Free Kathryn Kramer by Midsummer Night's Desire Page B

in the plays but only assist my father," she said quickly, lest he get any ideas of stirring up trouble.  
    "But you are a woman and women can ere be the plague of men."  Nicholas spoke from experience.
    His comment angered her.  Handing the reins to her father, Alandra cast him in impudent scowl, then retreated inside the wagon.
    "Don't think too harshly of Alandra,"  Murray said behind his hand, coming quickly to Nicholas' rescue by offering him a ride in the wagon.
    Nicholas quickly took the old man up on his kindness, jumping up and sitting beside the stage man's girth.
    "I thought her to be as soft as a rose , but she does have a thorn or two," Nicholas grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.
    "My fault, that!  She was raised around men and knows nothing of a woman's wiles.  Spirited as a young colt, she is, but I have an inkling that you are the one to tame her."
    "Me?" he asked in surprise. She showed no liking for him at all, made it a point to glare at him in fact. "I want naught to do with her.  She has done nothing but scorn me.  And to think I envisioned an angel when I heard her speak.  Seems to me there is a hint of Beelzebub in her manner."               
    "Have patience." 
    The old man's grin softened Nicholas' mood, for who could stay angry when in this jolly gentleman's presence.  Nicholas had already developed a deep affection for the man, knowing full well that if Murray had been able to procure a horse for him, he would have.  Right from the first the old man had befriended him. 
    "As to your position in the company, give it time.  All these actors who now sit their mounts so proudly once walked beside a wagon as you must do for the time being.  A young man like you who has fulfilled his apprenticeship under such a fine actor as Alleyn will soon be making more than five shillings a week. I wager you'll soon have a horse to ride too. Me thinks it will be only a matter of time."
    It didn't matter, Nicholas thought.  He did not intend to stay with the actors for long.  As soon as they reached Faversham or perhaps even before, he would obtain a horse and ride towards his own lands. Beg, borrow, or steal, he would have a horse.  Were it not for the fact that the town crier was proclaiming his supposed crime all over London, he wouldn't have come this far with such a motely group. 
    Walk be damned!  Did they think themselves deserving of respect because they had distinguished themselves in their professions or because they had all recently been granted coats of arms?  Well, he was a knight, BiGod.  How he wished he could throw that in their faces.  And as to the dark-haired wench, he wanted nothing to do with her at all.  She had shunned him all along the cobbled pathway towards the outskirts of the city and now seemed to relish his humiliation.
    Pulling his cap down over his eyes, Nicholas reflected on Alandra's reaction to his gestures of camaraderie.  He had smiled at her from time to time, trying to thaw the frost between them, but she had only smiled at the others, never at him.  He had sensed her eyes watching him none-the-less, staring at him when his back was turned, studying him with her pensive gaze as if trying to look into his very soul.  Her searching eyes unnerved him, threatened his composure and made him wonder just how much she knew of him.  She seemed to be challenging him in some way.  Saucy wench, what was she up to?  Nicholas felt certain he would find out soon enough.             
    The company did not even take time to stop by Maidstone, a marketing center but  passed right by.  They hurried through orchards and hop gardens, pausing only once or twice, so desperate was Will Shakespeare to make good use of time and distance.  The entire company heaved a huge sigh of relief when at last the setting sun turned the thatched roofs of the squat village cottages to gold.  They knew at last that the first day's journey would soon