Never If Not Now by Madeline Hunter

Author:Madeline Hunter
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Medieval
Published: 2020-07-06T21:00:00+00:00

“I must go now.” Elinor licked the remnants of her second piece of almond cake off her fingers. For some reason Zander stared as she did so.

“Why?” He pulled his attention away from her fingers. “I will make sure that you return safely, and it is not very late. Why not see the castle while there is still light outside?”

“Could I?”

“Of course.” He pushed back his chair. The meal was done, and the boards were being removed so dancing could start. “Come with me, and I’ll show you the chambers above, and the grounds.”

Zander appeared at home in Lord Yves’s castle, but then he had been here some days now. Still, it impressed Elinor how he guided her to the stairway as if he owned the manor, and handed her up the stairs.

“Are you sure this is permitted by Lord Yves?” she asked while she mounted the stairs and felt him behind her. “He gave you a very odd look while we passed him.”

“That was only an acknowledgment from him. A way of saying ‘Go right ahead, my home is your home.’”

It had looked more like a warning, and a way of saying “Watch your step and where you trod, Sir Alexander.”

All the same, eager to see the castle’s appointments, she followed Zander’s lead through the chamber where her father had recently spoken to Lord Yves, to another room that looked to be arranged for family doings. Only little in it spoke of family. Some books and furniture kept it from being barren, but it possessed a spare, unused look.

“Has he no wife or children?”

“His wife passed away years ago. He has a son who is being fostered now, with a lord in the south.”

“I suppose he will remarry some day.”

“He says he prefers widows with lots of land. If he finds one, he will probably marry her.”

“Maybe he will marry Lady Judith.”

“He has indicated not. He doesn’t like her nose.”

She laughed. “She looks to be very wealthy. What difference does a nose make?”

“He says it is very important. Although, perhaps he also finds her too. . . voracious.”

She stopped to admire a very nice chair in the second room. “She did seem to have a strong appetite, so perhaps he is right in that. Although it is an odd thing to hold against her, especially since he can afford whatever amount she eats.”

She turned away from the chair to see Zander watching her with a bemused expression.

He opened another door. “Come in here. It is the finest solar I have ever seen.”

She stepped through to a chamber flooded with the red light of the setting sun. A very large window, one made up of many small pieces of glass held together with lead tracery, faced the west. She smoothed her fingers down the glazing.

“This must have cost two fortunes.”

“At least,” Zander said. “It would be pleasant on a winter day to sit in this solar, out of the elements but with views of the countryside.” He came up beside her.

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