“As do I,” Andreas agreed after a moment. “In truth, I miss home when I am away from it overlong, but I would like to spend the afternoon with the lady I saved from Gomorrah. I did promise her entertainment, after all. If you are agreeable, then we can leave on the morrow.”
Will and Tor shrugged in agreement as Theodis smiled wickedly from across the table. The man was oozing lascivious suggestions even if he wasn’t speaking them. Rolling his eyes, Andreas shoved the last of the bread in his mouth and got up from the table.
At dawn, Lothbury House was already busy with preparations for the coming day. Andreas could hear his young cousins upstairs, preparing to come down to the small hall to break their fast. There were four young girls and a new baby, his uncle’s first son. He could hear the girls squealing and the baby crying, and he grinned as he hurried towards the wing of the manse that housed the young men.
His chamber was at the end of the corridor, a small one that overlooked the yard of the manse, the wall, and the street beyond. As he headed towards his room, he caught the attention of a big, sweaty servant who was bringing fresh water to the rooms. Andreas not only wanted the water, he wanted a bath because he smelled like fish guts, so the servant went running for a tub and hot water.
Andreas was fairly certain that Lady Gavriella would not like him to smell like fish guts.
Opening the door to his chamber, he stepped into the cool and dark room. There was a small hearth, but it lay dark and cold, so when the servants began to bring the buckets of hot water along with the tub, he sent them for firewood as well.
Since the room was so small, Andreas stood out in the corridor while the servants prepared his bath and stoked a fire in the hearth. As he stood there wearily, he realized that he was still hungry, having only really left the table because of the way Theodis was looking at him, so he sent for more food which was promptly brought.
With the fire burning in the hearth and a big copper tub half-filled with hot water, Andreas finally chased the servants away and entered his chamber, closing the door and bolting it. His saddlebags were underneath his bed and he pulled them out, slinging them onto the bed. Digging around, he pulled out a razor, soap, and a comb. He put everything onto a table near the tub and begin to peel his smelly clothing off.
Unfortunately, he was wearing a chainmail coat, something that rusted very easily when it was damp. Already, he could see the rust starting and he unbolted the door and tossed it to the big, sweaty servant who was still out in the corridor. He asked the man to have his mail cleaned, closing the door once more and bolting it.
With his protection being tended to, he proceeded to strip off every piece of clothing on his body, including his boots, which smelled horrible at this point. There were some parts of his clothing that were still damp, so he tossed everything into a heap with the intention of having it washed as he sank his big body into the copper tub.
He hissed as he sat down because the water was so hot, but it felt glorious. Picking up the hard white Spanish soap that smelled of mint and rosemary, he proceeded to scrub himself down. Fortunately, the heavy scrubbing eventually got rid of any mildew smell that might have lingered on his body and the scent of peppermint and rosemary filled the air as he washed his hair and face thoroughly. He even shaved, using the surface of the water as a mirror. It was strange, really, wanting to smell good for a woman he had only just met.
A woman with whom he hadn’t had the easiest of beginnings.
But given the conversation with her earlier, things were starting to look up.
The hot bath felt so good that Andreas ended up scrubbing himself a second time, just because he wanted to. Gone was the smell of the river and in its place, he smelled like the wonderful herbs of a garden. He wondered if Lady Gavriella would like the smell and then laughed at himself for being foolish enough to be concerned.
It had been such a long time since he had last spent quality time with a woman that he wondered if he remembered how. He just wasn’t like Theodis, who charmed women from one end of England to the other. He wasn’t like Tor, who also had a fairly decent following of admiring females. Truth be told, there were a few women in the north who were declared Andreas de Wolfe admirers, but he didn’t take pride in that like the others did. It didn’t mean anything to him. As handsome as he was, it was inevitable that he should have a following. Following – aye, but prospects – nay.
Until now.
Well, maybe the lady wasn’t exactly a prospect, but at least someone to spend some time with while he was in London. As Andreas scrubbed his fingernails to get the grime out, he began hoping that their most recent pleasant conversation wasn’t a fluke. He hoped that when he saw her again, they would go right back to that pleasant moment in time and pick up the conversation where they’d let off. He hadn’t felt this way in a very long time, excited to spend time with someone of the opposite sex. Honestly, he couldn’t remember the last time.
But he knew one thing.
He was very much looking forward to this time.
Andreas sat in the water until it cooled and he was forced to get out. His big body was rosy from the hot water and the scrub down, and he dried off with a piece of linen. He ran the damp linen over his hair just to get most of the moisture out before using the comb to run it through his locks. Quite honestly, his hair was so short that he didn’t even know why he bothered, but he hadn’t combed his hair in a very long time. It felt good to rub the tortoise shell teeth along his scalp.
It felt good to get clean, physically and perhaps even mentally.
Now that the bath was over with, he pulled on a pair of linen braies, something he usually traveled with to wear when his usual leather breeches were too heavy or too uncomfortable. Opening the door to the chamber, he called out to the servants to remove the bathtub, and as they came in to heave the cold water away, he had them take away his dirty clothing and boots, too.
Then he sat down at the small table that contained the food and devoured everything that had been brought to him. There was more bread and butter, along with the boiled beef he’d eaten earlier with his cousins and friend. There were stewed apples and little oat cakes with currants in them, and he ate every bit. With the hot bath and warm fire, and now with a full belly, Andreas passed out on his bed like a drunkard and snored the morning away.
When he dreamed, it was of flaxen-haired maidens.
When he finally awoke some time later, it was to a dog barking outside of his window. Startled, he had no idea how long he’d been asleep and sat up quickly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he ran to door and threw it open. He didn’t see anyone right away, but by the time he took a few steps into the corridor, the sweaty servant was there, a tray of food in his hands.
“What time is it?” Andreas demanded.
The servant blinked, surprised by words that came blasting out at him. “Just past the nooning hour, my lord.”
“How far past?”
The servant shrugged nervously. “An hour, mayhap,” he said. “I don’t know, my lord. I will have to find the…”
Andreas waved him off before he could finish. “Never mind,” he said. “Bring my clothes immediately.”
“I’m not sure they’re dried, my lord.”
Andreas was struggling not to blow up at the man. “Then tell either of the de Wolfe brothers that I require their clothing,” he said. “Get what you can from them and hurry or I’ll find you and skin the hide from you. And shoes! I need shoes!”