‘Oh, I see. Well, do not worry, general. I am sure if I attack you your guards would swiftly come to your aid.’
Gaise sighed. He noticed both soldiers struggling not to smile. ‘Very well, lady.’ Turning to Taybard he said: ‘If I call for help come running.’
‘We’ll be there in a heartbeat, sir.’
Despite her apparent confidence Cordelia Lowen felt confused and uncertain. Her normally rational mind had been in turmoil since the meeting with Gaise Macon at the mayor’s gathering. It was most unsettling. She could not seem to push him from her thoughts. She kept picturing those strange eyes, of gold and green, and his quick nervous smile.
For most of the day she had found herself thinking of him, and had managed to convince herself that it was concern for his safety that was unsettling her. After all, he was a servant of the king, and if danger loomed it was her bounden duty to assist.
Now, as he led her into the little house, she knew this was only partly true. At nineteen Cordelia Lowen was no stranger to the exquisite joys of physical attraction. There had been young officers whose presence quickened her blood, and handsome men who caused thoughts which were quite wicked. No-one, however, had come close to affecting her in the same manner as this young nobleman. The thought that she would leave tomorrow and perhaps never see him again was truly ghastly.
‘There is a kettle somewhere,’ she heard him say.
‘Pray do not concern yourself with tisane, general. I was only teasing. Might I sit by your fire?’
‘Of course. May I take your coat?’
‘It is a little unconventional for a single woman to enter the home of a bachelor,’ she said. ‘It would be considered even more unseemly were she to undress there.’
‘Yes, indeed. Would you object if I removed mine? It seems uncommonly hot.’
She laughed then at his discomfort. ‘Ah, to the Void with convention,’ she said, unbuttoning her jacket and removing it. Beneath it she wore a shirt of heavy silk, and a brocaded riding waistcoat of shimmering green. Gaise took the jacket from her, and hung it on a hook by the door.
‘I understand you are leaving early tomorrow,’ he said. ‘Do you yet know your destination?’
‘Father says we have been allocated a house in Lincster.’
‘That’s only four miles away,’ said Gaise, surprised.
‘I know,’ she said, her good mood fading as she recalled the reason for her visit. ‘It is one of the matters I wished to discuss with you.’
‘It makes no sense.’
‘My father is frightened, General Macon. I have never seen him frightened before. It is most unsettling. He is talking of leaving the army. Even of going to our estates near Stone. I spoke to him this afternoon and . . . your name just happened to come up. He warned me not to become fond of you. My impression was that he believes something is going to happen here.’
‘I think so,’ he said, with a sigh. ‘All powder and supplies have been removed, and this afternoon they even tried to remove our mounts. We are isolated here. If Luden Macks were to attack we’d be sorely tested.’
‘I don’t believe Luden Macks is the problem, general.’
He looked at her and said nothing. She found herself reddening under his gaze. ‘I know my father well, and what I see in him is not just fear. I think he is ashamed. You have powerful enemies, general. I think they mean to bring you harm.’
‘The thought has crossed my mind,’ he admitted, with a wry smile. ‘They have tried to kill me twice now. I’m sure a third attempt will come in due course.’
Then why do you stay?’
‘A good question, lady. Honour. Duty. I am a king’s man. I have pledged myself and my men to his service. I cannot just ride away. That would make me an oath-breaker and bring shame upon my family.’
‘Shame upon the Moidart? Now that is a novel idea.’
‘He and I have never been close,’ he said, a touch of ice in his voice. ‘Yet still he is my father and I will not hear him slighted.’