From the first day the journey had been joyous to Axia. For the first half of that day she"d said not a word but had gasped at people and houses, at the rutted road, at dilapidated carts carrying goods. On the first afternoon they had stopped to water the horses, and there were three boys playing with a hoop. Another child held a wooden cup that had a ball attached to a string; the child was trying to bounce the ball into the cup. Curious, Axia went toward the children, and because she was small and not much older than they were, she was soon taking lessons from all four of them on hoops and ball bouncing. When Rhys came to fetch her, he informed all of them he was the champion ball bouncer and was soon trying to prove it. When Thomas came to fetch Rhys, Thomas said he could twirl a hoop the best of anyone in the world and started to show them. When Jamie came to get all of them, he found four children and three adults laughing hilariously and playing children"s games. Smiling, Jamie went toward them, but Axia froze, handed the cup back to the child, and walked away, her back stiff. And that abruptly ended the laughter.
After that day, Axia and Rhys and Thomas had become great friends, the men riding their horses on either side of her and answering all of Axia"s questions. Tode liked to drive the wagon when there were no people near, so Roger went inside and slept. And the four of them made a merry group, laughing, telling riddles, trying to dredge up every children"s game they could remember. Because Axia had spent the first several years of her life exclusively with adults, she had missed most childish activities. The first child Axia remembered seeing was Tode when he was already twelve and the second one was Frances, who had certainly never been any fun.
In the evenings she drew portraits. Each night they had pulled their wagons into a field, and under Axia"s direction, the drivers had built a camp fire and hung the cast iron pot full of a stew made from meat purchased in the nearest village.
During the day Rhys and Thomas fed Axia. When the road pa.s.sed through a village, one of the men would stop at the local bakery or sweet shop, the butcher"s, or even the grog shop to see what he could find that perhaps Axia had not eaten or drunk before. At first they"d bought two of everything and had offered one to Frances; after all, she was the heiress, the one who"d been locked away all her life. But Frances looked at the men as though they were daft. "How can I eat that now?" she asked, annoyed. "My hands would be sticky."
They never tried Frances again after the morning of the second day, but they delighted in feeding Axia anything they could find. And in the evening she rewarded them by sketching events of the day. It was as though her mind memorized everything she saw in perfect detail. There was Rhys reaching for a bun, the baker"s wife"s spoon just about to come down on his hand. There was Thomas puzzling over a wooden toy and a little girl looking up at him in impatience because he could not figure the toy out. There was Tode driving the wagon, showing only the unscarred side of his face, and smiling. There was Roger asleep and snoring, a fly hovering over his lips.
"And what of Jamie?" Thomas asked softly, marveling at her drawings.
After a quick look at Jamie, standing some feet away, Axia dipped her pen into ink and sketched quickly. In minutes she showed the drawing. There was Frances"s beautiful face, but her body was only a pile of bags of gold. Jamie leaned over her, his face leering, kissing her fingers that peeped out of the bags, his other hand behind his back holding a certificate of marriage.
No one meant to laugh. It was a hateful drawing and they knew it, but Roger the driver thought it was hilarious, and when he howled with laughter, so did the others.
And, of course, that was when Jamie chose to walk over to see what everyone was enjoying.
With a smug little smile, Axia handed him the drawing, even though Tode nearly fell into the fire as he tried to catch it before it reached Jamie"s hands.
"So that is what you think of me," he said before handing the drawing back to her, then walking away.
So now Axia was alone, enjoying her freedom, and it seemed that every part of her body was tingling. Leaning back on her arms, she put her head back and breathed deeply of the clear, cool air. How different this air felt than that inside the walls of her father"s estate.
Carpe diem, she thought. Seize the day, and with each precious minute, her short time of freedom was ending. Three days were already gone, and it seemed that she had done very little except eat half of England. Throwing out her arms, she thought that she wanted to try more, to fly. "Yes," she said aloud, "I want to fly. I want to..." Yes, what did she want most in the world?
"I want to prove that I am more than money," she said to the wind. Ever since she was a child, she had been reminded constantly that she was the Maidenhall heiress. Frances never missed an opportunity. "If he likes you, then I am sure it is because of your money," Frances had said a hundred times. "She is being nice to you because of your money." Again and again, always her father"s money!
"Am I not worth more than my father"s gold?" she asked. "Why is it never questioned that no one wants anything except gold from me? Why- ?"
She stopped because she heard Tode"s whistle, his call that she was to come to him. Slowly, she went down the hill toward the wagons.
"What is she doing up there?" Jamie asked Tode, his voice showing his annoyance. "She is the strangest person I have ever met. One minute I hate her and the next I-"
"The next you are intrigued by her," Tode finished for him, then saw Jamie give a reluctant nod of agreement. "Axia has been isolated all her life; she does not know the ways of the world. Everything is new to her."
"As she has made abundantly clear as she makes fools of my men," he said tightly.
Tode shook his head. "I think that you will find Axia quite a, ah, useful person."
"Ah yes, she does help about the camp."
Tode smiled, something he rarely did because it made him look more grotesque than usual. "I think you will find Axia is a bit more useful than flavoring the stew. Axia is quite knowledgeable about money."
Jamie gave a snort of disbelief. "Only a fool would allow that brainless harridan to touch his money."
"Blood will tell."
"What did you say?" Jamie asked quickly.
Tode cleared his throat. "I said that only time will tell."
Jamie grimaced and walked away, but Tode"s words affected him. Unfortunately, yes, he was intrigued by Axia. And it was true, she was unlike anyone he"d ever met. First of all, she seemed to have no understanding of the cla.s.s system. Her relationship with a man as rich as Maidenhall would naturally give her some rights, but Axia didn"t seem to understand this. Whereas Frances seemed to thoroughly understand her place as the leading actress in a play, Axia just seemed to do what needed to be done, whether it was washing dishes in a stream or helping Frances find a ring she"d misplaced.
What Axia did, he thought, was make everyone"s life easier. The first night they had camped he"d found the three servants going about their duties silently and efficiently. In his experience new servants stood about scratching themselves until someone told them exactly what their duties were. Upon questioning, he found that Axia had given them instructions before they"d halted for the night.
At first he"d resented her presumption. She wasn"t going to control him as she did poor Frances, he"d vowed. But then he"d found the rabbit stew flavored with wild thyme Axia had gathered during the midday halt, and there was always fresh bread for supper, so he forgot about "control."
And the oddest thing was the way she took care of Frances. From what Jamie had seen and heard, he"d feared that Axia would creep into Frances"s wagon at night to do her harm, but it was quite the opposite. Axia directed Frances"s maid about what Frances liked to wear, to eat, even to how she liked her bedding arranged. Jamie would have thought Axia was an excellent lady-in-waiting except for the frequent barbs sent in Frances"s direction.
All in all, after three days it was becoming more and more difficult to reconcile what he knew about Axia and what he saw. And what he heard. Already, the camp was beginning to echo with, "Ask Axia." She seemed to know where everything in the wagons was stored, knew that Rhys liked dark meat and Thomas, white. When bread was bought, she insisted on caraway buns for Frances. And Tode! Princes of the realm had not been treated with as much attention as Axia routinely and efficiently gave to him.
The only person she neglected was Jamie. Although Axia saw to the setting up of the tent Rhys and Thomas shared, Jamie had to direct-each night- that his tent be erected. Each morning Axia took a little brush to the clothes of the other men, but Jamie had the same dirt on him for days. She drew pictures of the others, even Frances, but Jamie might as well have stayed behind for all the notice she took of him.
And heaven help him, but her neglect of him made him unable to take his eyes off her. There was no rational thought behind his feeling, of course, but he noticed everything she did for the others and resented everything she did not do for him.
For the first time in his life, Jamie found himself trying to get the attention of a woman. And with Axia, he thought with half a smile, giving attention to Frances seemed to be the most certain way of getting Axia"s attention.
An hour later, sitting around the campfire, Jamie turned to Frances, and smiling, he said lightly, meaning to tease her, "I wonder if the Maidenhall heiress looks like Perkin Maidenhall?"
Frances was so lost in thought that she did not think what she was saying, so her voice was sarcastic. "How would she know what he looks like? She"s never met her father."
Immediately, a deep silence descended around the fire, and Frances frantically tried to cover her error. "I mean that I have never met my father."
"Never met your father?" Rhys asked. "Not once?"
Frances looked down at her plate to keep people from seeing her shining eyes. It had annoyed her that this man Rhys had ignored her since he had met her and given all his attention to Axia. There had been that one morning when he"d offered her some disgusting sweet as though she were a child, but since then he had not looked at her.
When Frances looked up, her eyes were sad. "It is true, he writes letters and sends messengers, but he has never come to me in person."
Jamie could not help frowning as he looked in sympathy at Frances-as everyone was looking in sympathy at Frances.
"I have always envied others for having a family, as I have had no mother or father," Frances said as she looked across the fire. "The only family I have had is Axia. And Tode, of course."
At that Axia opened her mouth to speak, but Tode put his hand on her arm and gave her a look that said that she was the one who had wanted to play this game.
Axia did not like anyone disparaging her father. Whatever he did, she was sure he had reasons for his behavior. If she did not know what they were, that was her problem, not his. "The Maidenhall heiress has had other things in life to compensate her."
"Such as love?" Frances snapped, then she turned to Jamie, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "I do not ask for sympathy, but the cousin has never even given the heiress a Christmas gift, but the heiress always gives the cousin a gift. Is that not true, Axia? Tode? You can swear that what I say is true, can you not?" She looked directly at Tode.
"Yes, Frances, you are right," he said coldly. "The cousin has never given the heiress anything. Nor has she ever shown grat.i.tude for all the heiress has given her."
Axia could now feel all eyes upon herself and realized she needed to defend herself. Or was it now Frances she was defending? She seemed to have lost track. "Perhaps the cousin could not afford a gift for the heiress. What could she give the daughter of the richest man in England?" It was what Frances had said to Axia a thousand times.
To Axia"s disbelief, Frances began to laugh. "No money! Why Axia, you are the richest person on the estate."
Confused, Axia could not say a word. Was Frances now going to tell everyone the truth?
Frances turned to Jamie, still laughing. "You have never seen anything like her. What do you think she did with the apples in the orchard? The berries? She sent them into the village to be sold, that"s what!" Pausing for effect, she looked hard at Jamie. "Axia cut every flower on the estate to try to make perfume out of them. I tell you, she has the heart and soul of a greedy little merchant. She is no lady!!"
Calmly, Axia put her plate to the ground, then stood. "Frances, I"d rather eat a mouthful of needles than spend another minute in your company," she said before walking off into the darkness.
When Frances looked back at the group in triumph, not one person was smiling at her and she couldn"t understand why. James Montgomery was an earl and hadn"t he said the word tradesman with disgust? She had seen how offended he"d been when he"d seen the way the wagon had been painted. He hated the lower cla.s.ses, the merchants, didn"t he?
It was Thomas who spoke first. Standing, he stretched and said he thought he would go to bed so they could get an early start in the morning, and minutes later, Rhys said the same thing.
When she was left alone with Jamie, Frances put her hands over her face and said softly, "They do not like me. I know they do not."
Jamie knelt before her; he hated to see anything female cry. "Of course they do. I am sure they like you very much."
"No, they like Axia. Since I was thirteen years old, everyone has liked Axia better than they liked me. You cannot imagine what my life has been like. My father imprisoned me and kept me away from all the world, and people only care about my money, nothing else."
"Like me?" he asked softly. "You know that I have had every intention of marrying your father"s gold."
Lightly, she clasped her hands behind his neck, her face very close to his. "Is it truly only my father"s gold that you care about? Do you not find me even a bit attractive?"
"Yes, of course," he said and moved his lips close to hers to kiss her.
But his lips did not reach hers because Axia kicked at a burning branch so hard it went flying through the air and landed on the ground near Jamie"s leg, where it promptly set the edge of his doublet on fire.
All h.e.l.l broke out as Tode and one of the drivers helped put out Jamie"s burning clothing, with Rhys and Thomas leaping out of the tents, swords drawn.
When at last he was safe, unharmed, Jamie, shaking with rage, looked down at Axia.
"So sorry," she said, smiling at him. "I must have kicked a bit too hard. I hope I did not disturb your courting of my rich cousin."
"Axia," Frances said under her breath, "I will get you for this."
Jamie was beginning to recover his power of speech. "Tonight you sleep in my tent with me. I will watch that you do nothing else to harm anyone."
She smiled at him. "I"d rather spend a week buried up to my neck in horse manure than spend one night in the same tent with you."
Jamie took a step toward her, but Tode put his body between them. "I will watch over her and protect her."
"Protect her?" Jamie gasped. "And who will protect us from her?"
"I am not hurt," Rhys said. "Are you injured, Thomas?"
Thomas gave a tiny one-sided grin. His own father was a merchant, what Frances the heiress had referred to with so much disgust, so he wanted to take Axia"s side. "I am not injured in any way. Perhaps only one man in this company has been injured by this daughter-of-a-merchant."
Blinking, Axia looked up at the two men with love in her eyes.
Jamie threw up his hands. "Go to bed all of you. I do not care where anyone sleeps."
And with that they dispersed for the night into two tents and two wagons.
Chapter 11.
"Wake up," Axia whispered to Tode. He was sleeping under the painted wagon, next to the driver Roger, while Axia had the interior to herself. She had a bed on top of the bolts of cloth they"d stored there as part of their disguise.
Sleepily, Tode roused himself. "Axia, it is not daylight yet. Nor will it be for hours by the look of it. Go back to bed."
"Where are all these wagons going?"
With half-closed eyes Tode looked at the many wagons slowly making their way down the road but a few yards from their camp. "I do not know. I have never been here before. Go to bed."
"If you do not tell me, I will ask them. " Meaning that she would cause a commotion and wake up the entire camp, then no one would get any sleep.
"I would a.s.sume it is market day in this village, and they are going to sell their wares," he answered, then lay back down again.
Standing, Axia looked at the wagons. Market day! She"d always wanted to see market day in a village. What Frances had said so nastily was true: Axia did send produce to the village, and afterward she asked hundreds of questions of the vendor.
Bending, she shook Tode awake again. "Get up. We are going to the market."
"I..." Tode began, frowning.
She knew what his worry was. He did not like to be seen by people. "Oh, do not fret. You will stand inside the wagon, and no one will see you."
Slowly, painfully, he crawled out from under the wagon. "You cannot do this. He will be very angry."
"He already hates me, so what does it matter?"
"Axia..." Tode began in warning.
"Please," she whispered. "You know what awaits me. Do you think my new husband will allow me to attend the village market day? Or will he exhibit me like a freak? The Maidenhall heiress!" She said the last as though it were something vile and dirty.
The words exhibit and freak made Tode agree. "But he will hear and-"
"Not over the noise of the other wagons. Oh, Tode, please. I cannot allow this man to lock me away from all life. Maybe he will hear, but at least we can try."
Tode grinned, something he did only with Axia. "We can try to seize the day, can we not?"
On impulse, she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a quick, fierce hug. "Thank you so much."
Axia didn"t spare the time to see the way her hug had affected Tode but scrambled under the wagon to wake Roger and try to silently escape the ever-watchful eyes of James Montgomery.
"She has gone," Jamie said under his breath. His anger would not allow him to speak out loud, or he"d bellow so the stars would fall from the sky.
Rhys, just crawling out of his tent, looked at the place where the big painted wagon had been last night. Over the last days he"d grown to like the fire-breathing dragon and the lion that Jamie-a still nearly nude Jamie-was ready to slay. Under normal circ.u.mstances, he would have worried, would have suspected a kidnapping, but now he knew without a doubt that if there was a domestic problem, Axia would solve it. Yawning, he wondered what delicious thing she"d bring back for supper.
"Wonder where she has taken it?" Thomas asked as he looked about as though the big wagon might be hiding behind a rock.
Only Jamie was in a rage. "I see that neither of you think there has been foul play."