Page 23 of Sweet Mead for Lady Martine

Chapter 6

“David, I hear horses approaching. By the jangle of the tack I’d say it is nobles.” Uncle Joe stood at the open door of the inn, his ear cocked, listening to the sound.

“Tell them we’re not open yet,” growled David, flipping the last of the coins he’d been counting into the cash chest. He closed the lid and then slammed shut his leather-bound ledger, shoving them into the secret compartment and using the key to lock it.

“David, what’s got you in such a bad mood this morning?” Dirk walked into the tavern from their living quarters, stretching and yawning.

“Besides the fact I had to sleep on the hard wooden table again last night, you mean?” David picked up his apron, tying it around himself. It covered his chest as well as the front of his clothes. He rung out a rag in a bucket of water and pushed past his cousin, starting to wipe down the tables.

“Just buy a pallet if that’s what’s bothering you,” said Dirk.

“With what?” David scrubbed the stains of last night’s spilled porridge and ale from a table. “We don’t have enough money for such things.”

“Even after the crowd we had in here the night of the storm?” Joe asked from the doorway.

“Even so.”

“I thought we’d bring in good coin that night,” said Dirk.

“We did.” David walked over and started to clean another table. “But after paying for all the damages from a crowd that size, and after having to feed all the nobles, we are even more behind than before.”

“Are you sure?” asked Dirk, squinting and scratching the stubble on his jaw. “I didn’t notice that when I did the ledgers.”

“You can’t read and can barely add,” David told him. “I never should have let you attempt balancing the ledgers because you messed things up and now I am scrambling to fix them.”

“Stop your quarreling boys.” Joe closed the door and used his walking stick to tap the ground, making his way over to them. “The nobles are about to enter. Hopefully, we can make some good coin off of them.”

“We don’t open until this afternoon,” said David, loading dirty cups onto a tray. “Where the hell are my sisters? This place needs a good cleaning before we can open for business.”

“Your sisters and mother left early this morning,” said Joe. “They went to the alehouse to help the alewives since we are extremely low on wine and ale. When they help, the price charged to us is less.”

“They did? Why didn’t anyone tell me?” David didn’t like anything going on in his inn that he didn’t know about.

“You were sleeping soundly on the table and they didn’t want to wake you,” said Joe. David didn’t need to look up to know that both Joe and Dirk were smiling about that.

The door to the tavern banged open and a messenger wearing the banner of Blake Castle entered the room.

“The tavern is not open this early, I’m sorry,” David said, picking up the overloaded tray of empty drinking vessels and dirty wooden bowls. “You’ll have to leave and come back later,” he said, not bothering to look up.

“We’re not here as customers,” came a very familiar female voice that he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about. He looked up to see Lady Martine walking over to him. “Good morning, David.”

Her long velvet gown and fur-lined cloak swept over the floor as she glided toward him looking like a radiant queen. Suddenly, his nerves got the best of him. He felt disheveled and dirty. He hadn’t even combed his hair this morning. Why was she here and what did she want? He thought he’d never see her again.

“Lady Martine. How can I help you?” With his attention on the girl instead of his tray, the cups and bowls shifted. He hurried to right them, ending up with most of them clattering to the floor. “Damn,” he spat, hurriedly sliding the tray onto the table and bending down to collect the spilled dishes.

“Surprised to see me?” The noblewoman hunkered down and started to pick up the cups from the floor along with him. This was surely not the way a noble should act. What was the matter with her?

David closed his eyes, not able to believe what she was doing. “Get up,” he said in a half-whisper, not wanting the others to see her helping a mere commoner. He wasn’t even a noble, and her action embarrassed him.

“What?” she asked, as if she didn’t understand.

“My lady, it isn’t proper for you to do that.” The guard was at her side immediately, helping her to her feet.

“Why are you here?” David asked once again, taking the dirty cups from Martine and quickly standing. “Did you mayhap forget something in my living quarters?”

“Nay,” she answered. “We come bearing gifts.”

“Gifts?” He wasn’t sure what she meant, but thought this had something to do with the kisses they’d shared. Damn it, was she rewarding him for doing something that had been stupid on his part, not to mention highly forbidden? “Nay, it’s not necessary. Please, don’t even think—” He stopped in midsentence when the door opened wider and a servant strolled in carrying a pallet over his shoulder.