Her Dark and Dangerous Lord

by Anne Herries

  ‘Yes, of course,’ she said and wrinkled her brow, because she hurt too much to think about the things that hovered at the back of her mind. ‘Have I been ill?’

  ‘Yes, my dearest daughter, you have been ill,’ Rob said, his throat caught with emotion. ‘Your mother is not here, Anne, but as soon as you are well enough to travel I shall take you home to her—if you would like that?’

  ‘Yes, please,’ Anne said and sighed. ‘I am so thirsty…’

  ‘I shall ask the servant to bring you a drink, something that will ease your head,’ Rob said. He bent down to kiss her forehead. ‘Is there anything you want to tell me or ask me?’

  Anne shook her head. She knew there was someone she wanted to see, but just for the moment she was too tired to think who it was.

  It was a while before Anne woke again, and this time there was an elderly woman bending over her. She smiled and offered her a cup, slipping an arm about her shoulders to help her drink.

  ‘This is a tisane I made for you, mistress,’ she said. ‘Your father said your head pained you. This will ease the pain for you. Drink it all and you will soon feel better.’

  Anne tasted the honey and swallowed eagerly. The honey eased her throat as she finished the drink, and she could feel drowsiness washing over her.

  ‘Is Stefan here?’ she asked. ‘I do want to see him… please tell him I love him.’

  ‘Yes, mistress, you rest now and he will come,’ the woman said and smiled at her. It was not her place to answer. Besides, the girl was drifting off to sleep again. Sleep was what she needed now. The fever had gone and now she was just tired.

  Anne opened her eyes as someone drew the curtains back. She saw a servant, a young girl. The girl turned and looked at her, smiling as she saw she was awake.

  ‘Madame Bacall told us you were better,’ she said and came towards the bed. ‘I have brought you some breakfast, mademoiselle. And then I shall bring water and help you to wash, if you wish.’

  ‘Yes, please,’ Anne said. She felt sticky and uncomfortable, as if she had been sweating a lot. She eased herself up against the pillows, looking round the room in a puzzled way. ‘Can you tell me where I am, please? This is not my room at the Chateau de Montifiori.’

  ‘You are at the house of the Comte De Vere.’

  ‘Why am I here?’ Anne asked. ‘I do not remember. I was ill. I thought my father was here.’ She frowned as her thoughts cleared. ‘I am Anne Melford and my father was here.’

  ‘Yes, Mistress Melford. Lord Melford has sat with you day and night since they brought you here. He went out riding this morning only because he knew you were better. I believe there was someone he wished to see.’

  ‘But why am I here? I was at the chateau and then…’ Anne’s eyes widened. ‘Someone hit me when I was going to the pool… What happened? Where is Stefan? Does he know I am here?’ She threw off the bedcovers and swung her legs over the side of the bed, but as her feet touched the floor her head swam and she sat back on the bed hurriedly. ‘Oh, my head…I feel dizzy.’

  ‘You should not try to get up too soon,’ the girl said. ‘Madame Bacall said you were better, but would need to rest for another day or so.’

  ‘I want to speak to my father as soon as he returns to the house,’ Anne told her. ‘Where is Lord de Montfort? I must see him.’

  ‘I believe Lord de Montfort came to the house once, but he went away,’ the girl said. ‘I shall leave your tray, mistress—and I will tell Madame Bacall that you wish to see her.’

  The girl hurried away. Mistress Melford seemed most upset and she did not wish to be the one to tell her that people were saying that Lord de Montfort had gone to England. It was bound to distress her further since she had been promised to marry him. Jeanne had heard rumours that the banns had been called in church, but since then the marriage had been cancelled. If Lord de Montfort cared for his promised bride, he would surely not have left her while she lay ill.

  Was that not always the way of men? They took what they wanted from a woman and then left her while they went off about their business.

  Anne ate a little of the fresh bread and honey that had been brought to her, and she drank a mouthful of the sweet wine, but she pushed it away impatiently as the older woman entered her chamber.

  ‘I wish to see Lord de Montfort,’ she said. ‘Is he here?’

  ‘No, Mistress Melford. He is not here. Your father went out riding, but he will be back very soon. I shall ask him to come up to you.’

  ‘Will you have a message sent to Lord de Montfort, please? Does he know I am better? I know he thinks it is not proper to visit me in my bedchamber, but I need to see him…I must see him…’

  Madame Bacall hesitated, then, ‘Lord de Montfort is not at home, mistress. You must not distress yourself. The Chevalier Renard and his sister have visited and send their good wishes, and my master has had fresh flowers picked for your room every day. Your father has sat with you for hours.’

  ‘But we are to be married,’ Anne said and her throat caught with tears. ‘I want to see him. Please send word that I want to see him…’

  ‘I will speak to your father,’ Madame Bacall said. ‘If you have finished your breakfast, I shall send Jeanne up with some water. She will help you wash. Then your father will come up and talk to you.’

  Anne lay back against the pillows, tears trickling down her cheeks. Where was Stefan? Surely he would come to her soon? He had asked her to be his wife. He must know that she had been ill—that she needed him.

  Closing her eyes, she rested until Jeanne came to help her wash. The perfumed water made her feel better and fresher, and the housekeeper’s tisane had made her headache less severe. She was resting with her eyes closed when the door opened.

  ‘Anne…’ She heard her father’s voice and opened her eyes, smiling at him as he came towards her anxiously. ‘They told me you were awake and much better. Is that so, my dearest?’

  ‘Yes, I am better, Father,’ Anne said. ‘Tell me, how did you know where to find me? I could not remember my name—but I saw Harry once in Cherbourg, though I could not recall his name or what he was to me. He had been asking questions and Lord de Montfort thought he might have been asking about me. He sent men out to try to trace Harry, but he had moved on.’

  ‘Lord de Montfort told me how ill you were,’ Rob said, choosing his words carefully. ‘I was angry that you had been stolen from his house when you were under his protection, but it seems there was a breach in the thorn hedge that forms a part of the boundary. I believe the hedge is being cleared and a high wall built so that it cannot happen again.’

  ‘It was not Stefan’s fault,’ Anne said. ‘I went out to the pool in the early morning, because the night had been so hot. I did not think anyone would be there, but they must have been waiting, for they grabbed me from behind and someone hit me on the back of the head. When I came to my senses, I was in a hut. It was so dark that I could hardly see, but I felt my way round the walls and the door was not locked.’

  ‘We think that you were left for dead,’ Rob said, reaching for her hand. He held it in his own. ‘Perhaps when you were unconscious for a long time they feared you would not recover—and we think they fell out over it. They may have been afraid of the consequences if you should be badly hurt.’

  ‘So they abandoned me to die,’ Anne said and shuddered. ‘What terrible men they must be—but does Lord de Montfort know I have been ill? The housekeeper said that he had gone to England, but surely he would not leave while I was ill?’ She looked hurt and bewildered and her father stroked the back of her hand to comfort her. ‘We were to be married soon.’

  ‘The wedding has been cancelled,’ Rob told her gently. ‘Lord de Montfort left you because he knew I was here to care for and protect you. He believes that a man called Lord Cowper arranged your kidnap and he has gone to England to seek a reckoning with him. We are all very angry about what happened to you.’

  ‘Oh…’ Anne frowned. She seemed to rememb
er Stefan telling her about his enemy. ‘It was Lord Cowper who robbed Stefan of his birthright and ill treated his father.’

  ‘That is what he claims,’ Rob agreed. ‘I know they are old enemies.’ He wondered if he should tell Anne that Lord Cowper’s cousin had been murdered some months previously, and that it was possible the culprit could have been Stefan de Montfort. However, there was no proof of that and he decided to say nothing for the moment, lest it was just an unfounded rumour.

  Anne looked at him uncertainly. ‘Do you not like Lord de Montfort, Father?’

  ‘I hardly know him,’ Rob admitted. ‘It is what you feel that matters here, Anne. I know you agreed to wed him, but you did not know who you were and you were beholden to him. You may wish to change your mind now that your family is restored to you.’

  ‘I…love him,’ Anne said and frowned. ‘He saved my life, Father, and I was happy at the chateau, but—’ She broke off and plucked at the bedcovers with restless fingers.

  ‘What troubles you, daughter?’

  ‘I feel love for him,’ Anne said, the words coming slowly and with difficulty. ‘Yet I am not certain that he loves me. He may have asked me to marry him because he felt sympathy for my plight.’

  ‘Surely he spoke of love?’

  ‘Not in so many words,’ Anne said. ‘He spoke of desire…’ Her cheeks heated—it was not a subject she would normally have discussed with her father. ‘I think men often feel desire for a pretty woman. I was living in his house and he told me that people had begun to gossip about my position. It was for that reason that I pretended to be his cousin, but it did not stop the speculation. Stefan said that either I must go to a nunnery or… he would marry me…’ She faltered, her eyes moist with the tears that hovered. ‘I love him, but I should not wish to marry him unless I was sure he truly loved me.’

  Rob hesitated. Stefan de Montfort had been demented with fear for her safety, which in his opinion was not the behaviour of a man who had offered marriage as a matter of honour. Yet he had relinquished Anne into her father’s care without a struggle, and he had taken himself off to England in pursuit of his enemy. He had said that if Anne still wished for the marriage he would honour his promise, but he had not spoken of undying love.

  ‘The choice shall be yours, Anne,’ Rob told her. ‘We shall return to Melford as soon as you are well enough to travel. I have sent word to your mother that you are safe and she will be anxious to see you as soon as possible. Once you are at home, you will be able to think more clearly. If you wish to marry, I shall send word to Lord de Montfort and I am certain he will honour his promise. He is a gentleman and could not break his word to you.’

  ‘No, Father,’ Anne said swiftly. ‘Please do not ask him to come. If he loves me, he will seek me out. I shall not hold him to his promise unless he truly wishes to wed me.’

  ‘You were always proud, Anne,’ Rob said and smiled oddly. ‘I believe you get that from me, daughter. You have my pride and you have my temper. Sometimes pride is best forgotten. I almost lost my chance of happiness with your mother through pride.’

  ‘I could not be happy in a marriage without love,’ Anne told him. ‘I would prefer to live at home with you and my mother.’

  ‘You will think differently when you are truly well again,’ Rob said with a smile. ‘However, Lord de Montfort is not the only man who may wish to wed you, Anne. The Chevalier Renard has called twice to ask after you, and Comte De Vere has been very concerned for your well-being.’

  ‘I hardly know either of them,’ Anne said and sighed. Neither of the gentlemen concerned made her heart race the way Stefan did when he looked at her.

  ‘I am not suggesting that you should marry either of them,’ Rob told her. ‘I am saying that there will be others. Give yourself time to think about the future and decide what you wish to do, my love. As soon as Harry returns, and I have hopes that will be soon, we shall have his wedding to celebrate. We shall have many guests and you may meet someone you like. Besides, I promised you a trip to the court, and, if you wish it, we shall go in a few months—but first you must get truly well.’

  ‘You are very kind to me, Father,’ Anne said. She thought that she had not properly appreciated her father’s love for her in the past. ‘It was good of you to come looking for me.’

  ‘You are my daughter,’ Rob said. ‘I may not always show how dear you are to me, but when you were lost it almost broke our hearts. Only the hope that you might be found gave us the strength to carry on.’

  Anne clung to his hand. She was glad of his love and support, but it did not prevent her heart aching. She knew that she would never love anyone else as she loved Stefan de Montfort, and if he did not come to find her it would break her heart.

  Chapter Seven

  ‘Who are you, and what do you want?’ Stefan asked as the woman was shown in to the inn parlour. He was staying some five leagues from his father’s estate, but she had found him. She had come asking for him that morning, but, looking at her, he did not know her. ‘And who told you where to find me?’

  ‘Edmund, your late father’s steward. You sent him word that you were here, my lord. Many of us have heard it and long for the day you rid us of a cruel master.’

  Stefan’s gaze narrowed. Could he trust her? ‘You are one of my father’s tenants—but I do not know you.’

  ‘My name does not matter, for you would not know me, my lord,’ the woman said. ‘I am someone who wishes you well, and I bring you a gift. I have here your father’s ring with his seal and his chain of office that Lord Cowper stole from him.’

  Stefan looked at the things she placed on the table before him. ‘How did you come by these things?’

  ‘I stole them that from that pig Cowper as he lay in a drunken stupor,’ the woman told him with a look of disgust. ‘He forced himself on me when I was a child of fourteen and I have been his whore ever since—but now he grows careless and I stole these while he slept.’

  ‘If he discovers the theft, he will punish you.’

  ‘I mean to take my parents and flee,’ the woman said. ‘If I had money I would go far away where he would not find me.’

  ‘So that is why you came to me,’ Stefan said and nodded. ‘Tell me some more about Cowper’s habits and I shall give you the money you need. I thank you for these things, for they were my father’s and it is good to have them.’

  ‘They were stolen from your father as he lay dying, and should always have been yours, but Cowper stole much that was yours.’

  ‘I know it, but I have no proof. Do you have proof?’

  ‘No,’ the woman said. ‘I saw things, but it would be only my word against his.’

  Without proof of his enemy’s guilt, Stefan knew that his only chance was to challenge Lord Cowper to single combat. It was a lawful way of settling differences between the barons, and had superseded the time-honoured warring that had gone on between disputing noblemen. Before Henry Tudor came to the English throne, the barons had been unruly, fighting against one another, laying siege to an enemy’s castle and taking what they wanted by force. King Henry had done his best to stamp the practice out, replacing the use of force to settle petty quarrels with his own law. However, Stefan had been refused an audience only a few months earlier and doubted he would fare any better now. Indeed, after the fight with Sir Hugh Grantham, which had resulted in his death, he had even less chance of being heard. If he attempted it, he might find himself being thrown in the Tower.

  Stefan needed proof and he needed someone of influence to stand by him. Neither was easy to find, for he had few friends in England, and those that would speak for him were of the common folk and had no influence. He could, of course, enter the house that he had been born in secretly and murder Cowper in his bedchamber, but then he would have blood on his hands and be no better than his enemy.

  If he wanted to go to his promised bride with his honour intact, he must challenge Cowper to meet him in combat. The fight must take place before witnesses an
d be seen to be fair. He would issue his challenge through the court, but he knew that Cowper was a coward and would avoid meeting him if he could. Cowper would have no scruples about sending assassins to do his dirty work for him. Stefan would need someone to stand with him, as his second, and the only man he wanted by his side was his friend.

  Stefan did his best not to think of Anne, though she filled his dreams, causing him to toss restlessly on his bed. It was best not to sleep, for when conscious his iron will denied her, but when he slept she haunted him and he saw her lovely face, her eyes accusing him of deserting her.

  Damn it! He must not allow himself to think of her. Anne’s father and friends were caring for her. To wish that he had seen her before he left Normandy was useless, and to long for something that might never be made him weak when he needed to be strong. So he struggled to keep his need at bay. First he must deal with Cowper. Only after that would he be free to seek Anne and ask her once again to be his wife.

  Anne woke suddenly from her dream. It was still very clear to her and she knew that she had been walking in the gardens at de Montifiori with Stefan. He had put his arms about her, drawing her close to kiss her on the lips, and she had been so happy. Then something had happened to drag him from her arms and she had seen him disappearing into the mist. She had called to him, but she could not reach him. Something was between them, keeping them apart, and she did not know what it was.

  Tears trickled down her cheeks, because she wanted to be with Stefan more than anything in the world. She loved him, needed him, and yet her pride would not let her beg him to come to her.

  ‘Stefan, my love…’ she whispered. ‘I wish you would come to me. Please come to me…I need you so…’

  She had a loving father and mother, a sister and brothers. She was no longer alone in the world, but she still loved Stefan and she still wanted to be his wife. She wished with all her heart that he would come back to her and forget the feud with Lord Cowper. She was certain that if her father went to the King, Lord Cowper would be called to account. There was no need for Stefan to fight him. No need to risk his life when he might be with her.