Entertainment began after the meal, Hugh having eaten his fill of the succulent meats and savory sauces and pastries produced by the Strathcombe cooks. He pushed his chair back from the table with a sigh and surveyed the Great Hall, filled with knights and ladies ready for the dance. Would that he could be joining the revels with some comely wench, but he had business to attend to—business that left undone could prove to be his undoing.
Eleanor motioned to Mary and the rest of the company at her high table to leave them, and she turned reluctantly to Hugh. There was to be no thought of dancing tonight for her, and most certainly not with Hugh. She had been dreading this meeting for a fortnight, and now it was upon her.
“Lord Hugh,” she began, steeling herself to look at his eyes, “I have some reports from my chief forester, Osbert le Fraunceys.”
Hugh snorted. “And what does the blackguard say now? Or has he beguiled you so you cannot even listen clearly?” He smiled a half-smile, as if to take the edge off his comment and leaned his chin on his hand, looking at Eleanor intently, whose color, he was pleased to note, rose immediately in her cheeks.
Eleanor straightened her shoulders. “I shall not dignify your impertinent remark with a reply,” she answered. What an arrogant knave Hugh was! It was unconscionable to speak to her like that! She took a breath and plunged on. “Osbert says that a villager overheard poachers in the forest saying they were glad to cause damage to a reputation and that it was earning them much silver, besides the game they slew,” Eleanor answered.
“This is only talk,” Hugh replied, “and not a hard answer to the question of who is doing the poaching and who is conspiring behind it!”
“But, don’t you see how that could be a motive that might lead us to who is behind the poaching?” she asked. “Someone is paying poachers to wreak havoc in our forests. Who would profit by damaging our reputations?”
“Damage our reputations?” he scoffed. “I can see that your reputation is damaged, as William of Litchfield may already have begun seeking the return of your forest to his care. I fail to see that my reputation is damaged yet—and it would take a great deal to do that to a man of my title, as opposed to yours, being a mere woman.” He would not share with Eleanor the tale of King Edward’s messenger.
What condescension! Eleanor almost gasped aloud.
Hugh continued. “I cannot allow lawlessness in my forest, however, and thus I must put an end to this immediately.”
“Might not the King of England himself seek to take away the Wykeham forest from you, if he thinks you can’t manage it according to the Law of the Forest?” Eleanor asked.
Hugh struggled to control his temper. What an insolent little whelp she was! “My business with the King of England is my own private matter,” he said, tight-lipped. “I have no fear that I will be able to assure His Majesty of my competence—unlike, may I say—your competence, or lack thereof.”
“Sire!” Eleanor had had enough. She rose to her feet, blood pounding in her forehead. “You misspeak, I think, and are blemishing my name and reputation! As your hostess, you do owe me some courtesy!”
Hugh stood up, his tall frame imposing, his face stern. “The county assize takes place in a month. I expect to arrest Osbert, your favorite and chief forester, at that time, to further examine him. He is hiding information, I am certain, and while he is in custody, at least he will not be able to arrange any further poachings—or damage to reputations,” he scoffed.
Eleanor clenched her hands into fists. “No! You can’t arrest him!” she argued. “He has done nothing!”
“Exactly my point,” Hugh said smoothly, glad she had played right into his hands. “He has done nothing—nothing to find the identities of the poachers and who is behind them. I myself will exert the kindest of persuasions to cause him to unburden himself.”
Eleanor gasped. “You shall not harm him!”
“My, heavens forfend,” Hugh said with a smile. “You do support your servants in the extreme, Milady. Could there be more here than meets the eye between you and Osbert—or have you and Osbert been meeting more than just your eyes?”
Eleanor blushed the color of her surcoat. “Sire! You do overstep your bounds! There is nothing between Osbert and me save the servant’s loyalty to his mistress, and mine to him as my faithful retainer. You know well my father and our family motto, Honor et Fides—Truth, Word of Honor, Loyalty—and how my sister and I were raised. Loyalty is all! You cannot think I would go against this upbringing and break my father’s trust by not being loyal to those who serve me?” How could this beast even doubt her? He was insufferable!
Hugh threw his head back and laughed, causing some nearby to smile at what sounded like good-hearted levity and then return to their own conversations. “Milady, you know little of the world to be able to think I would stake my reputation on the ancient words of another family’s creed.” She was indeed a little fool. With God’s grace, her sister would not be such—and at least would be young enough where he could mold her into something more to his liking and keep her from straying as Caroline had.
Eleanor tried to compose herself. She saw she could not win this argument, but she could carry herself as a
