by Julia Latham
Her father shook his head, and Florrie found herself holding back tears.
“Nay, since the night I found out the truth, he has never left me,” he said, looking to a corner of the great hall as if someone stood there. “Because of what I did…the priest tells me that he can never rest in peace. He was full of guilt on his deathbed when he told Keswick the terrible secret, giving him that document and asking him to set things to right.”
Florrie held her breath, saw Adam watching intently, knew this was the confession, the truth, he longed for.
“And Keswick confronted you,” Sir Timothy said, speaking in a carefully calm voice.
“Before he showed me the proof, I never knew…anything,” her father said, his expression full of an old disbelief. “How could I believe such a terrible thing about my own father? Yet…I knew he’d wanted sons, and that his wife—the woman I thought for so many years was my mother—had given birth to many stillborns before dying when I was born. But…Keswick told me that wasn’t true. The priest had explained everything, had lived with my father’s blackmail his whole life. The marchioness died with another babe, not me, and my father substituted his own child by a concubine. He was my father!” he suddenly shouted, as if desperate that they should believe him. But again, he wasn’t looking at them, but at the empty corner. Then his wild eyes pleaded with them all. “How could I let such a secret come out? I had daughters who would suffer!”
Florrie flinched, hugging herself, feeling too weary to cry.
“So you killed them both,” Adam said coldly, “one a defenseless woman, a young mother.”
“But she knew! She was guilty.”
Adam stiffened, but didn’t move.
“I suffered, too,” her father cried. “He cursed me, to make certain I never had sons, so the title would go to Claudius after all. These long years I have listened to his voice condemning me.”
“The priest would have stopped haunting you,” Sir Timothy said, “if only you’d told the truth. Instead you forced three young boys to grow up orphaned, in hiding because all feared they might suffer the fate of their parents.”
“I—I—” He slumped back in his chair, looking dazed, mouth hanging slack.
Sickened, Florrie turned away and found Adam there. He took her in his embrace, and she pressed her face against his chest, glad for the reassuring sound of his heartbeat. It was over. Her father was no longer the marquess—Claudius was. And Matilda would be his marchioness, as she’d always wanted.
But Adam was Florrie’s strength. When she saw him stop Claudius from killing her father, a man Adam himself had wanted dead, she knew then that he’d really changed. For her. No one had ever rewarded her trust as he had.
“You do not need to be here anymore, Florrie,” he whispered.
She nodded her acceptance, let him lead her toward Hewet, the butler, who was looking a bit confused.
“You need to prepare a bedchamber for Lady Florence,” Adam said.
“I am no longer Lady Florence,” she said apologetically to Hewet.
“But she is my cousin,” Claudius called, “my sister by marriage. Martindale House gladly welcomes her.”
She looked at him for a long moment, and knew that he had spent his life suffering for her father’s sins, another innocent warped.
“I ask your forgiveness,” he said.
She nodded and turned away. Adam started to accompany her, but she stopped him. “Nay, you need to finish here. Speak to your foster father and the other Bladesmen. Let me know what is decided about my father’s fate. But come to me this evening?”
She saw the way his expression eased, and he gave her a faint smile.
Bringing her hand up, he kissed it. “Wait for me, my lady.”
“Always,” she whispered.
Florrie was surprised by how hungry she was. She ate everything on the tray that was brought to her, then she fell into a deep sleep untroubled by dreams. When she awoke, Adam was sitting in a chair beside the bare hearth, watching her. Several candles had been lit, and the shutters closed against the encroaching night.
She sat up slowly, smiling at him.
He smiled back.
“Is it over, then?” she asked softly.
He nodded. “Your father has been taken to the Tower of London, where he awaits the king’s final word. But, my sweet, I fear the end will not be long. Your father said the priest will not permit him to eat.”
She bowed her head. “He brought this on himself, regardless of the crime his father committed. He must accept the consequences.” With a deep breath, she met Adam’s gaze again, and gave him a small smile. “What of you, Adam? You are free of the need for justice at last.”
He sighed. “I cannot say it made me feel good. But ’tis done, and at last my brothers and I are free to live the lives we’d been denied.” He rose and came to the bed to sit and take her in his arms. “Florrie, I have become the man I am today because of you. Anger was ruining my life, and I didn’t even realize it. I thought I was being so calm and logical. And the anger wasn’t just toward your father. ’Twas also directed at the League of the Blade, for forcing me into a life that every other Bladesman was given the chance to choose. I know they were protecting me, and I owe them my life, but they made me give them my life. Do you understand?”
She nodded, caressing his cheek, smoothing the frown from his brow.
“But they do good works, Florrie, and so many people benefit. I…like helping people. Even though you may think my childhood difficult, ’twas peaceful and productive, and I felt honored by the work. Aye, I wasn’t given a choice, and that was wrong, but how many children are offered such a thing? You were not, and yet you flourished to become the woman I so admire. So if you do not mind, I will stay a Bladesman, and serve my yearly mission for them.”
“I am glad you’ve come to peace with the role they’ve played in your life,” she said, “but why should I mind what your choice is?”
“Because if you consent to marry me, as my wife, your opinion would count equally with mine. My life can only be complete if you allow me to share it with you.”
She covered her trembling mouth, feeling happy tears swim in her eyes.
“I love you, Florrie,” he said gently, “but I would live alone if you thought to marry me only to bring peace between our families.”
“Nay,” she whispered, her face lifted to his, “’tis my turn to be selfish. I love you, Adam. I have spent my life making things easier on everyone else, and was too ready to accept what they thought of me. But not this time. I am not going to the convent, or becoming a nursemaid to any of my sisters’ children. I want to be your wife, whether in a cozy little manor or an inn, as you do your work for the League.”
He laughed aloud then, kissing her soundly before saying, “Would you mind being a countess and living in a castle, where I swear the spirits of my parents would be so glad to see love and laughter?”
“A countess,” she breathed, shocked and almost too stunned to understand him. “Keswick…?”
“The earldom. My family surname is Hilliard. Forgive me for not telling you, but I’ve spent my life hiding from people, and now at last I’ve found someone to share everything with.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she dashed them away happily. “After all my belief that legends couldn’t come true, a Bladesman really did come to rescue me and change my life.”
He kissed her tenderly. “I think you have it backwards. You rescued me.”
About the Author
JULIA LATHAM has an abiding love for the Middle Ages, when knights were knights and ladies had to tame them. After several varied jobs, the last in computer programming, she realized her life’s dream of being published with Avon Books. She lives in Central New York with her three children; her dog, Apollo; and her husband, Jim. Visit her website at www.JuliaLatham.com.
Julia also writes USA Today bestselling novels under the name Gayle Callen.
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Romances by Julia Latham
TAKEN AND SEDUCED
SECRETS OF THE KNIGHT
ONE KNIGHT ONLY
THRILL OF THE KNIGHT
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
TAKEN AND SEDUCED. Copyright © 2009 by Gayle Kloecker Callen. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Microsoft Reader February 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-182837-9
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