“What is this?” Axia asked, staring at a pretty little mare that was fitted with a saddle and loaded with leather bags full of goods.
“That is a horse,” Jamie said without looking up. “Have you not seen one before?”
Axia was nearly as tired as Jamie and not about to put up with his bad temper. “I know what it is, but who is to ride it?” Her face brightened. “Tode will come with us after all!”
“Axia, I do not have time for this. We must ride. Now get on that horse and let us go. There might be news of Frances awaiting me at my uncle’s.”
When Axia didn’t move, he stopped tying things onto his horse and looked at her. “What is wrong now?”
She gave him a weak smile. “I have never been on a horse before. Not alone anyway.”
“Never … ?” he began, then shook his head. “Pretend you want to sell it and the buyer wants to see that it is docile, so it is up to you to demonstrate it.”
Axia didn’t smile at that but nodded, turned toward the horse, then turned back again to Jamie.
“And what is it now?”
“Tode,” she said softly. “I have never been without Tode before. He—he takes care of me. Could he not come with us?”
Jamie felt an emotion run through him that he’d never felt before. Of course, he told himself, he was tired and under strain, so he was bound to feel things that under normal circumstances he would not—He didn’t want to think anymore, so he picked Axia up and dropped her into the saddle, then handed her the reins.
“Chairs are not as safe as this horse. Now throw your leg over and follow me.” He had not given her a woman’s saddle, as he’d realized that she might not know much about riding. With a man’s saddle, she would be able to balance easier.
When she was atop the horse, she looked down at him with big eyes that seemed to say, Don’t leave me! In spite of himself, Jamie liked that look. And he liked the fact that on this journey she would be dependent on him and him alone. He put his hand on her calf, hidden under layers of skirts. “I will take care of you, Axia. I swear it.” When she still looked doubtful, he grinned. “Seize the day,” he said, “and today you get to ride a horse.”
For just a bit of a second, she looked frightened, then she put her chin in the air. “If you can do it, so can I. And did you pack my paints?”
“No,” he said, smiling as he mounted his horse. “No pens or ink or paints or paper and no Tode. It is just you and me and the stars.” With that he nudged his horse forward and she followed him.
Chapter 20
I hate this animal. I hate it. I hate it,” Axia was saying through teeth clenched so tightly her jaws hurt. But her jaws weren’t the only thing that hurt. Every muscle, bone, and nerve in her body cried out in pain.
“Stop complaining and get down,” Jamie said, looking up at her. He had led her to an inn, pulling their horses to a halt before the Golden Goose, and was now waiting for her to dismount.
All day they had been riding. A day that was to Axia the longest in her life. The insides of her thighs were raw, and the muscles of her legs screamed in pain. And the rest of her felt shattered from hours of constant jarring.
“These animals were not created by God,” she told Jamie. “The devil made them. They are meant to destroy mankind.” As though the pretty little mare heard her, she turned baleful eyes up at Axia. Axia, however, was completely hard hearted and would have sneered, but her face hurt too much to move it.
“Axia, I am tired,” Jamie said. “I haven’t slept in days; I haven’t eaten in many hours. Have some mercy on me and get down.”
Axia looked at him in disgust. “I cannot. I cannot move any muscle on my body. They are all frozen into place.”
Jamie ran his hand over his eyes. For the life of him he could not now remember why he had insisted that she come with him. He held up his arms to her. “Then fall onto me, and I will catch you.”
“I cannot,” she whispered, and Jamie saw that she was serious.
Maybe his heart should have gone out to her, but he was too worried and too tired. Reaching up as far as he could, he caught her about the waist and pulled. When she didn’t budge, he released her, then went to the other side of the horse and removed her foot from the stirrup. But when he moved her, as far as he could tell, her body was entirely rigid; she didn’t bend at all.
Since he had spent most of his life on a horse, Jamie hadn’t thought much about riding, but now that he thought on it, he had been gradually introduced to the saddle. Maybe it was too much to spend twelve straight hours in the saddle on the first time out.
When Jamie pried Axia’s hands loose from the reins and saw that they were indeed frozen into place, he did feel a bit of sympathy for her. He had to hand it to her though: she’d not complained once all day. Except maybe to tell him in detail how much she hated horses. But he hadn’t paid much attention to that, as his only goal had been to get to his uncle’s house and find out what he could about Frances.
After Jamie had freed both of Axia’s feet and her hands, he again put his hands about her waist and pulled. But since her legs didn’t bend, she still didn’t come off the horse.
“Could I give you a hand?” asked a fat, red-faced man who was probably the owner of the inn.
“Please,” Jamie said, glancing up at Axia, but she was staring at the sign hanging over the inn with absolute fascination. If her face hadn’t been crimson with embarrassment, Jamie would have thought she wanted to start painting public house signs.
On the opposite side of the horse, the tavern keeper put his hands under Axia’s foot and pushed as Jamie pulled her from the other side. As though her legs were a dowsing wand, Axia’s legs stayed rigid and as far apart as the width of the horse.
Holding her about the waist, her legs immobile, Jamie found that he couldn’t pull her completely off the horse. “Er, ah,” he said to the man on the other side. His battle training had not prepared him for this situation. “Perhaps if you gave the horse a bit of a nudge,” he suggested.
“Ah, yes, of course,” the man said, trying to keep his face serious, but his eyes were filled with merriment. Going to the front of the horse, he took the reins and led it out from between Axia’s unbending legs.
But when he saw Jamie’s look as he held Axia aloft, her legs wide apart under her skirts, looking like the fork of a tree, he could no longer retain his laughter. With his hand over his mouth, the man disappeared into the tavern.
Jamie wasn’t sure what to do with her. He couldn’t very well stand her upright, as there had to be nearly three feet of space between her feet.
“Perhaps you’d like to sit down?” he suggested.
“I’m too sore,” Axia said. “The backside of me is sore, the inside of me is sore. All of me is sore.”
“Yes, but—” he began, then realized that they couldn’t stand there like that the rest of the day. With a quick toss, he threw her across his shoulder, ran his hands down her legs, and began to push them together.
It was a harder task than he would have imagined, and by the time he reached her ankles, he was glad she was short and his arms were long or he would never have reached them. With a hand on each ankle, he pushed, and it was rather like trying to get the blades of a large, strong, and very rusty pair of scissors to meet. And the fact that Axia was whimpering in pain did not help the matter.
But through strength and perseverance, Jamie was at last able to succeed, and finally, Axia’s feet came together.
Still holding her over his shoulder, he let her rest a moment before he slid her down his body and stood her in front of him. But the moment he released her, her legs started to collapse under her.
Holding her gently by the shoulders, he pulled her upright. “Come on, imp. Seize the day, remember?”
She gave him a hard look. “I would like to seize that horse and slit its throat. I would like to seize—”
Companionably, Jamie put his arm around her and led her into the inn, supporting
a great deal of her weight with his own body as her legs were by no means fully functioning.
Inside the inn, there were four tables, three of them full of other customers, but in the corner was one unoccupied table, and the owner had placed three cushions on top of a hard wooden bench.
When Axia saw the cushions, tears came to her eyes, and she whispered, “I love you,” to the man, who beamed in pleasure.
At that Jamie gave her a rather hard push to sit down and stop flirting.
Once seated, Axia put her head down on the table and promptly went to sleep. She didn’t awake until the smell of food surrounded her, at which time she had to wake Jamie and tell him to eat, for he had dropped his head back against the bench and was as sound asleep as she had been.
“Eat this,” she said, shoving a pewter trencher full of food toward him.
But he just reached for the mug of ale and downed it.
“Travelers, are you?” the owner asked, his eyes twinkling every time he looked at Axia. He looked at Jamie, whose eyes were half closed in fatigue. “You and the lady be wantin’ a room for the night?”
“Yes, oh yes,” Axia said eagerly. “Something soft with sheets, and oh yes, flat. Very, very flat. I want a very flat bed.”
The man chuckled. “The flattest beds in all of England. And they don’t move unless you make ’em move,” he said, winking at Axia and was pleased when she blushed prettily.
“Then we shall take your finest room,” she said happily.
Jamie wanted to go on traveling until they reached his uncle’s, but he knew he couldn’t. The way he felt now, he would be no help to Frances or to anyone else. He’d thought to get to his uncle’s house by tonight, but all day he’d been aware that Axia was having trouble holding onto the horse, so he’d slowed for her. As a result, they still had half a day’s ride ahead of them. After what had happened when he’d tried to pull her off the horse, he could not be so cruel as to make her get back onto the creature again so soon.
“Two rooms,” he said to the innkeeper. “We will need two rooms.”
“He snores,” Axia said quickly, for some reason not wanting anyone to know that she and Jamie were not married. “No one can be in the same room with him.” There was a man at one of the other tables who had turned to look at her when Jamie said they were to have two rooms, and he was still staring at her.
“Only have one room,” the owner said to Jamie, “unless you want to sleep in the stables. You won’t disturb the horses.”
Jamie, who had woken up enough to turn to the food before him, had also seen the man staring at Axia, but he gave no indication of it. “It looks as though tonight, dear, you are going to have to endure my snores.”
“Oh?” Axia said with interest, then caught herself as she looked up at the innkeeper. “I guess it cannot be helped. Endure I must.”
Shaking his head, the innkeeper went back to the kitchen. He thought Axia was a nice handful, and he would keep her in his room no matter how much she complained about his snoring.
Axia was beginning to feel better now that she was no longer on that cursed animal, and she found that she was ravenous. Tearing off a hunk of tender beef, she chewed, all the while looking at Jamie.
“And what is on that devious little mind of yours?” he asked, not even turning to look at her.
“Nothing at all. Do you snore?”
Turning, he looked at her in a way that made her feel quite warm. “No one has complained yet.”
“Jamie,” she said, leaning toward him, but he looked back at his dinner.
“Do not say it,” he whispered, making Axia sigh and give her attention to the food.
It was two hours later, alone in their room that Axia found out that Jamie meant to sleep on the floor while she took the rather narrow bed.
Jamie had given her time for privacy so she could undress and get into bed, but now he stood in the middle of the room, peeling off his clothes and carefully draping them across a chair. “Axia, you are in a marriageable state, and I plan to leave you as I found you. I plan to deliver you to your guardian as you were delivered to me. I do not seduce girls who have been put under my care.”
“Except Frances. Her you cannot keep your hands off of.”
“I never so much as touched her as I am sure you well know.”
“But you want to, don’t you?”
Jamie sat down on the chair to remove his leggings. “Are you jealous?”
“No, of course not. I have never been jealous of Frances.”
Turning away from him, she put her hands behind her head. “I was merely curious, ’tis all. Someday I shall have a husband, and I would like to know what to expect.” She looked back at him. “Is it wonderful?” As she asked the question, her mind filled with memories of her night with Jamie, his arms about her, his lips on her body.
Please remember me, she wanted to say. Remember that I am the woman you made love to. Or was that night no different from a thousand others, and so it meant nothing to you?
“Do not look at me like that, Axia,” Jamie whispered.
“Like what?” she said, and all her thoughts were in her voice.
For a moment, Jamie closed his eyes as though he were trying to gather his strength. “Axia, I am only human and you are …”
“What am I, Jamie?”
“Beautiful,” he said, then snatched a blanket from the bed, tossed it to the floor, and, like the soldier he was, rolled himself in it and turned away from her.
For several minutes, Axia lay staring up at the ceiling and smiling. “Beautiful,” she whispered. She wanted to stay that way forever, dreamy, enjoying what had just been said to her, feeling how nice it was to hear Jamie’s soft breathing so near her. He did not snore, she thought, smiling to herself. But then she wasn’t sure she’d mind if he did.
Moments later she was asleep.
“Please, Jamie,” she said, looking up at him with big eyes. “Please.” They were sitting in the dining room of the tavern, an enormous breakfast spread before them.
“Do not look at me like that and do not call me Jamie like that.”
“Do not call you Jamie? Oh, so now I am to call you Lord Jamie? After we spent the night together?”
That made him laugh as she’d meant it to. “You know very well that I never touched you, in spite of you, daughter of Eve, trying to entice me into your bed.”
“I did no such thing!” she sputtered. “I merely asked you some questions.”
“Mmmm. Now eat, so we can go.”
“I’m not going to get on that creature-from-hell again,” she said stubbornly.
“You are going to ride. You’ll find that you’re not nearly as sore as you—” He couldn’t finish that sentence with a straight face because he’d had to help her down the stairs this morning, and she’d groaned with every step. “Well, it’s not far now, and you will love my aunt. She will take very good care of you.”
“I want to go with you.”
“We have been through this six times this morning. You cannot travel with me as I do not know where I am going. All I know is that a message is to be sent to me at my uncle’s house, and I will then be told who has Frances and how much money is wanted for her. At that time I will go wherever I must.”
“Without me,” Axia said sulkily.
“Yes. Without you.” He put his hand on hers. “You will be happy there. My aunt is lovely. She will—will entertain you. You can draw pictures for her.”
“Strangers. They are strangers to me. Why can’t I go with you? Frances is my cousin, remember.”
“Axia, listen, I will have to move fast. You can’t stay on a horse, and most of all, this may be dangerous. Whoever has Frances may—” Looking away, he didn’t want to think on that. “This will be no place for you. You will be a hindrance.”
Axia toyed with the food on her plate. She hated the idea of being left behind, surrounded by strangers. Alone among strangers—it was her worst nightmare. And, truthfully,
she hated the idea of being separated from Jamie. First losing Tode and now Jamie. She had not known Jamie for long, but now, sneaking a look at him while he ate, he seemed to have always been with her.
“Eat!” he commanded.
Axia started to say something, but a man’s voice interrupted her. “It is you,” the man said, looking at Jamie. “I thought it was last night, but I wasn’t sure.”
“And who may I ask do you think I am?” Jamie asked as he took a drink of his ale.
“The man on the wagon. The dragonslayer.”
Jamie nearly choked. “You’ve seen the wagon?” he gasped out. “When? Where?”
“Heading due south.”
“But that can’t be,” he said. “I was told—” With a quick glance at Axia, he saw that she was thinking what he was. Lies. The message had said Jamie was to go west to his uncle’s and wait there, but if the wagon was going south, they were getting farther away from it, not closer.
“Did you see who was driving it?” Jamie asked.
“Sure. A big man. And the woman was with him, you know, the lovely woman on the wagon. We were laughing because the man was no looker, but in the painting he’d been made handsome. That was the best painting I ever saw, and do you know that the lady herself painted it? She told us all about how she painted it.”
“I painted that wagon,” Axia said. “Frances couldn’t—”
Jamie put a strong hand on her shoulder, and painfully, Axia sat back down.
“We have been searching for those people,” Jamie said quietly, “and we’d appreciate whatever you could tell us.”
“You really did paint that wagon?” the man asked, looking at Axia.
Jamie took a deep breath. “She will draw a portrait of you and your friend if you will tell me all you know.” When the man kept looking at Axia, Jamie added, “As a knight. She’ll draw you as a knight in full armor.”
“Saw it two days ago,” the man said quickly. “It must be long gone by now.”
“What of the woman? Was she well? Unhurt in any way?”