Boadicea's Legacy by Traci E. Hall Page B

how relieved I am that you gave up on that silly plan of yours. I told your father about it.”
    What plan?
    â€œStupid! When will you girls learn that I am the man of this family and I will protect you—you do not need to protect me. Is this understood, Ela? When I think of you married to that bastard, I feel like puking. Aye, hurling. I’m proud to be lord of this manor, but not at the cost of my children’s sorrow. You’d think you would have learned that after the misery your sisters put me through.”
    Os thought that Lord Robert sounded very proud for a man mired in misery.
    â€œYou don’t understand now, Ela, but someday you will, when you are a parent.” Lady Deirdre reached over and smoothed the veil over Ela’s head. Os watched as she leaned back into her mother’s caress like a cat being petted.
    â€œAt this rate I’ll never be married.” Os couldn’t miss the smile she tried to hide in her mug. She sounded happy at the prospect.
What woman didn’t want to be married? She’d
been willing to marry a villain just this morning
.
    â€œI don’t know about that, Ela, but God help you if you try again to give me grandchildren with sallow skin and buck teeth.” Lord Robert lifted his mug to the heavens.
    Os burst into laughter. Surprised, the Montehues paused, then joined in. As he stretched his legs out to the fire and sipped from his mug, Os felt like he belonged.
    He hated to be the one to shatter the mood, but the Earl of Norfolk had been waiting a year already. He himself grew impatient.
    Os’s reward of a large parcel of land was most likely dwindling as it took longer to bring the earl what he wanted. Roger Bigod hadn’t given him many clues to find Boadicea’s spear, nor had he told him why he wanted it. His mission had been simple—to locate the spear—and he’d been given a bag of coin, which was long gone, and had been pointed toward Wales.
    In Os’s travels, he had followed various paths searching for Boadicea and come up mostly empty-handed. Touching the coin at his throat, Os remembered how close to quitting the mission he’d come until he’d heard of a red-haired healer in a small Welsh village close to the shore. From there, he’d tracked down Evianne, and her daughter Deirdre Montehue, as well as tidbits regarding her daughters. He’d thought there were two. Os glanced at Ela, who was bent over sideways, looking for something beneath the chaise. Praise God, there were three.
    Fortune had finally smiled on him, giving him a livingclue to the spear. It was possible that he might still get his land once he delivered Boadicea’s true legacy in the form of Ela Montehue. Tall, flame-haired, green-eyed—the gentle lady was the dignified, gentle-born version of Boadicea. He cleared his throat.
    Ela jumped up and returned to her seat on the chaise. She tugged at her foot, as if it were caught.
    Deirdre looked at him and smiled, an embroidery hoop in her busy hands.
    Robert scowled, seemingly lost in thought. Os hated to rouse him, especially if Robert was mentally kicking the shit out of the lying scoundrel Thomas de Havel, but it was time to get some answers.
    â€œAs I told you earlier, I am here on behalf of the Earl of Norfolk.” He waited for them to get settled into listening positions. Ela still struggled with her shoe, although gamely trying to pay attention. At his questioning look, she stopped wiggling and folded her hands in her lap.
    Deirdre put down her hoop and needle, and Robert continued scowling, but this time Os knew he was the one under scrutiny.
    â€œAs I mentioned earlier, the Earl of Norfolk has sent me on a quest—a discreet mission searching for information or the actual spear of Boadicea.” Os studied Deirdre to see if she would give anything away by the jerk of a shoulder or twitch of an eye. She tilted her head, her expression interested but