Lord of Misrule (Below the Salt #8)

Chapter 9

T olin didn’t think she would come. It was already getting late into the night, and it was hours ago that the dishes from the meal were cleared away and the trestle tables were taken down, making room for the Christmas games as well as dancing.

Tolin had kept one eye on the door leading to the kitchen as he first watched the mummers put on a Christmas play. Then the jester made the rounds, playing pranks on everyone. Jugglers and musicians filled the room. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Everyone but him. He couldn’t stop being bothered by what had happened with Kit.

“Let’s play Blind Man’s Buff,” said Raven, taking a cloak and putting it backward over Tolin with the hood covering his face.

“Nay. I don’t want to play,” he protested, trying to push it away, but Raven held it in place.

“You love this game,” said his sister. “And there hasn’t been a time yet where you weren’t able to identify the person you catch. Now, come on, Tolin. You are usually a lot more fun than this! Especially at Christmas.”

“All right,” he mumbled, handing her his tankard of ale.

“Hold on,” said Rook, spinning him around so hard that Tolin got dizzy and nearly fell.

“Rook, you’ll pay for that!” Tolin reached out to catch his brother, but Rook darted away.

“Over here, Bean King,” shouted Daegel, causing Tolin to spin around the other way and reach out once again.

“Back here,” cried Jarvis from behind him.

Tolin wasn’t at his best tonight, being so distracted by Kit and the way she’d reacted earlier. Every time someone taunted him and he tried to catch them blindly, they jumped out of the way leaving him empty-handed.

“That’s enough!” he shouted, rushing forward, grabbing for whoever might be too slow to get away. He latched on to someone, and by her gasp he could tell it was a woman. “Hold still. I will identify you,” he said.

Kit froze, not expecting to have Tolin rush forward and grab her like that. She had just entered the great hall looking for him to join him for the required dance, when she stumbled into the middle of a game called Blind Man’s Buff. She didn’t know at first who was under the cloak. Not until she had heard his voice. It was Tolin. And although he was not able to see her, he was using his hands to feel her and to guess who she was.

“I can tell by the coarseness of your gown that you are not a noble,” he said.

She opened her mouth to say something, but spied Raven with her finger to her lips telling Kit to stay silent.

“Go on,” Raven called out. “What else?”

“Well, let me see.” His hands slid up her arms ever so slowly and then around to her back as he pulled her closer to him. Instantly, her body became hot. This was such an intimate position she was in. And right in front of everyone! Kit wanted to turn and run, but knew she couldn’t. This was just a game she reminded herself. She couldn’t leave now even though she wanted to.

“I feel something else,” he said, letting his hands slide down to her waist. She wickedly liked the way he touched her, even if he didn’t know it was her. “You seem to be wearing an apron. That tells me that you are probably a kitchen worker. A cook or a scullery maid, perhaps.”

His hands brushed past the sides of her breasts and she couldn’t help but gasp aloud once more. He came so close to touching her too familiarly.

“I need to feel your face,” he told her. His big palms cupped her cheeks. “You feel warm to the touch,” he surmised, getting a lot of whistles and off-colored comments from the men. “That either means you desire me, or mayhap that you work close to the kitchen ovens.”

She really wanted to say something, but once again Raven motioned to her to stay silent.

“You need to make your guess,” called out Rook. “Who is she, Brother?”

“Well, let me check one more thing.”

Tolin knew damned well the woman in his arms was Kit. He could smell the scent of bread on her, as well as feel a streak of flour on her cheek under his fingers. He purposely stalled, not wanting to make his guess yet. The longer he kept her there the better. At least right now she couldn’t leave him.

“I need to feel your hair,” he said, his hands going to her head, his fingers rubbing her soft locks together. “Nice. Soft. Pleasant.”

More whistles and shouts came from the crowd.

“God’s eyes, Tolin,” growled Rook. “Stop fondling the girl and make your guess.”

“Hold on. I need to be sure,” he said, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand, feeling her head tilt and lean in to his touch. Good. That meant she liked being touched by him, even if she wouldn’t admit it. “Soft skin. Let me feel her lips.” He cupped her chin in his hand and gently stroked his thumb first over her top lip and then her bottom one. He swore he heard her stifle a soft moan. Her mouth opened, her lips parted. Damn, her actions were making him hard. Even if he couldn’t see her. “I smell the aroma of bread,” he finished, not able to stand here any longer stroking her cheeks and lips without being able to stop himself from wanting to do so much more.

“Who is it?” asked Raven.

“My guess is that she is the beautiful new baker of Blake Castle, named Kit.” He lowered the hood from his face, staring directly into her eyes. With their gazes interlocked, time seemed to stand still. He had never wanted a woman as badly as he did right now.

“You win again, Lord of Misrule,” said Jarvis, slapping him on the back. When he said his title aloud, Kit’s eyes lowered and she pouted slightly. “Do you want to go again, or should someone else try?” asked Jarvis.

“Neither,” he answered, his gaze still locked on the beautiful woman standing before him. “Musicians, play a song,” he called out. “It is time for everyone to dance.”

“I’m sorry. I need to get back to the kitchen.” Kit turned to go, but Tolin’s hand clamped over her arm to keep her there. Slowly, she turned back to look at him.

“There is nowhere you need to be right now but here,” he said in a soft voice.

“I—I don’t dance. Not really.”

“It’s the command of the Lord of Misrule to dance with him.” Jarvis walked up with a smile on his face and a tankard of ale in his hand. “You can’t say no. That’s not the way the game works.”

The musicians started playing a lively tune. Before she could object again, Tolin took her hand and bowed. She, in turn, curtseyed to him. He could see now that she knew how to dance but just hadn’t wanted to do so with him.

“I didn’t think you were coming,” he said, trying to make small talk which was something he wasn’t very good at.

“I didn’t want to, but as we both know, I didn’t have a choice.”

“What does that mean?” He spun her around, and when she turned he put his hand on her shoulder.

“You are the Lord of Misrule. You can demand anything of me and I would have to do it.”

“Now, now,” he said, shaking his head. “I am a noble and right now lord of the castle. I could do that anyway.”

By the look on her face he could tell this wasn’t going well.

“I mean...what I meant was that I never ordered you to dance with me. As Lord of Misrule.”

“But as Lord of Blake Castle you did?”

Why did she always have to answer him with another question?

“Kit, I am trying my best for us to get along.” He twirled her around again, followed by a promenade.

“I don’t believe that.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“Because, if you were sincere, you’d never have commanded me to leave my home and work in your kitchen until Twelfth Night. You realize that I’ll lose my business now. And my sister will be with a new baby and nowhere to live.”

“Oh, is that what you think?” They continued to dance.

“That is what I know.”

“Well, you’re wrong. I’d never let that happen,” he assured her, but she didn’t seem to believe him. They stopped dancing and happened to be standing right under the mistletoe. “Oh, look.” He motioned upward with his eyes. “We’re under the kissing bough again, it seems.”

“Are you going to command me to kiss you?”

“Nay,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “I’m not going to command, I’m not going to ask. This time, I’m just going to kiss you before you have a chance to run away.”

Kit was caught by surprise when Tolin’s lips came down and covered her mouth. Without meaning to, her eyes closed and she was wrapped in the magic of Tolin Blake’s intimate move. He held her gently but protectively in his arms. His kiss was passionate but not forceful. With her eyes closed she got lost in the moment. Music filled the room and when her eyes opened, the light from the candles atop the kissing boughs lit up the place in a romantic, soft glow.

“There now,” he whispered, his finger tapping her on the nose. “That wasn’t so horrible, was it?”

Being this close to Tolin made her feel weak. And vulnerable. Her nerves started to shake because anxiety coursed through her. Damn, this always happened to her when she was with a man she really liked. Double damn, because although her mind told her she despised Tolin, her body was telling her otherwise. Kit felt as if she couldn’t breathe. She needed to get away from him quickly.

Turning, she darted out of his arms and ran for her room that adjoined to the kitchen. She didn’t stop until she’d entered the small living area and slammed the door behind her. Kit dove to the blankets on the floor that served as her bed, wanting to hide away from the world.

The sound of the door opening made her freeze.

“Kit? Are you in here?” It was Tolin. He had followed her to the room and entered without bothering to knock first. “It is dark in here. I can’t see a thing.”

“This is my private room. Please leave,” she told him.

“I can tell you are upset. I won’t leave you while you are feeling this way.”

A soft light illuminated the small room as he lit a candle that was on a table near the door. Kit slowly sat up to face him.

“Egads, this is a small room.” He looked around. “Didn’t you say your son and sister are staying in here with you?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“Where do you all sleep?”

“On the blankets on the floor,” she told him.

“I had no idea that you didn’t have pallets.”

“It is more than Oliver has in the stable. I gave up my blanket to let him have it to keep him from the cold.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Was there something you wanted, Lord Tolin?”

He ran a hand through his long black hair in thought. “I’d like you to stop despising me. Tell me what I can do to make you like me and to be my friend.”

“Friendship and respect are earned, not demanded, my lord.” Slowly, she stood up to face him.

“Well, then. What can I do to earn your friendship and respect?”

“There might be one thing.” Hugging her arms around her, she decided to just come out and tell him what she was feeling.

“What’s that?”

“You could let a member of my family be the Lord or Lady of Misrule until Twelfth Night.”

“Oh. I see.” His penetrating eyes perused her. “So you were trying to cheat where the bean in the cake is concerned. I must say I am disappointed in you, Kit. You didn’t strike me as a liar and a cheat. Even if your son is a thief.”

“You know none of that is true! I am only trying to protect and take care of my family in the only way I can.”

“There are other things you could have done. Like ask me for what it is you wanted, instead of trying to cheat and get it for yourself.”

“Quit calling me a cheater. You are the cheater by taking the title of Lord of Misrule when it was meant for a commoner. This is the only time of year when the poor peasants have a hope and a chance to be something more than a slave and pitifully poor. You, Lord Tolin, took that hope from every peasant when you decided to keep the title of Bean King for yourself.”

“Lord of Misrule,” he told her, seeming aggravated and irritated by the way she was talking to him. But since Kit was so upset she pushed all her anxiety away and stood up to this arrogant man. She might be punished for it, but how could her life possibly get worse than it was right now? He turned to leave and she called out to stop him.

“Give me the bean. Let me be Lady of Misrule. Then, my lord, I promise I will respect you.”

“Nay,” he answered talking over his shoulder to her. “Because the day I let a commoner tell me what to do is the day I lose all respect for myself. And I assure you, Kit Baker, that will never happen to me.”

He left the room and closed the door behind him. Kit’s body shook like a leaf in the wind now, because she was sure her words upset him so much that she just doomed herself and her family. Forever.