After Odette read a few more psalms, Frau Hartman laid her sewing aside. “Would you like me to braid your hair?”
“Oh, that is very kind, thank you.” It must look a hideous mess.
Odette had finished her food, so Frau Hartman fetched a comb and started combing her hair. It felt so good Odette closed her eyes.
“I always wanted a girl so I could fix her hair.” Frau Hartman sounded wistful, but not sad.
“Were you hoping Kathryn would stay here and be your daughter?”
“Yes, but she was at the age and had been through so much that . . . She did not know how to think of Jorgen as a brother. I was grateful when I learned she was staying at your friend’s house.”
“She seems content to work for Anna. I think Anna’s cook has been very motherly toward her, which I am sure she needed.” Odette sighed at how good it felt to have a woman braid her hair. Perhaps Kathryn wasn’t the only one who needed someone to be motherly toward her.
“You have beautiful hair.” She worked it in and out and between her fingers with gentle tugs. “I always thought Jorgen’s hair was thick and beautiful. It was a bit of a shame that he was not a girl.”
Odette laughed. “He would have been a beautiful girl.” But as a man, he made her want to study him, to know him, and to memorize each hard angle and plane of his chin, jaw, cheek, and brow.
What a scandalous thought. Her cheeks heated. Had she forgotten she had promised to marry Mathis? She’d hardly thought of him the last two days and nights. Was it not wrong to marry someone she thought so little of?
When she finished braiding her hair, Frau Hartman unwrapped the bandages around Odette’s arm and leg. “Susanna says it is best to let the wound ooze, to let the bad humors out since it has stopped bleeding.” She placed a cloth under Odette’s leg and left the bandages off her arm and leg.
The wounds looked raw and disgusting.
“If anyone comes in the house, you can cover yourself with the sheet. I am going out to tend the geese and the garden.”
“Is there anything I can do to help you? I can sew something or shell some peas or beans.”
“I will bring you some peas to shell.”
Odette was thankful she would be able to do at least this little thing to try to repay Frau Hartman for all her kindness.
A couple of minutes went by before the front door opened and shut. Hoping it was Jorgen, Odette quickly covered herself with the sheet so he wouldn’t see her uncovered leg and the open wound.
A moment later, Rutger entered the bedchamber and Odette felt a prickling on the back of her neck.
27
“I DID NOT expect to see you. How did you know I was here? You haven’t been worrying, have you?”
Rutger walked toward Odette’s bed. “I was worried, but Jorgen came last night to tell me you were safe.”
“Oh. That was very kind of him.” Considering how exhausted he must have been—and how much Odette had hurt him.
Rutger did not look pleased. “What happened to you? He said you were injured.”
“I was shot in the arm and the leg, but no bones are broken.”
“Who shot you? Jorgen shot you, didn’t he? Now I suppose you will give up your girlish idea of him.”
“I do wish you would stop insulting me over Jorgen.”
“Mathis told me you accepted his offer of marriage.”
Odette’s stomach did a queasy flip. “I have not married him yet.” She didn’t care if she sounded defiant.
“Do you think Jorgen has told the margrave anything?”
“I don’t know, but he will have to tell him what we have done.”
“He has no proof. I shall speak to the magistrate, the margrave’s bailiff, and the margrave himself. You shall not be punished for this. Who would ever believe that a beautiful, wealthy merchant’s niece could be a poacher? It is preposterous. We shall make this forester a laughingstock and the butt of jokes. No one will believe him when I am done.”
“No, Rutger . . . I think I must pay for my crime.”
His face hardened into an expression Odette had never seen before. “And you intend for me to pay too?”
“I do not see how we can get away with it now.”
“You are not to tell anyone anything, do you understand?” He pointed his finger at her nose. “Stay silent and do not implicate yourself or anyone else. Just stay silent.” Rutger lowered his finger but continued to give Odette that hard look.
Odette clamped her bottom lip between her teeth to stop it from trembling. Rutger had never spoken to her this way before. She never imagined she would ever feel frightened of him. “I do not intend to tell the margrave anything about your involvement.” She made an effort to breathe more normally and calm her heart. “I will be careful to say that I was the one who poached, and I will refuse to implicate anyone else.”