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"Well That ell," Hughhis head, he turned and moved back to mount his horse It was only a matter of ," the other man commented as they headed back toward the keep

"Nay"

"She seelare on hi at his lips "Well, at least she did not burst into tears and hysterics"

"Aye," Hugh agreed on a sigh "There is that"

They rode in silence for a moment, then Lucan commented, "I noticed back at the field that she speaks well for a village brat"

Hugh frowned at the other man&039;s words He hadn&039;t noticed, but, in retrospect, he realized that she had spoken well She had the pronunciation and diction of a lady That bothered hied it away "Even the lowest-born serving wench can speak well if trained to do so"

"Aye But then who trained her?"

"Not the hag That is certain" Hugh really had no desire to think about the girl and theher He had wanted to be diplos But he had botched the job horribly Calling her a bastard to her face had been the action of a loutish ass, he thought with disgust Then, because it was not in his nature to agonize over things that could not be undone, he reminded hiently offered, rejection was painful He knew that well from his experiences over the years since his father had lost the family fortune He was sorry to have visited that pain on Willa, but the fault for it really lay with his diabolical dead uncle

"The old bastard"

"What was that?" Lucan asked

"Nothing Let us hie back to Hillcrest ere the men drink all the ale"

"What does it say?" Willa asked unhappily She paused to peer over Eada&039;s shoulder The wo as she could recall had pressed aof Dulonget&039;s rejection Now, she sat reading the dregs at the bottom of the cup with concentration Willa leaned closer to peer at the bits of sedi of the random shapes they seemed to form She didn&039;t understand how Eada could But she did And the old woht Until now

Eada had said that Willa would et and come to love him She had said that they would have many children and much happiness It now appeared that would not be the case Not if he had any say in the"Same as ever You shall marry the earl as the old earl wished"

Willato sort it out She was quite sure that Hugh Dulonget truly had no intention of e his h may die and another become earl and marry et is the earl you will marry The nodcock," Eada added under her breath Willa heard the insult, but let it pass without co very charitable toward theit terribly difficult to love the arrogant lout How dare he think her beneath him! As her betrothed it was as much his duty to love her as it was hers to love hi warrior&039;s body and deep silky voice and announced that she was beneath hiue drew Willa fros of wine again "Nay He will not die At least, not ere the wedding"

Willa stilled at this news "What does that mean? He will die after we are wed? But you said - "

"There are forces at work here So themselves known," Eada explained cal he lives afterward depends on you"

"Me?"

"Aye On whether ye give in immediately when he returns to announce his decision to marry ye, or whether ye wait"

"Wait? For what?"

"Ye must wait for him to crawl to ye on his belly"

Willa&039;s eyes widened incredulously at this news "Never He shall never crawl on his belly to me or anyone else He has too much pride"

"He&039;ll crawl," Eada announced firmly "And ye must not accept him to husband until he does, else ye&039;ll lose him ere the next full h halted in the keep doorway, eyes widening as he took in the tall, thin forhbor Realizing that he was standing there looking as taken aback as he felt, he forced hi to thethere "A drink, Lord Wynekyn?"

"Aye, fine, that would do me well Your servant offered me some when I first arrived, but I decided to await your return"

Nodding, Hugh began to pour three one to the cottage How did you find Willa? She was pale and thin when last I saw her, but then she was suffering frorief over the loss of your uncle"

Dark ale splashed onto the scarred surface of the wooden table as those words struck Hugh Cursing his own cluhtened slowly and turned to hold it out to Wynekyn

"You know the girl?" he asked carefully as Lucan stepped forward to take the drink Hugh now pushed along the table in his direction

"Oh, aye" Wynekyn sentle fondness "I have known Lady Willa since her birth"

"I see" Hugh pursed his lips, wondering how to infor the chit Wynekyn wouldn&039;t approve, of course After all, it had been the earl&039;s dying wish Hugh was still considering this when Lucan, who apparently had been paying more attention to Wynekyn&039;s words than himself, murmured, "You refer to her as Lady Willa?"

"Aye Did you not know she was of nobility?" Wynekyn appeared startled at the possibility

"Nay I thought - " Hugh&039;s gaze slid to Lucan

"Surely, you did not think your uncle would uiltily, Lord Wynekyn shook his head "You should have known better" He frowned at theed his irritation away and set his drink down as he asked, "I take it all is well and you have no objection to aze on his ale as he set it down "What if I did?"

"Well - " The h would dare to refuse "Well then, you would inherit the title and this castle by right of prio to another That would be Now, let er to his chin, tilted his head upward and pondered the ain the title and estate but not the funds to run it? Dear God! Feeling dizzy, Hugh dropped weakly onto the bench That was like giving a penniless man a horse, but no food to feed it It was autuained fro, along with the fact that his uncle had fallen ill ere buying those extra provisions the castle inhabitants would need to keep body and soul together through the winter Hugh hadn&039;t been concerned at the tih But that hen he&039;d thought the fat coffers in the storeroom were his If he did not marry Willa, they were not

Dear God! No wonder she&039;d rebuffed his offer of a dowry and clai from him She really did not But he needed her, he realized faintly, then glanced up when Wynekyn gave an exclamation of success "Ah, ha! I believe &039;twould be your cousin, Jollivet"

"Speak of the devil!"

All threeunder the weight of their surprised eyes, he grinned, then raised his hands to pose palms upward and finished, "And he shall surely appear"

"Speak of the devil indeed," Hugh grureat hall, shastly news about Uncle dear and flew here on er to presentbefore them, he waved his arms expansively and struck another pose "Ta da Here I aulped soreement, then addressed his cousin "Sit down, Jollivet, or better yet, go outside and chase the stable boy about We are discussing business here"

"So I heard," he rejoined cheerfully He poured hi of ale, then ly close to his irritated cousin Ignoring the warrior&039;s i bandied about?"

"I was just telling Hugh - " Wynekyn began, only to be rudely interrupted

"We were just discussing who should be invited to lance He had no intention of letting his cousin ever sniff out the fact that there was a possibility of hisclothes and jewels he could not afford to i Willa would gain hiown right off her to see it done And recalling her wounded expression earlier that day, Hugh suspected that Willa would be susceptible to such charm just now In fact, there was a distinct possibility that she h he hadn&039;t realized that his uncle had settled his wealth on the girl, she obviously had She would know there were any number of lords ould overlook her questionable birth for her dowry Her looks would not hurt, either

"Wedding?" Jollivet looked stunned "Who would marry you?"

"Lady Willa," Wynekyn answered