Free Defiant Surrender by Tamara Gill

squirmed at the lie he just told. For all his words that his home meant nothing, the beading of sweat atop his brow and his inability to look at her told another truth. His home was run with dedication. Not a thing was left untended, including those who worked his lands. No, William did not fool her; he loved his home and his lands. Took pride in them. Even if he did disappear for weeks on end.
    “You are very different from what I’d been told of you, Lady Madeline.”
    Maddie looked back from the view of passing fields and working serfs to her husband. “Oh, how so?” She refused to fidget as his dark, hooded gaze studied her profile.
    “I find it strange that Lady Veronica has more grace and finesse than you, when you were brought up in and around privileges rivalling those of the king.”
    Maddie frowned. “Are you calling me common?”
    “Well, Aimecourt is a thriving stronghold so I rank you more than common. And you seem to have wits, since your holdings strength and production have only increased since your father’s death. However,” he paused, “I believe when your father had you undergo tutelage in the arts of being a lady, he allowed the standard to slip.”
    “And you my lord, to point out my flaws, were never raised as a gentlemen.”
    A heavy silence ensued. Maddie glared, before she turned away. What an obnoxious arse.
    *
    The carriage crossed a wooden drawbridge, which spanned a deep ravine. They passed through the gatehouse and stopped within the outer bailey. With the help of Lord William, Maddie disembarked, pulling her hand free of his clasp the moment her feet touched the ground. Why, whenever she inadvertently touched him, did nerves assail her? At shouts and commands behind her, she turned and watched, entranced as the drawbridge closed, isolating them within the walls. People were everywhere; it was a complete working village on top of a rock.
    The carriages moved on to be unloaded and a moment later, Mistress Rhode joined her before accompanying her inside. Since her husband had thought to take himself off elsewhere, Maddie pretended indifference and proceeded indoors to inspect her property.
    It only now dawned upon her that she knew no one, nor did she know her way around the massive edifice. As she walked into the Great Hall, she stopped, stunned, in front of two life-sized painti ngs of people she recognized. Without the period clothing, she could have been looking at her mum and dad, exactly as she had seen them last. Before a drunk driver took them away from her at seventeen, and her dreams along with them.
    She slumped into a large chair and tried to make sense of it all. A gust of heat from the roaring fire nearby heated her cheeks as her mind fought with the possibilities. What was happening? Was all this some sort of reincarnated life? Everyone here certainly saw her as the Lady Madeline. So she must look like her. And the people in the painting were most assuredly her parents. So maybe somehow people were not only reborn over and over again, but continued to have the same family repeatedly?
    No, that couldn’t be right.
    “Some refreshments are being brought in, Lady Madeline,” said Mistress Rhode as she lowered herself onto a wooden chair next to the hearth and held her hands to the flames. “Does your home seem familiar to you, my dear? If you have not recovered your memory by spring, I will consult my mother. She normally passes through this area during that time of year. She may know if there is anything to be done. Is that agreeable to you, m’lady?”
    Maddie smiled over to her, and nodded.
    “That’s fine, Mistress Rhode, do as you will, but I believe nothing can be done. I have no memory of this home or the land surrounding it. I only remember my life before, and that existence did not occur in 1102.”
    She paused as she sipped the fruity mead handed to her by a servant. Thanking the maid, Maddie frowned when the girl appeared stunned by the gesture before