The Heiress (16 page)

Axia knew what awaited her at the end of this journey, but Frances did not. In usual Axia-fashion, she refused to brood about her approaching marriage, but Frances knew that somewhere inside her, Axia knew. As for Frances, she had no idea what Perkin Maidenhall had planned for her. Would a letter be awaiting her, telling her she was no longer needed as a “companion” to Axia? Would she be sent back to her “family”? Sent to that group of people who she always described to Axia as a set of angels but who, in truth, never stopped badgering Frances to get more goods, more money, more anything from the Maidenhall estate?

Frances knew that Axia thought her life in her “beautiful prison” was the most horrible existence on earth, but then Axia had never experienced much of life. She was protected from it, sheltered, had never really seen it.

But Frances knew what happened to women without money. Her mother had been beautiful, from all accounts more beautiful than Frances ever thought of being. But her mother had married for love. She had run away from a marriage with a prosperous, but old and boring, banker and married a handsome ne'er-do-well who refused to stay at one occupation for more than a few months. Within five years, her mother was no longer beautiful but worn out from bearing children and taking in
sewing.

While her mother was still alive, Frances, dressed in patched and worn clothing, used to walk past the banker's rich house and wondered how her mother could have married her father. She used to look at the banker's children in their clean and pressed clothing, looked at their toys, and she vowed that she would never do what her mother did. If she, Frances, was fortunate enough to inherit her mother's beauty, she would
use
it.

It was her idea to write to Perkin Maidenhall and point out that her family was distantly related to his through his father's brother and ask him for employment. Sometimes Frances thought of that letter, remembered how she had laboriously written it again and again, then thought how she'd stolen the good-quality writing paper from a printer's desk. She wrote that his daughter must be very lonely as no one ever saw her and could she, Frances, go and be her friend?

When the answer came, along with a pouch of money, no one had ever been more joyous than Frances and her family. They had celebrated for a week, until nearly all the money was spent. And when the Maidenhall wagon came to take Frances away, she never looked back.

So now Frances had seen a way to get away from Axia, from her parsimonious father, from horrid Tode, and from dependence on the Maidenhall money. If she could get a man to fall in love with her, she'd marry him. She did not ask for someone fabulously wealthy nor a man who was a blushing maiden's dream of handsomeness. All she wanted was someone like that banker her mother had turned down.

But who? How? Frances wanted to scream. How was she going to meet an eligible man if she was traveling as James Montgomery's wife? Which, of course, was a joke. Other than the mention of this before they'd left the estate, nothing had come of it. And for all that Axia seemed able to sneak away from the man's eagle eyes, Frances was not so daring.

So Frances tried to look at her prospects. There were the earl's two men, but Frances knew poverty when she saw it. They weren't a great deal better off than she was. Which left only the earl himself.

And of course he had eyes only for Axia.

Damn her!
Frances thought. Axia had no idea how men looked at her. She was so ignorant she thought men looked at her because she was the legendary Maidenhall heiress, but the truth was that what Axia missed in classic beauty she made up for in vivacity. Having been shut up all her life, Axia had no idea what was suitable behavior and what was unacceptable. She was as likely to serve her father's ancient ambassadors dinner in a barn as she was to have them sit at a table.

Axia had no idea about titles and treating a man of rank with reverence. Two years ago a decrepit old duke had demanded entrance to the estate. He said he was tired of hearing of this heiress and wanted to see her for himself. Axia put him to work pulling feathers out of the chests of squawking geese, then later gave him a drawing of himself and the geese. The old man went away swearing he'd never had such an enjoyable afternoon in his life. And the next year when they heard he'd died, Axia wept with grief.

So now it didn't surprise Frances that James Montgomery was watching Axia in fascination. But what did surprise her was the way Axia watched him in return. And the way Tode watched both of them. Something was indeed going on, and Frances would love to know what it was.

Love,
Frances thought with disgust. That was the key word in all this. She had no doubt that what was happening was the beginnings of love, that stupid, useless thing that everyone spoke of but no one needed. Love was what had caused all her mother's unhappiness. Love was—

Love was what was going to be Axia's undoing if she were not careful, Frances thought. What would happen if Axia went against her father's wishes and demanded to marry some impoverished earl? Her father would disinherit her, no doubt, and of course her earl would leave her. Then where would Axia be? Her cousin was pretty, but it took great beauty to make a good marriage without a dowry. If Axia were poor, Frances was sure her cousin would be quite unmarriageable.

Perhaps I should save her,
Frances thought.
Save her from herself. If I took James Montgomery from her, then Axia would no longer be in danger of angering her father. No longer in danger of being disinherited.

And if I married an earl, I would be
Lady
Frances,
she thought, smiling.
Wouldn't my sisters eat their hearts out at that?

Of course, there was the fact that Lord James
said
he was poor. That's why he had undertaken this employment. But how could someone with a title be poor? Besides, he had many rich relatives who were very willing to help him. She'd
seen that when he'd sent messages to those relatives and they'd quickly sent men with armor and weapons to protect the Maidenhall wagons.

Compared to her other prospects, James Montgomery was wealthy all right. He was rich, and it looked as though he were the only man she was going to meet. Too bad he was so handsome. Frances had found that the uglier the man, the easier he was to enthrall.

Frances looked up at Axia, then her eyes narrowed and she set herself a goal. By the time this journey ended, she was going to be the wife of James Montgomery. Whatever she had to do; however it could be accomplished, she was going to do it. And someday Axia would thank her.

Axia was rearranging the contents of one of those horrible, uncomfortable wagons. If the Queen of England could travel around England freely, why couldn't the Maidenhall heiress? The answer of course was that Perkin Maidenhall was too tight to pay for sufficient guards so his only child was forced to travel like some anonymous merchant's daughter. But then Axia seemed to be having the time of her life with all her low-class bartering. Just like her father, she loved to make money.

Standing, Frances dusted off her gown. She, on the other hand, hated traveling in these wagons. When she was Lady Frances Montgomery, she'd have a coach with velvet-covered seats and a dozen footmen. She'd have—

“What are you planning?”

Frances jumped at that whisper in her ear. She didn't have to turn around to know it was Tode, that odious little man.

“I think I may save Axia from herself,” she replied, then put
her nose in the air and walked away from him.
Let him think on
that, she thought.
Let him sit with his beloved Axia and try to figure out what I have in mind.

Smiling, she walked over to Jamie.

“Would you like to walk with me?” Jamie asked Frances, holding out his arm for her to take. “It is such a beautiful night.”

Wrapping her fingers about his arm, Frances walked with Jamie down the little road where they had made their camp.

Trying his best to make conversation, he said, “In a few days we shall stay in a house,” he said. “With beds.”

Frances smiled. “I should like that. I should like something besides just what can be cooked over a campfire,” she said with a grimace.

“Axia does well, does she not? I have never known almonds to taste so good,” Jamie said, smiling in memory.

Frances looked up at him through her lashes, the fading daylight making her look especially beautiful. “Will you walk with me and talk of another woman?”

“Why, no, I guess not,” Jamie said, then had no idea what else to say.

They walked in silence for a few moments, then abruptly, Frances burst out laughing.

Puzzled, Jamie turned to her, a smile ready.

“We are alike, are we not?” she said companionably.

“I am sure we are, but how are we alike?”

“Tell me, James Montgomery, have you ever had to court a woman? I mean, have you ever had to work to get a woman to
pay attention to you? Flowers? Poems?”

Jamie ducked his head. “Actually …” He hesitated.

“Nor have I,” Frances said. “All I have ever had to do was sit still and they came to me. I have had men fight each other over the privilege of sitting next to me. Boys fall over themselves to be allowed to hand me a cup of sweet cider.” She looked up at him. “And no doubt it has been the same with you.”

With a chuckle, he looked down at her. “I admit that I have had an easy time until … lately.”

Frowning, Frances looked up at him. “I think it is time you and I discussed business.”

But Jamie's mind was on the “lately.” Had there ever been a time when he had not known Axia? There was the first day with her body under his, the time he'd turned her over his knee, when she'd attacked him and blackened his eye, the painted wagon, Axia asleep in front of him in the saddle, later with her head on his lap and—

“… and make plans for the marriage. Perhaps it should be secret and later we will tell my father and—”

“Marriage?” Jamie said blankly, not having heard the first of what she was saying.

Frances batted her long lashes at him. “I thought you wanted the Maidenhall gold. My inheritance.”

“I …” He didn't like to hear the case stated so bluntly.

“It is all right,” she said, pressing her breasts against his arm, then seeing his mind was elsewhere, she suddenly released him, and putting her hands over her face, she began to cry. “Oh, James, you do not know what awaits me. My
father has chosen a horrible man for me. I will never have love and children, I know it. I have been a prisoner since I was three weeks old and I will continue to be a prisoner after I am married. Oh, how can I bear it?”

Jamie did what he always did with crying women: he pulled her into his arms and held her, stroking her back to calm her.

“I know Axia meant to be mean and hateful when she told me that
you
hoped to marry me, but it was the answer to my prayers. I have dreamed that my father would send someone handsome and charming to me and that we might—No, I daren't say it out loud.”

“Tell me,” he whispered, fearing he already knew the answer.

“That this man would save me from this horrible marriage that I know will be worse than the prison that I have already lived my life in.”

“Your father has placed great trust in me. He—” Jamie began.

“What of your family?” Frances argued. “Are they as poor as Axia's? Are they warm in the winter? What is their food like?”

Jamie swallowed, remembering Berengaria's description of moldy lentils, her dream of warmth. Lately, his time with Axia had made him begin to forget his duties and responsibilities, but now Frances was bringing him back to reality.

Frances, her hands gripping Jamie's arms, looked up at him pleadingly. “We could be married secretly. If we are already married, there is nothing my father can do about it. He cannot dissolve our marriage.”

“But …” Jamie didn't want to say anything, but what if
Maidenhall was so angry, he disinherited her?

Smiling as though she could read his mind, Frances said, “People are so enchanted with my father's wealth that they forget that my mother was the only daughter of a very wealthy man. If my father gives me nothing, I have my grandfather's estate of land, houses, a castle or two. I have considerable income of my own.” She smiled at him. “And I do not believe my merchant father will be disappointed that I have married an earl bearing the ancient name of Montgomery.”

“Probably not,” Jamie said distractedly.

She looked up at him, tears just about to spill over her bottom lashes. “You will rescue me, will you not? For me? For your family?”

Firmly, Jamie gripped her shoulders and held her at arms' length. “I will do my best to—to rescue you, but my honor forces me to ask your father's permission. I cannot do this in secret. He
must
give his approval.”

Frances looked away to prevent him from seeing her face. Above all, she could not allow knowledge of their marriage to reach Axia's father. “What do I care for his approval? He has imprisoned me all my life. He will sell me to any man who has the gold. Do I not deserve happiness like everyone else?”

“Do not speak of your father so. Do not—” Jamie knew that what was wrong with him was that he could not seem to think. Marriage was a major decision, and it could not be taken lightly. If he enraged someone as rich as Maidenhall, what would happen to his family? He must think of them. “I will—”

“You do not like me,” Frances said, her lower lip stuck out in
a pretty pout. “You do not like me at all.”

“But of course I like you,” Jamie said, but even he knew there was no conviction in his voice. Truthfully, he hadn't thought much about Frances one way or the other.

“I believe I understand,” Frances said coldly. “It has often been this way. I am, after all, the Maidenhall heiress, and that tends to frighten men. No man can love me for who I am. It is only the money they want. It is Axia who inspires men to love her. Look at Tode, horrid thing that he is. He loves her. Your man Rhys cannot take his eyes off her. He is courting her. Even your Thomas has thoughts of her. It is only me men cannot see for my gold. Axia is right: I am not human, I am my father's gold.”