised by the admission. “Alexander’s fondness for men is well known, William, but you are not his type,” he said. “His tastes run from young boys to the effeminate noblemen of the king’s court. He has never shown any desire for a fighting man.”

“Then I am given the dishonor of being the first.” He rubbed at his neck. “This conversation sickens me.”

Kieran took the hint. “Now that we know it is him, how do we protect Jordan against him?”

William lifted his eyebrows. “Now that we know it is him, I would say it makes it much easier,” he said. “We’ll continue the guard, but I think she can be allowed more freedom due to the fact we’ll place a guard on Alexander as well.”

Kieran snorted. “How are you going to explain that to de Longley?”

William sat forward, pausing a moment before rising exhaustedly to his feet. “I shall think of something and let you know when I do,” he said. “Now, I shall check on Jordan.”

He lumbered to her door and entered quietly, shutting it behind him. She lay on her back, one arm over her head and the other on her stomach, softly snoring in her stupor. He smiled, knowing she would have quite a headache when she awoke and imagining how foul her humor would be. Seeing that she was well and not wanting to wake her, he went softly for the door. The minute he lifted the latch, he heard her stir.

“English?” she called.

He moved back to the bed. “ ’Tis me, love. Go back to sleep.”

“I will, but I want ye to sta….” She rolled toward him and immediately gripped the bed. “Oh, God… I dunna feel so well.”

He could see what was coming and struggled to keep from smiling as he quickly retrieved her chamber pot.

Jordan retched her guts out in it and then some. William could do nothing more than hold her hair back so she would not soil it and speak softly to her while she gasped in her misery.