The Prince of Midnight

This one’s not for David, either

There’ll never be one good enough

Chapter One

La Paire, foothills of the French Alps—1772

The lad had the deep, burning eyes of a zealot. S.T. Maitland shifted uncomfortably on his wooden bench and glanced again over his wine across the murky depths of the tavern. It was damnably disconcerting to find that measuring stare still fixed on him, as if he were up for admission to heaven and not particularly likely to get in.

S.T. lifted his tankard in a lazy salute. He wasn’t proud. He reckoned he was a long enough shot for paradise that a nod was worth the trouble. If this comely youth with the absurdly black lashes and vivid blue eyes should turn out to be St. Peter, Jr., best to be decently civil.

Rather to S.T.’s dismay, the youngster’s gaze intensified. The straight, dark brows drew into a frown and the boy stood, slim and silent, a figure of blue velvet and shabby gentility amid the usual lot of peasants chattering in Piedmontese and Provençal. S.T. rubbed his ear and brushed his tie wig nervously. A vision of eating his déjeuner in the clutches of an earnestly holy adolescent made him swig the last half of his wine and stand up in haste.

He reached down for the packet of sable paintbrushes he’d come into the village to procure. The string loosened. He swore under his breath, trying to capture the precious sticks before they scattered into the rushes that covered the dirt floor.

Seigneur.

The soft voice seemed to be behind him. S.T. came upright, turning quickly to the left in the hope of escaping, but his bad ear tricked him amid the babble of laughter and conversation. His balance fluctuated for an instant; he grabbed instinctively for the table and found himself face-to-face with the youth.

Monseigneur du Minuit?

A bolt of alarm shot through him. The words were French, but it was very stilted French, and a name he hadn’t been called in three years.

He’d been half expecting to hear it—for so long that it didn’t even sound remarkable. ’Twas the voice itself that seemed improbable, gruff and toneless, coming from this infant with the fresh, high-colored face. When S.T. had envisioned the hunters who might track him for the price on his head, he’d hardly imagined a greenling who hadn’t even started a beard.

He relaxed against the table and gazed glumly down at the youth. Was this youngster all he was worth? He could kill the poor cub with one hand, for God’s sake.

You are le Seigneur du Minuit, the boy stated, nodding stiffly, managing the pronunciation of seyn-yuhr and minwhee with careful dignity. In English, he added, I am correct?

S.T. thought of answering in a torrent of annoyed French which would undoubtedly go right over the fellow’s head. His schoolroom accent sounded none too steady. But those eyes of burning deep blue had a force of their own, enough to keep S.T. wary. Fresh faced or not, the child had managed to locate him—a disturbing fact on all counts.

The boy was tall for an adolescent, but S.T. still topped him by a head and certainly outweighed him by a good six stone. With that slender elegance and full, solemn mouth, the young whelp looked more like to grow into a dandy than a thieftaker. He dressed the beau, to be sure, even if the lace at his cuffs and linen jabot was frayed and grimy.

Qu’est-ce que c’est? S.T. demanded brusquely.

The dark, winged brows drew into a deeper line. S’il vous plaît, the boy said with a little bobbing bow, will you speak English, monsieur?"

S.T. gave him a suspicious look. The lad was really outrageously beautiful, his black hair drawn back off high cheekbones into a short queue; a classical, perfect nose… and those eyes, alors, like the light through deep water: nightshade and violet and bluebells. S.T. had seen that effect once, in a rocky cave at the edge of the Mediterranean, with the sun shafts piercing aquamarine shadows and playing off jet-black stone—and this against skin soft and fine as a girl’s. The superbly modeled face held high color, a pink that looked almost feverish. Against his better judgment, S.T. found himself growing curious about the brat.

Little speak Eng-lish. He made up the worst accent he could humanly execute, speaking loudly above the tavern noise. Little! Good day! Yes?

The youth hesitated, staring intensely from beneath those slanted brows. S.T. found himself vaguely embarrassed by the farce. What a silly language, French—it made a man sound like some backstage cardsharp to imitate the proper Gallic inflections.

You are not the Seigneur, the boy said in his husky, toneless voice.

Seigneur! Did the young dullard suppose that S.T. was going to announce it to any English stranger who happened along? Mon petit bouffon! I look a seigneur, no? A lord! But yes! He gestured down at his jackboots and paint-stained breeches. Bien sûr! A prince, of course!

Je m’excuse. The youth gave a second awkward bow. I seek another. He hesitated, looked hard at S.T., and then began to turn away.

S.T. clamped his hand on the slender shoulder. He couldn’t afford to let the cub go quite so easily as that. Seek an-oth-er? An-o-ther? Pardon; but this I comprehend not.

The boy’s frown deepened. A man. He moved his hand in a slight gesture of frustration. Un home.

Le Seigneur du Minuit? S.T. put just a trace of patient patronage in his tone. The Lord—of the Midnight, eh? Zut! Is a name absurd. I know not he. You seek? Pardon, pardon, monsieur, for why you seek?

I must find him. The youth watched S.T.’s face with the intensity of a cat at a mouse hole. It doesn’t matter why. He paused and then said slowly, Perhaps he goes by a different name here.

Of course. I give to you help, hm? Ah—the hair. S.T. tugged at the queue on his tie wig. Color? The color, you know it?

Yes. Brown hair, monsieur. I’m told he doesn’t like a wig or powder. Brown hair, dark, but with gold in it. Streaked with gold, all over. Similar to a lion, monsieur. S.T. rolled his eyes, playing Frenchman. Alors. Le beau!"

The boy nodded seriously. Yes, they say he is handsome. Quite good-looking. Tall. With eyes of green. Comprenez ‘green,’ monsieur? Emerald? With gold in them. And gold on his eyelashes and brows. The boy stared at S.T. significantly. Very unusual, I’m told. As if someone had sprinkled gold dust over him. And his eyebrows are quite distinctive, too, so they say— He touched his own. With a curl at the arch of them like the horns on a devil.

S.T. hesitated. The blue eyes held constant, no change in expression, just a shade too level, the tone of voice a trace too mild—he looked down at the youth and saw someone a thousand years old gazing out of that unfledged face.

It chilled him. There was a devil inside this one, and it knew full well who he was but chose to play the game S.T. had started.

He carried on with the performance anyway. The only other recourse was to lure the poor pup out back and hold a stiletto to his throat. S.T. needed to know how he’d been found… and why.

Tapping his forehead, he said wisely, Ah. Eye-brow. Je comprends. See this eye-brow you, and think… I is he. This seigneur. Yes?

Yes. The boy smiled faintly. But I was wrong. I’m sorry.

The smile erased all trace of subterfuge. It was sweet and wistful and feminine, and S.T. had to sit down to keep from sinking under the sudden shock of revelation.

For the love of—

She was a girl.

He was certain of it. Abruptly and utterly certain. That soft, husky voice that didn’t rise and fall in ordinary tones, but stayed stubbornly gruff; that skin, those lips, the slender build—oh, she was a female, the sly little cat. She had the face to carry it off, too, clean and striking, marvelous, with a full jaw and dramatic brows, and enough height and carriage to pass for a youth of sixteen. He’d wager a gold guinea that she’d cut her eyelashes to blunt them—that was why they looked so black and stubby.

And he’d wager a hundred on why she’d come. No threat of capture here. No cunning pursuit to drag him back to England for the king’s reward. Just another damsel in distress, looking for help like a thousand others.

She’d traveled a devil of a long way to plague him.

But so beautiful. So beautiful.

Sit, he said suddenly, waving his hand at the roughhewn table. Sit, sit, mon petit monsieur. I help. I think. Marc! He shouted for the innkeeper above the mundane racket of lunchtime. Vin … Hé! Vin pour deux. He slapped his sheaf of brushes on the table, straddling the bench. Monsieur. How you are call?

Leigh Strachan. She gave her little bow. At your service.

Sra-hon. Srah-hen. He grinned. Difficile. Lee, eh? He whacked his chest. I name… Este. There was no use trying to hide that; everyone in the village knew him by it, and thought it was vastly Italian of him to call himself by a cardinal point on the map. Sit. Sit. Très bien. You eat, no? Cheese— He reached up and helped himself to a slab of sausage that swung with the cheese from a rafter over the table. Slicing off a generous portion of each, he pushed the food toward her, along with a pot of mustard. Marc brought hot bread, and gave S.T. a significant glance as he thumped another wine bottle down on the table. With a defeated grimace, S.T. promised in French to paint his ugly daughter before the winter was out, which was a considerable capitulation, and enough to send the aubergiste off with a smug look and no demand for payment, which would have been futile in any case.

Monsieur Leigh Strachan eyed the sweet-smelling bread as S.T. broke it into steaming chunks. She looked hungry, but shook her head. I’ve—already eaten. Merci.

S.T. glanced at her. He shrugged and poured her wine. If she wasn’t starving he was a pig’s knuckle, but these greenlings had their pride. He leaned back against the wall and smeared mustard on a large hunk of cheese. ’Twas a long walk uphill back to his castle.

He met her eyes in mid bite and grinned around the bread. She looked positively pale, but returned the smile bravely. How he ever could have thought she was a male, he couldn’t fathom.

Those eyes. Magnificent. Now how the devil was a man to get up a flirt, with her dressed in that rig?

This seigneur, he said, finishing off his bread. Hair bronze. Eyes of emerald. Tall man.

Handsome, she offered, in that husky flat voice.

The little minx. S.T. poured himself wine. What is this word? Hond-soom.

She took a swig of wine, quite a decent imitation of his. He considered belching, just to see if she’d copy him.

Un bel homme, she said. Handsome."

Ha. He is French?

He is of English parents. She drank again. But he speaks French very fluently. That is why they called him the Seigneur in England.

Quelle stupidité. S.T. swept his arm around the crowded tavern. All speak French. All lords here, eh?

She didn’t blink. In England it is not so common. They say he has—a certain air about him. A newspaper dubbed him by that name, and now it sticks.

Le Seigneur du Minuit, he mused, and shook his head. He’d really hoped that sobriquet had died along with his reputation. Absurd. Midnight, pourquoi?

She lifted her wine and took a long swallow. The chipped porcelain mug made a solid sound when she set it down. She gave him a straight look. I think you know why ‘midnight,’ Monsieur Este.

He smiled a little. Do I?

She watched him silently as he poured her another portion. He leaned back against the wall again. He didn’t want to hear her sad story. He didn’t want to listen to her pleas. He just wanted to gaze at her and fantasize about the one great lack in his life these days.

She took a breath, and another swallow of wine. He could see her thinking, trying to reckon him. A faint touch of desperation had begun to seep into her brooding expression. After another generous gulp of wine, she came at him directly.

Monsieur Este, she said, I can understand that the Seigneur does not wish to show himself to strangers. I know the danger.

He made his eyes grow wide. Dan-ger? What is this? I like not dan-ger.

There is none. For him.

S.T. snorted. For him I care not, he said indignantly. Is for me I care! I think maybe well I do not know this bad Seigneur, yes? I think I do not help seek for he.

She looked a bit disconcerted. The wine was having its effect: the fire in those lovely eyes had grown a little smokier.

Mon cher ami, he said gently. You go to the home. You no seek dan-ger… this Seigneur so absurd.

The cold blaze sprang up again. I have no home.

And so— He examined his thumbnail. You go seek. I think I know this ‘prince’ I con-jec-ture. I hear ‘midnight’ and ‘Seigneur,’ and I know-what kind of man this. Bad man. Bad dan-ger. He is a highwayman, no? He is chase from England like a chien, tail under legs, no? Here we do not want him. Good men here only. Good king’s men. No dan-ger. No trouble. Go to the home, mon petit.

I cannot.

Of course not. Naturally he wouldn’t get rid of her that easily. He wasn’t at all sure he wanted to. He watched her gulp down the rest of her wine. When he did not offer to pour, she served herself from the fresh bottle Marc had brought.

Mon dieu. What you want, boy? he demanded suddenly. Be criminal? Thief? Why seek you this bastard?

He is not a bastard. Her head came up. She frowned, and when she spoke, the wine was already slurring her voice. You’re not him, are you? You don’t… understand.

S.T. rubbed his forehead. He drank deeply and leaned on his elbow.

He is a good man, she said, her voice breaking upward carelessly. She polished off her mug and poured herself another. Beneath the tattered lace cuff, her wrist seemed touchingly pale and slender. Not a thief.

He smiled in derision. People give to him jewels, oui? Rain on him gold.

She bridled, flashing him a glance of blue fire. You don’t understand. She’d forgotten her male role completely, but her natural voice had a luscious soft huskiness. He would help me.

How?

I want him to teach me. She tilted the mug up and drank. She had to hold it with both hands, well on her way to being half crocked. When she set it down, she twisted a lock of loose hair around her forefinger with a delicate gesture that was so feminine it made him smile.

Softly, he asked, Teach you what, ma belle?

She didn’t notice the adjective. Swordplay, she said with passion.

S.T.’s mug hit the table.

How to use a pistol, she added. And to ride. He’s the best alive. In the world. He can make a horse do anything.

She looked feverishly at S.T., who was shaking his head and swearing beneath his breath. He met that concentrated stare and looked away, pushing his hand into his hair in discomfort.

That was a mistake. He’d forgotten he was wearing the tie wig for his foray into the village of La Paire; it slid askew beneath his fingers and he had to pull it off. He cursed in French and tossed the scratchy nuisance on the table. Swordplay! Of all the damned crazy notions. He leaned on his elbows, chafing his hands in his hair.

When he looked up, he realized it was far more of a mistake than he’d understood. She was staring at him, intense and half-drunk.

You are the Seigneur. Her lips worked. I knew it. I knew it.

Allons-y! He stood up, hauling her to her feet. She was clearly one of those females who couldn’t hold her claret. She’d passed the point of discretion—in a moment she’d be bursting into tears or performing some other purely female exploit—and whoever she was, or whyever she’d come, ’twas hardly chivalrous to leave her to reveal herself in a public ordinary. He grabbed the bottle of wine, slapped his tricorne on his head, and took her around the waist. She wilted against him. Adolescent cabbage, he said disgustedly to Marc on his way past.

The tavern keeper beamed, all benevolence and grimy apron. Don’t forget my Chantal’s portrait, he called after them.

S.T. lifted the half-empty bottle in salute, not even bothering to turn around as he carted Monsieur Leigh Strachan away.

He left her to sleep it off in a granary above La Paire and started home. He’d see her again soon enough—that was one thing as certain as death and the king’s taxes.

It was sunset and he was breathing hard from the climb before the ruined towers of Col du Noir appeared, clinging to the cliff at the head of the canyon, silhouetted against a clear, cool sky. The ducks came out to greet him, nipping at his feet until he bought them off with a chunk of bread. He stopped at the garden and dug among the dry weeds for a garlic to flavor his dinner. Dusting dirt off his hands onto his breeches, he ambled beneath the turreted gate of his castle and through the lavender that grew wild in the courtyard.

He whistled, and Nemo came bounding out of some shadowed crevice where he’d been hiding. The great wolf leaped up and licked enthusiastically at S.T.’s face, then dropped down to fawn and whine in pleasure, getting a tussle and a bite of cheese for his trouble. He jogged circles around S.T. as he trudged up the uneven stone stairs.

S.T. paused in the armory, looking up at the huge painting just visible in the last of the daylight. With Nemo snuffling at his boots, he gave the portrait a fleeting stroke in the place where his hand had worn the painted luster from the flank of a shining black horse.

Home again, old fellow, he said softly. I’m back.

He gazed at the picture a moment. Nemo whined, and S.T. turned abruptly away, leaning down to give the wolf a hard shake. Nemo pressed against his leg, shameless, basking and groveling and groaning with ecstasy at the attention.

Dinner was short and simple, a pot of rabbit stew shared with Nemo, who’d brought the rabbit, and the last of Marc’s good red wine. S.T. sat before the kitchen fire, tilted back against the table on two legs of a three-legged stool, wondering vaguely if he ought to try to plant some grapevines and asking himself if he wanted to paint badly enough to light the torches in the hall.

He decided that he didn’t, and went back to pondering the mysterious process of making wine, which according to Marc was complex beyond reason. God only knew what kind of pampering the vines would require. Weeding garlic was bad enough. And something always ate his peppers in their helpless infancy if he didn’t bleeding get down on the ground and sleep with them all night.

He sighed. The firelight flickered off plaster busts and pots of pigment, casting shadows that made it seem as if the room were filled with a silent crowd of people instead of books and canvas and smudgy charcoal sketches.

He clasped his hands behind his head and gazed at the disordered sum of his life for the past three years. Half-finished paintings, roughed-out sculpture: he threw himself into each new effort with fierce energy, but the only thing he’d completed since he’d come here was the painting in the armory.

In one dark corner an unsheathed sword lay askew against the wall. He’d let it go to rust, along with the brace of pistols wrapped in their dusty rags. But the saddle and bridle he kept clean and oiled, hanging neatly from their pegs, just as if he were going to use them.

He rubbed Nemo’s head with his boot. The wolf sighed in heavy pleasure, but didn’t bother to bestir himself from his long-limbed sprawl against S.T.’s feet.

Chapter Two

It took Monsieur Leigh Strachan until late afternoon the next day to produce herself at Col du Noir. S.T. was a little surprised; he’d expected her by mid morning at the latest. He’d moved his work out into the courtyard as he usually did to catch the north light on these clear October afternoons, breathing the scents of linseed oil and tarragon and lavender and dust that clung to his paint rags and his hands. Nemo panted softly in a shady spot, his solemn yellow eyes following S.T.’s short perambulations back and forth to get a perspective on the canvas. But when the wolf lifted his head and looked toward the gate, S.T. put his brush in a terra-cotta pot full of oil, wiped his hands, and sat down on a sun-baked stone to wait.

Nemo heaved himself to his feet. A soft word from S.T. kept the wolf still. He heard the ducks break into disturbed muttering—a noise which seemed to him to come from somewhere off to the left where there was nothing beyond the wall but a sheer cliff. He turned his head to catch more of the sound with his good ear, then realized what he’d done and faced the gate directly with a little frisson of self-annoyance. He’d yet to become accustomed to the disorienting effects of his one-sided deafness. Even with Nemo’s alert gaze trained on the obvious direction of approach, S.T. had a difficult time convincing his brain that their visitor wasn’t somehow advancing on thin air across the canyon from the left. And worse, if he closed his eyes or turned his head too quickly, the whole world seemed to go into a tumbling spin around him.

Wisely, she created plenty of deliberate noise as she came. A clever greenling, this. She knew better than to try to sneak up on a desperate and dangerous highwayman with a king’s ransom on his head.

The thought made S.T. smile. Once upon a time, he’d considered himself quite a perilous character.

He leaned over, tugged at some weedy bushes within reach, and sat back armed to the teeth with a fragrant little bouquet of lavender and chamomile. After a moment, he added a few trailing stems of rockrose for color and composition. While he turned the nosegay in his hand, idly inspecting the arrangement, she appeared beneath the crumbling gateway.

She paused just inside the shadow. He waited. Nemo stood still, growling.

S.T. could see her eyeing the wolf warily. Nemo was something to see: huge, with his coat of black and cream and silver, his teeth bared and a light afternoon breeze ruffling his handsome markings. He was very clearly what he was—no chance of mistaking him for a mere oversized watchdog.

Ignoring S.T., she took a step toward the animal. Nemo’s hackles rose. She took another, and then began to walk steadily straight at the wolf. Nemo’s growl became an open snarl. He crouched, his splendid tail waving slowly, his yellow eyes fixed on the slender figure. She kept walking. Nemo took a step forward, his whole body rigid with the savagery of his warning. The courtyard echoed to the sound.

But she kept walking.

She was three feet away when Nemo’s courage evaporated. The snarl gave out, his tail flagged, and he turned in a little circle. His great head lowered and his ears flattened in dismay as he slunk across the open space and crept into a safe place behind S.T.’s back.

I know, S.T. said soothingly. Terrifying creatures, these females.

She stood silent, frowning at them.

Watch this, S.T. said to Nemo. I’m going to walk right up to her. No… don’t whine, old chap—you can’t stop me. It’s a bloody awful risk, I know. I don’t fancy my chances above half. He stood up, looking down at the wolf. But mind you, pal, if I don’t come back— he gave Nemo a shake —I want you to have my share of the cheese.

Nemo prostrated himself in abject humility, yelping faintly and trying to lick S.T.’s hand. S.T. pushed him over onto his side, scratched his belly, and left him lolling on his back in exuberant disgrace.

She watched S.T. as he approached, her dark, slanted brows drawn down with far more doubt than when she’d eyed the wolf. He offered the flowers silently.

For a long moment, she stared down at the little bouquet in his hand, and then looked up into his eyes. He smiled. "Bienvenue, mon enfant, he said softly.

Her lower lip twitched. Suddenly those superb blue eyes were glazed with tears. She whacked his hand away with a hard fist. Flowers went flying, and the scent of crushed lavender drifted on the air. Don’t do that, she snarled, fierce as Nemo. Don’t look at me that way.

S.T. took a startled step back, nursing his hand. She possessed a dashed convincing right punch. As you please, he said wryly, and then added with deliberation, monsieur.

The glisten in her eyes was gone as quickly as it had come. Her jaw grew stiff and belligerent. She shook back her head and gave him a cold stare. When did you realize?

That you’re a girl? He shrugged. Yesterday. He held up one broken stem of rockrose and examined it ruefully. When you smiled.

She scowled. I’ll take care to frown.

He flicked the rose into the dirt. That ought to answer. You certainly unnerve Nemo and me.

She glanced past him at the wolf. S.T. imagined running his finger along the smooth plane of her cheek, warming to the color that burned there.

That’s Nemo? She gave a little decisive jerk of her head. "You’ve trained him well. I never saw you call him off.,

S.T. turned toward the wolf. Did you hear that? Well-trained. Come here and prove it, then. He whistled a command.

Nemo bounded forward. He stopped a yard away.

Come along. S.T. whistled again, pointing at his feet.

The wolf trotted to one side, then turned and loped to the other, making an arc around them. When S.T. called him a third time, he crouched down and began to whine.

I shouldn’t wonder if you were quivering in terror at this spectacle, S.T. said.

She seemed slow to understand, watching Nemo with her back stiff and her lower lip set in a vaguely scandalized fullness. He’s really afraid?

It’s women. Females petrify him. He nudged his boot at one of the flowers in the dirt. No doubt he has his reasons.

A faint curve appeared at the corner of her mouth. She stared at Nemo with that little half smile but said nothing. On his side, S.T. stared at her. Her lips, her skin, the curve of her throat. He felt somewhat scarce of breath.

I thought it was a test, she said.

He lifted his eyes to hers with a wrench of focus. What?

I thought—you meant to test me. To see how I would face him.

Oh, quite. And you passed. You’re heroically stupid, I can see that. God knows I wouldn’t have had the pluck to walk up to the snarling brute. He tilted his head, lost in the amazing depth of her eyes. Of course, he’d tear the throat out of a man who made that mistake.

Nemo gave a long moan and rolled over in the dirt, wriggling and snorting as he tried to scratch his back. Then he relaxed belly-up, paws limp, looking toward S.T. with his tongue lolling in a canine grin.

Well, you would, y’know. S.T. flicked his hand, signaling abruptly. Get up, you great boor; there’s a lady present. Go on with you. Hunt us up a pheasant.

Instantly, Nemo flipped over and scrambled to his feet. He sprang into his long lope and headed for the gate, already lowering his nose to cast for scent. As he disappeared, the ducks outside broke into a raucous quacking and then subsided. Nemo knew better than to raid them without permission.

That’s truly wonderful, she said, looking after the wolf. The way you’ve schooled him.

S.T. rubbed behind his ear. Well, most probably he won’t get a pheasant, he admitted. Perhaps a hare. He glanced at her sideways. Will you… could I ask you—to stay? For dinner?

Her brows drew together, and he felt something inside him sink. But she said stiffly, Yes.

He let out a breath, trying to keep his smile from growing too inanely pleased. He felt as tentative as Nemo with her. It had been a long time… a very long time. It wouldn’t be so remarkable to find he’d lost his touch entirely.

If only she weren’t so damnably gorgeous. It made the base of his throat feel hot and funny just to look at her.

You’re not at all what I expected, she said suddenly. The scowl became a suspicious arch. You are really the Seigneur?

S.T.’s smile flattened. He didn’t answer, but simply turned away and went back to his easel, setting the canvas carefully against a rock while he took down the framework and gathered his jars of pigment. He carried them inside and came back for the canvas, not looking at her. As he passed inside the door, he saw her long afternoon shadow trail slowly behind him.

She stopped in the armory. S.T. went on to the kitchen alone. He kicked an empty barley sack under the table, set the painting down, and stoked the fire to warm the chill stone walls. When he went back to the armory, she was standing in front of the portrait of Charon.

S.T. crossed his arms, leaning back against the doorjamb. He looked at her and then at the toe of his boot.

I’m sorry, she said, with a trace of defiance.

What for? I don’t blame you for wondering. I don’t much resemble Robin Hood these days, do I?

Those blue eyes raked him coolly. She turned back to the painting of Charon. Is he stabled here?

He’s dead. S.T. hiked himself away from the door and left her. He went back to the kitchen, shoved aside some paint rags and books on the table, grabbed an onion, and started to hack at it with a dull cleaver.

He heard her come in; his good ear was to the door. He glanced up at her and wanted bitterly to see something less alluring. But she was beautiful, slim and straight, black lashes and fine, high cheekbones, running her fingers over a plaster cast and slanting a look toward him that held all the old fatal power of destruction.

And she didn’t even mean it, that was obvious enough. She was dissatisfied; she thought he was a disappointment, not living up to his own legend. The other, the ache in his chest and his loins and his heart… that was his own affliction. His weakness.

Women. He whacked at the onion. No wonder they terrified Nemo.

Three bloody years alone. He wanted to go down on his knees and press his face against her body and beg her to let him make love to her.

He thought of Charon, of dumb animal devotion: a warm blow in his ear, when he could still hear with both of them; the reassuring thud of a hoof while S.T. slept on the damp English ground, all safe, all quiet, the watch kept by senses sharper than his own had ever been—by an honest, simple mind that knew no better than to trust in human wisdom.

The onion made his eyes blur. He set his jaw and tossed the ragged pieces into a pot. He could feel her, though he didn’t look; she was like a bright flame in the cold clutter of his life. He wondered what blind folly this particular temptress might beguile him to commit, what he had left that she could take away.

His painting, Nemo. His life.

The list was longer than he would have thought.

What do you want with me? he demanded abruptly.

She looked up from a half-finished painting tilted against the bread chest. I told you.

You want lessons in swordsmanship?

She nodded.

He gestured toward a corner with the cleaver. There’s a sword. A pair of pistols. You’re welcome to ’em. He drove the cleaver into the table. That’s all I’ve got to teach you.

She regarded him steadily. S.T. decided to ignore her. He took the leather bucket outside, filled it at the stone well, came back and hefted it over the pot. Water rang inside the iron kettle with a crystalline splatter.

Is it because I’m not a man?

He didn’t answer. He was busy peeling garlic. The papery skin crackled in his fingers; the familiar smell filled his nose. He concentrated on that. On simple things. He could see her feet from the corner of his eye, the buckled shoes worn down at the heels, the stockings darned meticulously with mismatched thread. Her legs were slender and strong, her calves delicately shaped. Female. He bit down on his tongue.

That’s going to taste terrible, she said.

He laid his hand over his heart. And to think I was so confident that I gave my chef the afternoon free.

I could prepare it better.

He set the garlic down. How?

She shrugged. I know how.

Do tell me.

She looked at him beneath her lashes. Her hands worked, open and closed, very slowly. Will you teach me?

He snorted. I’m always interested in a new recipe for boiled onion, but frankly, no.

I’ve a talent for cooking. And extensive training. I’m an accomplished housekeeper. She flicked an aloof glance around the chaotic cavern of his kitchen. I can organize all your business affairs—keep your accounts. By next spring, I could have your garden producing enough to set an excellent table, with plenty left over to sell. I could outfit you properly… I have a gift for design and sewing.

And so modest.

I could make this place into a decent home for you.

He tilted his head, glancing sideways at her. She stood very straight, clearly prepared to launch into a list of further accomplishments should he prove stubborn. With a little ironic smile, he said, Don’t suppose you know how to make wine?

Certainly. I’ve been used to put up berry wine every year. And mint cordials. And beer.

Her voice was cultured, her manner high-bred, but it sounded as if she’d been a household servant. The borrowed male clothes she wore had belonged to an aristocrat, that was certain. He allowed himself the indulgence of imagining her young body, slim and lithe and naked, and blew out a soft, private breath of desire.

His glance traveled upward. He met her eyes. She didn’t blink.

I’ll do anything, she said. I’ll sleep with you.

S.T. brought the cleaver down with a savage chop, sending garlic flying in two directions.

Curse her.

Curse her, curse her, curse her, the perceptive little bitch.

He wanted to say something vicious, something that would hurt her as much as that flat business offer injured him. But when he looked up at her, the high flush on her cheeks and rigid set of her mouth made her seem so young and mock-tough and defenseless that his words stuck in his throat.

All he said was: No thanks.

Just perceptibly, her shoulders relaxed. S.T. busied himself with another garlic clove. He could feel blood mounting in his own neck at that tiny indication of her vast relief. He tossed the garlic in the pot, parchment and all, spread his hands on the table, and looked down at them. Ten fingers, slightly paint stained. Two arms, one face… had he changed so much? No female had ever complained of him, looks or performance either. He’d never, never had to buy one.

He asked himself if he’d sunk that low, that he would do it now. He stood there, insulted and aroused, painfully aware of her presence in his kitchen, though he didn’t dare look at her. For three years he’d put this into his art: when the urge for a woman came on him, he worked, painting thunderstorms and sleek greyhounds, nudes and horses, shaping curves in lumps of clay until he could stand on his feet no longer and fell asleep in a chair with the modeling knife still in his hand.

He never finished them. He could never decide if they were his best work or his worst.

May I sit down? she asked in a queer voice.

For God’s sake, of course you can— S.T. turned… and she was falling, before he could gather his wits enough to lift his hand or take a step—she’d collapsed, sinking from the knees into a boneless sprawl on the dirt floor.

For an instant he just stood there, astonished. Then he moved, his body making the decision before his mind. She opened her eyes as he threw himself onto his knees beside her. The deep blue was hazy with stress, the burning flush on her cheeks gone to paleness. She tried to push herself up.

I’m all right, she said huskily, trying to evade his support.

His heart was pounding. The devil you are. He disregarded her feeble attempt to get away. She burned with fever; he could feel the heat without even touching her forehead.

I am. She took a breath. I am. I’m not sick.

S.T. didn’t bother to argue further. He slid his arm underneath her shoulders, ready to carry her, but she fought free. With a grip that surprised him, she clung to his arm, trying to pull herself up.

I’m all right, she insisted, holding herself in a sitting position against him. I haven’t… eaten. That’s all.

He hesitated, allowing her to lean on him, her forehead against his shoulder, her blazing temperature refuting her own words. He smoothed his hand over her temple and felt her head droop as she passed out again in the circle of his arms.

S.T. panicked. Her skin looked pale as death, faintly tinged with an unhealthy sallowness. He couldn’t feel her breathing. He grabbed her hand and chafed it, realized that was useless, and gathered her limp body into his arms. He staggered to his feet under the burden, his uneasy balance reeling.

She came to just as he passed through the armory on his way to the bedroom. I have to get up, she mumbled. I can’t be sick. Her head tilted back and her white, slender throat vibrated with a low moan. I can’t… be.

He mounted the spiral stairs and gripped her tighter as she struggled weakly. By the time he reached the first floor, he was cursing the castle’s builders to Gehenna, what with their uneven stairs and tight curves and narrow passage, devised to make the ascent as difficult as possible for any enemy. The nervous bastards must have been anticipating an army of midgets capable of twisting themselves into Gordian knots. When at last he put his shoulder to the bedroom door and swung her through, the rotation completely overcame his precarious stability. His back hit the door; he had to pause to find his equilibrium before he took a breath and crossed the room in a straight and unconfusing line to the bed.

Her body sank into the feather mattress. His nose filled with dust—it had never occurred to