Wicked and Wonderful by Valerie King

enjoyment of onions not withstanding. But I have different quarry tonight. However, if you are interested in earning a sovereign, there is one particular task you might perform for me.”
    Even in the moonlight he could see her eyes glittering. “A sovereign?” she inquired. “Wat would the task be?”
    “That you accompany me to your camp and show me, though at some distance, the precise location of Miss Lovington’s tent.”
    Betty smiled broadly. “Oy should be delighted, me lord.” She proved to be wonderfully garrulous, chatting the entire distance. He found himself grateful for her disarming discourse for then he was able to ponder quite at his leisure the trick Judith had played upon him this evening. More particularly, he spent many minutes deciding just how he should go about punishing her for what proved to be an odiferous prank.
    At the outskirts of the camp, where the shadows were dark and deep, Betty quietly explained that Judith’s tent was at the edge, near Mrs. Marnhull’s wagon. “She be our cook,” she explained. “The tent to the right of Judy’s belongs to John and Margaret Ash, so ye must take great care not to let them hear ye else John will run ye through with his sword, he is that protective of her. Judy came to the troupe as a girl of fourteen so he thinks on her quite as his little sister, so take care.” She then held out her greedy palm.
    He withdrew the sovereign from his vest pocket and placed it firmly in her hand. He was not surprised when she bit it, afterward smiling broadly once more, dipping a lively curtsy, and swishing her way into the camp.
    When she had disappeared, and when he knew even she could not see him, he crept closer to the edge of the camp that he might steal into Judith’s tent.
    In the center of the half circle of tents was a log fire, blazing and crackling in the cool night air. The sound of a lute being plucked and the harmonies of two male voices held an almost melancholy note. Taking another step, suddenly Judith came into his range of sight. She was seated facing the fire so that her profile was perfectly visible. He drew in a soft breath. His heart seemed to constrict in his chest. Even at this angle she was lovely. What was it about a beautiful woman that so enchanted the senses of man?
    After a moment when his head cleared, he realized she was holding a child on her lap. He recalled once in passing the camp he had seen a girl playing in the distance and there she was, of perhaps four or five and obviously content being held by Judith.
    The scene was so tender that an odd pain passed through his chest. A longing pierced him so deeply that he had some difficulty drawing breath. He felt as though his ribs had been bruised, so profound was the sensation.
    He drew back into the shadows fearing discovery. His original intention of stealing into her tent took a hard turn. He had been knocked out of stride and now he must recover. Only how to proceed? Frustration began working in him. This was not how he had meant to conclude his evening. He had been in pursuit of another kiss and much more, but there she sat with a child on her lap smiling at the troubadours, whispering into the girl’s ear, bouncing her on her knees.
    Now he was angry. How dare she sit as a mother might sit, pretending to be honorable and pure when he had kissed her and he knew that she was no different from Betty. How dare she in her present attitude make him long for a family, for a wife, for children racing up and down his halls and she just an actress.
    He knew but one desire in this moment, to punish Judith Lovington for her hypocrisy, for rejecting his attentions, and for sending Betty and her dragon’s breath in her stead. And especially, for having sent him all over the county of Somerset in search of her when all the while she was in his pasture.
    He determined then and there that Miss Judith Lovington would soon feel the soft sting of his revenge. If she wished to play at her