Pendragon

Cook suddenly appeared out of the wall. No, it was a narrow door cut very cleverly into the wall, its seams fitted perfectly to the striped wallpaper, her arms filled with covered trays. "Och, the new countess. Hello, milady. It's a fine breakfast I've made for you, now isn't it?" And without another word, Cook broke into song as she served Meggie's plate, piling it high with scrambled eggs with four nutty buns arranged around the eggs.

"Hey Ho-it's a fine day for the nutty buns! Hey Ho, Hey Ho-here come the Nutty Buns! Hey Ho, Hey Ho, Hey Ho-NUTTY BUNS!"

A new experience for a Sherbrooke at a breakfast table, Meggie thought, wanting to laugh, but she only smiled, nodding toward Mrs. Mullins. "That was lovely. Thank you, Cook. May I have a cup of tea?"

Cook continued singing even as she poured the tea. Soon every nutty bun was in capital letters. Then, with a final hey ho, she disappeared back through the wall.

No one saw anything amiss with anything. Just another breakfast at Pendragon.

Meggie ate. The eggs were delicious, as were the nutty buns. So Cook made a perfectly wonderful breakfast, just as Thomas had told her, but why, then, was the di

William Malcombe said, a limp piece of bacon draped over one finger, "You're a very pretty girl."

"Thank you, William. You are a very nice-looking boy. You look like your mother. Are you really sweet?"

Libby said, "A pretty compliment. Madeleine, did you hear that?"

"I heard. Where is Thomas, young lady? Did you exhaust him last night?"

Thomas said in a very loud voice from the doorway, "Mother, forgive me for being late. I wanted to see that Pen was all right after his soaking yesterday. He is. Meggie, you have met William, I see. He is visiting us from Oxford. A surprise visit."

"Yes, I have met William."

She said nothing while Cook served Thomas scrambled eggs and nutty buns. She wasn't singing now. Meggie continued to say nothing when Madeleine said, "What are your plans today, Thomas?"

"I am taking Meggie about the property. Would you like to introduce her to Mrs. Black?" He added to his bride, "She is our housekeeper."

"Here from before you were born?"

"That's right," he said, all pleasant and easy, and ate a nutty bun.

"I will need a horse," Meggie said.

"I have selected Aisling for you. That means'dream' in Gaelic. She is a bay with one white stocking, and on a good day she can beat Pen in a race."

"Prepare, my lord, to eat dirt."

He laughed. "After Survivor, I couldn't very well provide you with a nag, now could I?"

Closer to two hours later, since Meggie had agreed to walk on Barnacle's back in the kitchen, she joined her husband at the Pendragon stables to meet her new mare, Aisling, and give her two carrots.

When they were riding down the long drive, the sun hot overhead, she said, "I met Mrs. Black in the kitchen. She is very nice. She is also nearly blind, Thomas."

"Yes."

"She can't see dirt."

"No, probably not much."

"Then why hasn't your mother seen to it that Pendragon is cleaned and the furniture waxed and the draperies replaced since Mrs. Black is blind?"

"I never asked. However, now you will see to it. At last I will have a clean house." She was so startled she nearly got knocked off Aisling's back when the mare swerved too close to an oak tree branch.

"Have a care, Meggie."

"Oh yes, I'm sorry, Aisling. Goodness, you have noticed that the place is a mess then?"

"Mrs. Black is nearly blind, not I. I was hoping that you would notice and wish to take a hand in fixing things. There is enough money to make any reparations you wish to. I have already done quite a bit of work on our tenant cottages and outbuildings. You have but to ask Paddy, my steward, and he will see to it. He will be about this afternoon. I ask only that you tread diplomatically around my mother and all the servants. Change is usually very difficult for people."

Meggie nodded. "Maybe your mother believed there wasn't enough money and that was why she didn't do anything."

Thomas raised an eyebrow to that. "You're kind to make that excuse, Meggie. However, as you know, cleaning really doesn't require much money. No, she merely doesn't care. She has always hated Pendragon. Her home was Bowden Close. I imagine that she might want to go live there now that it belongs to me. She spends all her time producing endless journals, recording all her woes in both English and French."

"You have read her journals?"

"No, that would be abusing her privacy. She speaks of them quite freely, reads them during tea. No matter she doesn't like you, she will still see you as fresh ears and insist upon reading to you in the evenings. If you wish to escape, you will wink at me or roll your eyes in a discreet ma

Meggie nodded.

"Why doesn't she like me, Thomas?"

"She truly believes I'm too young to be wed. She's afraid I've inherited some of my father's more dreadful propensities. She told me last night that she'd prayed I'd spend more time in Italy. There are mistresses to be had there, no need to take a wife to relieve my man's lust. Yes, my age is too tender, too easily hurt by a conscienceless woman. She will get over it, Meggie. Don't worry."

Easy for you to say, Meggie thought.

They came to the end of the promontory, and Meggie looked out, speechless, over the Irish Sea and the magnificent coastline, rugged hunks of land chipped inward or thrusting out like long fingers into the sea, the shore lined with scored and barren rocks.

She slipped off Aisling's back, shook out her riding skirts, and made her way to the edge. The water sparkled beneath the morning sun. It was very calm, low tide, the waves collapsing gently against the dirty sand, fa

"Thomas," she said.

He crossed the distance between them in an instant and pulled her up against him. The wind was mild, but still it plastered her riding skirts to her legs.

He didn't kiss her, just held her and looked down at her. "You're so bloody i

"Well, yes. Could you expect much else given my father is a vicar?"

He kissed the tip of her nose and pulled her about so she leaned her back against him. She loved the feel of him, the strength, the heat. She'd never really thought about the heat of men, but now she did, and those wicked thoughts heated her as well.

She said slowly, feeling his arms cross over her chest, pulling her closer to him, "Can I trust you, Thomas?"

His arms tightened. He rested his chin on top of her head for a moment, said without hesitation, "Yes."

She said, her voice clear and calm, "You can trust me too, Thomas."

"Meggie-"

She turned then and lightly touched her fingertips to his jaw, to his lips. "It's all right. I made vows before God, as did you. I keep my promises, Thomas. You are my husband. I will be with you until the day I die. I will never leave you. I haven't made you laugh in a while. I will work on that. You have a beautiful smile. It pleases me to see it."

"A beautiful smile?" She wouldn't leave him and he had her loyalty. It wasn't enough, dammit.

"Oh yes."

He looked away, but not before she saw something flash in those eyes of his, something she couldn't begin to understand.