Lord Baldessare’s eyes grew hard and savage as he looked beyond her to Henry, but this time the feeling was contained. Slowly, he nodded his head. “Aye, I see how ’tis,” he said between gritted teeth. “Once more Lord Henry steals what is mine for his own gain! But this time I will not allow him to get away with it. Beware, Lady Jenova, if you put your trust in this man! He is a liar and a thief, and worse. No matter how grandly he dresses himself and how many jewels he acquires, the filth that sticks to him will always befoul the air around him. And those who would be his friends.”
Baldessare gave Henry a final, fuming look, then he turned away, his cloak snapping after him, and strode from the hall.
With a mournful glance at Jenova, Alfric jumped to his feet and followed. Behind him, her chin held high, Rhona also retreated. In the length of time it took Jenova to take a couple of restorative breaths, the Baldessares had left the great hall of Gunlinghorn. Now once again there was silence, but this time no one seemed willing to break it.
It was done. It was over. Her betrothal to Alfric was no more. Jenova was free.
The warm hand on her shoulder was removed. Henry. How could she have forgotten Henry? Jenova turned and found his blue eyes bright and frowning behind her, his handsome face tight with anger.
“Sweeting? I commend you. What lucky thing have you said to cause the rout of the Baldessares?”
Jenova gave a shaky laugh, but the tears shining in her eyes were not happy ones. “Oh Henry, Henry, have I done the right thing? I have told Lord Baldessare that I cannot…I will not marry his son.”
Henry went still.
Jenova was sure she could actually see the calculations turning in his mind, the cogs wheeling furiously behind the sudden blankness in his eyes. She was not certain she wanted to know what he was thinking, what his clever brain was plotting. She needed him now as an ally and a friend; she did not want to scare him off with the idea that she expected more of him than he was willing to freely give.
“I told Baldessare my reason was nothing to do with Alfric,” she went on carefully. “I told him that I had decided I did not wish to wed again, not yet, not now, not to anyone.”
“And is that true?”
He was watching her, scrutinizing her, wondering whether or not to trust her. What had she expected? she wondered wildly. A declaration? An offer from him to step into Alfric’s place? Had she really believed Henry would do that? Was she such an innocent fool? It seemed that she must be, because Jenova knew that one of the reasons she did not want to wed Alfric was that he could never compare to Henry.
But for her own sake, and the sake of her pride, Henry must never, never know that she had considered, even for a moment, whether he might make marriageable material.
“Of course it is true,” she said, meeting his eyes without blinking. “Yestereve, I saw Alfric and he…he frightened me, a little. I realized then that he wasn’t the man I wanted by my side here at Gunlinghorn. Or standing in lieu of a father to Raf! Better to remain a widow than to take the risk of aligning myself with someone who will do me and my son harm.”
“I know that no man can ever replace Mortred.”
His eyes were so blue, reaching into her mind, searching her heart. In another moment she would blurt out the truth, and Jenova could not bear that. She had to escape. Hurriedly she turned and began to walk away. Let him think she was overcome with grief at the memory of her husband. Better that than the truth….
“You said Alfric frightened you, Jenova? In what way?”
Henry was following her! Of course he was; he would not let her go that easily. He knew her too well. He knew she was keeping something from him, although he seemed to have settled on her encounter with Alfric rather than Mortred.
Jenova walked faster. “He was so intense, so angry, and then the next moment he was almost in tears. He was so afraid of what his father would say if I didn’t wed him. His fear far outweighed any concern he might have had for me.” Briefly she glanced over her shoulder, noting Henry’s frown. “I think that for Alfric our marriage was simply a way to please his father. As I lay in my bed last night, I realized that I did not want a husband who cared only for pleasing his father, Henry. I wanted a man who cared about pleasing me.”
“I see.”
Jenova wondered if Henry really did see, and prayed not. She managed to throw him a smile as she reached the door to the kitchen. “I have matters to attend now, Henry. We can discuss these events later, when I feel calmer.”
He halted, and although he returned her smile, it was missing its usual warmth. He looked away from her, beyond the door, and there was something bleak in his face that she had not seen there before. Something that caught at her heart and squeezed.
She hesitated, on the brink of escape.
“Henry? Surely you do not take any notice of what Baldessare said? When he called you a liar and a thief? And the rest? He is a vicious pig, flinging mud at whoever is in
his path. I cannot believe you would let the words of a man like that wound you….”
His eyes had returned to hers, and now there was a gentleness in them that warmed her more thoroughly than any fire could. “If you do not believe him, then that is all that matters to me, sweeting. In truth, I was thinking of what I would like to do to him, but that will wait. Go and see to your household, and I will find your son. After he has played with the kittens, I promised him a trot about the bailey on Lamb, and I am sure Lamb is stomping with impatience.”
She gave another shaky laugh. “I am sure he is. Thank you, Henry. You have been very…kind to Raf.”
Henry lifted his eyebrows. “Lord Henry of Montevoy ‘kind’? Mmm, mayhap. In truth I do find Raf amusing company. He is not at all like Mortred, you know. Oh, in looks he is a little, and his smile, but his character is all his own.”
“I know, and I am glad for it!”
Henry’s frown returned. “Jenova?”