Page 81 of Rogue Knight
Before Geoff left York with the king, he and Emma spent one last night together. The memory of it warmed him even in the relentless cold of winter as he, Alain and Mathieu rode southwest toward Cheshire. She had given herself to him in a way that told him her love was sincere, but he was still uncertain if she would come to Talisand. It was not as simple as just the two of them. She served her family like he served his king. And then there was her father…
He thought back to the night he had sat watching her sleep, shocked when the rebel leader managed to sneak into her chamber.
“What do you do here, Norman?” the tall Dane demanded as he had stepped from the shadows.
Startled, Geoff had turned, drawing his knife at the harsh, unfamiliar voice, damning himself for leaving the chamber door ajar. Recognizing the man as Emma’s father, his words had been curt. “I am taking care of your daughter. She has been unwell, but recovers.” Geoff had sheathed his knife and turned back to Emma. He did not worry her father would kill him. Having spared Geoff’s life once at Emma’s request, it hardly seemed likely he would take it now.
“Does William know you are here?” asked Maerleswein.
“Nay. And, for Emma’s sake, I would not tell him. He knows only I sit by the side of a sick friend.”
“Where are the others? The twins?”
“Hiding in the woods, in a cave. When I discovered Emma, she was there, sickly and suffering from fever and chills. I thought it best to bring her here. You should know your guards gave their lives to protect her.”
“You killed them?” Maerleswein demanded.
“Nay, I killed the Normans who did.”
The tall Dane came closer to the bed and peered down on his daughter. “I am grateful for what you have done for her.”
“I could do no less for the woman I love.”
Silence hung in the air. Maerleswein broke it. “Does my daughter return this love you speak of?”
“She has spoken the words and there is much between us. I have offered her marriage.”
And then began the conversation that had awakened Emma. He had gone over that night in his mind many times. Maerleswein had been adamant she should go with him to Scotland, where Earl Cospatric had again sought exile even after William had restored his lands and title.
Now, as he turned Athos into the cold wind, heading toward Cheshire, he wondered. Emma was loyal to her father, but would she follow him to Scotland? Geoff could not be sure. She would do much for her family. Then, too, when he had sought marriage, she had demurred. Had she only wanted him as a lover? Was he too far below her? The thought did not sit comfortably on his mind. Emma was not one to judge a man by his birth. Remembering their times together in the meadow and in her bed, he did not believe she only wanted a lover, for she had given more than her body. She had given of her heart.
But something held her back. She had not asked Geoff to come for her when the king released him. Instead, worried about her family, she had insisted he take her back to the cave, which he had done. When he had returned to the castle, he found William giving instructions to his half-brother, Robert, to deal with the rebels in York and the Danes on the Humber. Then the king had turned to the captains of his army, ordering them to prepare to march to Cheshire. When he finished his instructions to them, he turned to Geoff, reminding him, “We expect you and your men to join us.”
***
Emma sat by the fire in the cave one early morning holding Inga’s babe so the young mother could sleep. She gazed into the face of the sweet child who, Emma was relieved to see, would one day look very much like Inga.
Artur added another log to the fire as his wife, Sigga, stood at the mouth of the cave, looking out. Winter lingered, but as Emma looked into the eyes of Inga’s babe, her thoughts drifted to the spring that would come. What would she do?
Though she had stubbornly resisted both her father’s and Geoffroi’s plans for her, Emma’s heart longed to be with her knight, her Gabriel who had ridden to her rescue so many times. An enemy who turned out to be more than a friend. He was her lover. For three years, no man had touched her woman’s heart. She decided that a woman did not always choose the man to whom she gave her love. But if Emma had consciously chosen, she could have chosen no better.
Whether she had realized it at the time, she saw it clearly now. Even before the first time they had lain together, she had loved him. War had drawn them together and then it had torn them apart. Having received his forgiveness for her part in the rebellion, there was only one place she wanted to be—with Geoffroi. But she could not go to Talisand alone. She would not abandon the family she loved. If she were to go, she wanted the twins, Inga, Artur and Sigga and Jack and Martha to come with her. Until she knew they would agree, she could make no promise, for she would not leave them, not even for love of her knight.
When her father had said goodbye before returning to the Humber, she had not encouraged him to expect her to go to Scotland in the spring. He argued Cospatric’s case as the suitor he wanted for her. She had confessed that she liked the earl.
“But I do not love him, Father.”
“Love can grow between two who share respect,” he had said, “I will call on you before I leave. In time, you will come to see what I want for you is best. Be careful, Emma. The woods are full of Normans.”
She waved goodbye as he faded into the protection of the woods he knew so well to join his Northumbrian rebels. Having led the failed rebellion, once he joined Cospatric in Scotland, she did not think he would ever return to England.
A cold wind whistled into the cave, making the fire flutter wildly. Sigga wrapped her cloak tightly around her and left the mouth of the cave to sit by Emma. Now that she was no longer fevered, Emma felt the cold as the others did, shivering whenever she left the comfort of the fire.
Both Geoffroi and her father had counseled against taking her family to her home in York, for it was too easy a target should the Normans again search the town. Before he left for Cheshire, Geoffroi had told them York’s stores of food not taken into the castle to be consumed by William’s knights had been destroyed. The Norman king had also ordered the burning of farming tools, cottages and everything else in Yorkshire. Even the fields had been salted so the land could not be farmed in the spring. Never again would she stand on the hillside outside of York’s walls to watch Ottar and Finna play among the flowers. Never again would she watch with pleasure the ripening grain.
Sigga raised her head, looking toward the mouth of the cave. “Magnus has returned but without the usual hare.”
Emma looked up from where she sat holding Merewyn, now asleep in her arms. The weary hound walked to her side and dropped to the ground. She patted his head. “’Tis all right, we have enough food for today.”
