Page 25 of Historical Hotties
“They are the most magnificent eyes I have ever seen.”
Her gaze lingered on him a moment and he swore he could see the flicker of longing in them. Perhaps she wanted to believe him.
Perhaps she was afraid to.
Somehow, that made sense to him. He was coming to think that if the only reaction or reference she’d ever had to her beauty were the nasty comments of petty women like Amata de Branton, then surely she wasn’t used to someone telling her that anything about her face was magnificent.
But it was.
In truth, he felt rather sorry for her.
“Lady Dacia?”
They both heard the voice, standing up from the bench in time to see Darian coming through the kitchen door. He was looking over the yard but quickly noticed Dacia and Cassius over by the buttery. He headed in her direction, hardly giving Cassius a second look.
“My lady, forgive me,” he said. “Old Timeo is at the gatehouse asking for you. It seems that his wife has grown worse and now their daughter is ill as well. He has asked for your help.”
Dacia was on the move. “I thought the woman was doing much better.”
“Evidently not.”
“I need my medicament bag.”
“I’ve already sent a servant for that and a cloak.”
Dacia wasn’t thinking about anything but what lay ahead at that point. The conversation with Cassius was forgotten. Darian was behind her and Cassius was further back, bringing up the rear, but Dacia forgot herself completely and dropped the apron the moment she came through the kitchen door. She was so usedto moving freely around Darian that it didn’t even occur to her not to keep the apron over her face.
She was completely focused on the task ahead.
“Make sure Edie knows that I am going,” she said, turning briefly to Darian. “She will have to ensure the comfort of our guests while I am gone.”
“Aye, my lady,” Darian said. “And I will ride with you, but I do not want to take any of the other knights. Given the issues we’ve had lately with Hagg, I am uncomfortable giving you more than one knight for an escort. This could be a ruse, you know.”
Dacia came to a halt and turned to Darian in the shadowed light of the kitchen. “Old Timeo a ruse?” she said, aghast. “That old man is as loyal to Doncaster as much as you or I are. He would never let Catesby Hagg use him so.”
“Unless he threatened the man’s family.”
She threw up her hands. “Then if you believe that, why let me go at all?” she demanded unhappily. “He could be waiting for me at Timeo’s home.”
Darian eyed her. “That is possible,” he said. Then, he turned to Cassius, who was still standing back by the kitchen door. “My lord, may I ask you to ride with me to escort the lady? We can leave your knights here at Doncaster in case this is a ruse.”
Cassius came closer, interested in what Darian de Lohr was saying, but more interested in the fact that Dacia had dropped the apron from her face. In all of the fuss with the subject of Old Timeo and his ill family, she seemed to have forgotten the defenses she’d so carefully held up. Her face was now exposed to the dim light of the kitchen.
And what a face it was.
Magnificent didn’t quite cover it.
She had freckles, that was true. A fairly heavy dusting covered her nose, her cheeks, and she even had a few down around her mouth. They weren’t even very dark in coloringand nothing, in his opinion, that needed to be covered up. No amount of freckles could take away from her sweetly oval face, a nose that was a little wide, and lips that could only be described as lush and bow-shaped. With her dark, arched brows, brilliant eyes and dark hair, he was smitten by what he saw. Perhaps she wasn’t the pale, fragile beauty that was the romantic ideal to some men, but if one took time to really look beneath the freckles, she was something astonishing.
For a moment, he was actually speechless, but for necessity’s sake, he quickly recovered.
“What ruse do you speak of?” he asked, focusing on Darian. “Is Doncaster having trouble the king is unaware of?”
Darian sighed heavily. “Some,” he said, unaware that Cassius was studying Dacia closely. “He hasn’t wanted Edward to know. He believes it will resolve itself.”
“Whatwill resolve itself?”
Darian’s gaze lingered on the king’s Lord Protector. The House of de Lohr and the House of de Wolfe were family because Cassius’ cousin, William de Wolfe, had married Darian’s cousin, Lily. Although he didn’t know Cassius well, he had met him a few times in the course of his duties with Doncaster and knew that Cassius was one of the most elite knights in England.
