“Where is she?” he demanded. “And what are you all doing here? Hugo, I thought you’d have Evelyn at Siere by now. Where are my lads?” He began to descend the stairs, shouting, “Kayne! Aric! Senet! Attend me!”
“Justin, will you be still a moment and let me speak?” Christian demanded, just as Kayne came running out of the passageway that joined the manor house to the keep, with Neddy and Ralf at his heels.
“My lord,” Kayne said with open relief, “you’ve come back!”
Justin looked about him, at all those in the room, as if seeing for the first time their faces and realizing that something was amiss.
“Aye, I have,” he said. “Kayne, where is Lady Isabelle? What has happened while I’ve been gone?”
They all descended upon him at once, Kayne, Christian and Hugo, speaking so rapidly that Justin held both hands up to make them stop.
“I’ve been riding night and day to return to Talwar,” he said, collapsing into a chair, “and am full worn. Gytha, bring me food and drink before I faint, I pray, and Chris, you speak. Slowly. Tell me first where my wife is, and if she is well.”
“I cannot,” Christian replied quietly, “although I wish that I could.” Choosing his words with care, he told what he knew of Isabelle’s disappearance, and of Lady Evelyn’s part in it.
“God’s mercy,” Justin murmured grimly, wearily rubbing his exhaustion-ridden face with both hands. “Where could she be, if Aric never arrived with the missive, and if you did not give her escort? Could she have gotten to Gyer with the help of some other?”
“I do not know.”
“Sir Christian has been good enough as to send messengers to both Alexander and Hugh,” Hugo put in. “We have not had a reply from either of them yet.”
“Kayne, are you certain that you were drugged?” Justin asked. “You did not simply drink too much wine?”
Kayne’s face flushed with the heat of grave affront. “My lord, I did not. You cannot think it.”
“I do not think you would do so apurpose,” Justin admitted, “but any of us may make such a mistake and perhaps not realize it.”
“Lady Evelyn brought me a cup of wine without my request,” Kayne insisted. “I drank but a few sips, only because she asked it of me and I did not wish to be unmannerly. Also, to speak in truth,” he added with greater irritation, “I wished to be rid of her, and it seemed the most expedient way.”
“He was drugged, Justin,” Hugo attested. “He had not yet been roused when Christian and I at last arrived with Neddy, and he slept on until the middle of the next day. ‘Twas no drunken stupor the boy suffered.”
Odelyn had come into the room, and Justin saw her standing in a corner, looking pale and drawn.’ “Come here, Odelyn.” He waved her forward. “Tell me what you heard in the stables.”
Obediently Odelyn stepped forward, and obediently told all that she remembered.
“She said the babe was yours, my lord,” she said softly, casting her eyes to the floor. “I heard her with my own ears.”
“That’s impossible,” Justin countered irately. “I know Isabelle had some wrong idea about Evelyn and me, but it was not true. None of it. Evelyn would have no cause to lie to her about such a thing.”
“Would she not?” Christian asked pointedly.
Justin let out a taut breath, rubbing his eyes and fighting exhaustion. “I find it hard to credit. All of this.”
“She did say it,” Odelyn insisted. “I heard her, my lord, and so did Senet. He’ll tell you that I speak the truth when he returns. Lady Isabelle sounded heartbroken.”
“Aye, indeed,” Justin admitted, staring thoughtfully at the fire in the hearth. “It explains many things, if she truly believed such a lie. But where has she gone? Evelyn has said naught?”
“She has refused to speak until you returned,” Christian said. “I have kept her locked in her bedchamber, for I trust her no more than I would a wily fox left to guard a brood of hens. Senet himself. left word with Ralf that she shouldn’t be released until either he or you sent word, and ‘tis clear he knows more of this matter than any of us here, despite his absence. I saw no good reason to doubt his order.”
Gytha returned to the great room with a tray bearing meat, bread, cheese and ale, which she set upon the table. Justin rose at once and hungrily began to eat, not speaking again until he had nearly sated his painful hunger.
His mouth filled with bread, he asked of Kayne, “There has been no word from Senet, or the other lads?”
“Nay, not even from Aric. We do not know what has become of him, my lord, although we have searched for miles and found no sign. Senet and John left with the purpose of following behind Lady Isabelle, wherever she went. This is what Ralf understood.”
Justin pushed the tray aside, standing from the table. “It is well done of Senet, also of John, to have followed. There is something fully amiss, and I begin to think I know what it may be.” He met Christian’s gaze, then glanced at his brother. “Did not Sir Myles vow in our hearing that he would have Isabelle back one day?”
“Aye.” Sir Christian bit out the word angrily. “And who better to send as his accomplice than his own daughter, who had as much a reason for vengeance as he?” He took a step forward, flinging a gloved hand out in a furious gesture. “How could you have taken the deceitful bitch in as you did? How could you ever have trusted her, after all that we learned of her in London?”
“It was a mistake,” Justin admitted. “Not the first I’ve committed since Evelyn came to us, nor even since I met the woman, but one I mean to correct as soon as may be.” With his mouth set in a grim line, he headed for the stairs. “Gytha, bring hot water to my chamber. I will bathe as soon as I’ve finished with Lady Evelyn. Hugo, write again to Hugh and Alex, tell them that I need them and their armies, as many men as they can bring, as fast as they can bring them. I have grown past weary attempting to be civil to Sir Myles,” he said as he began to climb upward. “Now, I am ready to fight.”
Evelyn was standing at the window, looking expectantly toward the door when he opened it, and Justin realized, as he stepped into the chamber, that she must have heard him unlocking it.
“Justin!” she murmured, a glad smile lighting on her lips. “You’ve come home, at last!”
The next moment, she launched herself across the room, throwing her arms about him and burrowing her head. against his chest..
“Oh, I’m so glad to see you! You’ll not believe what I’ve been made to endure these past days at the hands of your brother and Sir Christian. I have prayed for your return, knowing that you would set all to rights.”
Stiffly, taking her arms in a hard-fingered grip, Justin forcibly unclasped her embrace and set her away from himself.
“I want no soft words of welcome or pretty looks from you, my lady. I only want to know one thing. Where is my wife?”
Evelyn stared up at him, her expression fully bewildered, before she at last uttered a laugh.
“Justin! You tease me, surely. You cannot have believed whatever they may have been telling you! Have you not come to know me better these past months than to believe such lies?”
“I begin to think that I do not know the half of you, Evelyn Hersell.”
Her smile faded. “We have been friends,” she said. “Good friends. I have learned to trust you in all things, but I can see that you will not accord me the same courtesy. I admit that I helped Isabelle leave Talwar, but only because she begged me to do so, and because I didn’t want her to go alone into the dark of night. But, for the rest of what I am accused, I will not accept blame. If Aric wants to run away, leaving no word, how can I prevent it? And if Kayne drinks too much wine and becomes insensible by it, why should I be blamed?” She gazed pleadingly into his eyes. “How could you believe them over me, Justin?”
“How can I not?” Justin replied tautly. “You lied to Isabelle. You told her that the babe you carry is mine. For that alone I should wring your neck.”
“I di
d no such thing!” Evelyn declared hotly, shoving free of his painful grip. “Odelyn has hated me from the start, you know that she has.” Her mouth curved into a malicious smile. “The little bitch only lies about me now to keep from being pressed about what she and Senet were doing in the stables. I’ll wager you’ve not thought of that, have you?”
“Odelyn has no reason to lie, or even to be ashamed,” Justin told her. “She and Senet are nearly betrothed, and you know as well as I that the law considers them handfasted, as good as wed except for the matter of an exchange of gifts. If they had wished to share a chamber together openly, no one would have so much as looked awry.”
“Then Odelyn is mistaken in what she heard,” Evelyn insisted stubbornly. “I never told Isabelle that the babe I carry is yours. She knew the truth, and was determined to leave you whether I stayed at Talwar or no. She wanted to go, to leave you for the sake of her beloved numbers.”
Justin was shaking his head even before she finished speaking. “I do not believe you, Evelyn. On the last day that I saw my wife, she was fully overset for believing that you and I were lovers. She asked me not to send you away, and said that she would go instead. I didn’t understand at the time, but it was because you had told her that the child is mine. Isabelle didn’t want to leave me. She was doing it only so that you and I and the child could be together, and I, like a damned fool, gave her even better reason to go.”
“Then perhaps you should thank Isabelle for being so wise. Perhaps she knew better than either of us what is best”
Justin opened his mouth to speak, but then, without uttering a word, fell silent and stared at her consideringly, a frown upon his face. Evelyn, mistaking his reaction, moved forward to set her hand upon his arm, speaking more softly, and with great care.
“Only think, Justin. Isabelle isn’t the wife for you. She never would have come to you of her own free will, if you’d not taken her by force, and she only stayed out of gratitude, because you proved to be kinder than my father. You know that I speak the truth. Has she not proved it by leaving you so readily, by believing you guilty of such falseness? But she has gone now, of her own accord, and you and I can be together, as we should have been from . the start.”
Justin’s lashes lowered as his gaze fixed upon the hand she yet held on his arm. “Is it what you want, Evelyn? You would be happy here with me?”
“Oh, yes!” She pressed closer, touching his cold, darkly stubbled cheek with her fingertips. “It is what I want more than anything in life. I love you, Justin, and I know that you love me. We can be more than content together, if you will only give us the chance.”
“But what of Isabelle? I do not even know where she has gone, and I must at least see to her welfare.”
“Surely she has gone to your brother, the lord of Gyer.”
“By herself? All alone?”
Evelyn stroked his cheek lightly. “She must have done so, since Sir Christian has come to Talwar.”
“Do you not think that odd, when she had sent Aric to him with a missive?”
“Well, we did think it odd, certainly, when we arrived at the place where we were to meet Sir Christian and he was not there. Isabelle was most especially distressed, as you can imagine.” She began to play with the front of his dirty tunic, plucking at the laces with her fingertips. “But she would not listen to me when I begged her to return to Talwar, nor would she let me go on with her, but insisted that she must press on alone.”
He was thoughtful for a moment. “Do you think, my. dear, that perhaps she and Aric found each other and went on together?”
Evelyn lifted wide eyes to his, and with a nod said, “Indeed, my lord, it must be so. I had not thought of it, but it would explain Aric’s absence, would it not? They must have been at Gyer by yesterday, already.”
“Mmmm…” Justin replied, lifting his fingers and gently taking a few strands of her golden hair, twining them about caressingly. “Perhaps. It would depend upon where they started, I should think. Where, exactly, was Isabelle to meet with Chris?”
She smiled. “On the hill overlooking Talwar, where the oak trees grow. You can see the place from my window.”
He smiled down at her in turn. “But that is south, Evelyn, and Ralf said that Senet and John rode north, toward the forest, following behind you.”
“He must have been mistaken,” she replied evenly. “He is quite young, yet, and easily confused. We went to the hill and waited. Why, I should never have left her alone, otherwise, save that she was so near to Talwar and in a place so safe that no harm could come to her. It is the truth I tell you, Justin.”
Dropping her hair, he pushed her away. “The truth as you know it, mayhap, but not the truth as I desire it of you. There are so many lies coming out of your mouth that I doubt you know what you speak.”
The shock that possessed her delicate features lasted only fleetingly, and then her eyes narrowed. “Don’t be a fool, Justin Baldwin, as you were when you took Isabelle in my place. She is gone now and we can finally be together.”
“Never. Isabelle is my wife, and I love her. It will be so for as long as I draw breath, and neither you nor your father will ever be able to separate us. If you have imagined that I might ever feel something more than a familial affection for you, my lady, then you have been far mistaken.” He moved closer, leaning to speak to her. “I took Isabelle because I wanted her, and because I loved her.”
“No!” she cried furiously. “You only did it to punish me! Because you wanted me for your wife and I would not come to you so easily. You wanted me!”
“Never once, since I set sight on you, did I desire you. I was appalled at the wife who had been chosen for me, and would not have married you. I continued to court you only so that I might find a way to have Isabelle. She is the reason why I remained in London and played the part of the devoted suitor. The only reason.”
Venomous wrath filled Evelyn’s eyes, and her hand flew up to strike him. Justin caught her wrist in midair, without ever moving his gaze from her face. She reeled beneath the squeezing force of his fingers, and cried out, “Cease!”
“Tell me where my wife is, Evelyn, and I will do no more than give you over to the mercy of the king’s regents. If you do not, I will exact my own vengeance once I have found Isabelle, and it will not be so kind, I vow.”
“She was on her way to Gyer!” Evelyn shouted. “That’s all I know!”
“With the help of your father, mayhap?” He pressed harder against the slender bones in her wrist, until her knees buckled from the pain and she was bent beneath him, held up only by his strength.
“My father has nothing to do with it! She was on her way to Gyer! Oh, God, release me!”
His hand opened, and she fell upon the floor, breathing hard, pushing away from him.
Justin stood over her, merciless and without emotion. “If she doesn’t arrive at Gyer within the next two days, and if I discover—”
“Tis not my fault if she doesn’t arrive!” Evelyn asserted angrily, glaring up at him. “She could be waylaid by robbers, even killed, and never arrive at all. I have no control over such things, and you cannot lay the blame at my door.”
“You didn’t let me finish,” Justin said calmly. “If she doesn’t arrive at Gyer, and if Senet and John return and tell me that your father has, in truth, taken Isabelle with your aid, I will see you hanged from the north tower before I set out to bring her back, and will not consider the consequences, though I doubt that the king’s regents will ever hold me at fault.”
Evelyn stared at him. “You can’t do such a thing. My father is a baron. You cannot do it.”
“I will do it. Understand and believe that, for I mean what I say. If you bethink yourself that you have anything to tell me about my wife’s location, you may yet save yourself. I am still ready to hand you over to the king’s regents, if you tell me where Isabelle is. Think on it, Evelyn, long and well, and send for me if you have anything to speak of.”
He lef
t her then, and locked the chamber door behind him.
In his own chamber, he found the tub filled with hot water and, pushing his exhaustion aside, removed his filthy clothing and bathed and shaved. He dressed again when he was dried and even put his boots on, thinking that he must go out and begin his search. Wherever Isabelle was, she would be frightened, and perhaps in pain, or hungry and cold. The idea of what she might suffer at Sir Myles’s hands was unthinkable. But he could barely keep his eyes open after his many days of riding, and knew that he wouldn’t be able to stay awake, much less sit a saddle.
He lay down on his bed with the thought that he would only slumber for a short while, even a few minutes, but a deep weariness quickly crept into him, making it impossible to move while his mind struggled to find peace.
“Isabelle,” he whispered, closing his eyes, thinking of her, seeing in his mind her face as he had last seen it, filled with tears and sadness. “Why didn’t you trust me, even a little? I meant to let you go…but now I shall have to steal you all over again.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Justin knew something was amiss even before he opened his eyes. There was a scratching sound outside his chamber door, weak and barely discernible but accompanied by a louder, anguished groan. He lay on his bed for a spare moment, staring at the canopy above his head, grasping knowledge as it came. He was stiff, nearly paralyzed, and cold. Light coming through the open chamber window told him that it was morn, that he had slept without motion for many hours.
“My lord,” he heard, spoken so mournfully, so softly, that it was more like a breath of sound than a voice.
“Odelyn,” he murmured, sitting up and moving with clumsy, sleep-ridden steps to the door, which he flung open.
Odelyn slid into the room, onto the floor, with a small gasp. Blood, bright red, colored the front of her dress in a wet, rapidly increasing stain, and coursed down one of her arms, falling from her fingertips in thick droplets. A trail of blood led down the hall, covering the short distance between the open door of Evelyn’s chamber to Justin’s room.
Susan Spencer Paul Page 24
