One Magic Moment(31)
Author: Lynn Kurland

 

He shot her a look before he could stop himself. “I am not a boy.”

 

She smiled. “Well, yes, I’d noticed, but I’m still not going to call you.”

 

“Then I’ll ring you. On Wednesday.”

 

“Fine.”

 

He grasped firmly at the shreds of his good sense, nodded briskly, then turned and walked down her handful of steps. He stopped on the courtyard proper, then turned and looked back up at her.

 

“Unless you’re not doing anything on Friday.” He paused. “This Friday.”

 

“I have a reenactment group coming,” she said. “You’re welcome to come, if you like. If you’re willing to put on tights. And bring a sword.”

 

“Bloody hell, woman,” he said, with no small bit of alarm, “what next? Curly-toed shoes?”

 

“Have any?”

 

“I most certainly do not.”

 

She smiled. “Do you have my number?”

 

“I had it from your sister.” He would have smiled, but he was altogether too unnerved to. “I thought it prudent. And I won’t be using it until next Wednesday.”

 

“I thought you said this Friday.”

 

“Not if tights are involved.”

 

She only smiled faintly.

 

He nodded briskly, then turned and walked away while he still could.

 

Wednesday. He would wait to ring her until Wednesday because any sooner than that was a way in which lay madness. Besides, he had things to do. Important things. Things that made him comfortable and anonymous and nothing out of the ordinary.

 

He could hardly wait to get back to them.

 

He supposed he was very fortunate that Stephen de Piaget wasn’t there to point out to him that he was lying to himself.

 

He put his head down and left the castle whilst he still could.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 9

 

 

 

Tess checked her watch for the dozenth time that day, but time wasn’t moving any more quickly because of it. It was, she could say with absolute certainty, the longest Friday she’d ever spent over the course of her life. She had already trudged through most of the afternoon working with her caterers, though that had perhaps been unnecessary. They knew the drill perfectly. The decorations had been done the previous weekend, so all that had been left for her to do was stand around uselessly, wishing she had something to think about besides what she shouldn’t be.

 

He should have been easily forgotten, that John de Piaget. After all, he spent most of his time trying to get out of having anything to do with her. She fully expected him not to call her before Wednesday at the earliest, which meant she was safe for the next several days. She could forget about him and simply deal with the raucous crew set to arrive within the hour, and the truth was, she was going to have her hands full with them.

 

They had been the first large group she’d handled after she’d taken over the castle. The experience had been a bit like being thrown into the middle of a pitched battle. She’d survived the night, then spent the next day cleaning food off the walls and unearthing undergarments from behind tapestries.

 

When the club president had showed up that afternoon to collect things inadvertently left behind, she’d threatened never to let them through her gates again if she didn’t have an apology letter bearing all their signatures in her hands within the week. Apparently they had enjoyed themselves enough that the embarrassment of obliging her in that had been worth it. The bash she’d thrown for them during the summer had proved to be manageable enough that she’d agreed to an early Christmas party for them.

 

At least there would be enough controlled chaos to keep her mind focused on her work and not on someone she shouldn’t have been thinking about.

 

She wondered if she should have gone to the village earlier, just to pick up a few things at the market. Fortunately, she’d considered the quite likely possibility of running into John, which had seemed dangerous enough that she’d sent Peaches instead, who hadn’t returned with any reports of any John sightings.

 

Tess had been relieved. Obviously he was a man of his word. He had said he wouldn’t call her until the following week, and he’d obviously meant it.

 

She would have walked to the nearest tapestry-encrusted wall and banged her head against it to dislodge her normal good sense, but she’d just redone her hair. No sense in causing any stray curls to escape before the party started.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

She jumped a little, then put her hand over her heart as she turned around to see Peaches standing behind her, wearing a frown. “What do you mean?”

 

“I mean what are you doing? You’re just standing there, holding a pencil.”

 

“I was checking my list,” Tess said weakly.

 

“You’re not holding a list.”

 

Tess realized that was true. She tucked her pencil behind her ear. “It’s in my head.”

 

Peaches reached up and pulled the pencil free. “You’re losing it.”

 

“You know, Peach, I think I just might be.”

 

Peaches looked around the great hall, then back at Tess. “It’s still empty, so why don’t we have a little rest until your guests arrive?”

 

Tess realized that she didn’t have any choice given that Peaches was pulling her toward her solar. First Stephen, then John, then Peaches. If she hadn’t been so overwhelmed, she would have put her foot down. Repeatedly. Which she would do the moment she managed to catch her breath.

 

Peaches sat her down in a chair in front of the fire in her solar, then sat down in the chair facing her. “I haven’t talked to you in almost a week. Why don’t you take this opportunity to spill your guts?”

 

“Do I have to?” Tess asked wearily. “Can’t you guess?”

 

“Probably,” Peaches said, “but I think it would do you good to verbalize it.”

 

“Turning to counseling, now?”

 

“It comes with the territory,” Peaches said dryly. “People tend to let loose while pitching things languishing in the bottom of their sock drawers.”

 

Tess couldn’t help but smile. She opened her mouth to comment only to find she didn’t know where to start.