Lord Deverill's Heir (32 page)

The candle sputtered and died. Her voice caught on a sob as she was plunged into darkness, her only companion a long-dead man who had betrayed her father.

As Gervaise jerked open the great front doors of Evesham Abbey and burst into the entrance hall, he yelled, “Crupper, quickly, fetch his lordship.

Her ladyship is trapped by fallen rock in the old abbey ruins. Be quick, man, quick, before it is too late.” He was panting hard from his run from the ruins, he could barely catch his breath.

What had the Frenchman said? “Her ladyship? Trapped?” he repeated slowly, staring at the foreigner he wanted so very much to leave.

“Damn it, man, we must be quick. The rocks may collapse on her at any moment. She could already be dead! Hurry, hurry, fetch the earl.” At that moment, the earl appeared at the top of the stairs. “What is this about Arabella being trapped? In the old abbey ruins, you say?” He bounded down the stairs.

“We were exploring the subterranean chambers in the old abbey ruins. One of the chambers caved in and she is trapped. It is all my fault. Oh please, my lord, we must hurry.”

“She is still alive?” The earl’s voice was as hard and cold as granite.

“Yes, yes, I called to her. She is unharmed, but I fear there will be more falling stone. It is all unstable.” The earl threw back his head, and bellowed, “Giles!” When the second footman came running into the entrance hall, the earl said, “Go quickly, Giles, and fetch James and all the stable hands. Tell them to gather their shovels and picks. Her ladyship is trapped beneath the ruins of the old abbey. Go, man, I shall meet you there.” The earl turned to Crupper. “Inform Lady Ann and Elsbeth. I shall be at the ruins.” He turned to follow Giles, then stopped abruptly and looked back to see Gervaise quickly mounting the staircase.

“Monsieur.” His voice was soft, yet it cut through the air with the sharpness of a rapier.

Gervaise spun on his heel and turned to face the cold set features of the earl.

“Do you not wish to assist in rescuing my wife? Did you not say it was your fault? Are you not concerned?”

Ah, the earl’s voice was so soft, so quiet—it scared the comte to his toes. “I—certainly, my lord. I merely intended to go to my room for but an instant.” Damnation, what was he to do now? “Please, my lord, you must hurry. I shall join you in a moment.”

The earl said very quietly, “I do not think so, monsieur. You will not join me in a moment. You will not go to your bedchamber. You see, I require your presence at once. Now, not a minute from now.” What to do? Gervaise cursed with silent fluency. All this and he would gain nothing at all. It was very hard to clamp down on his rage, but he managed it, shrugging. “As you will, my lord.” The earl turned to the now astonished Crupper and said in a loud, clear voice, “You will remain here, Crupper, and, if you will, guard Evesham Abbey. No one—I repeat, no one—is allowed beyond the entrance hall until my return. Do you understand?”

The old man felt mired in confusion. He heard the earl’s words and, of course, understood them, though their intent was quite lost on him. It was what his lordship required of him. It was enough that he could obey.

“Yes, my lord. I will remain here. No one will enter.”

“Excellent, Crupper. Monsieur? Let us go.” The earl stepped back and waited for Gervaise to precede him through the front doors.

Arabella drew her legs up close to her chest and hugged herself for warmth. The dust and sand had settled and she could breathe more easily.

She tried not to think of the skeleton but an arm’s reach away, and of the terrible truth that she had discovered. Surely Justin must come to her soon, if, she thought grimly, Gervaise indeed wanted her to be rescued. But what had he to gain by leaving her here? What of Justin? Of course he would come for her. That, she could not doubt.

She felt tears sting her eyes. The wetness of her tears mixed with the grime about her eyes and burned. She lifted a corner of her skirt and rubbed it against her cheeks.

Suddenly she thought she heard movement from the other side of the fallen wall. She raised her head and peered into the blackness.

“Arabella? Can you hear me?”

“Justin!” She jumped to her feet, bruises and cuts forgotten. “I knew you would come. I’m trapped in here. Please, oh, please, get me out of here.” Again she heard his voice, calm and clear. “Listen to me, Bella. I want you to move to the far corner of the chamber and protect your head with your arms. This is a tricky business. The beams are unstable above the door. I want you far away from them in case there is more collapsing.”

“But, Justin, I can start pulling rocks away from this side. I’m not hurt and I’m strong, you know that. I can help—” She thought she heard a low chuckle. The voice that reached her but a moment later was irate. “Damn it, woman, do as I tell you. I am glad that you are quite unharmed, and I wish you to remain that way. Move to the far side of the chamber. Do it now. I want you out of there.” She groped her way back to the corner and slipped down to her knees and covered her head.

It seemed to Arabella that with each stone dislodged from its place, the walls and ceiling shuddered and groaned. She herself shuddered with their every movement. She felt it the most joyous sight imaginable when Justin pulled away enough rubble to ease his body through the opening.

Someone handed him a candle. The small cell was flooded with light. Light and life, she thought, and she was alive.

The earl called over his shoulder, “James, stay back. I shall bring her ladyship out.”

Arabella rose slowly to her feet. She walked straight into her husband’s arms. She pressed her face against his shoulder. “I am very glad you came to rescue me,” she said simply. She raised her face. “You are the most beautiful man in the whole world. Before I believed you only the most beautiful man in England, but no longer. The world, my lord, the whole world.”

“Am I now? Well, you never doubted, did you, that I would come and fetch you? Why, who would argue with me? Who would yell at me? Who would kiss me so sweetly?”

She buried her face again in his shoulder. “You believe me,” she whispered. “You believe me now. You know he was never my lover.” He was silent for a moment. She felt the slight stiffening of his body, and she wanted to weep. “It doesn’t matter.” Ah, but it did. It stood between them as the collapsed door had stood between them.

“But you came for me. I thank you for that.” He was rubbing his chin against her hair.

He drew back. “We have much to talk about, you and I. Come now, let’s get out of here. I have no great desire to further test your charmed existence.”

“A moment, Justin, I was not alone here.” She took the candle from his fingers and carefully moved its light to shine upon the skeleton.

He couldn’t believe his eyes. “Good God, I don’t believe this.” He looked at her and marveled at her steadiness. He dropped to his knees and briefly examined the skeleton. After a moment he rose and dusted off his breeches. “First let’s get you out of this place, then I’ll see that this poor fellow receives a proper burial. I don’t suppose you know who he is?

No, certainly not.”

He held the light for her as she slipped from her prison into freedom.

She thought of the letter now rubbing against the sole of her foot. She felt weighted down with unsought, damning knowledge. There was much to consider—her father’s name, and of course, Elsbeth. She determined at that moment to hold her tongue; no one must know what she had discovered, even Justin, until she had time to think, to sort through all that she now knew.

When she emerged into the bright sunlight, she looked about her, realizing for the first time in her eighteen years how very precious life was. She savored the hot sun beating down upon her face.

Like a small child awakening from a nightmare, she walked to her mother and threw her arms about her shoulders.

“My sweet girl,” Lady Ann said, stroking her daughter’s filthy hair. “My dearest heart, it’s all right, it’s quite all right. You’re safe now.

You’re with Mama. Goodness, you’ve cut your scalp, but no matter. We will take care of that.”

But she wasn’t safe, none of them were. Whether the threat was from the comte or from the letter in the sole of her shoe, she knew there would not be safety for a very long time.

“You’re a mess,” the earl said, his hands around his wife’s upper arms.

He realized he was afraid to let her go. “It was so damned close,” he said, pulling her against him, holding her hard against him. “Too damned close. You won’t do that to me again, will you, Arabella?” She shook her head against his shoulder. “It was awful. I didn’t think I’d ever see the sunlight again the way it slants over the house in the late afternoon.” She paused a moment, rubbing her nose against the soft material of his jacket. “I was afraid I would never see you again.”

“Ah,” he said. He lifted her chin with his finger, stared down at her for a very long time, then kissed her, very gently. “We both need to bathe.

Let me look at that cut in your hair.”

It wasn’t as bad as it looked, thank God. He let the matted hair fall back. It had just bled a lot, as did most scalp wounds.

“You’ll do. Bathe now. Then, I would like to speak with you.” It was then that she made up her mind. He still didn’t believe her, but he had come, nonetheless, to care for her. The very least she owed him was the truth.

“And I wish to speak to you.”

Damn the consequences.

The earl just smiled down at her, wondering what she would say, wondering if she would ask his forgiveness. He remembered her words against his shoulder in the small monk’s cell. She’d thought he believed her. What was that all about? No, he wouldn’t think about that. Surely she would admit everything to him. Hadn’t she just said that she wanted to speak to him? He wanted it over and done with. And, he knew, there was more, so much more. There was Gervaise, and what the damned bastard had done.

“Grace is fetching your tub. I had best demand the same of poor Grubbs.” he turned, reluctantly, not really wanting her out of his sight for a single moment, to leave the earl’s bedchamber.

“Justin?”

“Yes?”

Her voice was softer than the butter Cook had served just that morning.

“I thank you. You saved me. I knew you would come and you did.”

“You would do the same for me, would you not?”

“Yes, I would, but you know, my lord, I imagine that I would have moved more quickly.” She struck a pose. In her filthy gown, her matted hair, her scratched hands and face, she struck a wonderful pose, saying now, “I doubt though, upon serious reflection, that I would have left you entombed for quite so long.”

He laughed, he couldn’t help it. “That was very well done. Don’t ever change,” he said, and left her.

Unfortunately, they had no time to speak before the evening meal.

As to be expected, the dinner conversation soon turned to the mysterious skeleton uncovered in the wall of the chamber.

“There was no clue at all to the poor man’s identity?” Lady Ann asked the earl.

“Unfortunately none whatsoever. From his manner of dress, I would estimate that he met his violent end some twenty years ago. As to how or why, or, for that matter, by whose hand—” The earl shrugged and forked down another bite of sautéed pork loin.

Arabella bit her cheek. She loved pork, but tonight she couldn’t face it.

Dear God, she held all the answers to their questions on a small square of faded paper. She could imagine the shock and horror on their faces were she to tell them that it was her father who had killed the man—Magdalaine’s lover—a man named Charles. And Gervaise—how would he react, were he to know the truth? Or, perhaps, did Gervaise already know?

She lowered her head and toyed with the few errant green beans in the middle of her plate. She wanted more than anything to be alone, away from everyone, to think. She had to decide what to do.

“Dear Arabella, how very awful for you to be shut in with the man’s skeleton. You are so very brave. Goodness, I would have died of fright on the spot.” Elsbeth shuddered, a pea dropping off her fork.

“No, you wouldn’t have,” Arabella said, focusing the full strength of her belief on her half-sister. “You would have found the skeleton and you would have turned perfectly white—at least that’s what I did—but then you would have thought about it and been very practical about the whole matter.”

“Would I?” Elsbeth was frowning down at her plate. She raised her head.

“You believe I would have been as brave as you were?”

“There is no doubt in my mind. There should be no doubt in yours, only I pray that you will never have it tested in the abbey.” Dr. Branyon looked from one daughter to the other. If Arabella could have given Elsbeth all her strength, she would have done it, right here, right now, at the dinner table. What was going on? There were such changes in her. He shook his head. Ann would tell him what was going on later. He said to Arabella, “Both you and Elsbeth have the constitutions of horses, but you, my dear countess, you need a more thorough examination. I want to make very certain that you are quite all right.” Arabella managed a laugh. “What? And be victim to one of your vile potions? No, I thank you, sir. Mother, give him some of these stewed onions. It will focus his attention away from me.” Dr. Branyon turned to the earl. “Justin, cannot you persuade your wife to reason?”

Justin merely smiled and shook his head. “Let her bear her bumps and bruises in peace, Paul. I am persuaded that she has come to no ill. But you may be certain that I will keep a close watch on her tonight.”

“It is I who must ask your apology, dear Arabella,” the comte said, leaning toward her, waving his knife. These were the first words out of him. “I placed you unwittingly into such danger. It is unforgivable, it is beyond what a man’s honor can tolerate. Tell me, what can I do to make retribution?”

Arabella raised her eyes to Gervaise. She wanted to tell him that he could damned well leave this minute and never come back. He could shoot himself. He could drown himself in the fishpond. She wanted to demand what he knew and why he had come here in the first place. She also realized that she’d heard a note of falseness in his lilting voice. It was now very clear to her. His concern didn’t reach his dark eyes.