Borderland Bride (2 page)

~* * *~

They approached Thornewall from the flat moorland, the great keep casting them in shade as it loomed from the hills. It was hard to think of his brother as one of the most powerful men in Northumbria. Thornewall Castle was a reflection of that power, with a great stone wall, four round towers and an imposing gatehouse. The drawbridge was down and Jake uttered his thanks, not wishing to waste one moment getting the injured woman to aid.

Working his way through the cottages that clung to the mound, he turned his head from the attention the pair garnered. Looks of pity and curiosity crossed every face when they saw the unfamiliar, battered woman. Peasants emerged from their huts at the sound of hooves, crowding the path leading up to the castle.

The maiden’s good eye had remained focused on him since she had awoken, but currently her gaze darted about, warily taking in the inquisitive stares. She burrowed against him as much as her injuries allowed, mayhap trying to shield herself from the villagers prying, and Jake’s chest panged. He drew his mantle around her as best as he could, attempting to hide the evidence of her beating, but it was difficult to hide the marking on her face, and he didn’t doubt gossip would run rampant about the mysterious noble lady in the arms of their master’s brother.

As his horse thudded across the wooden bridge that spanned the dry moat, the Captain of the Gate shouted down to him from the ramparts.

“Greetings, my lord. The lord awaits you inside.”

Jake nodded his thanks. “James, there are outlaws afoot in Coxleigh wood. Send out a party and see if you can’t hunt them down. They number at five. A rough bunch. You’ll not mistake them.”

“Aye, my lord.” He eyed the woman as they reached the portcullis. “I’ll lead them personally.”

Jake nodded again. If anyone could track them down, James could. He gritted his teeth. If only he could go off and hunt them down himself…but he could not bring himself to leave the maiden.

Passing through the second gatehouse and past the guardroom, he could see his brother, Dominic, awaiting him on the short set of stairs that led through to the Great Hall. Dominic waved a greeting to him, a wide smile on his face.

The smile faded as he noted the woman in Jake’s arms. He raised an eyebrow as Jake handed her down to him.

Dominic took the woman tentatively, directing a questioning look at his brother.

“Brother, you shouldn’t have…” His mouth turned up with a wry smile. “I know I said I wanted a wife, but I had rather hoped she would be in one piece.”

“Not now, Dominic.” Jake frowned. “I happened upon her in the woods. ‘Twas a fine thing too as the curs that attacked her may well have finished the job had I not.”

The woman looked hazily between the pair and Jake wondered if she realised she was no longer in his arms. Jake and Dominic had similar colouring, but there the similarities ended. Jake stood a good head taller and was broader, while his brother had a lean strength to him. Jake considered his own looks too coarse and women found him too tall, whereas Dominic attracted the eye of many a maid with his long hair and classic looks.

Sliding from his mount, he held his hands out to take her back but Dominic held her firm, eyeing the pale skin of her cheeks.

“We shall send out a search party and hunt down the outlaws.”

“Already done,” Jake told him tersely.

Dominic rolled his eyes. “Aye, of course. Then I shall see her to my solar. She will rest better there. Have you sent for the physician already too?” he asked with a teasing grin.

Wriggling in Dominic’s arms, the lass looked increasingly disconcerted.

Jake glowered. “Nay.” Reaching for the woman, he pulled her from his brother’s grip and settled her safely back into his hold. She flattened her cheek against his chest and ceased fidgeting. “
You
can fetch the physician and I’ll place her in
my
chambers.”

“As you will, Brother. Ack, the first fine maiden to visit Thornewall in years and here you have her marked as yours already.”

“She is not mine,” he snapped. “I just do not trust you with a woman in your chamber.”

“Come now, even I would not stoop so low as to seduce an injured woman.”

Jake shook his head in resignation. For all his teasing, Dominic was right. He was an outrageous flirt, but honourable and would always do right by a woman. Jake just felt an unwitting attachment to the lass and was loathe to part from her.

 “Are you to fetch the physician or not?”

“Aye, aye.” Dominic jumped onto Jake’s horse, directing it towards the gate. “See that you do not frighten her to death with your brutish manners, Jake, or all your efforts will be for naught.”

Jake ignored his brother’s words, anxious to get the woman to a place of rest. Flicking a glance down at her, he noted she was still awake. The wariness in her expression had abated but still she refused to tear her gaze away from him.

Spinning on his heels, he walked back across the courtyard to one of the inner towers. He ducked under the entrance, immediately feeling the chill that forever hung in the dark stone of the stairwell. Making quick work of the narrow, winding steps, he reached the guest chambers in short order.

Though on occasion used for guests, they were generally considered his chambers. Jake spent much time acting as custodian for his brother while he was out on business.

Jake placed the woman down on his canopied bed, carefully pulling his arms from underneath her, and though she settled into the sheets, her face still held a guarded expression. How was it she was still awake? Her injuries no doubt caused much pain but she seemed unwilling to sink back into her exhaustive state.

She had said nothing since he had found her. Mayhap she was too fearful of him. He stepped back, dropping his shoulders in an attempt to make himself less intimidating. With his great height in such a little room, he cut an imposing image and he attempted another smile to soften it.

Her gaze latched onto his mouth and she licked at her own swollen lips as they moved silently, the faint rasp of breath seeming amplified in the silence. Jake ran a hand through his hair. God’s blood, where was the physician? He suspected, given the chance, the woman would fight courageously to live, but with such extensive wounds, he could not be sure pure will would defeat the shroud of death that hung about her.

Uncomfortable under her gaze, he crossed his arms. Ack, now he looked defensive. He uncrossed them and willed his feet not to pace.

“What’s your name, lass?”

Her head shook marginally, her brow furrowing.

“Your name?”

Again, she remained silent, her good eye clouded with confusion.

Jake considered her. God’s teeth, what if her mind was addled? He had heard of babes being born simple after having the breath stolen from them during birth. Mayhap the brutes had strangled her enough that her mind might never be whole again.

The wooden door opened abruptly and he let out a breath as the physician entered, quickly followed by Dominic. The maiden stared up at them all, her face paling. Her hand reached out tentatively towards him, her mouth moving without a sound.

With a gulp, he took her hand, her cool fingers inexplicably burning against his palm. He gave them a little squeeze and smiled. “All will be well, lass.”

The physician glowered up at him. “You need to leave, my lord.”

“Aye, aye.” He gave her hand one last squeeze and reluctantly released it. It dropped to her side and he cast his eyes over her before meeting the physician’s stern gaze. “Do all you can for her.”

The smaller man nodded seriously before ushering the two men from the room.

~* * *~

Isabel watched the large man follow the smaller one out. Brothers, mayhap? They both had the same dark hair but their features were not at all similar. As she had lain in the long-haired man’s arms, aching to be back in the other man’s, she had sensed a bond between them, even though she still could not hear what they said. Sweet Mary, but her ears hurt! Would the pain never end?

She didn’t like parting from the dark haired knight. He offered her an odd sense of comfort with his grim smiles and worried brow. The fear of nearly dying still lingered and she suspected it always would. Dare she ever venture into the woods again, or would she hide away for the rest of her days? She fisted her hand around the sheet. Nay, she would not let those ruffians cow her courage.

Her breaths rasped in her swollen throat. The power of speech still eluded her. She had longed to cry out when the knight had first taken her into his arms, fearing he was another outlaw, but no sound had come, and all she could do was wheeze. What if her voice never returned? Unable to hear and unable to speak, what chance did she have? There would be no place for her in the world and all her hopes of garnering a new life from the scraps of her old one would be gone.

~* * *~

The two men waited anxiously, huddled in the shadows of the narrow stairwell.

“Where did you find her?”

“Not far from the clearing to the south.”

“What would she be doing out there?” Dominic frowned. “And she was alone?”

“Aye. She is obviously of noble birth, so I know not what she was doing unaccompanied.”

“And now she has paid dearly for it.”

Jake gritted his teeth. “Would that I could hunt down the cowardly swines and see them hung for their crimes.”

“We shall bring them to justice, Brother, fear not.”

Dominic rested a comforting hand briefly upon his shoulder but it had little effect on Jake’s anger. He recognised that the woman’s battered face might remain forever fixed in his memory, and while she would probably always bear visible scars of her ordeal, she would no doubt bear far more painful wounds within.

He still did not know what had happened to her. What if the outlaws had…? Jake shook the idea from his mind. Just the mere thought of it made him want to plough his fist through the stone wall. He had to wait and see what the physician said. Then he would deal with the truth of whatever had happened to her.

“Do you know who she is?” Dominic asked, drawing him from his morbid thoughts.

“Nay, I do not recognise her and she could not give me her name. Is she familiar to you?”

He shook his head. “Her face is severely beaten but I would have remembered such looks. She is not from any of the local families.”

“I wonder how she came to be here.”

The door eased open and the physician slipped quietly out.

“How is she?” Both brothers asked simultaneously, causing the man to raise his brow.

Unintimidated by the two larger men, he motioned down the stairs. “Shall we?”

Jake and Dominic nodded, both reddening, and quickly strode down the stairs, where they impatiently awaited the older man. As he stepped into the light, he blinked and turned his attention back to the brothers.

“Well?” Jake pressed.

“She will live.”

The sound of breaths exhaling compelled the old man’s lips to turn up in amusement.

“She is a strong woman. There are men who would have died from less. The pain must have been excruciating.”

Jake winced as he continued.

“She has a broken rib and some severe bruising but no internal bleeding, near as I can tell. Her head took a beating and she cannot hear. I do not know if her hearing will return.”

Jake nodded. That was why she could not understand him. “So she is not simple?”

“Nay, she just cannot hear. I’ve seen cases like this before, when the ear has been struck heavily or exposed to loud noise. Sometimes it comes back, sometimes it does not. Alas, she cannot speak either. I would expect her voice to return eventually unless ‘tis just fear that has turned her dumb.”

So the lass was a mute too? Jake’s heart stretched for her. No wonder she was unable to comprehend he meant her no harm. She could not hear his assurances and had been incapable of telling him so. He turned his attention back to the physician who was instructing Dominic on her care.

“I suspect ‘twill take her some time to recover. I’ve given her a poppy tonic so she can rest without pain. She’ll not be able to swallow food for a while so I recommend broth or runny potage.”

“Fear not,” Dominic said seriously, “I shall take good care of her.”

Jake narrowed his eyes at Dominic who grinned in return, obviously taking delight in Jake’s newfound protectiveness.

The physician acknowledged his declaration with a slow nod. “Good day, my lords. I’ll return in a few days.”

Dominic sidled closer to Jake as they watched the man leave. “Shall I see to our guest?”

“Nay,” Jake snapped. “You can instruct the maids of her care, and I shall see to her. Let’s see if I cannot find out who she is and how she came to be here.”

Dominic snorted. “Ack, you will scare her half to death, giant that you are.”

“The maiden trusts me…I can tell,” he muttered.

“Lord only knows why.” With a dramatic sigh, he relented under Jake’s hard stare. “Very well, I shall do as you bid and instruct the maids to take over. You know, Jake, I think you forget who the lord is around here.”

“And you forget who watches your back.”

“Aye, aye.” He grinned and lifted his hands in surrender. “Ever do you have my back.” He made to leave but Jake stopped him.

“Dominic, think you that she was…” Jake couldn’t bring himself to say the words, just as he had not had the courage to ask the physician.

“Raped?”

His heart bounced against his rib cage. “Aye.”

Dominic’s face became serious for a moment. “I know not. ‘Tis best you ask the maids to see if they can find out. If she has, she’ll not welcome any attention from you.”

Jake sighed. God’s blood, what if she had been? What if he had been but a moment too late? How would he live with himself? But she did not react to him like a woman who had survived a ravishing. Surely she would not reach for him if she had?

“We will do what we can for her, Jake.”

Jake glanced at his brother’s concerned face. “Aye.”

Nodding goodbye, Dominic crossed the courtyard towards the kitchen and Jake observed the confident swagger of his younger brother. Much as his light-hearted outlook infuriated him, Jake could not help but admire Dominic. He dealt with many burdens in life and yet never let them weigh upon his soul. Jake only wished his own soul did not feel so heavy.