Besieged and Betrothed

She put down the piece of chicken she was holding with a sigh, licking the juice off her fingers with such enthusiasm that he had to look away quickly.

‘You know, you give a lot of orders for a man who says he’s not in command.’

‘That was advice.’

‘Good. Then I can ignore it.’

She gave an exaggerated smile and then continued eating with gusto, leaning back in her seat and giving a satisfied sigh as she popped the last sweetmeat into her mouth.

‘Is there any more?’

‘Not for you. You shouldn’t eat too much either.’

‘More advice?’

‘As you wish.’ He sighed and gestured to one of his soldiers. ‘Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

‘I won’t.’ She pursed her lips with the air of a person who’d just won an argument. ‘So why are your men sleeping outside?’

‘Because they prefer to.’ He threw a pointed look around the hall. ‘I can’t say that I blame them. In any case, this is Sir Guian’s command. It makes sense for his men to billet here.’

‘Sir Guian’s command?’ She repeated the words mockingly. ‘Whenever I looked, you were the one giving orders.’

‘Whenever you looked?’ He put down his ale with a thud. ‘You were supposed to be sleeping.’

‘I was some of the time, but I had to make sure my men were being looked after. Surely you didn’t expect me just to forget about them?’

He cocked an eyebrow. He knew a lot of barons who would have done just that.

‘And are you satisfied with their treatment?’

She waited until a fresh trencher was set in front of her before answering.

‘You sent them to bathe in the river.’

‘Yes.’ He wondered what she was getting at. ‘They needed a wash. Their clothes, too.’

‘I know. It was thoughtful of you. I just...’

‘Didn’t expect me to think of it?’ He finished the thought for her. ‘They’re not prisoners, my lady. I told you that.’

‘I know. Thank you.’

‘Thank you?’ He couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice.

‘Yes! I can say thank you!’

‘So it seems.’

He saw her grit her teeth as if she were trying to control her temper.

‘Thank you for keeping your word, too. About the terms of surrender, I mean.’

‘Did you think that I wouldn’t? I always do what I say, my lady.’

‘So do I—or I try to anyway. That’s why I didn’t want to surrender. I made a promise to the King. It wasn’t easy to break.’

He nodded solemnly. He could understand that. He’d made his own promise a long time ago, to a woman who’d taken him under her wing when he’d had nowhere else to go. A promise that had taken him away from his homeland and into a foreign war that seemed to have little hope of ever reaching a conclusion, though even then he’d never once thought of reneging. He could hardly blame Lady Juliana for feeling the same way. If anything, it made him feel closer to her... He clenched his jaw. That was the last thing he needed.