Page 286 of Historical Hotties
“What is it?”
“Let me ask you a question first,” he said, propping himself up on one elbow. “You are the last de Wylde, correct?”
“Aye,” she said. “For the Tamworth branch of the family. There are others, but they are not nearly as important socially asmy father was. I am the last of the Ceowulf branch of the House of de Wylde.”
“A very old and very prestigious name.”
“It is,” she said. “But that happens sometimes. Old families die out, or at least the males who bear the name do. My daughters are de Tosni, but they bear de Wylde blood.”
“What would you say if I wanted to take the de Wylde name?”
She looked him in shock. “What?” she gasped, sitting up. “Why would you do that?”
He sat up alongside her. “It is not unusual for a man, from a family of lesser nobility, to take the name of his wife if she is of a higher social station,” he said. “It has happened before, many times. If I take the de Wylde name, our sons will be de Wylde. The line will continue through them. Tamworth has belonged to de Wylde for hundreds of years until now. Until me. I do not wish to break that continuity.”
She could see that he was very serious, and it touched her deeply. “Oh… Thor,” she breathed, reaching out to cup his face. “What a remarkable thing for you to consider. But what on earth will your father say?”
He shrugged. “My father married my mother to inherit the Ashington earldom, you recall,” he said. “I do not know why he did not take on the de Thorington name, but he named me after the family. I am the last vestige of a great line. My brother, Brian, will inherit the earldom, as you know, and I have four other brothers who will carry on the de Reyne name. But there is no one to carry on the de Wylde name. Your great bloodlines must not be diminished, Callie. I am willing to take your name and continue the de Wylde tradition. Become a de Wylde knight, as it were.”
Caledonia was stunned. It was the most selfless thing she’d ever heard of. “I… I do not know what to say,” she said. “That youshould give more thought to your wife’s bloodlines than your own… Thor, that is incredibly generous.”
He smiled faintly. “We do not have to decide today,” he said. “But I wanted you to know what I was thinking. I want to discuss it with my father, too. I think he will approve.”
“Aye, you must discuss it with your father,” Caledonia said firmly. “You must have his blessing.”
Thor nodded. “I will,” he said.
Then he heard shouts floating in from the bailey outside and stood up, pulling up his breeches as he went and peered from the window.
“Darius has some returning Stafford soldiers out there,” he said. “He says they are hardly trained at all. We are going to have to start running a training school for those men. I cannot have soldiers who have no idea what to do in battle.”
Caledonia was up, pushing her skirts down and pulling up the top of her bodice, including the torn shift. “As I recall, Robert never worked with his army, and I do not think the de Luceras ever trained them,” she said. “I cannot remember ever seeing any organized teaching.”
He straightened out the top of her bodice, waggling his eyebrows apologetically when he saw where he tore it. “That is about to change,” he said. “And you and your sweetness have made me late. I must go.”
With that, he bent down and kissed her before heading for the chamber door. Caledonia scooted after him, collecting her slippers and pulling them on as she tried to walk.
“I must speak to you about the meat stores,” she said. “Evidently, there is very little, as we have discovered the servants and soldiers were being fed gruel. We must discuss what we are to do about bulking up the meat. I have some ideas, if you will listen.”
He paused at the door, his hand on the latch. “Of course I will,” he said. “But let me see to my duties this morning and I will meet you in the solar in the early afternoon if you wish.”
She smiled. “Good,” she said. “Thank you.”
He winked at her. “Thankyou.”
With that, he opened the door, only to find two young children standing there. Thor nearly tripped on them. Janet and Joan gazed up at him with their bottomless eyes.
“What are you two doing out here?” he asked after he caught himself on the doorjamb. “I thought you were with Lady Nicola?”
They had been dressed by Nicola, that was clear. They were clad in adorable dresses made from the fine shifts left behind by Madam Madonna, garments that Caledonia and Nicola had worked hard on altering. Their hair was braided and tied back with a strip of the same material of their dresses. Nicola had been taking great delight in brushing and braiding their hair, so it was obvious his sister had been involved with them at some point that morning.
“I want to bring my chicken inside and Lady Nicola says no,” Janet said seriously. “My chicken is lonely outside.”
The chicken again,Thor thought. They’d been dealing with that damn chicken since the moment they arrived, an enormous black hen that Janet claimed as a pet. The thing was as big as she was and surely weighed as much, but she carried it around from time to time, or it followed her around mostly. Several times, they’d found it in the bedroom that the girls now shared, the big bedchamber that had once belonged to Madam Madonna. Those three little mattresses in the alcove had been burned and now Jane slept on her own small bed that Darius had made for her, while Janet and Joan slept on the big bed Madam Madonna used to occupy. Sometimes that chicken ended up between the girls in the bed.
But Thor tried to be patient about it.
“I do not think your chicken is lonely,” he told Janet, stepping out into the landing while the girls followed him. “She has friends in the kitchen yard to keep him company. Why not go down and see her?”
