Debra Kay Leland (35 page)

Garrick drew a slow breath.  “For now, my uncle, we keep thee and the girl safe.  I have made arrangement with my men to help capture whoever is responsible, and we can only pray it works.”  He didn’t want to disclose details of his plan to anyone, lest it get to the men responsible and they evaded them again.  For now he was sure there was a traitor among them!

“Ye have dispersed the guard then?”

“Aye, when news reached me of the fire this morning…”  He only hoped for her sake that the boy and his companions had gone far enough away that they would not be found near where the fire had taken place…

She was still standing by the window lost in her troubling thoughts when she heard the keys in the door behind her.  She closed her eyes and drew a tense breath, not bothering to turn as it opened again.  She glanced at Emma who sat to
her right; the older woman rose with a soft frown and left the room without a word.  And yet she refused to turn.

“Are ye so used to visitors that ye do not even turn to see who has come to thy chambers?”

She almost winced at his accusing tone, but yet she refused to give into it.  “What is it ye want?”

He watched her with narrowed eyes, her back ramrod straight but yet he knew of the loveliness she possessed.  “I only come to inquire as to thy well being.  I was told of thy distress over thy brother’s capture.”

She could have almost laughed.  “I fair well, but truly ye had only to inquire of the guards as to that.”

He laughed.  “True, though they are not as lovely to look upon as thee.”  He smiled and strode ahead till he stood only a few feet behind her, knowing by how she stiffened that his presence intimidated her.  “I hear that they have not yet recaptured him.”

She turned and saw him almost wince at the sight of William’s child within her.  “The lad is too smart to let himself be caught again.”

Lydan laughed drawing his eyes back to her lovely face. 
“He had better hope so, because this time he shall hang for all the trouble he has caused!”

She could not help but react to his baited words. 
“Garrick would never allow such…”

He laughed,
“Garrick!  Oh girl, Garrick is not Lord of Whittington!  Edmund was furious when he had heard tell of what ye had done!”

She looked down for a long moment then met his cold eyes again.  “Ye have come here to taunt me and ye have done so, now ye may leave me also.”

He laughed again and crossed his arms over his strong chest.  “Taunt thee?  Nay girl.  ‘Tis not I who taunts thee—ye have no idea yet, do ye?”

She frowned at him, well aware of the fact that he was somehow baiting her and yet she did not know
how exactly.

“Ye are a smart girl, I thought by now ye would have figured it out.  ‘Tis but a sport, my lady.”

She frowned even harder.  “A sport…?”

“Aye, ye see it was a race to see whose hand ye would accept first; the prize a most beautiful desirable girl and her weight in gold.  Thought the gold alone would have sufficed; the rest was merely for
pleasure.  Yet, I fear that Garrick has fared much better than I have this time.”

She frowned with a confused look.  “…This time?”

He only smiled at her.  “Aye, this time.”  His eyes dropped purposefully to her child then lifted them back up again with a smile.  “Oh, I shall not dally further; I shall tell thee and be done with it.  Garrick and I have played this game before to see who could win the affections of a maiden, though never for marriage.  But then, he is getting older and I suppose that with no heir of his own the proposition was more appealing to him.  Ye see my uncle is to see thee wed, whether to thy liking or not, for with thy new found title ye leave Whittington open to his enemies.  One of them need to simply marry thee—even by force to have William’s title and inheritance, and the child would be easy to be rid of I am sure.  So ye see, Edmund planned on bringing suitors in to wed thee and secure the child’s inheritance, but I fear I was not as interested as Garrick was—
this time
.  And once ye have the child, ye shall be taken from here, and Edmund shall raise it himself.”

She felt the air whoosh from her lungs at his cruel words. 
“…Nay—”

He laughed as he continued, a slow cruel smile playing on his thin lips as she turned her face from him unable to find words to say that expressed how she felt at that moment.  If he meant to sh
ame her, then he had succeeded.

“Oh, I see I have offended thee, but with such a thing to tell it was inevitable that ye would feel such.  Well, I plan on leaving on the morrow, though I find myself more than attracted to thee, my lady, and truly feel put out on losing the game
—the truth is that thy child leaves me cold.”

She slapped him then, he laughed softly then turned and stared down at her with a slow lazy smile on his thin handsome face; the red hand print
on his cheek was proof enough of the force she had used.

He looked down at her hurtfully and laughed softly, and then turned and strode out
the door without another word.

She stood there trembling in his wake, with what little dignity she had left; her face red with shame from his words as she sank back down onto the chair shaken by his contempt.  She knew he only wanted to bait and hurt her, knew that she shouldn’t let his cruel words cut her to
the heart, and yet they did…

Emma sat by the door watching the girl whose back was towards her now.  She glanced at the darkened night through the open window and wondered how long she should let her remain there, for dinner was long past and still the girl sat at the table without touching a bite.  She knew that she was upset about young Lord Hastings visit, but it was no concern of hers.  Even the servants whispered behind her back as to the things that had taken place of late.  In truth, if she had not been William’s widow, she would soon find herself out the door!  She sighed and leaned closer to the candles as she continued her careful stitches until she heard the familiar sound of booted footsteps nearing the door.

He walked in and nodded to Emma who quietly slipped out the door, then turned back to look at the girl where she sat, her back stiff and a cold trencher of food beside her despite the late hour that told him that something was amiss. 
“Miranda?”
  His voice was soft and low and she bit back the tears that it brought to her eyes.

“Am I not ‘
the lady Miranda’
?  Ye would do well to address me as such.”

His brows knitted together at her cold tone.  “As ye wish, m’lady
, ye seem displeased tonight.”

“I am.”

He tipped his head warily at her words.  “I came to inquire after thee and to let ye know that there has been no sign of thy brother.  I can only hope the boy heeded thy words and has left.”

She closed her eyes and prayed it was true; though she answered him not as Lydan’s cruel words threaded through her again.

“Something is amiss, what is it?  Are ye not well this night?”  He said as he drew closer.

She stood then not bothering to look at
him.  “Do not bother yurself, Lord Farrington, I am fine.”  She folded her hand in front of herself and looked down stiffly before she continued.  “Though, I have been thinking of late, and I would that ye not come to me again.”

He frowned and stepped forward, but she lifted a hand to stop him.  “Nay, do not!  I wish not to hear yur soft words, nor be coddled into believing them.”

“Ah, so this is about last night and thy brother, I was angry, m’lady and I had not yet made up my mind whether to send out my guards or not.  But in truth, I did let the boy go because of thee, or did ye forget?”

She looked at him for a long silent moment then looked away.  “I am grateful for that.”

He laughed.  “
Grateful?
  Ye look anything but grateful, right now.”

She lifted angry eyes to him and he frowned again.  “Is that what ye want, my gratitude?  Is that all part of the
game ye play with me?”

He laughed and cross
ed his arms over his chest.  “…Game?  Tell me exactly what’s going on, Miranda?  Oh, I forgot,
‘m’lady Miranda’
.”

Despite his reverent tone, she found no humor in his teasing words.  “Ye are more than welcome
to find my door, Lord Farrington.  I on the other hand am forced to endure thy company regardless of my wishes.”

With that his smile disappeared.  “Ye cannot mean that?”

“I do.  I feel nothing for ye or Lord Hastings but contempt.”
  She felt betrayed and it showed.

“Lydan?”
  He watched her, seeing the hurt in her eyes at the mention of his name. 
“He was here then?”

She turned away and walked towards the hearth. 
“Aye, as ye are now.  Though neither of ye are welcome in this chamber!”

He drew a long breath.  “I see.  What did he say that upset ye so?”

She turned and met his eyes. 
“The truth.”

“The truth?  From Lydan?”
  He didn’t trust Lydan to speak the truth about anything lest it meant gain for him.

She gave a soft hurt laugh.  “Aye, I believe he found great pleasure in speaking
it to me too.  Oh, do not look so surprised, m’lord; at least from him I hear of thy folly.  And though it hurt, I am grateful for it.”

He sighed and dropped his head, wanting nothing more than to strangle Lydan’s scrawny little neck as he wondered exactly what he’d told her!  “Then tell me what he said?  Knowing L
ydan, ‘tis not as it appears.”

Her eyes were as teary as her voice. 
“…Nay ‘tis worse, for I shall admit that as simple as I am—I—actually trusted thee.  And as much as I dislike the man I applaud him for at speaking such to me.”

He walked forward and tried to take her in his arms but she would not allow it. 
“Miranda…  I did not lie to thee.  If—”

But before he could finish she lifted her hand and struck his cheek with a sob. 
“I am no fool, and I do not wish to hear thy sweet words!  Ye would let Edmund sell me to ye without thought as to my feeling in the matter, and that both ye and Lydan would conspire against me like that?!  I cannot stand the thought, and I can no longer look upon thee!  Leave me!”

He turned his face back towards her slowly, his cheek hot from where she had struck him as he stared down at her, not knowing what to say.  She
knew
,
all of it
.  And he was sure how it must have looked to her; as though he had been paid to take her, when in truth he would have done anything to win her hand!  What was worse was the fact that she would have no choice now.  Willing or not, the wedding would take place and for him it meant marrying an unwilling bride and taking an enemy back to his home to be his wife…

She turned away again; all she wanted to do was to be alone now.  The hurt and betrayal she was feeling nearly broke her heart and yet even now she had no right to even leave this chamber and seek solitude. 
“I am not allowed to even walk away from thee…!”

He frowned at he
r words knowing they were true—but there was so much more that she didn’t know that would only push her away from him even more, and he cringed at the thought it!  She was to marry him regardless of her wishes, but he hadn’t wanted it to be so…  What hurt the most was that he knew that he had already lost her, before he had even really managed to have her as his own!  The thought made him burn with anger towards Lydan for all he had done to them!  He turned sharply watching her with narrowed eyes as he considered what he would do with young Lord Hastings once he found him!  Without a word he turned and stroked out with heavy angry footsteps.

She sighed and closed her eyes, before she sank down into her chair again and let the tears she’d been holding back fall.  The worst part of it all was that he hadn’t even tried to deny it…!  A small part of her wished that Lydan’s words weren’t true, and that Garrick did truly did care for her, and yet all the time it was merely a game to them both…
 
But she would find a way to survive this, somehow!

He strode angrily down the hall, his footsteps coming faster and angrier as he went.  Those in the great hall looked up as he came racing down the tall stairs with a cold hard look in his eyes, before he ran up the opposite staircase taking two at a time as he went towards the other man’s chambers.  He flung the door open and was met with the man’s raised sword as he sat comfortably in a chair with a cup in one hand and his sword in the other.  “Ah, Garrick—I wondered how long it would take before ye found out.”  He took a slow sip of his wine and then rested the cup on his leg again.  “Ye can’t blame me ye know, the girl deserved to know the truth.  And I could not just hand her over to thee without a fight.  If ye want her, now ye shall have to work very hard to get her, if ye can even manage it at all!”

Garrick stopped and crossed his arms over his strong chest as he glared at him. 
“Oh, do not worry, my friend; I shall have her, regardless of what ye have done.”