Free Unbidden (The Evolution Series) by Jill Hughey Page A

slave.”
    Distaste curled David’s lip.
    “Rochelle’s mother was a well-used slave who Rochelle’s father took a fancy to,” Doeg said salaciously.
    “You make her sound like a prostitute,” Theo protested . “Rochelle’s father first felt pity for her, then he fell in love with her. He freed her years before he married her.”
    “T here is no doubt of Rochelle’s parentage?”  David asked.
    “None at all,” Theo replied.
    “Still,” Doeg argued,  “If you marry this girl, one quarter of your offspring’s blood will come from heaven knows which subjugated flock of peasants!”
    David considered this for a moment . “I do not think I care about that,” he finally answered. “Marian is cowardly. Other than that, she is a perfectly presentable noblewoman. Her history, in fact, explains a few things. I appreciate the information. Thank you, Doeg.”
    Doeg scowled.
    “What else did Sewell tell you?” David asked.
    “Well,” Doeg said flatly. “”The estate is very rich. They make excellent wines. Her tenants worship the ground on which she walks. She keeps to herself, not socializing with the other nobles.”
    “Because her parents were ostracized when they married,” Theo added defensively.
    “As David may well be,” Doeg reported. “Sewell does not think the people of Francia will stand for a forced wedding with a Bavarian.”
    “She is nineteen years old,” Theo protested . “Never been offered for but now that someone else may get her, they are in a snit?”
    “Wait, wait, wait,” David interjected . “Both of you, calm down. I am betrothed to her. Whether Sewell and his neighbors like it, the decision has been made. I do not care if none of them ever visit me, nor will Rochelle, since it is not a pleasure she had to begin with.”
    The two men subsided with grumbles.
    “Theo, do you think any of the nobles will try to interfere?”
    Theo considered it for a moment . “Haven’t heard enough talk to be sure, but it would not hurt to leave Aix. In fact, it would be best for you to get married and put an end to it.”
    David nodded . “Unfortunately, Rochelle is in no hurry to wed, but she is anxious to leave for home as soon as possible.”
    “She is probably much needed on her estate . Might be prudent, given her current notoriety, for you and I to escort her at least to Ribeauville.”
    “I need to visit there in any case, and cancel those rooms I had rented for the winter,” David noted with a satisfied smile.
    “A few of my men can escort the ladies from Ribeauville to Alda, and you can follow when you are ready.”
    “Excellent . We will tell her tonight.”  David could see her face now. She was accustomed to making the plans, not following them. At least in matters concerning her safety, that had already changed.
     
    Rochelle hunched on a three legged stool in the corner of the kitchen watching her mother tend the meat. She was pouting — there was no other word for it — as she turned the betrothal problem over in her mind, searching for an escape route. At Alda, she would have walked out into the fields or ridden among the grape vines until an idea clarified out of her turbid thoughts. Here in the city, surrounded by buildings and unfamiliar people, the only sense of home was in the kitchen. She wished she could be a carefree child again. She closed her eyes, pretending. The smell of cinnamon and leeks simmering with the beef helped carry her back. Marian’s high-pitched humming of a song she would never teach her daughter was as familiar as her own breathing. The distracting noises on the street and a sense of impending doom kept bringing her forward to her own time and her current set of troubles.
    “I wish you had not invited them,” Rochelle groused, not for the first time.
    “Stop yer brooding,” Marian replied. “David is yer betrothed!  Any girl is anxious to get to know her future husband!”
    “I am not any girl, Mother . I have never had fanciful