Rufus appeared to consider. Then he said, “Well, I’m glad you didn’t, since theft is not something we tolerate, as I attempted to make clear last night in the matter of Bertram’s sledge. Where is the mare?”
“In the defile. And, Lord Rothbury, I think a lecture on the moral principles of a band of outlaws is out of place,” Portia retorted in an effort to take her mind off its overwhelming awareness of his body, so large and powerful, and so very close.
Rufus made no response. He lifted her bodily from the saddle, clearly finding her weight no more than a kitten’s, and leaned down to deposit her on the ground. “Fetch Penny.” He turned Ajax and rode over to where both sides in the battle were assessing the wounded.
Portia fetched the mare and rode her out of the defile. She dismounted again and hurried over to Rufus, who was talking with Colonel Neath as amiably as if they hadn’t just fought a pitched battle.
“There’s a house of somewhat doubtful repute in Yetholm,” Rufus was saying. “But there’s nothing to complain of in the hospitality. We’ll stop there and tend to the wounded before continuing to Newcastle. That man of yours looks as if he’s broken his leg, but we can get a bonesetter in Yetholm for him. Ah, Will… what’s the damage?”
Will was staring at Portia. “What’s she doing here?”
“Making herself remarkably useful,” Rufus said dryly. “You owe her a debt of gratitude as it happens. Mistress Worth has an assassin’s way with a knife.”
Will’s stare grew wider, and Portia, unable to resist, opened her own eyes as wide as they could go in mimicry. Will’s expression snapped back into focus. “That was your knife?”
“Yes, and I’d like it back,” she said. “Did the man manage to take it out of his arm?”
“We thought it best to leave it in… until he can see a surgeon.” Will gave up the puzzle of Rufus’s hostage. There were too many practical issues to occupy his mind. “He might bleed to death if we pull it loose here.”
“Perhaps we can fashion a tourniquet. I’ll go and find him,” she said.
Will looked inquiringly at his cousin, who merely repeated his first question with visible patience, “How much damage, Will?”
“Oh… apart from the colonel’s man with a broken leg and the man with the knife in his arm, it’s not too bad. Ned’s lost a fingertip. He’s looking for it now. He’s convinced it can be sewn back on again.”
“Ned always did have strange notions,” Rufus said. “Let’s fashion a litter for the broken leg, put everyone else back on their horses, and we’ll head for Yetholm.”
Rufus went over to Portia, who was bending over the man who had taken her knife in the arm. “Are you skilled in battlefield surgery?”
“I had to patch Jack up on more than one occasion when he’d been in a brawl and we couldn’t afford a surgeon,” she returned. “Injuries worse than this, too.” She had used her own kerchief as a tourniquet when she’d pulled free the knife and was now fashioning a sling from a checkered napkin that she’d liberated from Ajax’s saddlebags. “You’d finished your provisions, so I thought you wouldn’t mind lending this.”
“Not at all. Anything I have that can be of service,” he said amiably. “Did I detect a slight note of envy on the subject of food?”
“Yes, you did. No one thought to put up provisions for me too.”
“I daresay it was because the cooks didn’t realize you were coming with us,” Rufus observed. With a tiny chuckle, he strolled away.
They didn’t reach Yetholm until after sunset. By then a hard frost was forming and the horses were quivering and stamping, and the injured man in the litter could no longer control the moans that emerged from his violently chattering teeth.
Portia, riding in the rear of the column, felt colder than she’d ever been, although rational memory told her that wasn’t so. But hunger gnawed at her backbone and she could not stop shivering. So locked in misery was she that she didn’t at first notice when Ajax surged up out of the shadows. Rufus’s voice, sharp with concern, brought her head up with a start.
“Come here… take your feet out of the stirrups.” He leaned over and swung her out of the saddle and onto Ajax. He pulled off his own cloak and wrapped it around her, then drew her against him. The breastplate was hard at her back, but even so she could feel his body warmth. “Will, take Penny’s rein.”
Portia hadn’t noticed that Will had accompanied Rufus. The younger man took Penny’s rein immediately and followed Rufus as he returned to the head of the column.
“How did you know I was so cold?” Her teeth chattered unmercifully.
“An informed guess,” he responded wryly, conscious of how the bitter wind was cutting through his leather jerkin now that he no longer had the protection of his cloak.
The village of Yetholm straddled the cart track, and on its outskirts stood a two-storied thatched building. Light spilled from its parchment-covered, unshuttered windows, and smoke curled thickly from two chimneys. Raucous laughter and shouts of a generally genial nature found their way out into the night through the cracks in door and window frames.
“Thank God!” Rufus muttered, nudging Ajax to quicken his pace at the sight of sanctuary.
“Aye, I doubt that poor fellow would survive much more of this,” Colonel Neath said, riding beside him. “ Tis the kind of cold that’s no‘ fit for man nor beast.” He cast a curious glance at the tightly wrapped figure huddling close against Lord Rothbury’s chest. Soldiers didn’t ordinarily cuddle up to their commanders.
If Rufus noticed the look, he offered no explanation, observing merely, “It’s too cold to snow though… for which we might be thankful come morning.” He drew rein before the door that opened directly onto the track.
Will had jumped from his horse, but before he could reach the door it was flung open with a wide expansive gesture.
“Well, well, and who have we here on such a night?” a light voice called merrily. A woman held a lantern high above her head. “Eh, if it’s not Rufus. It’s been too long since you graced my door, Decatur.”
“I know it, Fanny. I’ve wounded here. Will you send for the bonesetter?” Rufus swung Portia to the ground and then dismounted behind her. He turned to Will, issuing rapid-fire instructions as to the disposition of their own men and their prisoners.
“He’s naught but a horse doctor, but I daresay he’s better than nothing,” Fanny observed, her shrewdly assessing eye taking in the large party with a degree of calculation. “You been scrappin‘, Rufus, or on the king’s business?”
“The latter,” Rufus said. He gestured to Neath, who had dismounted and stood quietly by his horse. “May I present Colonel Neath. He and his men are prisoners en route to Newcastle, but we’re all in need of warmth, food, and wine.”
Colonel Neath bowed. “We’ll be grateful for any hospitality you can offer us, mistress, in the circumstances.”
Fanny nodded. “We don’t trouble ourselves too much with politics in my house, sir. And it’s a slow night, this night. No one’s venturing far from home in this cold, so you’re all right welcome. Come you in. It’ll be a squeeze, but it’ll be all the cozier for that.”
“Get inside, Portia. Someone’ll see to Penny.” Rufus urged her toward the door and Portia scuttled in, guiltily aware that she was not going to object to someone doing her dirty work for her.
She found herself in one large room furnished with long tables and benches, two massive fires burning at either end. Women and a few men lounged at the tables among pitchers of ale and flagons of wine. A staircase led up to a gallery that ran the width of the main room. Lamps hung from the rafters and tallow candles burned on the tables. The air was thick with wood smoke and the acrid smell of tallow and oil overlaying spilled wine, stale beer, and roasting meat. But more than anything it was warm.