Page 410 of Historical Hotties
Richmond le Becwas a man of seventy-one years of age. He’d been around a very long time and had seen much in his lifetime. He had a beautiful wife, a proud career as one of the premier knights in the realm, and he had four wonderful and loving children. He had all a man could ask for except one thing.
More grandchildren.
That was why today was so very special to him. His youngest child, Gisella, would be arriving with her new baby and a husband whom Richmond had not yet met. Bastian de Russe, of the great House of de Russe, was the knight known throughout the realm as Beast for a variety of reasons. In fact, Richmond had asked men he knew, men that he assumed would know why de Russe was called Beast, and no one could give him a straight answer. Everyone gave him a different reply. Some thought it was because of his prowess on the battlefield.
Others, including his son, Gannon, who actually served de Russe, said it was because de Russe looked like a beast. Richmond hadn’t liked that answer. He didn’t want a grandchildthat looked as if it were an aberration of nature and then he would be expected to love the thing. No, he sincerely hoped his son-in-law wasn’t called Beast because he was horrifically ugly. But if that was the case, he wasn’t sure he could get through meeting the man and keep a straight face.
His wife, Lady Arissa, was more optimistic about it. She was dying to get her hands on her new granddaughter, born this last fall. Little Audrey Aderyn le Bec de Russe had been born last October, a big and healthy baby from what her daughter had written. Audrey had been born after a fairly difficult labor, according to Gisella, who had struggled for two days to deliver the child, but God had been good and everyone had recovered well.
Now, they were bringing the child to visit her grandparents for the first time because Richmond didn’t travel well these days and had not been able to travel to London for the birth, so Gisella and Bastian had waited until the baby was old enough to travel before making the trek to Devon. According to their last missive, sent by messenger, they had been in a town two days away and this was the morning of the third day. Surely they would be here soon.
Which is why Richmond had been in the highest tower that Brambleham House had to offer. A fortified manor that had taken two years to build, it was the crowning glory of the le Bec family, who had moved out of Lydford Castle and turned it into a prison since Richmond was the High Sheriff of Devon. Now, they lived in a beautiful stone and timber home near the River Lyd, a place big enough to accommodate their four grown children, their spouses, and hopefully a herd of grandchildren. As it was, Richmond only had three, two from his eldest daughter, Emma, and now another from Gisella. And they were all girls. He was seriously thinking of disinheriting his sons unless they married soon and showed a knack for carrying on the family name.
But he put those thoughts aside, waiting for Gisella and her husband to make an appearance. As the sun rose over the Dartmoor Forest, all was right with the world this morning. Everything was new, fresh, and beautiful, awaiting the arrival of spring after a particularly brutal winter. As Richmond stood, poised in the tower, his failing eyesight scanning the landscape, he could see a rider approaching from the north where the main road was locating. Excited, he waited until the rider drew close to make sure it was one of the men he’d sent out to look for Gisella. He then took the stairs down to the courtyard as fast as his aged legs would take him, making it to the main gate about the time the rider was ushered in.
“Well?” Richmond demanded. “Have you seen them?”
The rider nodded, breathing heavily from the hard ride. “They should be here within the hour,” he said. Then, he grinned. “My lord, Gannon is riding with them.”
Richmond’s expression lit up. “My son is coming as well?” he said. He swiftly turned for the house. “I must tell my wife. She will be thrilled.”
The big, old knight lumbered up to the house, huffing and puffing from the exertion by the time he reached the front door, expertly shaped in local limestone in a beautiful Medieval arch. He was about to open it when the panel abruptly opened and his wife came through, nearly crashing into him. Richmond reached out to steady the woman.
“God’s Bones, Riss,” he said. “What is the rush?”
Lady Arissa de Lohr le Bec gazed up at her husband. A small, beautiful woman with pale blue eyes and black hair, she resembled her daughter to a fault. At fifty years and three, she looked much younger than her age, and she reached up to pat her husband on the cheek.
“I saw the rider,” she said. “Surely he has news of Gisella?”
Richmond nodded. “Astute as always, kitten,” he said, pointing in the general northerly direction. “They are about an hour out and I’m told that Gannon is with them.”
Arissa’s eyes widened. “Gannon?” she repeated. “My son is coming to visit? I can hardly believe it!”
Richmond nodded, somewhat ironically. “The prodigal son returns,” he said. “How long has it been since we have seen him?”
Arissa pondered the question seriously. “At least seven years,” she said. “The last time we saw him, he was leaving for France with de Russe. Do you think we can talk him into staying awhile? Lord Tavy has a beautiful daughter I should like to introduce him to.”
Richmond pursed his lips at her in disapproval. “You will send Gannon running off if you do,” he said. “Stubborn, that lad is. As least wait until he is drunk and unable to move before you spring Lord Tavy’s daughter on him. That will give us time to hold him down when he tries to bolt. He will be too sluggish to fend us off.”
Arissa laughed softly at the mental image of her husband trying to restrain their strong, young son from fleeing the house.
“You are probably right,” she said. Then, she cocked her head thoughtfully. “Mayhap we should drug his wine. That will make him utterly unable to leave. We could have the entire marriage ceremony conducted while he is in a stupor and he will awake a married man!”
Now it was Richmond’s turn to laugh. He pulled his wife into his arms. “That seems a bit severe, but we may have to consider it if Gannon does not come to his senses.” He kissed her and let her go. “I must return to the battlements. I want to see them when they come down the road.”
Arissa waved her husband off, grinning, watching the man shuffle back across the courtyard towards the tower that facednorth. As she watched him, she reflected on their life together, of the children they had raised, and thanking God she had been given such blessings. There had been a time, several years ago, when she wasn’t entirely sure any of this would happen. Richmond had been badly injured in battle against the last Welsh prince and his condition had been precarious for quite some time. It had taken a full two months before they realized the man wasn’t going to die. That had been the longest two months of her life.
The wound had slowed him down a little but not entirely. Richmond le Bec was too powerful to quell completely. Even now, at his advanced age, he was still quite active and he was the local magistrate for most of the southern part of Devon in addition to the mining operations he oversaw on their lands. He was vital, active, and wise. Aye, she couldn’t imagine her life without the man.
Shaking herself from her lingering thoughts, Arissa went back into the manse and up to the first level where the family bedchambers were arranged. She had adjoining chambers for Gisella and her husband and the child, and she made sure they were well-prepared. She’d even found the old cradle that she had used for her own children and put it in the nursery. There were lambskin rugs on the floor and it was a lovely, cozy little room.
As she directed the maids to ensure that heavy draperies were hung on the windows to make sure they kept the room suitably warm, she could hear the sentries take up the cry. Someone had been sighted on the road. Knowing what that meant, Arissa bolted out of the chamber and headed for the courtyard.
Richmond was already in the courtyard, ordering the great iron gates open. As the gates slowly churned open, he stood back to watch, holding out a hand to his wife when he caught her out of the corner of his eye. It was the most difficult wait oftheir life, standing there, waiting to see their daughter and son, a new son-in-law and a new grandchild, wanting very badly to go running up the road to greet them. But that was undignified, and probably foolish, so they waited impatiently for Gisella and her party to make their appearance.
As they stood and fidgeted, a knight astride a big, black charger thundered through the gates. The knight threw up his visor, revealing that it was Gannon, and Arissa gasped with joy as he literally jumped off his horse and ran for his parents. Arissa threw her arms around her son, her second born, as he lifted her off the ground, squeezing her so hard that her spine cracked.
“Mother!” Gannon said as he squeezed. “I’m so happy to see you!”
