The Faithful Heart (42 page)

He crossed his arms and glared at her. “What
do you suggest?”

“Kedleridge.” She met him glare for glare,
refusing to be intimidated. She had lost too much to back down now.
“Attack Kedleridge instead of Windale.”

“How will that help me?”

“Take Jack out and Sir Crispin won’t stand a
chance against you. If you let Ethan go he will rush to warn them.
They will mass all of their forces at Windale. They will expect you
to attack there. Attack Kedleridge instead. They won’t be ready.
You can destroy it before anyone knows you’re there.” With any luck
that bitch Madeline would be there to go down in flames at her own
father’s hand. “Then, when they do send their forces to defend the
ruins of Kedleridge, Windale will be weak enough for you to take
the money.” It was the most brilliant plan she had ever thought
of.

Matlock knew it too. She could see it in his
eyes even though he was slow to answer. “And what about you? What
do you want from this whole thing?”

Her heart pounded in her ears. “Give me a
sword. I want to lead the charge and slit the throats of the ones
who betrayed me.”

Windale was a hive of activity. Madeline had
spent most of the day keeping Aubrey from charging off across the
hill to unload the carts in Kedleridge herself. Crispin and Jack
had that task well in hand, but there was no telling that to
Aubrey.

“They need to hurry.” She frowned, standing
in the middle of the storage barn where the money was being kept in
Windale. “I don’t like having all this under my roof.”

The last time Madeline had seen the treasure
it had been spread out over tables and stacked floor to ceiling in
a tent. Now it was carefully packed in strongboxes, loaded on carts
and piled in the middle of the floor covered in tarps, but it was
every bit as imposing. Toby and Joanna were still busy counting the
contents of one of the carts.

“I’d rather have it in the castle too,”
Madeline agreed with her friend, “though I can’t help but feel that
if we look like we’re rushing things it will attract all sorts of
brigands.”

“That’s what the army is for.” Aubrey shook
her head and rubbed her belly, her face tight and worn.

“Are you sure you’re feeling well?” Madeline
asked. “Maybe you should lie down for a while.”

“I’m fine,” Aubrey brushed her off.

The rumble of carts and clop of horses
outside the barn turned Madeline’s attention away from Aubrey. The
two of them hurried to the barn door. A small procession of horses,
men, and carts rolled towards them from the path over the hill.

“Oy! Somebody order some carts?” Jack kicked
his horse to a jog. He dismounted as he reached the barn and hopped
over to scoop Madeline into his arms, planting a kiss on her lips.
“Must’ve been my beautiful wife.”

Madeline indulged in a hug before getting
down to business. “Is there any way we can load up the carts and
take them back to the castle tonight? Aubrey doesn’t want to
delay.”

“We can try.” Crispin reached them and
dismounted, striding to Aubrey’s side. He glanced at the late
afternoon sky. “I’m not sure we’ll be able to reload the carriages
before nightfall though, and it would be folly to try to transport
so much gold at night.”

“The darkness might work to our advantage,”
Tom put in his opinion. Madeline smiled in relief. It seemed he had
found a place of some sort after all.

“He makes a good point,” Aubrey nodded.
“Having all this here makes me nervous.”

Crispin considered their words. It tickled
Madeline that the scowl he wore would have frightened her to bits
only a few months ago but it now filled her with confidence. “Let’s
start by sorting the treasure and loading the carts. We’ll see
where we get by nightfall.”

The men set to work. Jack had brought a few
of Kedleridge’s strongest villagers to help them. They joined with
the Windale men to line up the carts and load them with the heavy
strongboxes. Madeline convinced Aubrey to walk aside and have a
seat on the low wall that ran in front of Windale Manor to watch
them work. Joanna and Toby joined them as the focus shifted to
lifting and hauling.

They hadn’t been working for more than half
an hour when a lone rider galloped over the rise from the Derby
road. Madeline didn’t think much of the man at first until Toby
leapt up with a sudden shout of “Ethan!”

Madeline did a double-take. She jumped to her
feet as Toby ran forward to meet his master. Aubrey pushed herself
to stand, Joanna helping her. Even the men working near the barn
stopped to see what the commotion was all about.

“Gather the army!” Ethan shouted as he
charged nearer. “Fortify the manor! Matlock and Lydia are planning
to attack in the morning!”

A jolt of old fear shot through Madeline. She
raised a hand to her heart, staring at Ethan as he yanked his horse
to a stop.

“Ethan!” Toby stretched his arms up to help
his master dismount. “I was so worried about you! I was beside
myself! Don’t you ever run off without me again!” Ethan winced as
he lifted his injured foot over the back of his horse and slid off
into Toby’s waiting arms. Toby staggered under his weight and
fought to keep his own balance as he helped Ethan to find his,
hugging him like a long-lost child.

“Matlock and Lydia and an army of men are on
their way here,” Ethan reported, out of breath. He leaned on Toby
and limped his way to where Jack, Crispin, and Tom were marching up
from the barn.

“What’s all this about?” Crispin demanded,
crossing his arms. Jack and Tom stood on either side of him,
imitating the gesture. Madeline wouldn’t have been Ethan for the
world.

“They’re coming.” Ethan faced them boldly. “I
went to Matlock to….” His words died. He glanced around at the
faces watching him, most of them hostile. True remorse painted deep
lines in his travel-worn face. “Lydia arrived at Matlock when I was
there,” he began again. “She says that you tricked her,” he glanced
to Jack. “She’s out for revenge. She said that she has her own army
of men. Matlock was more than willing to add his forces to hers.
They plan to ride into Windale first thing tomorrow morning to
level it to the ground and take back the money.”

Madeline gasped. A similar dire reaction made
its way through the rest of them. “You can’t let them do this!”
Joanna exclaimed, split between glaring at Ethan and appealing to
Crispin.

“I have no intention of letting them so much
as bend a blade of Windale’s grass,” Crispin took a step closer to
Ethan. “If it’s true.”

“It’s true,” Ethan sighed.

“And why should I believe you?” Crispin
crossed his arms. “For the last two years you’ve done everything in
your power to discredit me and take Windale for your own. Why
should I believe a word you say?”

Ethan dropped his head. He leaned on Toby and
raised a shaking hand to rub his forehead. “You have no reason at
all to believe me,” he admitted, so quiet it was hard to hear him.
He raised his eyes to meet Crispin’s. “But you know who I am. You
know there is nothing in this world I care about more than Windale.
Windale is in danger. I am telling you the truth. I would rather
see another man as its savior than have it destroyed. You have to
prepare for battle.”

Crispin held his gaze. The two men stared
each other down, years of suspicion and anger boiling into a single
decision. Neither man was willing to break. For once they wanted
the same thing.

“Load the carts,” Crispin ordered his men,
still looking at Ethan. “Load them and then drive them back into
the barn.” He turned to address the others. “Send to Derby for as
many soldiers as can be spared. We’ll set up whatever barricades we
can around the village center. Arm the peasants and make them aware
of the danger.”

Ethan let out a sigh and leaned harder
against Toby. “Let me do what I can to help.”

“My lord, you should rest. Your foot-”

“I’m fine.” He slapped Toby on the back and
tried to stand on his own to prove the point. Toby wouldn’t let him
go.

“Take inventory of the weapons available,”
Crispin ordered him. “Let me know what we need.”

“What can I do?” Aubrey waddled forward.

Crispin frowned at her. “You can keep out of
the way.” He kissed her forehead and walked past her.

“No!” she shouted after him. “My home is in
danger! I’m not going to sit around twiddling my thumbs when you
need my help.”

Crispin sighed and turned back to her.
“Aubrey, you’re eight months pregnant! What are you going to do
that won’t harm our child?”

“Our child will be fine. It’s the rest of our
responsibilities that concern me.”

Madeline stepped to her friend’s side and
tried to pull her away. Crispin could still be intimidating when he
had half a mind to be. He noticed her gesture and glanced past her
to Jack, who had his head together with Tom and some of the
workers.

“Jack,” he called.

“Oy!” Jack answered, breaking away from the
group to join them.

“Take Aubrey and Madeline and Joanna back to
Kedleridge.”

“What?” Jack protested as vehemently as
Aubrey. “You need me here, mate.”

“I need you to keep the women safe,” he
argued. “They are far more valuable than any treasure.”

“Yeah, but Simon can do it. I’d trust him
with my life. Already have, come to that. You need me-”

“I need you to do what you’re told!”

Jack’s expression turned so dark that
Madeline was tempted to drop Aubrey’s arm to rush over and hold
his. “You need me here,” he glared at Crispin.

Crispin sighed. “You can stay and help with
the preparations. We could use an extra pair of arms until more men
arrive from Derby. But once we’ve made preparations I am sending
you to Kedleridge with the women.”

“You can take Toby with you,” Ethan
added.

Toby protested, “Ethan, no! Let me stay here
with you. Please.”

Ethan shook his head. “You’ll be of more help
in Kedleridge. I need you to watch Joanna for me.” Joanna yelped in
offense but couldn’t come up with anything else to say. “Besides,”
he glanced to Crispin, “we may need to call for
reinforcements.”

They met the statement with a growing sense
of how dire the situation was. Even Jack glanced off as if
considering the possibility.

“Alright, I’ll go,” Toby muttered. “But if
you need me, you call, alright?”

Ethan smiled at him, a sadness in his eyes.
“I will, old friend, I will.”

“It’s settled then,” Crispin nodded. “Secure
the money and get ready for a fight.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jack lay in bed as the pre-dawn birdsong and
breezes blowing through the orchard drifted in through the
shuttered window. He stared at the ceiling, eyes wide open, body
tense as Madeline nestled against him. His hand stroked her arm as
he rolled over all of the preparations they had made. Most of the
army was positioned. Crispin was ready, complete with defensive
strategy. When Lydia and Matlock showed up at Windale they would
find themselves outnumbered and outsmarted. But they wouldn’t find
him.

He shifted, nudging Madeline and lifting her
to lay on top of him so that he could find a more comfortable
position for his throbbing back.

“Jack, your heart is pounding,” Madeline
whispered in a groggy voice.

He raised his eyebrows. “You’re awake?”

“Of course I’m awake,” she sighed, planting
her hands on either side of his shoulders and lifting herself so
that she could look down at him. “Who could sleep with you in the
bed, tense as a tiger.”

On any other morning her comment would have
made him grin and try to kiss her and more. Instead he frowned and
glanced away. “I should be at Windale.”

“Then who would be here to protect us?”

“Simon.”

Madeline’s sleepy face softened into a
compassionate smile. “I don’t want Simon to protect me,” she spoke
in a low, trembling voice.

He blinked as he looked up at her, eyes
coming to life with affection, a flush staining her pale face. The
concerns he had about Windale dissolved as slow grin spread across
his face. He raised his arms and slid them around her back, pulling
her closer to him. “I suppose I am very good at protectin’ and
all.”

“Really?” she giggled low in her throat.

“Yeah, I have a secret charm of protection
an’ everything.” He slid his fingers up to her throat and wound the
beads of his rosary around them. “Wanna hear it?”

“Oh yes, please!”

“Hail Madeline, full of grace….”

“Jack!” She laughed, rolling her eyes.
“Haven’t I told you before that that’s blasphemy?”

He flipped her onto her back. “And haven’t I
told you that that is never blasphemy?” He kissed her long and
hard. Maybe it wasn’t so bad to be left out of the fighting after
all. He rubbed his body along hers, pleasuring them both.

A loud bump from downstairs made Madeline
gasp and pull back. “What was that?”

He didn’t care. “Probably just Simon.” He
kissed his way down her neck to flick his tongue across her
nipple.

The sound of shattering glass caused them
both to start. Jack wrapped his arms around her and sat
bolt-upright, eyes wide. “That was not Simon.”

They listened, hardly breathing. A door flew
open somewhere on the first floor. Moments later there was another
loud shattering of glass followed by Simon bellowing, “Fire!”

Jack pulled Madeline to the side of the bed
and stood with her still in his arms. He set her on the floor and
dashed for his sword belt which lay across the top of the chest
containing their clothes. “Get dressed,” he ordered as he buckled
his belt around his waist, not bothering to put on more than the
old shirt and drawers he’d slept in. He lunged for the door and
threw it open, stepping into the hall.

Already grey clouds of smoke rose up the
stairs. The door across from his clattered open and Aubrey jumped
into the hall, nightgown lose around her swollen belly, hair and
eyes wild, sword in her hand. “What’s going on?”