Page 67 of A Royal Kiss & Tell
Leo was momentarily silenced because while he’d never forced himself on a woman—the regard had been entirely mutual...or at least that’s what he told himself—he had indeed diddled a servant. He would examine his bad behavior another time. “At least I didn’t buy a servant girl to have at my leisure.”
Behind him, the cook dropped something.
“You shouldn’t be so judgmental,” Henry said. “If you were married to a woman who is either pregnant or tired at every moment of every day, you might sing a different tune.”
“I rather suspect Jacleen is tired, too.” Leo turned his head toward their audience, but this time, he made eye contact with the cook in a desperate bid for her help. But when he turned back to his old friend, Henry had advanced on him, and Leo could see the rage in his eyes. He mentally prepared as best he could to take a hit.
“You’re high and mighty, Leo. Have you forgotten that I saw you with a serving wench in Cambridge? You held her up against the exterior wall of the public house, you may recall.”
“That,” Leo said, holding up a finger, “was different.” And then he’d tried to think how, exactly, it was different.
“At least Jacleen has a roof over her head and food in her belly.”
“How magnanimous of you. What a veritable saint you are, Norfolk.”
Henry’s eyes darkened. He clenched his jaw and said, “You’ll pay the price for this. Your father wants good relations with England, but I can see to it that never happens.”
“I am prepared to pay the price,” Leo said. He glanced quickly over his shoulder, and to his relief, Jacleen had disappeared. Maybe she wasn’t coming back. But then she suddenly reappeared on the periphery of his sight, clutching a small black bag and shaking as if she had the palsy.
“Palda Deo,”he muttered.Thank God.He stepped away from Henry. “Thank you for your kind hospitality, Norfolk. I will see myself out.” And with that, he reached his hand for Jacleen. She was reluctant to take it, so he gestured with his fingers that was what she was to do, then gripped her small hand in his.
Henry made another sound of disbelief, then bellowed, “You can’t just walk out of here with one of my servants!”
“She’s not a servant—she’s a slave,” Leo said.
Henry stepped into Leo’s path.
Leo groaned. “I really rather hoped we might avoid this,” he said, but he knew that he would not avoid what was coming. Henry took a swing and landed it squarely on Leo’s jaw. An explosion of pain blinded him for a moment, but by some miracle, he didn’t topple over.
He let go Jacleen’s hand and swung back, connecting with Henry’s chest, and followed that with a slap upside his head. Henry came at him with both hands, but before he could put them around Leo’s neck, one of the maids raced into the kitchen.
“Your Grace!” she cried, arms flailing. “It’s time!”
Henry did not go to his wife at once but bellowed more things after Leo and Jacleen, mainly about how Leo would never be welcome in Britain again. The poor Weslorian girl was trembling so hard that he worried she’d collapse. But then Henry had seemed to decide he best go meet his child, and the bellowing ceased.
Leo hurried down a very long hall until Jacleen asked in a voice scarcely above a whisper if he meant to go out, for he was going deeper into the castle. “Then if you would be so kind as to direct me to the service entrance,” he said. Jacleen pointed in the direction they’d come. Which meant they needed to retrace their steps through the kitchen. With a groan, Leo pulled her along behind him. He avoided eye contact with the cook, who was, oddly enough, still standing in the very spot they’d left her.
At last they emerged from the castle into a service courtyard, and there, just as he knew they would be, were Kadro and Artur. They were on horseback, and in between them was a saddled horse without a rider.
And quite unexpectedly, there was also a young lad. He spoke to Jacleen in Weslorian, and she turned a panicked look to Leo. “My brother.”
“Yourbrother?”
Before he could think what to do, a sudden burst from the kitchen door startled them all. It was the footman who had witnessed the altercation in the kitchen. He had a cloth bundle of some sort, which he tossed to the boy. To Jacleen, he said, “Godspeed,” and disappeared back inside.
None of this was in Leo’s plans. He didn’t reallyhaveplans, but this was not what he’d anticipated, and it produced such anxiety in him that he thought his heart might give out. But there was no time to wait for that. They had to move. Kadro and Artur had not expected Jacleen or the boy, but when Leo told Kadro to put her before him in the saddle, he did as he was commanded without question. Artur lifted the lad up behind him, and Leo took the third horse.
Leo did not miss the look shared between his two loyal guards. They thought the worst of him, he supposed. He could hardly blame them. Through the years, they’d had to peel him up off floors and drag him out of beds. They knew what sort of sot he was on a normal day and no doubt they thought this was a drunken shenanigan.
But today was not a normal day. On the one end of it, he’d had those few stolen moments with Caroline that still lingered in his blood. On the other end of it, he had a frightened Weslorian girland her brother,who surely thought they were being dragged off to an even worse situation. And in between those ends, he’d hardly had a drop.
He took Jacleen and her brother to Cressidian.
Cressidian met him at the door of his house in a dressing gown. He took one look at Jacleen, and then the lad, and said to Leo, “That’s three now, Highness.”
“I realize this is an imposition, sir, but I—”
Cressidian interrupted him by throwing his hand up and pointing down the hall.“Go,”he said to Jacleen and her brother.
