The Falls of Erith by Kathryn Le Veque Page B

to
the rescue.  With the cloak fastened, Brooke put the hood on her head and
skipped about the room in delight.
    Gray
watched her daughter joyfully parade around.  It only reminded her that she had
never been able to provide her daughter with such comfort. Brooke had never
even seen a fur-lined cloak, much less owned one.  The sight brought tears to
her eyes. She looked at Braxton.
    “My
lord,” her voice was choked. “Your thoughtfulness, as always, is beyond words,
but these items must have cost you a fortune. I cannot… that is to say, I could
never repay you for these, and all of the hospitality in the world would not do
just compensation.”
    He
gazed down at her, the blue-green eyes gleaming.  “Standing here with you is
enough compensation for a thousand such things.” When she struggled to blink
away the tears, he tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow. “Walk with me,
madam. Please.”
    Dumbly,
she followed him from the hall. Behind them, Brooke was still crowing about her
cloak. It made Braxton smile to hear the girl’s excitement.  He took Gray out
of the keep, down the repaired steps, and into the bailey.  She kept her head
down, struggling not to let loose with an emotional display, as he led her from
the fortress and out into the green Cumbrian landscape beyond. The pace was
slow, giving her time to compose herself.
    “Now,”
he said quietly. “Before you become angry with me for the gifts I have brought,
you should know that I did it for purely selfish reasons.”
    She
looked up at him, her pretty amber eyes glistening with moisture. “Selfish?”
    “Aye,”
he said. “I am hoping to bribe you.”
    Her
expression turned dubious. “Bribe me? For what?”
    He
came to a halt, facing her in the light of the setting sun. She was an
astoundingly gorgeous creature. “Because I want you to allow me to do good
things for you, madam.”
    “I
do not understand.”
    Her
hand was still tucked into the crook of his elbow. He took it in his ungloved
hand, holding it sweetly. “I have done much in my life that was perhaps not so
good. I have killed because men have paid me to kill. I stopped going to
confession long ago because the priests said I could never do enough penance to
make up for the evils I have done.  So I was hoping… nay, I was praying that
you would allow me to do good things for you in the hope that it might make up
for the wrongs I have done.  You look as if you could use good deeds. And I
have done many wrongs, madam. Many indeed.”
    Her
tears had stopped. A look of serenity came over her face, illuminated by the
glow of the dying sun. “You have been overwhelmingly good to me and my family
since we met you, my lord,” she said softly. “I cannot imagine you committing
horrible deeds. You seem the essence of knightly chivalry, for certainly, you
have done more for me in two days than any one person has done for me over a
life time.”
     
His smile returned.  “It is not something that comes easily to me, I assure
you.  But it was a strange day when I met you in the trees.”
    “What
do you mean?”
    He
shrugged. “Simply that I wasn’t supposed to be there,” he replied. “My men and
I were due in Kendal that very day but we veered off track chasing a hefty
buck. It was the same buck that we ate that night at Erith.  That animal took
several arrows and still refused to fall, so we chased it. It didn’t fall until
right before I heard your screams.  And then I followed your cries and found
you.”
    She
smiled timidly. “A fortuitous coincidence, my lord.”
    He
shook his head. “’Tis more than that. It was as if… almost as if I was meant to
find you there. As if I was meant to save Brooke. I cannot explain it any more
than that.”
    Gray
wasn’t quite sure how to answer him.  Their eyes met and she looked away,
smiling bashfully.  Never in her life had she met a man who had even said the
remotest kind word to her. She did not know how to