Wooing Kate

Chapter: 2

~~~~~~~~~~

Going to the window, Count Adhemar watched the street as he did up the closures of his shirt, then coat, moving with speed and uncaring the clothes he'd pulled on were wrinkled and not fresh. He was far more concerned with finding the peasant wench who'd had the audacity to run from him than he was about his clothing. If he didn't find her now, then he'd have to waste time having Thatcher's band watched. Running a hand through his hair instead of digging out a comb from his trunk, he watched with interest when Germaine appeared in the street.

It had certainly taken the man long enough to move from the upstairs of the inn to the outer door, but that wasn't suspicious. No, he'd likely stopped to order food sent up or perhaps water for his lord to wash with. Adhemar rested his hands on the window frame, peering down at the street. Germaine paused outside, looking around, then crossed to the other side and entered the Red Pony Inn two doors down. Adhemar waited. The man would be back out the door in a few seconds, a minute at the most, and on his way to the next inn in the line of them that were along this street, continuing his search.

He didn't return and Adhemar left the window, opening his door and calling the man outside to him. "Germaine is at the Red Pony down the street. Take Thomas, Adam and Richard and see where he goes." The man hurried off to obey the command, Adhemar closing the door and pacing.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Germaine. He did, as much as he trusted anyone at all. The man had been a loyal servant to his house for years. Germaine had remained loyal, a friend of sorts if Adhemar counted any man as a friend. He rarely spoke out in protest of anything and carried out his duties with an enviable efficiency. However, on the subject of the delectable Kate, he wasn't taking any chances of not having her again. He'd have Germaine followed just in case Thatcher put up a fuss over the farris.

Adhemar doubted the man would say too much once it was revealed Kate went willingly. He suspected she'd told a tale of her being the victim, snatched from the street by cruel Count Adhemar. She'd try for sympathy, like the typical women. He had her figured out. True, she was unlike other women, but she couldn't be that terribly different. She was still a female.

Dropping into the chair and propping his feet on the table, he closed his eyes, allowing the memory of her to slip across the closed lids. It had been too easy to coax her into the room. A woman on the other side of tipsy was usually an easy conquest and Kate no exception in that regard. She'd put up the token protest and just when he'd thought perhaps he'd misjudged her level of inebriation, she'd given in in the most delightful way. He had the tiniest ache along his backside from their combined weight toppling onto the floor with a thud. He'd had women jump on him before, but never one with enough enthusiasm to send him crashing to the floor with her on top of him.

A lusty woman was one to keep and she was delightfully lusty and uninhibited in her surrender. It was a refreshing change from prostitutes whose moans had a fake tone and from mistresses who played up to him to get little tokens of appreciation from him for their attentions. The former didn't care what he did as long as they got paid and the latter also didn't care as long as they got paid a better quality fee than the former. Mistresses worked hard at games and teasing, ensuring trinkets would always be quick in coming.

Kate was neither. She wasn't working on her back for money and wasn't interested in being his mistress, if her flight from the room was any indication. This only made her more desirable. She was obviously not the full average woman. She was also the cleanest peasant woman he'd seen in a long while.

He looked forward to many hours dallying with her in the future. He also looked forward to watching Kate push his greedy Helene off of the pedestal she'd placed herself on. Out with the old mistress, he thought, lacing his hands together behind his head. In with the delightfully new. Kate was going to be his mistress, whether she wanted to or not.

~~~~~~~~~~

Now that Kate had flown, it was up to Roland to explain to Will, Wat, Geoff, Christiana and Jocelyn the why of it. Germaine had assured him -- and Kate-- that Count Adhemar would not start a fight with Will as long as he thought none of them knew of her flight. So, Roland had to remain silent until after the man had come and gone. All Roland was to say if asked was that he'd seen Kate run down the hall carrying her bag. She hadn't stopped to talk.

He could stay silent. He'd done that bit before, but he couldn't bite back the guilt at what he'd told Kate to do. Go back to Adhemar. Lord, man, he thought. You're daft if you think she'll be forgiving you anytime soon for that. Kate's stare as she'd left with Germaine hadn't been friendly in the slightest. In fact, if looks could kill, he'd have been dead instantly. He couldn't really blame her though. Of course, what had she been doing bedding the man to begin with? She must have been falling over drunk to go with him.

Pushing the door to Will's room open, he found the others already waiting, Christiana slapping Wat's hands away from the large tray of food on the table and Jocelyn and Will gazing at each other with sickening sweetness. Roland couldn't say a teasing word about that though, since he was hardly able to look at Christiana without a goofy grin forming. Geoff was slouched down in a chair, his eyes closed, apparently asleep if his even breaths were any indication.

"It's about time. I'm starving," Wat complained, making an outraged noise as Christiana once more slapped his hands.

Geoff jerked awake at Wat's yelp, rubbing a hand over his face and sitting up. "I'm not sleeping."

"Not yet, Wat. We wait for Kate now. Stop thinking of your stomach." Christiana gently admonished. Roland managed a smile as his lady love kept the always hungry Wat from devouring the food. She was as much a prize to him as Jocelyn was to Will.

Will glanced away from Jocelyn. "Where is Kate? Roland, why don't you peek in her room and see if she's awake?"

~~~~~~~~~~

"Yes, which room is Kate's?" Adhemar gave a cold little smile, enjoying how the group scrambled to their feet with gasps, the tall skinny herald holding back that psychotic redhead with hands on his arms. An irritated tic pulled at his left eye as Lady Jocelyn put herself behind her lover, the irritating William Thatcher. If they weren't lovers, then he'd slit his own throat, for their manner intimated they knew each other rather personally. However, as much as he'd like revenge upon the boy, he had a different priority in the present. The scent of Kate, lavender and fresh, was in his nostril and he'd not stop looking for her until he'd sniffed her out. "Her room?"

"Why do you care?" The boy kept his voice steady, his expression neutral, speaking for them all. "Did she do something for you?"

"In a manner of speaking." Thatcher meant work, but yes, Kate had certainly done something for him. He couldn't stop his smile from widening, which of course made the boy suspicious.

"And what manner would that be?" Thatcher shook his arm free from Jocelyn and stepped forward, almost even with the peasant man by the doorway.

"The end of the hall. She's at the end." The bearded man blurted out and Adhemar turned his head slightly to consider him, dismissing the man as quickly as he'd glanced at him. Only a peasant man. No one of consequence.

Disappointment pricked at him that the location of her room was given out so quickly. He'd anticipated possibly torturing someone for the information. Oh well. Perhaps another day.

Turning, he tread to the room and threw open the door without knocking. Wouldn't want to give her time to climb out the window or something equally as foolish, like grabbing up the fire poker thinking she could brain him with it. The room was empty. It looked as though Kate had left in a hurry. Adhemar pursed his lips. Germaine hadn't left the building and a search of the lower rooms had not yielded him or the girl, so he'd expected to find Germaine with her, attempting to reason with her. He wasn't there. Adhemar tapped the sides of his thighs with his fingertips, a frown pulling at his brow. Really, this was becoming irksome.

As he stepped back into the hall, one of his men came from the direction of the stairs, red faced and gasping for breath. "My lord! The stables! Germaine is with her."

The Thatcher band was peering out their door, all faces unapologetically curious and Adhemar stopped briefly before them on his way past their door. "If she returns here, send for me. You won't like the consequences if you don't." One of them shouted something at his back, shushed by the others, but Adhemar wasn't listening. Kate was running from him and he wasn't going to let her.

Adhemar strode to the stairs and down them, making his way through the crowded tables to the front door and then out into the street, shoving people out of his way, his thoughts pondering Germaine's actions. What was Germaine up to? Could he possibly be defying his lord and master? A snort left him. Unthinkable. Why ever would a good servant be so stupid? It wasn't like him to disobey, to presume to think for himself.

At the stables, he was once more presented with the news that Kate and Germaine had gone. With a roll of his eyes, he snapped a punch at the man who'd given the news, getting no satisfaction as the man fell, clutching his nose with a howl. "Saddle my horse, you idiots. I want to be after her immediately!" A rush of temper flared through him, boiling beneath his skin. "I want her by nightfall."

~~~~~~~~~~

A narrow escape was something Kate was regrettably becoming quite familiar with. That Germaine was willing to actually ride with her on her escape from his lord was a surprise. She'd never expected the herald to suggest helping her in that manner. She'd thought he'd turn her over to the man in a second, but he'd outlined a plan to head south towards France together, having a large purse in his possession to pay for expenses. Kate thought he'd stolen the money from Adhemar. Either that or he'd been hiding it away in preparation for escape some day.

He wanted to live for himself and not another man, he'd said, and she needed help quick. He'd help her leave London and go where she wanted, even if it meant altering his half- formed plan, doubling back and going to Scotland. To Kate and Roland, he'd painted a beautiful picture of no Adhemar and no threat of the man to Will. His lord, he'd said, wouldn't expect his loyal herald to run away. He'd not believe it at first and would waste time thinking on the why.

However, Adhemar hadn't trusted Germaine as much as the herald had thought. Three of Adhemar's men had found them in the stable just as they were riding out, Germaine giving a curse that was rather impressive in intensity. They'd left London as quickly as possible.

"Do you need rest?"

"No," she replied. They'd been traveling the entire day, hiding as other travelers passed them by. "You should go back, Germaine. I'll be fine alone. I was alone for a long time before meeting Will and the others."

He shook his head, a strange look on his face, one of sadness and regret. His impetuous decision was heavy on his shoulders and it showed. "I can't go back. By now he's realized I meant all the while to leave and he's wondering why I chose you to go with me. Am I a rival of sorts? He means to have you, Kate."

"He's already done that," she remarked wryly.

"You know my meaning. He's chosen you and like all the others, he won't back down until he has you stuck to him." He sighed. "My lord likes beautiful women."

"I'm no beauty," Kate chuckled. "I'm plain and know it. He only wants me because I didn't accept his mastery over me. I left before he told me I could. That's all." His expression held incredulity, enough so that she looked back at the road. "What? You're staring."

His laugh was much like hers had been. "You are modest, Kate."

Modest? If he wanted to think so then fine. She gave a small sigh, one under her breath that he wouldn't hear. To spend the rest of her life running from Adhemar wasn't what she wanted to do. She wanted to stay with Will and the others, those dear friends she'd made. But, as long as Adhemar wanted her, he'd keep them watched in case she returned. Hell, she suspected he'd take her even if he decided he didn't want her anymore. The big bad noble had to show the peasant woman she was beneath him in class. He'd bully her if he could. If she let him. Kate didn't like being bullied.

Actually, she wasn't running per se. She was embarking on a new adventure, one that just happened to have Adhemar at the onset. She rolled her eyes. Who was she trying to kid anyway? She was running, no ifs ands or buts about it. This was the consequence of her actions, a life without her friends and constant flight.

To distract herself from morose thoughts, she tendered a query to the man riding beside her. "Why did you decide to leave, Germaine? What made you help me?"

"Stars," was his answer. "Change your stars. Sir Thatcher said that. He said it and he did it. So, I decided to wait a bit and see about changing my stars as well. Oh, I don't mean make myself more than what I am, but rather to embrace life and try to be free. I told you I want to live for myself and not another man." He glanced at her. "Did you know that I have always served Count Adhemar?"

At her negative, he continued. "The earliest memory I have is of being in that household, learning heraldry and being his sparring partner. I was one of several playmates, so to speak, all boys from various backgrounds sent there to learn with the young master. I have never been my own man, if you understand what I mean by that."

"Your life is devoted to his, not to yours."

He nodded. "Exactly."

They rode on in silence as the afternoon sun began to sink to the ground with evening, a glorious riot of red, orange and purple painting the horizon.