Page 46 of Rogue Knight
“You must be anxious to leave for Holderness,” Emma said.
“Aye, I will be glad to quit York. I jump at every loud noise. But we have a happy task to see to today. Come, let me show you the progress in the garden. You will be amazed! And I believe you will like our escort,” she added with a wink.
Emma understood Helise’s meaning when they reached the knights who waited to escort them to the other side of the River Ouse. Among them was Sir Geoffroi.
***
Geoff had informed Malet’s wife that he and Alain were available to accompany her and Emma to the new castle on Baille Hill, so he was unsurprised when the summons came.
He was eager to undertake the task.
When Emma saw him waiting, her smile lit her face, setting his heart pounding. He had missed her. Worried she might harbor resentment for some friend killed in the recent skirmish, he was pleased to see she was neither sullen nor angry. Her face radiated only joy at his coming.
Her hound trotted up to him and nuzzled his hand.
“Magnus, you beast. How are you?” He scratched the hound behind the ears as the dog leaned into him.
“Shameless begging, Magnus,” Emma chided.
Helise Malet laughed. “You appear to have won a friend, Sir Geoffroi.”
He grinned at Emma. “That was my intent.”
Together with a few other knights he had chosen, Geoff and Alain accompanied the two women across the bridge to the opposite bank of the Ouse River where the new castle rose on Baille Hill. The townspeople moved to let them pass but their eyes followed the women closely. On a second glance it seemed to Geoff their gazes followed only Emma.
Once they passed through the gate of the new castle, he left the knights to wait, taking only Alain and Mathieu with him to follow Emma and Helise to the far side of the bailey where a large area had been set apart and protected by a short fence. The hound walked at Emma’s side.
Beyond the fence lay the tended earth of a new garden, one large enough to produce sufficient vegetables to add to the food of the knights garrisoned in both castles.
Helise led Emma through a gate in the fence and pointed to one section of the garden where new plants rose from the soil, green and thriving. “See how well the vegetables do?”
Geoff stood to one side with Magnus and Alain, watching as Emma placed her hands on her hips and smiled at the garden’s progress. “Those leafy turnip tops and squat radish leaves tell me the garden is doing very well,” remarked Emma. “’Tis thriving, Helise!”
Geoff looked not at the plants but at Emma. Young and beautiful with her long flaxen plaits hanging down the front of her gown, she was enough to make any man smile. And he wanted to be that man.
“Over there,” Helise directed, “are the garlic and onion plants. In time there will be cabbages and leeks, too.” Helise consulted her diagram. “Oh, and I should not forget the herbs you suggested, Emma—parsley, sage, chives, dill and marjoram. I agree with that selection. They will please the cook.”
“The special ones?” asked Emma. “The chamomile, yarrow, hemlock and wormwood?”
“Those are in that section, over there.” Helise pointed. “I should have forgotten them had you not given me a list.”
Emma could read, write?Geoff was surprised to learn of it. Only noblewomen could read and few of them.
“You will need the special herbs to treat the wounds of your knights,” Emma said with a side-glance in Geoff’s direction.
He chuckled. Aye, they had wounds. It was part of being a knight. Chain mail did not prevent them.
Emma bent over the plants like they were young children in need of encouragement. Her long hair fell onto the plants making him want to wrap the flaxen braids around his hand and draw her near for another kiss. In truth, he wanted more than a kiss. He missed the taste of her, the touch of her. He wanted to slip his hands around her slim waist and draw her near, to feel her womanly curves against him.
Magnus went to sniff at the plants Emma coddled and then sneezed, making her laugh. He liked seeing her in good spirits. He wanted to make her smile often.
He shifted his gaze from Emma to the garden she and Helise had created, admiring it. He approved of the way it was ordered. The rectangular wooden boxes, about four feet on a side, allowed the herbs to be set apart from the vegetables and flowers. “Was it your design, Emma?”
Helise answered for her. “It was! And ’tis very clever with the border ofmarygoldeflowers, do you not agree, Sir Geoffroi?”
“I do. ’Tis a marvel,” he remarked, but he was looking at Emma.Shewas the marvel.
“You will like it better when there is a harvest to be reaped, sir knight,” she tossed back with a smile.
