The Damsel's Defiance. Meriel Fuller

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ the crackling parchment into the embroidered pouch that hung from her girdle. A vague sense of unease swept her body, her mind already trying to work out how she could reach Sylvie.

      ‘I shouldn’t worry too much, Emmeline,’ Geoffrey patted her arm. ‘Her husband appeared to dote on her.’

      ‘If La Belle Saumur can manage one last crossing before the winter storms set in, then I will visit her in England,’ Emmeline said. But Geoffrey didn’t hear. His gaze was diverted by a brightly coloured family group moving toward him across the jetty. The high-pitched, gleeful cries of the small children merged with the screeching of the seagulls above them.

      ‘Ah, there is Marie…and the children!’ Geoffrey beamed in delight as his family emerged from the jumble of warehouses set back from the river’s edge. Emmeline’s soft mouth lifted at the sight of her friend. Almost the same height as her husband, Marie carried her thin frame gracefully, despite having three small children clinging to her skirts. Beside her, Emmeline was almost half a head shorter, her creamy skin and blond hair contrasting strongly with Marie’s ebony locks and darker skin. Emmeline often cursed the more rounded curves of her own figure, despite the constant admiration from her mother. She had found it difficult to do business in the world of men, when all they would do was stare at her body rather than listening to her words. Luckily, most of the merchants who chartered her ship were old friends of her father, using La Belle Saumur out of loyalty with the assurance of a safe crossing and an experienced crew. Younger merchants tended to charter the newer, faster ships that were being built farther along the coast at Caen and Dieppe.

      ‘I swear they have grown in the few weeks that I have been away!’ Geoffrey exclaimed, lifting and swinging his children around in turn, to the sound of excited giggles. ‘What are you feeding them, madame?’ He planted a fond kiss on his wife’s cheek. Emmeline felt slightly uncomfortable at the joyous reunion, or was it the faint prickle of regret? She sighed. Despite being unable to draw any similarity between the happy family before her and the bitter memory of her own marriage to Giffard de Lonnieres, she knew that such a wonderful picture would never be part of her life.

      Forced into marriage after the death of her father, Anselm, Emmeline had stood by as Giffard inherited her family’s shipping business, watched him make mistakes and lose money through bad deals. She’d learned not to challenge him, even though he’d driven the business nearly into the ground. It had been a blessed relief when he had been killed in a hunting accident, and Emmeline, as his widow, had won the right to run the business. She had vowed to make it successful once more, making it her whole life, despite her mother’s repeated nagging to make herself more attractive to the opposite sex. She could never tell her mother what Giffard had done to her behind closed doors. The petty humiliations, the constant verbal abuse, the pinches and the sideways kicks, until the day he had pushed her down the stairs. She shook her head, trying to dispel the memory.

      ‘So, we worried for nothing, eh, petite amie?’ Marie drew Emmeline into a hug. ‘What the sea puts us through!’ Her tone was confident, but Emmeline noticed the way she gripped her husband’s tubby fingers.

      Geoffrey had turned his attention back to the unloading of the ship. ‘I need to get to the warehouse,’ he announced. ‘Those men are unloading faster than I thought and I need to count the sacks in…make sure nothing’s damaged.’ He caught Emmeline’s eye. ‘As I’m sure they will not be.’ He took in her pale face, her sensitive skin reddened by the cold, whipping wind. ‘Why not break your fast with us, Emmeline? I’m sure Marie has something good prepared.’ He cast a benevolent smile toward his wife.

      Emmeline shook her head. ‘’Tis kind of you, my friend, but I need to wait for Captain Lecherche; I must pay the crew.’

      ‘But, Emmeline,’ Marie protested, ‘they will be hours yet; you’ll freeze to death on this jetty. Come on, I haven’t seen you for ages.’ As the shivering air whipped around the hem of her woollen bliaut, chasing underneath the hem-line and up her icy legs, Emmeline was sorely tempted to change her mind.

      ‘Tell the crew where you will be; Captain Lecherche will come and find you when they’ve finished,’ Geoffrey added. Eyes watering against the cold, Emmeline looked toward the warehouses lining the riverfront harbour. Geoffrey’s warehouse, the largest and most imposing with vaulted under-arches leading to a ground-floor store, also housed his family’s living accommodation, a comfortable abode that was always welcoming.

      ‘I’ll come, my friends, just for a few moments.’ Emmeline laughed at their persuasiveness. ‘But I’ll catch you up…look, I can see Captain Lecherche on deck. He’ll be across in a moment. Let me speak with him, then come to you directly. I promise.’

      Long muscular legs braced against the gentle rolling of the ship, Lord Talvas of Boulogne stared impatiently at the small harbour. Coming into Barfleur meant a journey on horseback north to visit his parents in Boulogne, a much more substantial port, which would have been his chosen destination if he had been on board his own ship. Too bad that the sail had ripped from top to bottom on the previous crossing, a lengthy repair that had forced him to seek passage on the next available ship to France before the winter storms prevented him. His intention was to spend Yuletide with his parents and check on his lands in France before returning to his preferred country, England. He didn’t like to stay too long in France; the country held too many painful memories for him. Yet Stephen, his sister’s husband, on hearing of his proposed journey to Boulogne, had asked Talvas to visit the Empress Maud, to check on the Empress Maud, at her estate in Torigny. The woman was kin to both of them and a well-known troublemaker, being the only daughter of the current king, Henry I. It would not be above a sennight before he could escape this God-forsaken country! Gripping the wooden guard-rail with lean, tanned fingers, Talvas prepared to swing his legs over and climb down into one of the lighter boats.

      As the sun rose, the port began to wake up. Some of the fishing boats that had been out since the early hours were starting to return, the heaps of fish in their hulls gleaming slickly. They would unload farther upstream, directly beside the market, bumping and scraping their wooden hulls together as they jostled for the best position to pull up on the beach.

      As Emmeline rolled back and forth on her toes in an effort to warm her feet, the massive cross-beam of the one crane at Barfleur began to swing round behind her, lifting the oak wine casks from two hulks that had tied up at the jetty. The barrels were so huge that only three could be fitted lengthways into the little boats. The two men at the one end of the crane grunted with exertion as they pulled down on the rope hanging from the end of the cross-beam to heave the wine cask from the rounded hull. Once the cask was level with the timber jetty where Emmeline stood, the familiar creaking began, the noise of the vertical wooden post pivoting in its stone turning-hole to swing the cask up and into the waiting cart.

      Emmeline watched idly as the lighter boat holding Captain Lecherche approached the shore. She narrowed her eyes; the harsh brilliance of the winter sun dancing on the water made it difficult to see clearly, muddling her perspective. Captain Lecherche appeared much larger and broader than normal. But then maybe he’d padded himself out with warm clothes just as she herself had done. Normally he would have stayed until the last of the cargo was off the ship, usually as a safeguard to make sure there was no thievery from his crew. But his men were a trusted bunch, and Emmeline feared that he intended to tell her about some damage or other that needed to be fixed.

      Her mouth dropped open as the boat tore up the loose stones at a cracking pace and two large booted feet jumped agilely onto the shingle. Perturbed, she scanned the horizon for another large keel ship, for this man was no Captain Lecherche! He must have come in off another vessel, but there was none to be seen! What on earth had this man been doing on her ship? It was her strict policy to never carry passengers; her captain was well aware of that.

      Resisting the temptation to take a few steps СКАЧАТЬ