Samantha James (7 page)

Richard fell to his knees. "I will give you anything you wish. Silver. Jewels..."

Guy's mind screamed with outrage. You killed my wife, you filthy bastard! The only thing I want is to see you dead at my feet! Yet even that was denied him... because of a damned vow to a mere woman!

His gaze flickered to the girl. Her eyes were huge in her pale face; she was as white as bleached linen. If she had been anyone else, anyone but Richard's niece, he might have found some small scrap of compassion for her.

Damn, he thought savagely. Damn! He smote his fist upon his hand, feeling as if he would explode inside. He wanted Richard dead—to pay in kind for his coldhearted murder of Elaine! Only then could his tormented mind find a measure of peace. But he'd given the girl his word. He could not break it. . . at least not here at Ashbury.

"Believe me," he told Richard coldly, "nothing would please me more than to rob you as you have robbed me. To strip you of all that you hold dear—"

"I will do anything you ask, my lord! I beg of you, spare me! I have no wish to die. Please, milord..."

Guy was suddenly furious. There was no triumph in watching Richard grovel, trembling in fear for his life. Did he have no honor? No pride?

"Your lands are mine even now," he said flatly. 'You were granted these lands during King Stephen's rule. Now that Henry is on the throne you have been ordered to relinquish your title."

Richard looked stunned. Sir Hugh stepped forward with the king's document. Richard gazed at it numbly.

Guy smiled grimly. "Henry is aware that you dared to attack the vassal of an absent crusader. That is why he has seen fit to forfeit Ashbury and all your other possessions to me."

Kathryn's head began to spin. Ashbury... in the hands of this devil-knight. For an instant she thought she would faint. She made a choked sound deep in her throat, dimly aware that the earl spoke once more.

"As for your punishment. . ."

Richard staggered to his feet. "Henry has stripped me of my lands! Is that not enough?"

The earl's jaw tensed. His eyes were cutting. They shone like glittering steel. "Not," he said through clenched teeth, "for what you did. That is why the king has seen fit to leave your fate in my hands."

Richard's shoulders sagged defeatedly. "And what is my punishment to be?"

"I have not yet decided," the earl said coldly. "Until that time you will not leave this chamber. You may content yourself with the knowledge that I allow you to spend your last days in comfort— and not in the dungeon." He spun around and strode from the room. Hugh motioned to Kathryn. She stepped past her uncle without sparing him another glance.

She stopped short out in the hallway. The earl stood there, arms folded across his chest.

Kathryn did not wait for him to speak. "Is there to be a guard outside my door as well?" She couldn't hide her bitterness, nor did she wish to.

Something flickered across his face, something that made her think she wounded him. But it was gone in the blink of an eye. In its stead was the cold merciless knight she had seen thus far.

"Not unless you give me reason," he replied coolly. "But bear in mind, lady, that if you do, I'll not hesitate to throw you in the dungeon with your lover." He glanced at his friend. "Hugh, see the lady to her chamber. I'll take the others and meet you where we entered."

Kathryn wasn't sure which infuriated her more—his mocking smile or the fact that he considered her no threat. She marched off in the direction of her chamber, leaving Sir Hugh no choice but to follow behind.

Her temper had cooled by the time she reached her door. She paused and glanced across the passage where Elizabeth slept. "I must wake my sister and tell her what has happened." She spoke the words with difficulty.

Hugh touched her shoulder gently. This had been a blow to her, he suddenly realized. He had thought to hate her. After all, she was Richard's kin. Yet he could not. She had had no part in her uncle's treachery. And now she looked almost. . . beaten.

She looked up at his unexpected touch. "I see in your eyes," he said softly, "that you think the earl has been hard and cruel. Believe me when I say—"

" 'Tis not that," Kathryn said quickly, shaking her head.

"What then?"

"Have you . .. have you ever lost your home, Sir Hugh? Your lands?"

Hugh's smile was crooked. "Nay, for I have never possessed my own lands. My father had a small manor in Sussex, but I am naught but the third son. The manor went to my eldest brother upon his death." He gazed up at the arching stone walls. "Nor was it so grand as this."

She looked away, her expression pained. "I hated it when my father died," she said tonelessly. "Elizabeth and I were born here, as our father and father before him. Richard is my father's bastard brother, but he did not grow to manhood here. When Father died four years ago, Richard ran to King Stephen and pleaded for Ashbury, when it should have gone to me—and Elizabeth. He cared nothing for it! He sought only the rents it would bring. He was here but a fortnight when he sold our dower lands!"

She blinked to hold back the unexpected sting of tears. "When Richard came here, I felt he was an invader, because he did not belong... as Elizabeth and I did. I felt as if I had lost everything..." Her eyes squeezed shut. "Now Ashbury belongs to your lord. 'Tis not so much for myself that I fear the future, but for my sister."

Hugh patted her shoulder awkwardly. "You need not fear, my lady. My lord is a just man, I swear."

Her eyes opened suddenly, clear and brilliant but shadowed with sadness. "Mayhap," she said quietly, "it would be best if Elizabeth and I packed our chests."

'To go where?" Hugh said, aghast.

'There is a nunnery not far from here—"

"Milady, you presume too much! Guy’s quarrel is with your uncle, not you! Nay, I'll not hear another word. Guy is not a heartless beast, no matter what you think."

He was so unlike his lord, Kathryn thought a few moments later. Sir Hugh was gentle and kind and generous. With a weary sigh she closed the heavy oak door, peering through the gloom toward Elizabeth's bed.

But Elizabeth was already scurrying across the floor. "Kathryn! You are safe! I—I was so frightened... I checked your chamber and you were still gone... I could not sleep. And then I heard strange sounds!"

Kathryn gripped her sister's hands. There was so much confusion, so much turmoil and pain inside her that for a moment she was unable to speak. Her lungs burned from trying to hold back tears.

She led Elizabeth over to the bedside and haltingly told her of all that had happened tonight. Oddly, Elizabeth looked almost relieved when she had finished.

"Why do you look like that?" Kathryn asked quietly.

"Do you not see?" Elizabeth said simply. "Uncle is a wicked, wicked man. No doubt the Earl of Sedgewick will mete out a punishment that is swift and severe." She tipped her head to the side and smiled. "We are free of him, Kathryn. We have what you wanted. We are free of him!"

"But we do not have what we wanted!" It was a cry of outrage, of anguish. "We do not have Ashbury—and I helped him wrest it from our grasp!" True, they were no longer at the mercy of Richard, but now they were at the mercy of the Earl of Sedgewick. Kathryn's heart twisted in despair. Her life was still not her own. . .

It would never be her own.

If only she could be as accepting as Elizabeth, the loss would be so much easier to bear. If only...

To her horror, a tear slid down her cheek. Then another and another.

For once it was Kathryn who sought refuge in the arms of her sister, sobbing out her bitter heartache. She cried in fury; she cried in pain. She cried for all she had lost.

And all that would never be hers.

Noonday saw a curling fog creeping round the towers. The sky was a depthless gray. A thick layer of clouds smothered the presence of the sun.

Guy turned away from the narrow window, cursing and rubbing his knee. The weather was a melancholy reflection of his mood. Damn, but he hated the chill and misty climate of Cornwall! The damp sea air did naught but make all his old wounds ache.

He was tired, he realized. Tired of war. Weary of war within war. He was suddenly anxious to be back at Sedgewick, to see his son Peter and hold him close...

Hugh threw open the door of the counting room. "What! Are you still brooding? Never has victory come easier. Richard's knights are in the dungeon, but I've no doubt they'll swear their allegiance to you when they realize Richard will never command here again. And we lost not a single man!" His voice faded as he beheld his friend's countenance.

Hugh sighed. "It’s Richard, isn't it?" He needed no response. He had only to watch Guy's features harden into an implacable mask.

He walked over and laid a hand on Guy's shoulder. "You have Ashbury, Guy. I know you already have lands aplenty, but didn't you see Richard's face last night when you told him Henry had ceded Ashbury to you? You have broken and beaten him. Throw him in prison for the rest of his life and let it be over and done!"

Guy closed his eyes. Gerda's words echoed over and over in his brain, like a death knell.
They showed no mercy
.. .
no mercy at all
!

His hands clenched. "But he still lives, Hugh. Richard still lives while Elaine—" There was a rough thread of pain in his voice. "—Elaine is dead." He shook his head. His eyes opened, filled anguish. " 'Tis not so easy to let go, when the thought of Richard dead is all that has driven me for the last two years—that and the thought of seeing my son."

Hugh watched him for a long moment. "There is also Lady Kathryn to think of," he reminded him. "I understand there is a sister as well."

Guy snorted. "I'd be wise to throw the lady in prison along with her uncle."

Hugh smiled. "Were it not for her, you wouldn't have taken Ashbury so easily."

"I almost killed an innocent man because of her! And I crave nothing more than to put my fingers round Richard's throat, yet because of her I can't lay a hand on him!"

"At any rate, I assured her you were a just lord who wouldn't dream of casting her out of her home."

"You what! Egad, man, is she a witch who's cast you under her spell? What foolishness is this that you dance to her tune so readily?"

"She has no love for her uncle, Guy. Not because of the taint on his name but because of his treatment of her and her sister. Stephen granted Ashbury to Richard when her parents died, but she feels it would have been hers if Richard hadn't intervened. He also sold their dower lands."

"Is that what she said?"

"Yes."

"And you believed her?"

"Don't you?"

Guy rubbed his chin, pricked by sudden doubt. His first impulse was to cast aside all her claims as ridiculous. Yet knowing Richard's deceitful nature, it was possible she spoke the truth. Still, instinct told him that she must be watched, that she could be dangerous.

Hugh sighed. "You can't turn them out of their home, Guy. Why, she was ready last night to scurry off to a nunnery."

Guy gave a shout of laughter. "A nunnery! By God, man, that's rich! Have you forgotten how we found her?" He sobered abruptly and gave his friend a long hard look. "Indeed, she seems to have you well in hand. Mayhap she knows rather well how to bend a man to her every whim."

Hugh denied it, and they soon moved on to other things. But Guy's thoughts returned again and again to Richard, and Hugh's plea to let his vengeance end.

Nay, he thought grimly. A voice within him still cried out for revenge. He could not let go so easily. But he could not lay a hand on Richard—at least not yet. There had to be another way.

He would not pronounce his sentence just yet, he decided. Richard feared for his life, and the thought of Richard stewing—trembling in fear—appeased the storm in his soul.

For the moment.

Chapter 3

Richard did indeed fear for his life. But far from stewing, his evil mind was busy searching for a way to save his skin. He sat in the high-backed chair in his chamber and rubbed his hands with glee. When Helga brought his morning meal, he bade her send his niece Kathryn to him as soon as possible.