Lady Caelyn Gilman, daughter of Lord Andrew Gilman watched as the mighty Count Adhemar of Anjou lay on the bed in the guest room of her father's home in Norfolk. Maids scurried about the room picking up his discarded dusty clothing and the bloodied linens used on his injuries. Sir William Thatcher, newly knighted by Edward, had finally knocked the mighty Adhemar of his horse The Black Prince of Wales. Caelyn had not been allowed to attend the tournament but servants of the estate had gone with her father and relayed the information back to her. "He had a hollow coronal at the end of the lance my lady." Old Chancy told her as she watched him rub down one of the many horses in her father's stable. "Inside the coronal was a steel point which caught Sir William in the shoulder." Caelyn listened as Old Chancy brushed out the black main of Siren's Song, her father's horse. "Served him right to be tossed off his horse like he was." Old Chancy said as he straitened his back up. "God it's not fun getting old." he heard his back creak as he walked over to where Caelyn leaned against the wooden wall feeding Siren pieces of apple. "But why did my father have to bring the bastard here?" Caelyn scratched the horse's nose. "Lady Caelyn!" Old Chancy balked. "Such language out of your mouth! Your dear mother, God rest her soul, would be spinning in her grave if she could hear you." Caelyn laughed. "Chancy, you've heard me say much worse." she kissed his cheek affectionately. "Aye, that I have." he shook his head. "That I have. But the reason to bringing Count Edema here is simple. His father, the first Count of Anjou was your father's best friend. They were like brothers. There was even talk of Count Edema being married to you." "To ME!" Caelyn shrieked. Old Chancy laughed, as Capelin's face grew red with anger. "Your mother took care of that, don't you fret about a thing. She told your father that you would marry for love, not out of duty or obligation." Old Chancy looked at Caelyn as mention of her mother brought sadness to her eyes. "Take care Caelyn." Old Chancy called Caelyn by her given name when no one else was around. Old Chancy had been with her father since he was a boy. "Your mother was promised to a man in an arranged marriage and when she met your father and fell in love with him, she wanted her daughter to know what love, true love, would be like. Your father being a sensible man who would do anything to please your mother agreed." "But then how was I almost betrothed to Count Adhemar?" "Ah..." Old Chancy sat down and took a sip from the flask at his hip. "Count Adhemar's mother was much like your own and when the discussion between your father and the Count's father turned to arranged marriages, both women stood up for their children." "Well I'll light a candle for the wisdom of those two women. From what I've seen and heard, Edema is not a pleasant man. Even Lady Jocelyn found him to be cold and cynical." Caelyn remembered the conversations of her maid. Edema could feel the sun on his body. He carefully opened his eyes. His head felt like there was a blacksmith inside of it pounding out Armour for an entire regiment. He blinked his eyes a few times and when his vision adjusted, he began to remember where he was. After William had forced him from his horse he had taken a hard fall. So hard that he had only snatches of memory of Lord Andrew taking him to Gilman Hall in Norfolk. Struggling to sit up, his body protested with aches and pains that Adhemar had not realized he had. Settling back into his pillow, he gingerly lifted his arm and touched his head. A wide linen bandage was wrapped around his head. Looking down at his body covered to the waist by a sheet, Adhemar noticed another set of linen bandages wrapped around his torso. Not seeing any blood staining the bandages was a good sign. The call of nature was tugging at Adhemar. He took a deep breath and slowly began to lift his upper body off the bed. "I can do this." he said through gritted teeth and after a few false starts he was able to sit up in the bed and began to swing his feet off the side of the bed. He reached out for a wooden chair next to his bed and used it for leverage to stand. Unfortunately the positioning of the chair did not offer any leverage and Adhemar found himself crashing naked to the floor. Caelyn happened to be walking by Adhemar's room when she heard a crash inside. Fearing the worst she threw the door open to find Adhemar struggling to get up from the floor. "Good God, what did you do?" she rushed over to him only to notice at the last minute his state of undress. "Woman shut your vile mouth and help me to stand." he shouted at Caelyn. "I need to use the privy." Caelyn bit her lip to avoid turning on her heal and leave the dreadful man sitting naked as the day he was born on the floor. She slipped her shoulder under his arm and used her body as leverage to help him stand. Adhemar leaned heavily on Caelyn as she helped him into the private privy in his room. He unceremoniously slammed the door in her face. Caelyn saw red as she clenched and unclenched her fingers while she listened to him noisily relieve himself. To release some of her anger, she began to rearrange his bed sheets and went to the door to call down for some food for the cantankerous count. She was just about finished rearranging the pillows when the door to the privy opened. "Do you require help?" Caelyn asked as nicely as she could manage. Adhemar only grunted as he carefully made his way back to the bed. Caelyn averted her eyes as he settled himself back into bed, but not before taking a quick peak at his masculine form. She had only seen the young boys who work for Old Chauncy shirtless when they swim in the lake. But they were young and skinny. Here was a man in every sense of the word. She could not help but notice the sprinkling of dark hair that covered his chest. It disappeared under the bandages and then reappeared in fine line that spread out again over his stomach. She was still looking covertly at his stomach when his voice brought her back to reality. "Does Lord Andrew let all of his female servants dress like boys?" Adhemar commented on Caelyn's choice of boy's leggings, boots and a loose cinnamon colored boys shirt that hung down to the tops of her thighs. He couldn't help but notice that the color of the shirt brought out her golden eyes. Caelyn realized that Adhemar didn't know who she was. They hadn't seen each other since they were children. She used his lack of recognition to her advantage. "Lord Andrew is quite liberal when it comes to how we dress." "The man is a fool. Women were not meant to wear men's dress." he snapped at her. "And I suppose you think they shouldn't do anything but sew, look pretty and be subservient to their husbands." "Of course they should. Their husbands are their betters." he snapped, obviously in pain as he leaned back into the pillows. "Bring me some wine." he closed his eyes and settled his arm across his head. Despite the muscular body that she could see above the sheets and the black curls that were now standing helter skelter on his head and the amazing green eyes, Caelyn wanted to take the pillow from behind his head and smother the arrogance right out of him. She clenched her fists and counted to ten while she poured some mulled cider into a cup and picked up the herb mix the doctor had given to help with Adhemar's headaches that would no doubt happen from the fall. She stood next to the bed and held the cup out to him. Adhemar took one sip and almost choked. "What in God's name is this concoction?" he choked on it. "It's mulled cider mixed with herbs that the doctor gave us to help with your head. He said you must drink it twice a day." "It's vile." he protested. "Drink it on your own or I will pinch your nose and force it down your throat." Adhemar looked at Caelyn. No woman, not even his mother, had ever spoken to him like that. When he didn't bring the cup to his lips Caelyn took a step closer and reached out. "Don't even think it." he growled at her and drank down the entire cup. "Wine now." "No. You may have cider or water. No wine until your stop taking the herbs. You will get ill." "WINE." he barked again. Caelyn grabbed the cup from him and walked back to the table next to the fireplace where a decanter of wine sat. She filled the cup and brought it back to him. "Leave now." he barked at her. Caelyn curtseyed and hoped that his entire stomach soon came up and he couldn't make it to the bathroom.