Alisoun's respect for Guy rose.

"I could never leave Sir David's service." A commotion attracted Guy's attention, and he yelled, "Hey there. No fighting!" Roger and Ivo had dropped into an attack crouch. Guy swore and started into the circle which formed around them, but before he could reach them, Ivo dropped Roger with a single blow to the face.

Osbern cackled. "Stupid sot." Following Guy, he reached Roger and gave him a casual kick in the ribs, then told his other knights, "Two of you! Take him out and leave him in the stable. Let him sleep with the horses. The rest of you-we're guests here, and you'll make conversation with the lord's people, and show some deference for your hosts."

His knights obeyed without question, and as they mingled Alisoun realized Osbern might have a plan. Radcliffe's people were decent folk who saw no reason for subterfuge. If Osbern's knights spoke courteously, the men-at-arms and the maids would speak freely to their new comrades, and might they not tell of their special instructions to watch for strangers? Alisoun had done her best to keep her secrets, but too many others knew at least parts of them. How could she expect others to remain silent, especially when they didn't comprehend the h.e.l.l of Philippa's experience?

"Come and sit in the place of honor, my lord." Alisoun indicated the place before the salt, and Osbern took it with an ease that showed how seldom anyone else took the place of honor before him.

"Daddy?"

At the sound of Bertrade's voice, Alisoun almost lost her fragile hold on her composure. What would Osbern say when he saw her stepdaughter's bizarre outfit and bearing? How would he mock her?

Sir David smiled. "Bertrade. How lovely you look."

The child stepped up beside him and tucked her hand into her father's, and Alisoun glanced at her quickly. Then she looked again, a lingering gaze, and her head buzzed with relief.

Bertrade had washed. She had brushed her hair. She had dressed in a gown. She looked like a girl, and she grinned at Alisoun in a manner that reminded her of David at his most mischievous.

Alisoun smiled back feebly, then noticed Lady Edlyn as she hovered in the background. She had helped the child, Alisoun guessed, and she smiled gravely when Alisoun mouthed her thanks.

Then Osbern spoke. "You have a daughter! Sir David, a daughter. How charming."

Something about his tone, his obvious pleasure, made Alisoun's stomach roil and David's smile disappear. Bertrade observed Osbern with her sharp gaze, then she bobbed a curtsy and moved to her place between Lady Edlyn and Guy.

Osbern ignored Bertrade thereafter, but Alisoun knew he hadn't forgotten her existence-and David had been reminded of his daughter's vulnerability.

The serving folk brought food, seated themselves, and dinner began in an atmosphere of conviviality.

False conviviality. Alisoun watched for Philippa. Osbern watched Alisoun. And David ate with every appearance of self-possession.

When had David learned her strategy?

Once their hunger had been sated, Osbern made random conversation-but with Osbern, nothing was unplanned. "Hugh told me a great deal about the people who accompanied you here. He spoke highly of your men-at-arms, Lady Alisoun. Also of your squire. What's his name?"

"Eudo," David said. "His name is Eudo."

"Is he the lad who helped me disrobe?" He indicated Eudo as the boy carried a large platter covered with sliced meat. "That boy? A good lad, indeed." When his own squire stuck out his foot and tripped Eudo, Osbern smothered a grin. "But he is clumsy."

Alisoun had seen it time and again. Osbern forgot, sometimes, that he played the part of benevolent duke. He never really thought anyone could stand in the way of what he desired.

Eudo picked himself up, stacked the meat back on the plate, and turning, knocked the heavy platter hard against the strange squire's leg. The platter rang with the chime of silver against bone, and the meat slices splattered into the squire's lap.

"What Eudo lacks in grace he makes up in guile." David answered Osbern as the two adolescents rolled on the floor in sudden, furious combat. "It is a trait which I require in my squires."

"An admirable quality."

Osbern seemed sincere, even when his squire groaned and curled up into a miserable ball. This man who had power, who had wealth, and who should have no need of guile, did admire it. He enjoyed watching others use their guile on him, and enjoyed more crushing any feeble schemes to influence him. Osbern wanted those around him to be nothing more than scurrying bedbugs, coming to him for sustenance yet fearing the swat of his hand.

Alisoun signaled to the manservants, and they hurried to the scene of the spill and helped Eudo clean the mess.

"Why don't your dogs eat it?" Osbern asked.

In her piping voice, Bertrade said, "My new mama doesn't allow us to feed the dogs during the meal. She says it's uncivilized."

"Really?" Osbern drawled. "And do you like your new mama's rules?"

Bertrade inspected him in the confident manner of a well-loved child. "Not all of them, but my daddy says we'll indulge her until she doesn't remember anymore."

A ripple of laughter swept the hall as Alisoun glared briefly at David.

Smiling that pleasant, toothy smile, Osbern said, "Sir David, I see you have the knack of handling Lady Alisoun."

"There's little hope of that-" he stared at his daughter, "-now."

"It seems I did know Lady Alisoun forbade the feeding of the dogs during the meal." Osbern wiped his knife clean and tucked it into his belt, signifying he had finished his meal. "Young Hugh told me when I visited George's Cross."

The page who collected the gravy-soaked trenchers for the poor came with his large container and held it for Osbern's offering.

"Your wife has made this place a home." Osbern lifted the trencher of bread which had held his stew. It hung, heavy with gravy, and he tossed it to one of the huge mastiffs at the rear of the hall.

Alisoun flinched as the other dogs pounced, trying to get a share. Their snarling disrupted the even tenor of conversation, and Osbern's contempt for his hostess and her rules brought an awkward silence.

"I don't like that man." Bertrade's voice echoed clearly through the hall, and Lady Edlyn shushed her.

Osbern seemed oblivious as he said, "Hugh told me so much about you, Lady Alisoun. He should probably be warned that not all visitors have benevolent intentions before he reveals some secret which you would prefer to remain unknown."

Hugh. Of course. He knew a great deal about fighting and almost nothing about people, and Osbern could have led the conversation until he learned just what he wished. Had Hugh mentioned Philippa by name? Alisoun wondered.

"Aye, Sir David, how I envy you your clever daughter, your perfect wife, your many homes, your people who love you."

Hugh had. Aye, that explained Osbern's sudden visit, and the threats that grew ever more bold. He planted the arrows of doubt and fear successfully, striking at David's heart.

Even as he spoke, the servants and squires who belonged to David and Alisoun glanced at each other, at their plates, or at the floor. That threatening tone projected well, and everyone understood too well how Osbern's power could be turned against them.

"So many people who depend on you, Sir David." Osbern smoothed Alisoun's hand before she s.n.a.t.c.hed it out of reach. "What would happen to them if you were challenged to combat and you died? What would happen to them if someone discovered that you harbored a fugitive against the rules of G.o.d and king? I shudder to think-"

A dim, solitary figure appeared in the shadowed doorway of the solar, and before Alisoun could move, Philippa spoke. "I'm here, Osbern."

22.

Alisoun jumped to her feet, but Osbern moved more quickly. He shoved his chair back and cried, "Dearest!"

She moved to intercept him, but he jumped the table.

David grasped her arm. "Let him go."

"He'll hurt her."

Osbern reached Philippa and gathered her into his arms.

"He isn't hurting her."

"Not now."

After a brief hesitation, Philippa embraced Osbern and buried her face in his chest.

Guy hurried from his place to their sides. "What's happening?"

"Can't you see?" David asked. "Osbern found his long-lost wife."

"Philippa?" Guy paled. "Philippa is married to that lout?"

David nodded. "So it would appear."

Someone might have been strangling him, so garbled was Guy's voice. "We must rescue her."

"She came out on her own," David said.

"My wife!" Osbern turned Philippa toward the great hall and wiped a tear from his eye. "The wife I thought dead has returned to me. 'Tis a miracle. A miracle!"

Osbern's men cheered and a smile quivered on Philippa's lips.

"That's why he's been talking so loud," Alisoun said. "He knew she was hiding here somewhere."

"Probably." She tried to move toward them again, but David jerked her so hard he bruised her. "But she made her decision."

"Of course she came out." Alisoun could scarcely speak for fear and indignation. "She's my friend, and he threatened us."

"I'm not deaf."

Anguished, Alisoun said, "We can't let him take her."

"She made her decision," David repeated, and he lost patience with her at last. "Do you think we can keep a man from his wife?"

With a groan of defeat, Guy backed away toward the shadows by the stairwell.

David continued relentlessly. "And Osbern's not just any man. He is the king's cousin. He's a great knight."

"He almost killed her."

With gestures and smiles, Osbern indicated his delight in recovering his wife. If Alisoun hadn't known him as a slippery worm, she might have even been convinced.

"If what you told me in the herb garden is true, Philippa is one of the king's heiresses. Osbern wouldn't risk the king's anger by killing her."

"Oh? He'll only beat her senseless, and that's acceptable?" Furious with his stupid, unfeeling logic, Alisoun cried, "And who's going to know if he kills her? Who's going to care? The women all know the truth about Osbern, but the men are too stupid or too unsympathetic to notice."

"Daddy?" Sensitive to the anger and pain in the hall, Bertrade had crept close. "What's wrong? Why are you fighting?"

"We're not fighting, sweetling." David hugged her to his side, but still he kept his grip on Alisoun's arm. "Your new mama is just going to miss her maid, that's all."

"Lady Alisoun..." Edlyn whispered the name as if it were a talisman. No girl who had been betrothed had any business witnessing such a scene, but Alisoun had no tenderness left over with which to comfort her. All Alisoun's emotions bubbled in a brew of anguish for her dear friend Philippa. For the friend she would never see again.

Philippa and Osbern stood before the table, and Philippa said, "Alisoun? I'm going back with him."

Turning to David, Alisoun demanded, "Challenge him."

David flushed ruddy red. "I can't challenge him."

"This is what I hired you for. The time has come to earn your wages. Challenge him."

"It would do no good."

Osbern chuckled, a sound that slipped and congealed and clogged Alisoun's desperation. "Don't you know, my dear? I am the king's new champion."

"What do you mean?" Such a stupid question, but Alisoun couldn't have understood him correctly.

"I mean that your Sir David and I fought before the king, and I defeated Sir David in combat."

It wasn't possible. It simply wasn't possible.

But David shook her arm. "I told you I was defeated. You didn't care. You insisted on hiring me."

"You never told me."

"You didn't identify your enemy. You wouldn't tell me who tormented you. If you had, my lady, I would have spoken at once. My defeat at the hands of the duke of Framlingford is not easily forgotten."

So her clever plan had been doomed from the very beginning, and all because she hadn't investigated properly. She'd fixed her mind on the legendary mercenary Sir David, and now Osbern would take his wife and baby away and no one would fight for her. Helpless rage swelled in Alisoun, and she said to Philippa, "Forgive me."

"There's nothing to forgive," Philippa said. "You sheltered me, but I'm going back with him now."

Osbern gloated. "She loves me, Alisoun."

"I'll be a better wife to him this time," Philippa said hastily.

"You were always a good wife." Alisoun's voice rasped in her throat.

Osbern continued as if the women had never spoken. "I hold no grudge against you, Sir David. I recognize your wife's hand in this, and I'll not bring siege or have the king strip you of the lands for which you labored so desperately-as long as nothing else like this ever happens again."

"That means much to me." David acknowledged Osbern's words as if they were a boon.