An Indecent Betrothal [Book One of the Lady Heloise Adventures]

Chapter Four

Nottingham Castle

One day later.

The clamour of cheers and roars reverberated through the Great Hall, causing dust to fall from the rafters and the musicians to ditch their instruments in disgust. The high table was empty and in the absence of any real authority, the off-duty guards revelled in their new-found freedom. Amongst the ruckus was the increasingly intoxicated Sir Robert, glugging back ale as if it was water. Two guards were arm-wrestling with the other men taking bets. As the defeated guard’s mailed arm hit the wooden table with a loud crash, Robert joined in the further cheers, scooping up his winnings clumsily, silver coins spilling from his hands and landing on the floor.

“Take it,” he bellowed, his cheeks flushed from the drink. “My father can give me more.”

“What’s it like bein’ a noble’s bastard then, FitzHenry?” exclaimed Tomas, a flame-haired local lad who had struck lucky with a post at the castle.

“Like being in stuck in between two loafs of bread,” Robert slurred in reply, raising his cup to a pretty serving woman to fill up. “My father had me educated and trained like any other noble boy but I can’t inherit his lands or marry me a beautiful noble woman.” He winked cheekily at the blushing serving girl. “I can nibble at the crust from both loafs but I can’t have the soft innards.”

“Aye but you lived in a castle,” William, the oldest guard at three-and-forty, growled.

“Not always. My ma raised me when I was a little one. She died when I was small,” Robert blinked, the strong stench of the guards beginning to make his eyes water. “Father sent me to squire and I didn’t live at Malmesbury until I was a man.”

“Still a castle! My ma brought me and my seven brothers up in a hut next to the village dung heap,” Slimy Dan grinned, his scabby face also flushed. “Did ye’ like Malmesbury?”

“It was alright,” Robert shrugged. “It’s my sister’s anyway.”

“Your sister is a little fox. Slimy Dan reckoned she was eyeing him up earlier,” Tomas grinned.

“It’s true! Her eyes were all over me!”

“She was probably hoping your ugliness wasn’t contagious,” William spat grumpily. Robert laughed good-naturedly with the rest of his companions but his hand unintentionally slipped to his smallest scabbard where his dagger resided. Heloise would remain untouched under his care. The thought of Slimy Dan or any of the other foul guards laying even a hand on her made a scarlet haze fall over his eyes and his stomach clench.

“You fought Robin Hood, didn’t you’?” Edmund asked, leaning away from his own group of companions and joining Robert’s. He was the latest addition to the guards, barely sixteen years old. His father had died in the summer, Robert had heard from Tomas, and it was up to him to feed his mother and eleven siblings.

“I did,” he replied, draining his ale from the cup and signalling for more. “He was a hard bugger.” The guards laughed and toasted to that.

“Did he beat you bloody and leave you for dead?” Edmund’s eyes were round with excitement. “Harry heard that he killed you but your sister cast a spell and brought you to life.”

“My sister is not a witch,” Robert hissed as the men fell about in stitches. “I was knocked by the large one from my horse, I wrestled with some of the others and they over-powered me. They took all our stuff and dumped us outside the gates. Tell Harry the truth.” He added bitterly, wishing for more refined company over these fools.

Truthfully, he would have liked to have spent the evening with Heloise. Sitting somewhere quiet and preferably talking. Even with the relapse due to the weather, time was ticking away. Once at Lincoln and married, he would have to leave her. To separate.