By Love Unveiled (18 page)

“Not Mina,” Garett said wryly.

She glanced at him, relieved when she noted no trace of suspicion in his expression. Between Hampden’s half-truths from court and her own fabrications, she’d kept him from guessing the truth, thank God. Yet how long could that last?

Hampden began to speak of the king’s newest mistress as Garett made outrageous quips about what Hampden said. Marianne listened, her anxiety growing. It confirmed what she’d already gathered—both men knew His Majesty very well.

Now more than ever she had to keep her identity secret. Garett clearly believed her father guilty and could easily believe the rumors about her involvement. If he ever learned who she was, he’d be quick to turn her over to the king. So no matter what the cost, that was one secret she had to keep from him.

Trifles light as air

Are to the jealous confirmations strong

As proofs of holy writ.

—Shakespeare
, Othello

F
our days later, Garett accompanied Hampden out the entrance to Falkham House, more pleased than he dared admit that his friend was leaving.

“Where’s your beautiful ‘prisoner’?” Hampden asked. “Didn’t she wish to see me off?”

“Mina’s been out all night, caring for a tenant’s wife who’s in childbirth,” Garett said as the groom walked Hampden’s horse up.

The wicked grin that crossed Hampden’s face irritated Garett enormously. “That’s a soft heart for you. Such a pity she couldn’t be here. I was so looking forward to snatching a parting kiss.”

Only with the greatest effort did Garett keep his face expressionless. “Then thank God she’s not here. It saves me the trouble of protecting her from your ill manners.”

“ ’Tis not my manners that bother you, and well you
know it. You hate she’s taken a liking to me. And I to her.”

Damn him. “You take a liking to every woman who crosses your path.”

“Perhaps. But your little pigeon intrigues me more than most.”

Even knowing that Hampden was baiting him, Garett struggled not to lift the marquess forcibly onto his horse and send him off to London with a good kick in the arse.

Hampden apparently interpreted Garett’s somber silence correctly. “How couldn’t I be intrigued by the woman who’s managed to raise your ire . . . and your possessiveness. Never thought to see you act that way. ’Til now, you’ve been too busy with your plans for vengeance to take serious interest in any woman.”

Garett had reached his limit. “If you’re waiting for an explanation of my behavior, you might as well hie yourself off to London. How serious I am about Mina is none of your bloody affair.”

At Hampden’s broad grin, Garett realized just how truly obsessed with Mina he sounded. He gave Hampden a self-mocking smile. “Besides, you think making me jealous will torment me, but it won’t work.”

“Why not?”

“First, I know you flirt with her only to annoy me and not because you truly feel for her.”

Hampden suddenly grew serious. “And second?”

Garett’s eyes searched his friend’s face. When he found there only genuine interest, he decided to tell the truth. “As much as your overtures to her may irritate
me, they’re only a pinprick compared to the torment I endure every day she’s here without my being able to touch her.”

Hampden shook his head. “You’re a fool not to have made her yours the moment you laid eyes on her. As for your first reason—you misread me, Garett. If I thought I had a genuine chance of stealing her affections, you can be certain I’d attempt it.”

“You’ve never fought me for a woman before.”

“True. And I probably never will. Unless you decide to toss away Mina’s heart. Then, dear friend, I’ll be more than glad to step in and comfort her.”

That image disconcerted Garett. He glanced away. “You assume she has a heart, and that she’d offer it to me.”

Hampden mounted his horse and took up the reins, then stared down at Garett, his laughing green eyes solemn for once. “Oh, she has a woman’s heart, that’s certain. If you weren’t so determined to delve into her ‘deep, dark past,’ you’d realize it. As for whether she’d offer it to you—that remains to be seen. I imagine that if you continue to persecute her, she won’t. That would be a great loss for you, Falkham.” He gave a half smile. “And a gain for me.”

Without another word, Hampden turned the horse and prodded it into a trot. He didn’t even glance back as he rode away.

Garett felt an odd relief. He’d lied to Hampden about jealousy not affecting him. Hampden’s overtures to Mina had cut like a knife.

Especially given her response. During Hampden’s stay, Mina had met the marquess’s wicked sallies with teasing rebuffs that had bordered on flirtation. It had driven Garett mad, no matter how much he’d told himself it had all been harmless. Despite his words to the contrary, Hampden was loyal to his friends and had recognized that Garett wouldn’t like his toying with Mina.

Garett wasn’t so certain of Mina, however. With Hampden, she became a sparkling, delightful creature, her cares temporarily forgotten. She extended that cheeriness to Garett occasionally, but only because Hampden was there and drew it out of her. Garett hated that. Damn it, but he wanted to be the one to make her eyes shine.

He turned back to the manor, furious that he was letting it matter so much to him. Of course he wanted her. That was understandable. Her sweet form and daring spirit would entice any man. But his desire for her mustn’t become more than that. If he allowed her to wheedle her way into his emotions, she’d take advantage of it.

For God’s sake, she might even have ties to his damned uncle!

He suddenly saw her in his mind’s eye, standing with her hair unbound, explaining to Hampden the difference between a toadstool and an edible mushroom. Her expression of pure delight in her subject had given him pause. She didn’t act like a calculating spy.

Abruptly, Garett wheeled away from the house and
strode for the stables. He was tired of not knowing who she was. His questions and gruff manner hadn’t intimidated her, hadn’t wounded her as he’d hoped they would, making her throw herself into his arms and confess all.

Instead they had thrown her into the arms of Hampden.

Time to change tactics.

Garett saddled and mounted Cerberus. Mina had responded to his kisses before. She’d do so again. Somehow he’d seduce her into telling him her true identity.

He snorted. Seduce her into telling her secrets. What an absurdity! He couldn’t touch the damned woman and keep his wits about him, much less maneuver her into telling him anything of substance.

He rode off toward the tenant’s home where Mina had gone. No, he didn’t want to seduce her for anything more than the most basic reason, that he desired her. That was certainly reason enough.

As he neared the tenant’s house, he heard the soft, mewling cries of a newborn. Good, soon she’d be ready to return with him.

He dismounted, his gaze going to the guard he’d placed on her. “The babe has come?”

“Aye.” The guard was a man of few words.

Garett joined him beneath an oak, watching the entrance to the wattle-and-daub cottage. “How long ago?” Mina had left Falkham House shortly after dinner the night before.

“No more than an hour.”

So she’d only just finished. She was sure to be exhausted. He leaned against the oak, training his gaze on the door.

He hadn’t waited long when Mina stepped out to stand on the threshold. With a weary sigh, she brushed several damp tendrils of hair from her face. She rubbed her arms and shoulders as her gaze went to the guard. Then she spotted Garett.

“Is the babe well?” he asked.

She gave a rueful smile. “Just like a man, he was stubborn even during his birthing. I had to work a bit to coax him from the womb.”

“And the mother? Did she survive?”

Surprise flickered across her face. “Better than expected, under the circumstances.”

“Good. Her husband’s a fine man. He’ll need her to care for the child when he tends his fields.”

“I imagine that he’ll need her for other things as well,” she said dryly. “Believe it or not, some men depend on their wives for more than just raising their children.”

“True. Inasmuch as this is their second child in as many years, I suspect her husband won’t give her long before he depends on her for . . . ah . . . more important duties.”

Mina’s cheeks pinkened considerably. Then she tilted up her chin as if to say she was far too dignified to respond to his comments. But when he chuckled, she didn’t quite succeed in keeping a smile from curving up her mouth.

The tenant whose wife had just given birth stepped out of the doorway, capturing Mina’s attention. He didn’t seem to notice Garett standing in the shadows of the oak.

“I’m coming,” Mina told the man and started to go back into the cottage.

“Nay,” the tenant protested. “Time for you to go ’ome and get y’r rest. You done enough already. Me wife’s sister will take care of her right and proper now that you did the ’ard part.” He grabbed Mina’s hands. “ ’Tis a beautiful babe, and we’re mightily beholden to you for it. Y’r mother’d be right proud of you, she would, if she was alive to see it.”

Garett narrowed his gaze on Mina. She blanched, then jerked her head ever so slightly in Garett’s direction. Following her movement, the tenant looked over and started when he saw Garett standing there.

The man dropped Mina’s hands. “P’raps I’d best go back and see ’ow me wife is comin’ along,” he muttered as his face turned almost purple. Quickly he walked back into the cottage, nearly tripping over the threshold in his attempt to get himself out of sight.

A long silence ensued, during which Mina avoided Garett’s gaze. “I-I’d best look in on her myself,” she murmured and turned back to the cottage.

“No,” Garett ordered, pushing himself away from the tree. “You’re exhausted. Anyone can see that. You should return with me to the manor.”

“I’m not—”

“You heard the man. They don’t need you here any longer.” He strode quickly to her side.

She gazed up at him as if trying to determine what he thought of the tenant’s words. When Garett merely matched her stare, she turned her face away, her shoulders stiffening.

“Whatever questions you have,” she said with quiet dignity, “you might as well ask now.”

Garett cocked his head in the direction of the guard, who stood under the oak. Mina sighed, then let Garett lead her to his horse. He swung her up into the saddle, mounting behind her.

As they moved off, he could feel the rigidity in her body as she attempted to hold herself apart from him.

“Well?” she asked when they were a good distance from the cottage.

Though broaching the subject was bold of her, the anxious note in her voice betrayed her fear. Good, he thought coldly. It was time she realized how serious he was about discovering her identity.

“It’s an odd circumstance, don’t you think, that everyone seems to know your mother?” he asked.

“No, not at all. We gypsies are like mice. We creep into everyone’s barns at one time or another.”

He lowered his head until his mouth was beside her ear. “ ‘Creep’ is a good choice of words, Mina. Now tell me exactly when you and your mother first ‘crept’ into Lydgate. You implied that you only came here after she and your father died.”

She jerked her head forward, away from his lips. She remained silent, but he could see her hands clench the pommel.

“Your refusal to tell me what I wish to know tires me,” he clipped out. “Until now I’ve kept this between you and me and your aunt. That has gained me naught. Perhaps it’s time I called upon the good citizens of Lydgate.”

“Wh-what for?” she stammered, her shoulders not quite so erect.

“Clearly they know more than they’ve led me to believe. I doubt they’ll be as reluctant to spill the truth when the neighboring earl brings pressure to bear on them.”

She twisted in the saddle to gaze back at him with alarm in her eyes. “Why must you involve them? They don’t know anything of use to you. Don’t you think they’d have told you if they had?”

He halted the horse and dropped the reins to close his hands on her shoulders. “No, I don’t. I’ve seen how they are with you. They’re so grateful for your medicines and healing that they’d not deliberately cause you harm.”

She wriggled free of his grip, then lifted her leg over the horse’s head and slid to the ground. With a fierce expression, she began walking toward the manor. He rode beside her, watching as she trod the road with deliberation.

“If they know nothing,” he asked as he kept pace beside her, “why do you fear their involvement?”

“I don’t fear it! But I know you quite well by now, my lord. You’ll pound them with questions they can’t answer. And when they don’t tell you what you wish to
hear, you’ll torment them until they say something—anything—to placate the angry earl. Who can say what a people beset with fear will blather?”

The sheer logic of her argument raised his ire to even greater heights. “What do you think I wish to hear?”

She stopped to stare up at him, hurt in her eyes. “That I’m truly the despicable, devious gypsy you believe me to be. That I’m a spy for your uncle.” Now she was crying, fat tears rolling down her pale cheeks. “If your suspicions are confirmed, then you can finally say that no one in this world can be trusted. Then you can make your dark plans, fashion your dear tortures for your uncle, and no longer worry that perhaps—just perhaps—you are wrong!”

She wheeled away from him and the horse, ducking her head to hide her tears as she strode off as quickly as her skirts would allow.

He leapt from the horse and was beside her in a few strides. Grabbing her arm, he tugged her about to face him. It took all his will not to let the pitiful sight of her reddened eyes and damp cheeks affect him.

“Can you really think I want to be proven right?” he demanded, his anger riding him hard. “I assure you I don’t. I want nothing more than to lose myself in your tempting arms. But I can’t. Not without knowing the truth. I don’t have it in me to trust quite that much.”

“I know. And even though I know why, I can’t bear it.” She gave him a beseeching glance. “Why not just release me? Send William to escort me and my aunt to the Channel. We’ll leave England—’twas what my aunt
wished to do in the first place. You’ll never have to see us again. You can have your battles with your uncle without once fearing I’ll somehow betray you to him.”