by Vella, Wendy
“Indeed they are. Mrs. Radcliff has manned one since she was a young lass; she’s now nearing eighty.”
“I was actually coerced into it earlier by James.”
“Well then, keep your lips pressed together, and take a deep breath before the kiss, as I cannot vouch for the odor of those who will be in your line.”
“Charming. Good Lord, what does James have on his head?” Squinting through the gloom, she watched James approach. He wore a long black coat, and on his head seemed to be some kind of bird attached to a band. He had his daughter Isabella by the hand. A beauty like her mother, she was smiling, unlike her father.
“A raven.” She heard the laughter in Cam’s voice. “As the current duke, he must wear it. The last headwear that James’s grandfather wore was much less conspicuous, so I’m told. Just a simple black band with a discreet black feather. But no one can locate it. So this one doesn’t get lost, Dev and I put our heads together with the local seamstress and came up with that.” He pointed at the bird wobbling about on James’s head. It was black, as they were, and its beak the same, although she thought a bit longer, and she could see a white eye.
“Oh, you are a naughty man, cousin.”
“Yes, well, must dash. I see Warwick speaking with the Beadle brothers, and that is never a good thing.”
“Why?”
“They’re trouble. I know this as their father was my friend growing up.”
Beth waved to Kate as Cam hurried away.
“Where is he going?” James said when he reached her. “I’ve already had words with Dev, Cam’s next.”
“Something about Beadle brothers. He ran that way.” She pointed in Cam’s direction. “I like your hat. Hello, Isabella.”
“Papa doesn’t like his headwear, Kate.”
“Don’t you start in on it, Bella,” James said, but he followed the words with a kiss on top of her head.
“It’s quite fetching really,” Kate said, holding in her laughter.
“It’s a bloody monstrosity.”
Even with that ridiculous creation on his head, James wore his title with the ease of man who had blue blood flowing through his veins. Tall, with hair the color of chocolate, he was more reserved than the Sinclairs but was part of the backbone that made up their clan.
“The only good thing about being the current Duke of Raven is that I get to judge the plum pudding contest, which annoys Cam, as I won’t let him help.”
“You do realize he was behind that.” She pointed to the bird once more. Up close, she noted its black beak rested on James’s scalp.
“Of course I know and am planning retribution.” He stalked away, taking his daughter with him.
Kate wandered, running into family members as she walked. With so many of them about, it was inevitable. She found Dev, Lord Sinclair, the eldest of his family, at the fudge stall. His wife, Lilly, and their three children, Mathew, Hannah, and Meredith were with them.
“It will make your belly ache if you eat too much of it,” Dev was attempting to explain to the Merry, the youngest. She was in his arms, eating.
“I promise I won’t, Papa.”
“She lies like her aunts.” Dev sighed. “With a sweet smile and absolutely no shame.”
She listened to the music, watched a few brave souls dance, and then continued on, unwilling to stop for long as it was too cold. Completing a full circle, she entered the castle. Huge graceful arches of stone swept above her, each pillar anchored by intricately carved pieces of wood. A grand staircase with carved banisters swept up on a curve to the second floor. The walls were adorned with armor and paintings. History was etched all around her.
“’Tis impressive, don’t you think?
Kate turned to see Alice approach.
“Very much so.”
Alice was like Kate and Wolf in many ways, and yet very different in others. Perhaps more stubborn, but no less willful.
“I see where James gets his looks from,” Alice said, pointing at a portrait of a Raven ancestor. “I see Nicholas in there also.”
“Yes, they are both very regal, Nicholas and James.”
“We’ve been searching for the document.”
“Document?” Kate raised a brow.
“The one that has the history of what transpired between the Ravens and Sinclairs. Apparently, it details who saved whom right up to the last duke. He then had the thing locked away and never looked at it again. The problem is, no one knows where,” Alice said. “It dates back to King Edward, stating the details of the pact and gift of land that Oak’s Knoll stands on.”
“I would love to read that.”
“Me too.” Alice slipped a hand through her arm. “Now tell me about this Rory. I have yet to meet him, but Nicholas tells me you are quite fond of him.”
“What? No, I’m not.”
“He’s a Raven, and you saved him.” Alice ticked the points off on her fingers. “Seems to me that there is a link there, considering…”
“Ravens marry Sinclairs?”
“Exactly.”
“Well, this is not one of those situations. He’s different and has likely already left Crunston Cliff.” Kate wanted to press her palm into the pain that thought left in her chest. Instead she smiled and walked with her sister.
“And this upsets you?”
“No, it does not.”
“Your mouth has the little wrinkle beside it when you’re lying.” Alice tapped Kate’s face. “Right there.”
“I’ll bite you if you don’t remove it.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting this Rory, especially as he has my usually unflappable sister turned inside out.”
“Shut up, Alice.”
“If you insist.”
“I do.”
Her sister made that small humming noise in her throat that had Kate wanting to slap her.
“Come along then, it is time for us to take our places in the kissing booth.”
And wasn’t that a cheery thought for a miserable day— having men she didn’t know, with questionable body odor, kissing her cheek.
Chapter Ten
“How are you feeling?”
Rory lowered the newspaper Essie had given him this morning and found his brother standing in the doorway.
“Better, thank you. I will leave tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow is Christmas Day. Will you stay and share it with us?”
Anger was no longer his first reaction when he looked at Max. In fact, he wasn’t sure what he felt anymore. For two days they’d acknowledged each other. Ruthlessly polite, they’d existed. Essie, however, had been a revelation. Open, honest, and caring, his brother’s wife was a wonderful woman who loved her husband very much.
She’d talked about Max even when Rory had pretended to sleep. He’d learned his brother was a highly respected businessman with a great deal of wealth and property. This surprised him, as when Max left France he’d had very little to his name.
He’d also spent time with Luke. The boy had read to Rory and told him about his family, all whom he loved very much.
“I cannot. I must go back to France.”
“Because of what happened to put you on that beach trussed like a goose?”
“That, and because it is the place where I live and work.” He was loath to call France home, as it had never been that, nowhere had. But it was what Rory knew.
“Clearly there is danger waiting for you—”
“I can take care of myself.”
“I could help, I have contacts.”
“I don’t want your help… but thank you,” Rory made himself add.
Their eyes met and held. Neither looked away.
“We are to go up the mountain today to attend the fair at Raven Castle. As you are well enough, perhaps in this, at least, you could join us.”
“I am fine here, please go on.” He had no wish to spend time with family he was uncomfortable with and soon to leave.
Kate would be there.
&n
bsp; “And yet you have been invited, so you will come.” Max’s words had bite to them now. “Your sisters wish to meet you.”
“I will stay here just the same.”
The others had kept their distance from him, which had been a surprise. He’d thought the brother, who was a duke, would visit at least.
“We are not leaving you here. You are family, and it is time for you to meet the rest of us. You will come.”
“And what will you do, carry me?”
“I will try if I must.”
Neither of them had raised their voice, but anger was starting to simmer beneath the surface.
“But it will not come to that.” Essie bustled into the room with clothes in her arms. “You will come to please me, Rory.”
“Why would I do that?” And yet she was right, because he did not think he could refuse her anything. The woman had a way about her that made him want to please her.
“Because I am asking you to.”
“My injury—”
“Will not suffer for a gentle carriage ride up the mountain.”
Rory knew this for the truth, as his strength was already returning. He could leave today if he wished… the hell of it was, he didn’t want to. A lot of that he attributed to Kate Sinclair, who he had not seen since the day he’d been rude to her. Rude, coarse, and vulgar, and any number of other words. He owed her an apology and wanted to deliver it before he left. Why? He had no idea, only that her opinion of him mattered.
“Rose and Samantha will be there,” Essie added. Max stayed in the doorway, silent and watching. “They deserve this from you at least, Rory.”
She was right of course. What man did not want to meet the sisters he’d recently learned he had?
“Come, I am having a bath brought in for you, then you will dress, and we’ll leave.”
“I can wash and dress myself, thank you.”
“Very well, but you cannot tie a necktie or do up buttons. Max will help,” Essie added. The look she threw him would have shriveled his nether regions were he not made of sterner stuff. “Josiah and Bertie are busy,” she added before he could speak. “They will bring the bath, then leave for the fair. I also want you to wear a sling, Rory.”
“No.”
“Yes. It will take the weight off the shoulder.”
“Stop fighting her, you won’t win,” Max said.
He watched the bathing tub be carried in, the brothers bringing in the water, and soon it was filled and steaming. Essie then followed Josiah and Bertie from the room.
“I need no help.”
“And yet I will stay.”
He bit back any further insults and stripped off his nightshirt, uncaring that his brother saw him naked, then stepped into the tub. The warm water made him moan.
“Good?”
He grunted a yes.
“How did you get those scars on your back?”
Lying back, he closed his eyes. The water felt blissful on his body.
“Please answer me, Rory.”
“Four weeks after you left, Mother brought home two men who paid her money to have fun with me. They had a fondness for whips. I fought them, and this is the result.” He kept his voice even, but the pain of that memory was still fresh even many years later.
“Christ!”
“I stabbed one, and the other… well, let’s just say he won’t be walking the same, ever again.”
“I don’t know why anything you tell me about that woman shocks me. I’m sorry that you suffered.” Max had walked to the fireplace and now stood staring into the flames.
“You didn’t do it, and I didn’t tell you for sympathy, I told you because you asked.”
“I left because I couldn’t do it anymore, Rory.” The words were almost a whisper, but he heard them.
Rory stayed silent, watching his brother. He wanted no part of Max’s life, but he did want to know the reason he’d left, no matter how much he told himself otherwise. The reason he’d turned his back on him and Maddie.
“Did you know that I was indentured on that ship? That she paid for your and Maddie’s passage to France that way, by sending me to work for an animal?”
“She told us that you chose to work on it. Chose to leave us to do so.”
Max’s laugh was harsh. “Is that the story she spun? Believe me, the truth is very different. She bedded the captain on the journey to keep him happy, and he played the pretty until we docked in France, and then everything changed after you all left the ship.”
Max shrugged out of his jacket and unknotted his necktie.
“What are you doing?”
“Showing you that we have matching scars.” Max removed his shirt.
“Who did that to you?” Rory’s rage was instant as he took in the scars crisscrossing his brother’s back.
“The captain.”
He didn’t know what to say. The thought of the child Max had been suffering in that way was horrific.
“He’s dead now.”
“You killed him… the captain?”
“I played a hand in it, but a friend fired the bullet,” Max said, shrugging back into his shirt. “She knew that our father was a duke but never told us. She told the captain of the ship, however, and I got special treatment because of that… and not in a good way. To say the experience was unpleasant is an understatement. But when I finally came back to France and found you all, I was not the same person I’d been. The brother you needed. You were running wild, and Maddie was not much better, and I could do nothing to help either of you.”
Rory remembered the brother he’d idolized had returned cold and distant, but for all that he’d been pleased to have him back.
“She told us you’d chosen to go to England, to leave us.”
“I left because the hatred inside me wanted to kill her. It consumed me from sunrise to sunset. I could see nothing but her smug face and the pain she inflicted on me. To my sorrow, I did not see that you and Maddie were suffering also.”
“I-I don’t know what to say to you.”
Max’s laugh held no humor. “Your anger is justified. But even though I left you, I never forgot you. When sanity returned and with it, Essie, I knew I had to find you and Maddie.”
Max still had his back to Rory. He watched as he tied the knot at his throat then reached for his jacket.
“I try not to hate people, Rory, but I want her in hell for the pain she’s caused us all.”
“Amen.” At least they agreed on one thing.
His brother had been running from far more than family, Rory realized. Like him, he had demons.
“Come, you must dress, or Essie will be back demanding we leave.”
With thoughts churning inside his head, Rory rose and stepped out of the bath. Max handed him a drying cloth, and he then dressed in silence.
“We are the same size, it seems.” Max helped him pull on the deep green jacket.
“So it would seem.”
Max tied his necktie.
“Thank you.”
He didn’t move, just looked at Rory.
“I never meant to hurt you or Maddie. Never meant to leave you, but after the ship….” The words fell away. “I’m sorry. It was my job to protect you, and I didn’t.”
“Not your job. I could look after myself even then, and Maddie.”
“And yet you were hurt, your back tells me that, and so young. Your innocence, like mine, destroyed.”
“I’ve spent many years resenting and, yes, hating you, Max.” Rory tried to put his thoughts into words.
“I understand that, but I would ask that you at least allow me back into your life.”
“I will think about it.”
“That is better than no.” Max smiled, and there was the brother he’d known as a child. The boy who’d always had a smile for him.
Closing his eyes, he inhaled a deep, steadying breath, then let it go.
“I watched you leave.”
“What?” Max had turned away, but no
w he was back.
“I stood on that dock and watched you sail away from us.”
“Christ, really?”
“I wanted to climb on board and stow away but knew then Maddie would be alone. But the urge was there.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.” Rory held out his hand, and Max shook it, and for now that was enough.
“Come along, you two,” Essie said from the doorway. “Luke is waiting in the carriage.”
His brother urged him from the room behind his wife, and the hand he felt settle on his shoulder did not seem as heavy and uncomfortable as it once was.
Chapter Eleven
Snow flurries accompanied them up the winding climb to Raven Castle. The carriage was well sprung and comfortable but still jarred his shoulder as it hit a hole in the road.
Max did not speak, instead held Essie’s hand and looked out the window, and Rory couldn’t stop the thoughts whirling around inside his head.
His brother had suffered just as he had. Rory understood anger. He’d loathed his mother and others, including the man seated across from him. He also understood the need to run.
“The castle is hundreds of years old, Uncle Rory.”
“Is it?” Luke dragged him from his thoughts.
“It has many rooms, so many we’ve not found all of them.”
“We?”
“My cousins, we spend time investigating the castle.”
“And getting into trouble,” Essie added.
His nephew’s smile was pure menace. He couldn’t deny that he felt something as he looked at Luke. No one had called him uncle before, and it felt foreign, but also good. A connection, Rory realized, to add to all the others he was collecting. Not that he wanted them, he reminded himself, but still….
He’d see Kate soon, along with the others, and braced himself to do so as they passed a small church where the wedding would take place. And then there it was. Raven Castle, sitting as it had been for hundreds of years, perched above the town, overlooking the cliffs and sea. He saw turrets, and flags flying. This was part of his history now, and Rory wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that as they clattered past the gatehouse and over the narrow bridge into the courtyard.
The area was a large one, and most of it occupied by people and tents. Dogs ran about the place in a pack, one of them his.
