Read Online Lord of My Heart by Jo Beverley - Free Book Online Page B

repair a shift. They were sitting outside the manor house in the sun.
    “His old cronies. Mortain, Fitz Osbern, Montgomery.”
    “But what of the younger men? There are many carving out great futures for themselves, are there not?”
    He cast her a suspicious look, and she realized he thought she was sneering at him, who didn’t seem to be carving out much. She kept her face bland.
    “De Varenne is well regarded,” he said sulkily, “and de Faix. Beaumont . . . and the de Gaillards, of course. The king fair dotes on them.”
    “It is often luck,” she soothed, “that brings a man to the king’s eye.”
    “Aye, that’s the truth. But what justice is there when he panders to the damn Saxons?”
    “There are English at court?” Madeleine asked, surprised. Even if the king was wooing them with marriages, she hadn’t expected them to be so kindly received.
    “The place fair crawls with them, smiling and bowing to get their lands back. There’s not one of them I’d trust.”
    “But it’s good they are accepting the king. Now we’ll have peace.”
    “How’s a man to get lands if there’s peace? If William returns their lands, what’s left for his loyal Normans? You’d best watch out, Mad,” he said spitefully. “One of these days that scum Hereward’ll bow the knee, and the king’ll give him back Baddersley.”
    Madeleine’s hands stilled. Baddersley was hers .
    Odo laughed. “That gets to you, I see. Mark my words. It could happen. He’s given Edwin of Mercia most of his land back. Edwin’s your overlord here now, do you know? How do you fancy making your allegiance to a damned Saxon? And William’s giving him his daughter.”
    “Agatha?”
    “So they say, and there are rumors the Lady Judith will be given to a Saxon cur, too. If you’re not careful, Mad, you’ll suffer the same fate.”
    Madeleine kept her eyes on her work. There was one Englishman she could bear. They could finish what they’d begun. A familiar aching warmth stirred inside her. “What are the English lords like?” she asked.
    “Too pretty, or too rough,” he said dismissively. “They wear their hair long, and many of them keep face hair, though they’re tending to shave it off to please the king.” He guffawed. “Look like shorn lambs. They dress as fancy as a lady and flaunt their gold when it should have gone as reward to their conquerors.”
    Madeleine sighed. She’d get no useful information from Odo on this subject. “You’ll get a rich reward in time,” she assured him.
    Odo reached over and seized her hand. “What of you, Madeleine? You’re a prize.”
    Madeleine hissed with annoyance. He’d made her prick her finger and put a bloodstain on her work. “I don’t care to be thought of as a prize of war,” she retorted.
    He smiled. “ I don’t think of you like that. I’ve always been fond of you, Mad. You could do a lot worse than me for a husband.”
    Madeleine sighed. It had been clear that this was behind his visit, but she’d hoped to avoid a confrontation.
    She looked at him. He was young, healthy, and strong. He was familiar. She could do a lot worse, but she could do a lot better, too. Anyone who didn’t bring Paul and Celia along with him like the plague would be infinitely better. She took refuge in deceit. “The king will choose my husband, Odo.”
    “Will he? He has a lot on his mind with new rebellions popping up every week. You could languish into an old maid here, waiting.”
    “I expect to be summoned back to the queen very soon,” said Madeleine, truthfully enough. Matilda wanted her to be a childbirth attendant. But the babe was not due until August or September. Would she be left here until then?
    “Even if he does remember you,” said Odo craftily, “the king could use you to pay any number of debts, Mad. You could be wed to a toothless ancient, or a fuzz-cheeked boy. To a man whose taste runs to commoner women, or to one who’d enjoy hurting you. I wouldn’t want to