‘He looks like you,’ she said softly. ‘Adam, he’s yours, I know he is.’
For a moment Adam stood silently, watching the baby and the man and the woman; one joyfully innocent, and two balanced on a knife-edge. ‘Do you think it would make any difference, whatever I saw in the mirror?’
Heulwen swallowed. His tone was gentle, but it frightened her. ‘It might,’ she said, her mouth dry, and saw his jaw tighten and his eyes narrow the way she had seen them do on a tilting ground. ‘Adam…’
‘Don’t say anything else,’ he said, still gently, and returning Miles to her arms, walked out.
Heulwen put her head down; eyes stinging, she nuzzled her son’s fuzzy hair. All unwittingly she had just offended Adam’s honour, and she would only dig herself into a deeper pit if she went after him and tried to explain. She knew that look of his by now.
Sniffing, she wiped her eyes on the turned-back hanging sleeve of her gown, balanced Miles on her hip, and went slowly downstairs.
The plesaunce smelt of grass and the spicy, slightly peppery scent of gillyflowers. Bees throbbed among the blossoms. Bream cruised the surface of the stewpond in search of mayflies. The sky was a glorious, soft blue, the sun hot, but tempered by light ripples of breeze.
Adam watched Heulwen join the other women and put Miles down on his tummy upon a thick sheepskin. He was chewing on a ball made of strips of soft coloured leather, and the women were cooing over him and making a fuss. As if drawn by a magnet, Elene left her father’s side to crouch beside him.
Two servants carried some trestles past on which to lay out the food and drink. Adam met Heulwen’s gaze across and between them and turned sharply away. It did not make any difference, or so he had told himself a thousand times over; and a thousand times over the doubt crept in, and she had seen it. He was more angry at himself than her.
Ranulf de Gernons was showing off his dog. Slab-muscled and glossy, it lunged on the leash and snarled at Brith, young William’s own small pet hound.
‘Owning the biggest horse, the biggest dog and the biggest mouth does not necessarily command you the respect for which you had hoped,’ Guyon said wryly from the side of his mouth as he joined Adam beside the rose bushes that climbed the wall.
‘It also makes you the biggest fool if you can’t control any of them,’ Adam qualified. ‘Why’s he here in the first place? Surely you did not invite him by choice?’
Guyon snorted. ‘I didn’t invite him at all. He’s on his way to Chester and sought lodging and hospitality on the way. That it happened to be the eve of Renard’s betrothal was unfortunate.’ He gave Adam a look. ‘The seeking of hospitality is not I think his main motive.’
‘No?’
‘His father wants to know what we are going to do about this illegal marriage between Matilda and Geoffrey of Anjou, and Ranulf’s gone bloodhound for him.’
‘Illegal?’
‘Oh don’t play me for a fool!’ Guyon snapped. ‘You know what I mean. Eighteen months ago at Windsor we were guaranteed a say in the choosing of Matilda’s husband, a say which has been utterly ignored. As usual, Henry has quietly connived behind our backs to get his own way.’
Adam felt his face begin to burn. ‘So what are you going to do? Get it annulled out of pique and start a war? And who will you put in Geoffrey’s place? Ranulf de Gernons, perchance?’ His voice was harsh.
Guyon arched one brow at Adam. ‘I am not an inexperienced hound to run yelping after a false scent. If the truth were known, I’d prefer not to run with either pack. You knew about this marriage, didn’t you?’
Adam breathed out and pushed his hair back from his forehead. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, exasperated with himself. ‘I should have curbed my tongue but Heulwen and I have just had a disagreement, and my temper’s still hot. Yes, I did know, and for the sake of my honour, which God knows is frequently a millstone around my neck, I could not tell you.’
Guyon grimaced. He knew all about King Henry and the knots he tied in men’s honour. ‘And is Geoffrey of Anjou likely to be a millstone too?’
‘He has the ability to control his wife and all of us if given the chance. For good or bad, I don’t know. By God’s will, he’ll breed sons upon Matilda who will be of an age to succeed their grandfather when his time comes.’
‘It has caused much ill-feeling,’ Guyon said. ‘Henry might have solved his problems across the Narrow Sea, particularly now that William le Clito’s done the honourable thing and got himself killed in Flanders, but I’m not so sure about England. Many of us are far too insular for our own good.’ He watched Renard, Henry and a group of laughing young men head towards the tilt yard. Henry’s voice sounded like a creaking gate; it was on the verge of breaking. Suddenly he felt old.
Adam had turned to watch them. Guyon laid one hand on his shoulder. ‘If you have quarrelled with my daughter, I should go and set matters to rights now. If you disappear with my sons you’ll only make it worse for yourself later,’ he said with wry experience.
‘Easier said than done.’
Guyon grinned and pushed him. ‘Go on…’ And then, while Adam still hesitated, reluctant, ‘The babe’s shaping well. He has eyes like Heulwen’s mother, but he looks like you. Wolves breed true, as my wife’s maid was always saying darkly of you when she rocked your cradle.’
Adam gave him a sharp look and then laughed between his teeth. ‘I don’t need force-feeding, but I’m certainly having it rammed down my throat today.’
Guyon gazed at him, puzzled. ‘What?’
‘Nothing.’ Adam shook his head and, still smiling, took a step towards the women.
De Gernons lost his grip on the black hound’s leash and the mastiff tore from his hands and hurtled across the plesaunce to leap among the women and attack Brith. The two animals rolled together, snarling and snapping. Elene screamed and ran to her father, hiding her face against his tunic. Shouting, William tried to grab Brith’s collar and recoiled with a shriek, a dripping red slash bisecting his knuckles. De Gernons bellows at the mastiff to heel went unheeded.
Heulwen, who had been talking to Judith at one of the trestles, cried out and picking up her skirts started towards her son, who was lying in direct line of the biting, frantic hounds, about to be rolled upon or worse, for de Gernons’s mastiff was in a state of frenzy, black gums bared on a ferocious snaggle of teeth.
The women screamed. Miles wailed. William’s young hound, lighter of build and gentler of nature, was striving to disengage, blood-drenched and yelping. Adam, running, snatched Miles out of harm’s way as the mastiff, victorious but still full of fighting rage, snarled and launched himself at the nearest thing that moved.
Unable to defend himself because he held the baby, Adam went down beneath the massive forepaws. He smelt the dog’s rank breath, saw the white-rimmed eyes and froth-spattered jaws, and tried to roll and avoid the savage array of teeth. Something splashed over him. He tasted wine and realised that someone had emptied a flagon over the dog to try and drive it off him. Heulwen screamed and screamed again. Above him there was a solid, vibrating thud and a dreadful howl suddenly cut off. The dog’s weight slumped on him and then was dragged off. He breathed again, and rolling over, slowly sat up. Miles screeched in his arms, a trifle rumpled and red with indignation, but otherwise unscathed.
To one side the dog lay in a puddle of blood, a jousting lance pinning it to the turf of the plesaunce through its ribs. Heulwen threw down the empty wine pitcher and dropped to her knees beside Adam, sobbing with reaction and relief. Behind her, face bleached, eyes as dark as flint, Renard was facing a sputtering, furious Ranulf de Gernons.
‘You…you have killed my dog!’ he howled with the disbelieving fury of a spoiled child who has had a favourite toy confiscated.
‘Have I?’ Renard said through clenched teeth. ‘What a shame, and before he’d finished performing for us too.’
De Gernons’s jaw worked. ‘Do you know how much he was worth?’
‘Oh yes,’ Renard answered. ‘The length of a jousting lance at least.’ Turning his back on the enraged heir to Chester’s wide domains, he gestured to two gawping, frightened servants. ‘Get rid of this. Throw it on the midden.’
Too breathless to speak, Adam stood up, his tunic splattered with wine and blood and glared at de Gernons
