Forbidden: Claude (Second in Command #2)(23)

That earned him a hard slap across the face. Evelina glared at him and stood with her hands on her hips looking as if she wanted to tear off his head.

“Don’t ever speak to me that way again.”

As she stormed off, Claude chuckled to himself. He knew the mercenary wasn’t her lover and she was no whore. He only said it to get her flustered so she would hopefully tell him her true identity but it didn’t work. Well, he’d find out who she was because now he was not only Rose’s protector but Evelina’s as well. The closer he got to her, the easier it would hopefully be to figure out why he was having these odd feelings for a mere commoner.





Chapter 8





Evelina threw open the shutter and took a deep breath of fresh morning air. “My lady, it is time to awake so you are not late for mass,” she told Rose.

Rose let out a soft moan and turned over in bed. “I am not feeling all that well today. I think I will stay in my chamber and not go anywhere.”

“Lady Rose, is it the baby?” She rushed over to the bedside.

“I think I’m just tired, that’s all.” Rose pushed up to a sitting position in bed. The sheet slipped off of her, and the bulge of her stomach under her shift moved.

“I – I think I just saw the baby move,” gasped Evelina.

Rose chuckled. “Yes, it is amazing. Here, give me your hand. You can feel the baby kick.” Rose reached out, and Evelina stretched out her arm. Rose placed Evelina’s hand on her large belly. “Right there. It should be any minute now.”

A kick knocked against Evelina’s hand, and her eyes opened wide. “I felt it. I felt the baby kick!”

Rose giggled. “You act as if this is the first time you’ve felt the kick of an unborn baby. Haven’t you been close to anyone giving birth before?”

“Nay,” she admitted.

“I thought since you are a nursemaid, you must have been present for many births when you were back in France.”

“I . . . I wasn’t always a nursemaid,” she said. “The only time I’ve been around a pregnant woman was when my brother’s wife and her baby died in childbirth.”

“I see.” Rose looked down at her belly and rubbed her hand over it in a loving manner. Suddenly, she seemed very sad.

“Oh, my lady, I am sorry.” Evelina felt awful that she had just mentioned her sister-by-marriage dying in childbirth. “I am sure you will be just fine and so will your baby. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Nay, it is all right, Evelina. I was just thinking of the two babies I lost and was wondering what Toft would have done if I had died as well.”

“Don’t talk that way. Please,” said Evelina, cradling Rose’s hand in hers.

“Toft and I want a child desperately. My mother died in childbirth, and I lost five siblings as well, so I am very worried.”

“I’m sorry, my lady. That is awful, and I am sure very hard to accept.”

“Do you want children someday?”

No one had ever asked Evelina this before. She liked someone asking what she wanted in her life instead of telling her how it had to be. “Aye, I do,” she said. “But I need a husband first.”

“I’m surprised you are not married already.”

“I want to marry someone I love. Just like you and Toft. I don’t want to be married to someone just because my father wants me to be.”

“Ah, now I understand why you left France. Your father wants you to marry someone, and you don’t agree.”

She looked down and wrung her hands in her lap. “I would rather not be married at all than to marry a horrible, mean man.”

“I’m sure he’s not as bad as you make it sound. Perhaps you should go back to your father and have a talk with him about this.”

“Nay. I won’t do that.” She sprang up and paced the floor.

“What does your mother say about all this?”

“My mother is dead.”

“I understand how hard it is for you. I lost my mother at a young age. I was so happy when Isobel came into my father’s life because now I have another woman to confide in.”

“So, you couldn’t talk to your father about things either?”

“I blamed my father for my mother’s death. But once I realized it was not his fault and how foolish I’d been, we became close. I can talk to my father about anything now.”

“My father will never understand.” Evelina shook her head in sorrow. “I need to find the man I’m to marry on my own.”

“Claude is very nice. He is not married.”

“Claude?” She spun around so fast that she almost fell.

“Mayhap, you should get to know him.”

“He has been nothing but cruel to me,” she told Rose.

“Claude? Cruel?” That made Rose laugh. “I honestly don’t think the man has a mean bone in his body. You must have just started off on the wrong foot with him.”

“Claude is a nobleman,” Evelina reminded her. “I’m sure he would only consider marrying a noblewoman.”

“I’ve seen the way Claude looks at you, Evelina. He has eyes for you even if you don’t think so.”