The Wolfe (48 page)

Analiese opened her mouth angrily
but Adam was thrusting himself between them, not missing a beat as he greeted
guests. He elbowed his sister roughly to remind her of her manners when a
well-dressed woman spoke to her and extended her hand. When the woman had
passed by Jordan, Analiese snaked her neck behind her brother.

“You are not even English, so why
should you care what the ladies from London wear?” she hissed. “They look
fashionable; you look like a Scottish slut trying to imitate them.”

Adam reached over and grabbed his
sister firmly, still not saying a word except to the guests. Jordan greeted
another partygoer before returning Analiese’s barb.

“Slut or not, at least I have a
husband,” she retaliated.            “All the money yer father has canna buy a
man willing to bed yer skinny arse.”

The earl’s hand latched on to her
arm with a firm, steady pressure and she knew exactly what his touch was
telling her. But she was damn mad, greeting guests like the perfect hostess and
then trading barbs behind Adam’s back with Analiese.

“Why didn’t that damn arrow kill
you?” Analiese whispered harshly.

Jordan smiled twistedly. “Because it
was fired by a dimwitted Sassenach archer,” she said.  “Next time ye want me
dead, come see me yerself and I’ll give ye what’s what.”

She had no idea how close she was to
what William and the other knights had been thinking since the day of her
attack. Analiese yanked free of her brother’s grip, stepping toward Jordan.

“I shall give you a fight, you
little tramp,” she hissed.

Jordan smiled menacingly. “I would
love to oblige ye, but a countess would be less than dignified if she accepted.”
It was a reminder to Analiese that soon Jordan would be above her station.

Instead of raging, Analiese appeared
visibly hurt. Her thin mouth twisted and she blinked several times, as if
blinking away tears. “And a countess would also be less than dignified if she
slept with her husband’s captain.”

Jordan’s mouth popped open with shock
and disbelief. She was no longer simply angry; she was bitter and hurt as if
Analiese had reached in and ripped her guts out. Of course the woman had heard
the rumors. Jordan didn’t know why she believed Analiese would not have heard
the gossip. True or not, she could not allow such an insult to go unanswered.

“I swear ye’ll pay for that remark,”
she growled. “With God as my witness, ye’ll pay with every petty bone in yer skinny
body.”

Analiese gave her a smirky smile and
Jordan was suddenly slapped with the realization that she was jealous. Of
course. Why hadn’t she seen it before? The girl was in love with William.
Her
William. She felt sorry for her and flaming jealous at the same time.

“Then I see that my first
observations that you were a whore are accurate,” Analiese said with thin
triumph.

There were more guests in front of
Jordan demanding attention. She greeted them mechanically, her mind reeling
from Analiese’s statements. She was close to snapping with pent-up emotions.
This feud with Analiese had to end here and now, for if the earl was convinced
that some indiscretions had occurred, it could mean her head and William’s. She
was fearful that the earl would listen to his mean and jealous daughter. Things
could go no further.

She leaned close to the earl. “Sire,
might I have a few private words with Analiese, please?”

The earl glanced at her dubiously. “Now?
Why?”

Jordan forced her sweetest smile. “Because,
my lord, if this party is to proceed uninterrupted, Analiese and I must come to
an understanding. I promise I shall be completely amicable. I merely wish to
talk to her. We have had little time to do that since my arrival.”

The earl gazed over Jordan’s head at
his daughter’s pale blond one. Mayhap Jordan was right. He indeed wanted to live
out the rest of his life peaceably and mayhap there was no better time to start.
With misgivings, however, he gave his fiancée a nod.

“Very well,” he said. “You may use
my solar. But only for a few minutes and then I send someone to retrieve you
both.”

“Thank ye, sire,” Jordan curtsied
quickly and ducked behind Adam to lean close to Analiese’s ear. “Yer father has
given us permission to brawl. Come with me now.”

Analiese was startled. She turned
around to stare openly at Jordan, then looked to her father, then back again.
Suddenly, she was not so brave.

“I…I do not want to fight,” she
stuttered. “I have no desire to ruin my best dress.”

“I willna touch ye,” Jordan promised,
grasping her thin arm. “Come.”

Before Analiese realized it, she was
being led from the hall. The knights on duty tensed, their eyes following
Jordan as she led Analiese away. William’s direct orders were that the two must
never be left alone. Paris passed a glance to Kieran, who was closest to the
women. The big man nodded imperceptibly, waiting until the women quit the room
before discreetly following.

Jordan pulled Analiese into the
designated private room and softly closed the door. When she turned to the
other woman she saw the fear and uncertainty in the pale blue eyes, along with
a good deal of anger. Jordan cleared her throat.

“Here and now, Analiese,” she said
quietly. “We will be done with this here and now. I will not live the rest of
my life trading insults with ye. I want to know why it is ye hate me so much.
Can ye even tell me?”

Analiese puffed up as if she were
about to give a vicious retort, but instead, she squeezed her lips together and
turned away, twitching and pacing.

“My mother was killed by a Scot,”
she said plainly. “She was in the forest collecting mushrooms with some of the
servants when she was attacked and killed by marauding Scots. I was only eight
years at the time. It seems that that is reason enough to hate you.”

Jordan was stunned. No one had ever
made mention of that very large piece of evidence. She felt as if she were
losing her edge already in the conversation.

“Then I am truly sorry,” she said
softly. “But I dinna kill yer mother. Yer countrymen have killed more of my kin
than I can count, but I am willing to forget that. Yer father and Adam seem
willing to go beyond the hatred. Why canna ye?”

Analiese’s movements slowed as if
she were considering the request. She started to reply but tripped over her
words and turned away, dragging her hand across her father’s cherrywood table.

“I do not want you here,” she said
after a long moment. It sounded to Jordan like a plea.

“Why?” Jordan demanded softly.

Analiese looked at her. Really
looked at her. Jordan could feel the heat in her gaze, but it was cooling.
Suddenly, as if a curtain lifted, all became clear.

“Because ye were to only woman here
until I came,” she answered her own question. “Ye had yer father, yer brother
and the knights all to yerself and I expect they treated ye like a queen. And
then I came and ye were threatened by me. Isna that right?”

“Well, why should not I be?”
Analiese exploded. “Look at you; I have never seen a woman as beautiful as you.
The knights, my father, they all fawn over you as if you were the Virgin Mary.
They have all but forgotten about me.”

Jordan knew the statement was from
the heart. She felt a twinge of pity for the plain, selfish girl.

“Analiese, I dinna come here to take
yer menfolk away from ye,” she told her gently. “I came here because I was
given no choice. I have no interest in replacing ye and I doubt that I could anyhow.
Do not let yer jealousy cloud yer judgment, lass. I truly want to be yer friend
if ye’ll let me.”

Analiese looked stumped by the kind,
open response. She had become so used to blatantly hating Jordan that she had
never given friendship any thought. She looked as if she wanted to respond in sorts
but her great pride blocked the way.  As Analiese fidgeted,

Jordan had an idea.

“Would ye like to wear this dress?”
she asked eagerly. “Ye said the men were staring at it and I am sure it would
fit ye. We’ll change right here.”

Analiese blinked, glancing down at
her plain blue surcoat loaded down with tons of jewelry. “I do not know…,” she
said doubtfully.

Jordan moved swiftly towards her,
not giving her any time to think negatively. “Come, now, turn around and let me
unfasten it.” She spun Analiese around and went to work on the stays. “Ye look
to be about my size. Mayhap we can swap dresses all of the time. I brought
quite a few with me from Scotland.”

Analiese, being bull-dogged into
trading dresses, was nothing like the belligerent girl of a few minutes ago.
She held her hair to the side uncertainly while Jordan deftly unfastened her.

“Doesn’t your cousin wear your
dresses?” she asked faintly.

“The little wench brought none of
her own,” Jordan said disapprovingly, keeping the conversation light and busy.
Hopefully, she would confuse Analiese so much that the girl would forget her
hatred. “She is so short she has ruined the hemline of every dress she has
worn. Yer seamstress, Joana, promised to make her some of her own, thank God.”

Analiese’s dress slipped off. Jordan
moved in front of her. “Here, now unfasten me.”

***

William entered the grand hall,
dressed in his finest ceremonial armor and eagerly searching the room for
Jordan. It did not take him long to figure out she was not in the room, and he
skirted the edge of the hall until he came across Jemma sitting at one of the
outer tables.

“Where’s Jordan?” he asked.

Jemma looked up at him. “Oh, hello,
English,” she said mischievously.

His eyes snapped to her, darkening.
She had called him by Jordan’s nickname and by the look in her eyes he could
see she knew everything. He repressed the urged to curse loudly, wondering what
in the hell Jordan had been thinking when she told her cousin of their
relationship. But Jemma would not receive any satisfaction knowing that she had
upset him.

“That is captain to you, or Sir
William,” he said lowly. “Answer me. Where is Lady Jordan?”

Jemma had had too much wine, he
discovered. She waved a limp hand at him. “Oh, dunna get yer chausses in a
bunch,” she said. “I willna call ye that anymore. Jordan left with that skinny
wench Analiese a few minutes ago.”

William stiffened. “Which way did
they go?”

Jemma pointed a door. “That way. Kieran
went after them.”

William tried not to run, but as
soon as he hit the archway he was pounding down the corridor. Rounding a
corner, he almost plowed straight into Kieran.

“Dammit, man, where…?” he exploded.

Kieran shut him up. “Shhh,” he winced,
glancing toward the door he stood in front of. It was cracked, ever so
slightly. “Take a look for yourself. You are not going to believe it.”

William took a cleansing breath and
peered through the crack. What he saw confused him greatly. Jordan, nude from
the waist up, and Analiese in her shift, were focusing intently on some piece
of jewelry in Jordan’s hands. They were talking so low that he could not hear
what was being said. He turned to Kieran.

“What in the bloody hell is going
on?” he demanded in a whisper.

Kieran chuckled in amazement. “It
started out as a shouting match in the grand hall. Then the two retired in here
privately and, after a brief conversation, Jordan began undressing them both.
It seems Analiese has been wildly jealous of Jordan since she arrived and
Jordan is trying to make amends by loaning Analiese her new surcoat.”

William reflected Kieran’s amazement
before peaking back into the room. Analiese was now placing the necklace on
Jordan, a gaudy piece of work with a huge stone that snuggled nicely in between
Jordan’s bare breasts. He found himself mesmerized by the creamy globes,
remembering how sweet they were to his tongue and seized with the urge to bed
her that instant.

As good as she looked to him, it
occurred to him that Kieran had seen her half-naked as well.

“How long have you been spying on
them?” he asked.

“Until you walked up,” Kieran replied,
unaware of William’s possessive tone.

William looked at him, his eyes
narrowing. “Then you saw
everything
?”

“Aye, my lord, for you said that those
two were never….” He suddenly caught on and was seized with the fear that
eyes were about to be gouged out. His eyes widened and he stepped away, but he
was grinning. “I saw nothing, my lord, absolutely nothing.”

William put his hands on his hips. “Aye,
you did, but from this moment on you will wipe all memory of it from your mind.
Is that understood?”

“Aye, my lord,” Kieran nodded,
trying to straighten his grin.

William felt like grinning, too, but
he bit his lip instead. “Besides, you have got your own to look at,” he hissed
at him.

Kieran’s grin broke into a large
smile and he laughed softly. “I would like to think so,” he said. “And mine are
larger.”