Page 27 of The Blacksmith

“Have you spoken to the earl?”

“Briefly.” Lance glanced through the gap in the shutters again. The sun was beginning to set, each minute bringing him closer to his arranged meeting with Idalia.

Guy watched him.

“You’re withholding something.”

As soon as his friend had arrived, Lance had known his connection with Idalia could remain a secret no longer. Guy was the type to ask uncomfortable questions. Always had been.

“I presented him with a gift during their Gule of August feast. I learned nothing of import.”

Guy only looked at him with a raised brow, his meaning obvious. He was not about to stand down unless Lance told him all.

“I have spoken to his daughter,” he admitted.

“And what have you learned from her?”

Lance kept his expression neutral. “That her mother, the countess, is extremely ill. ’Twas Lady Idalia who suggested I bring a gift for her father on the feast day.”

“And?”

He sighed. “Nothing more, although the gift was well received.”

Still, Guy waited.

“I am meeting her on the battlements after supper,” he said as clearly as if his mouth were filled with porridge.

And, of course, got the exact reaction he had feared.

“Pardon?” Guy leaned forward. “It sounded as if you said you were meeting the earl’s daughter in some private place at a preordained time this evening.”

Lance ground his teeth.

“I presume you’ve spoken to the woman on other occasions?”

He remained silent, which was confirmation enough.

“How old is the earl’s daughter?”

“The same age we were when we met.” Of course, Guy had not asked which daughter. And Lady Tilly was likely around ten and three or ten and four.

Guy’s eyes narrowed. “Does he have more than one daughter?”

Lance tried not to smile, something not normally a problem for him given that smiling hadn’t come easily to him since he was a young boy.

“Aye.”

“By the blood of Christ, Lance.”

He conceded finally. “His eldest daughter is married and gone. The middle one, Lady Idalia, is a few years younger than I am, mayhap twenty and two? And aye, before you ask, she is quite comely.” He paused, then added, “In answer to the other question you have not yet asked, I will not use my relations with her for our cause.”

Guy’s ever-present grin faltered.

“Think about this carefully.”

“I have. And will not do it.”

Lance had thought of little else since the night before. The earl depended on his daughter, more than he realized, and she would be a powerful ally. But he refused to manipulate the lady, especially given the trust she’d shown him.