Page 93 of Feathers in the Wind
Jennifer Jones, a buxom lass of dubious reputation who worked in the dairy, called out to him. “Captain Collyer, if you pull a muscle, come and see me and I’ll rub it for you.”
Luke stopped work and leaned on the handle of the mattock, grinning up at the dairymaid. Using the handle of the mattock as if it were a walking cane, he swept her a courtly blow to which Jennifer Jones responded with a curtsey.
“Ah, the beautiful Mistress Jones. Now you mention it,” Luke said, “I’ve an ache that will need a gentle hand.”
The girls broke into gales of laughter at the ribald exchange between the dairymaid and the soldier. Even Penitence giggled.
Deliverance rounded on her sister. “Penitence!”
She clapped her hands, addressing her errant staff. “All right, enough of your gawping. Get back to your work.”
The girls shot her disappointed glares and giggling into their hands went back to their duties. Luke looked up at Deliverance, his head cocked on one side. As she glared down at him, he put two fingers to his forehead in a mock salute and picked up the mattock. As he swung it, the broad muscles of his chest, peppered with dark hairs, slid beneath his skin. Deliverance turned on her heel and fled.
* * *
Deliverance waitedin the Great Hall for Luke to return to the house. She stopped pacing the floor when she heard Ned Barrett and Luke Collyer’s voices and the sound of the men’s boots on the flagstones behind the screen. She ran her hands down her skirt and straightened.
“Captain Collyer,” she called. “I would appreciate a moment of your time.”
He pushed aside the curtain and crossed the floor toward her, carrying his jacket slung over one shoulder. At least he had put his shirt back on, but it clung damply to the sculpted muscles of his chest and shoulders, the tight whorls of hair on his chest, still damp with the effort of his exertion. She forced herself to look up at his face. A smudge of dirt marred his right cheek and his dark brown hair was thick with dust.
She resisted the temptation to wipe the smudge of dirt away.
“Captain Collyer,” she began, noticing that even to her ears her voice sounded shrill. “That was a disgraceful display this afternoon. I would thank you not to upset my servants in future.”
He bowed in penitence, one hand on his chest, but as he rose his lips twitched and she knew he was mocking her.
“I assure you if I have upset anyone, you have my profuse apologies.”
An uncomfortable heat rose to her cheeks as she continued, “I need hardly remind you, our situation is desperate. We do not have time for frivolity...”
Her diatribe trailed off as she found herself transfixed by his grey eyes. She saw no trace of humour in their icy depths.
He looked down at her, his face grave. “Mistress Felton, it is precisely because of our situation that the occasional frivolity and jesting is called for. Now, if that is all you wish to say to me, I should clean myself up.” His voice held a clipped tone that she’d not heard before and she knew she had pushed him too far.
As he turned and walked back towards the screen where Ned waited, she said, “No, wait... There is something else I wanted to tell you. There was a man on a horse watching us this afternoon. What do you think we should do?”
He turned back to look at her. “Where was this man?”
“In the tree line. I only saw him because the sunlight glinted on something metal. Could it have been one of Farrington’s men?”
“Of course it was.” Luke’s mouth tightened, and he turned to Ned. “Send Hale to me, I want to know why our patrol didn’t see him.”
“What are you going to do?” Deliverance asked.
He scratched his chin and looked up at the dusty beams of the hall. “I think the time has come. I need to see for myself exactly what Sir Richard Farrington is planning.”
“I thought he was in Ludlow,” Deliverance said.
“He is,” Luke replied. “But it’s what he’s doing in Ludlow that interests me.”
“Shall I send our scout again?” Ned asked.
Luke shook his head. “No. I will go myself.”
“Don’t be a fool,” Deliverance scoffed. “You can’t just walk into Ludlow. You would be instantly suspected.”
Luke looked back at her. “Not if I had a woman with me.” He raised an eyebrow, a slow, conspiratorial smile spreading over his face. The grey eyes that only a moment ago had cut her down with the force of cold steel, now rested on her with the warmth of soft smoke. “A woman who had a fancy for a little adventure?”
