The Faithful Heart (17 page)

“Didn’t have any, my lord,” Roderick
grinned.

Ethan scowled. “Two men in the forest without
any weapons and you bring them to me bound and gagged like
murderers?”

Roderick lost some of his smugness. “They had
horses.”

“Are their horses in the corral now?”

“I assume so.” Roderick shrugged.

Ethan’s scowl darkened as he studied
Roderick. It was the pinpoint of hope Tom was looking for. “Take
off their gags.”

The thugs waited for a nod from Roderick
before ripping the gags away from both men’s mouths. Jack coughed
and worked some moisture back into his mouth. He turned his furious
gray eyes to Ethan. “Oy! Your hospitality leaves a lot to be
desired, mate!”

Ethan ignored the flash in Jack’s eyes. “I
told you if you ever came back to the forest I would have you
killed.”

Jack shrugged as if he didn’t care. “I
figured you was just angry at the time. I never thought you meant
it.”

Ethan didn’t have a chance to answer.

“Was one murder not enough for you, boy?”
Jack’s steward snapped at Roderick. “Developed a taste for death,
have you?”

“Shut up!” Roderick shouted, his face pinched
in rage.

Jack raised his eyebrows. “Oy. Simon. You
know him?”

Simon didn’t pull his eyes away from Roderick
for an instant. “He’s my son,” he ground out, tortured eyes flaring
daggers at the young man.

“Him?” Jack snapped in surprise, glancing
back and forth between the two. “Never!”

“Who’s he?” Ethan demanded from Roderick.

Roderick ignored him, mouth quivering with
hate.

“He’s Simon McFarland, the steward of
Kedleridge.”

All eyes turned to the flap of Ethan’s tent
as Lydia sauntered out into the sunlight and crossed her arms. The
smile she sent to Simon stopped at her lips.

“Bloody fuckin’ hell,” Jack groaned,
collapsing back onto his heels and slumping. “What are you doing
here?”

Tom’s glance flickered between his brother
and Lydia. Dread slithered into his gut.

“What was I supposed to do, my lord?” she
replied with mock innocence. “Alone, friendless, reputation in
tatters after the slander that man Matlock spoke in the
council?”

Jack snorted. “Calling you a whore was the
only piece of truth Matlock spoke.”

Lydia ignored him. “I sought help from a real
man.” She strolled forward to stand in front of Jack and Simon, but
it was Simon who she raised an eyebrow at when she said, “I was
beginning to think there were no real men left.”

Simon stared straight forward, face
implacable. Jack stole a glance at his steward then dropped his
head, all energy gone.

“What the hell is going on here?” Ethan
stepped forward and turned Lydia to look at him.

“A family reunion.” Lydia’s smile brightened
even more. “Your boy Tom and his brother, Lord John. Roderick and
his father, Simon. Oh, and Simon is also my late sister’s husband.”
She turned a predatory smile on Simon.

Jack’s head snapped up and he blinked at
Simon as if seeing him for the first time. Ethan shifted his
weight, dropping his arms and studying each of the players in the
game unfolding in front of him. Tom exchanged a glance with Toby.
They were all out of their depth.

Ethan turned back to Jack. He cleared his
throat. “What are you doing here?”

It took Jack a moment to reply. He shot a
look up to Tom then met Ethan’s eyes. “Reconnaissance. I’ve been
ordered to raise an army to wipe the forest clean of the scum
dirtying it up.”

The answer sent Tom’s heart racing. If Jack
was trying to cover for him he’d picked the worst possible
alibi.

Ethan burst into laughter, Roderick and his
men joining him. “You. An army. To fight us.” Jack stared steel at
him as Ethan shook his head. “Look around you, Jack. Look at you.
Do you really think a fool on his knees could fight so much as a
head-cold in this forest?” Jack remained stoic. Ethan shifted his
weight, planting his hands on his hips. “Where’s your friend,
Huntingdon?”

Still Jack said nothing. He dropped his eyes
to stare straight forward in imitation of Simon.

“The earl was planning to travel around the
shire collecting taxes from the lords,” Lydia revealed, swaying her
way to Ethan’s side. “He’s probably miles away from Derby now.”

Ethan’s eyes lit up. “Huntingdon has left
Derby?” He glanced at Jack. Jack’s face was blank.

“The Earl gone, his bailiff on his knees in
the forest,” Lydia answered. “I wonder who that leaves in charge in
Derby?”

“Aubrey,” Ethan whispered her name.

“My lord,” Toby rushed forward, grasping his
master’s arm, “whatever you’re thinking, don’t!”

“I’m not thinking anything,” Ethan growled
the lie. He brushed Toby off and turned to Roderick’s thugs. “Tie
them up in one of the storage tents.” The thugs grabbed Jack and
Simon and hoisted them to their feet. “Take their clothes and boots
while you’re at it,” he added, provoking a yelp of offence from
Toby. The man Connor growled, baring his teeth then laughing when
Toby jumped back. “They’ll be less likely to try to escape if
they’re naked and barefoot, and Jack’s shirt is silk and will fetch
a good price.”

“You’re cracked, you are,” Jack said as his
hands were untied long enough to yank his tunic and shirt over his
head. He did his best to struggle to get away but all it earned him
was a fist in the gut. It made it that much easier for the thug to
yank his boots off.

“Take them away.” Ethan turned his back on
the scene and walked away. Tom and Toby ran after him. Ethan
ignored the string of curses Jack shouted after him until they
stopped abruptly. Tom spun back in time to see his brother crumple
to the ground, Connor standing over him shaking out his fist. He
balled his own fist, jerking back to teach the man a lesson.

“Tom!” Ethan’s command stopped him.

Tom stopped, twisted to face Ethan. Ethan
shook his head.

“My lord, what are you going to do with
them?” Toby pressed his master.

“I don’t know,” Ethan sighed. “Right now,
with Huntingdon out of Derby, we’ve got bigger things to worry
about.”

“Please, my lord, reconsider!” Toby implored
as he and Ethan walked off to the far end of the camp.

Tom turned back to where Roderick’s thugs
were dragging Jack and Simon off towards the village of tents.
Roderick and Lydia stood with their heads together, whispering.
Lydia’s eyes flickered up at Ethan’s retreating back before she
turned to Roderick and nodded. He returned the nod. They split and
marched off in different directions. Tom watched them go, glanced
over his shoulder as Ethan and Toby turned a corner. He wavered,
looking towards the tents where his brother had been taken, then
switched directions and charged off towards the corral.

Chapter Nine

Madeline sat on the front stairs of
Kedleridge Hall biting her nails and watching the horizon where
Jack and Simon had disappeared. Something was wrong. Jack had said
they would be back in time for tea. Three hours had passed,
possibly more. She stood and paced to the end of the lane to get a
clearer look at the angle of the sun. There couldn’t have been more
than an hour before sunset. A group of farmers was walking in from
the field they had been plowing. The scent of supper cooking in
Kedleridge’s cottages mingled with the blossoms in the orchard.

“Where are you, Jack?” she muttered, turning
and hugging herself as she walked back up the road to the manor
house.

A rider popped over the ridge, a cloud of
dust forming behind him as he galloped closer. Her heart caught in
her throat. She ran a few steps towards him before realizing it
couldn’t be Jack. Or Simon. The rider had brown hair. She stopped
and raised a hand to her eyes until she could make out who the
rider was.

“Tom?” Her heart-rate doubled as Jack’s
brother galloped closer. Something was definitely wrong. She didn’t
need to see the panic on his pale face to know it. “What happened?”
she called to him as he reined his horse to stop near her.

“Madeline!” He jumped down from his mount and
rushed to her. “Jack and his steward have been captured.”

“Captured?” Her eyes flew wide. “By who?”

Tom grimaced before revealing, “Ethan. Well,
no, Roderick really.”

“What? How?”

He bowed his head. “They chased me all the
way into the forest. I just wanted to get a look, to see if Jack
was okay. Lydia told us he was a disaster at the council. I didn’t
expect him to follow me.”

“Lydia?” Her brow flew even higher. Bright
spots of rage flushed her pale cheeks. She shook her head. What was
that witch Lydia doing in the forest? “Where is Jack?” she asked
the most important question.

“In Ethan’s camp.”

She didn’t like the way he spoke, the way his
eyes lit with fear. “Is he alright?” When he lifted his eyes to
meet hers she knew she didn’t want to know the answer. “I need a
horse!” she shouted, spinning to look for the stable boy. “Michael!
I need a horse!”

The mop-headed stable boy poked his head out
of the stable and nodded before ducking back in.

Madeline whipped back to Tom. “You have to
take me to him. Take me to him at once!”

“No, my-” He stopped, no idea what to call
her. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Jack needs me,” she insisted. She turned to
dash towards the stable.

“It’s too dangerous!” Tom repeated, grabbing
her arm to stop her. She whipped to face him. He swallowed. “The
forest is full of outlaws. Real outlaws, not like Lord Ethan.
There’s no telling what they would do if they got their hands on
you.”

“They wouldn’t dare do anything!” She stood
as straight as she could.

“Yes,” Tom insisted. “They would.”

Madeline pressed her mouth shut. She stared
at her arm where Tom held her. He let go and took a step back.
Michael rounded the corner with a saddled horse. She let out a
breath, dropping into worry, and bit her lip. As Michael handed her
the reins she made a snap decision.

“Aubrey,” she nodded. “We have to go to Derby
Castle and tell Aubrey. She’ll know what to do.” She glanced up at
the sky. “If we ride hard we can reach the castle before dark.”

“But…” Tom shuffled, “my … Madeline, can you
ride?”

“Of course I can ride,” she blinked in
bewilderment. “Who do you think ran all the errands at the
convent?” To prove her point she grasped the saddle, put her foot
in the stirrup, and pulled herself onto the horse’s back even
though her linen skirts bunched around her. “Hurry!” She kicked her
mount forward.

No journey had ever taken as long as that
ride to Derby. All Madeline could think about were the things that
Tom hadn’t said. He hadn’t been willing to tell her that Jack was
alright. That could only mean one thing. And that one thing meant
that every moment spent riding was a moment wasted. She wouldn’t
have it.

They reached Derby as the long shadows of
evening painted the castle in lazy pastels. The courtyard seemed
empty after the bustle of the last time she had been there. She
yanked her horse to a stop, hardly noticing the pages that ran out
to take her mount and Tom’s as she tore up the stairs and into the
main hallway.

“Where’s Lady Aubrey?” she accosted the first
servant she came across.

“I’m right here,” Aubrey answered from the
other end of the hall where she had been walking with Joanna. Her
expression flashed to alarm when she saw Madeline. “What’s
wrong?”

“Jack has been captured in the forest,” she
blurted as she ran across the hall, Tom right behind her. “And
Simon. They….” She stopped and turned to Tom. “How did it
happen?”

Tom colored as he tried to meet Aubrey’s eyes
and failed. “They followed me into the forest and were caught by
some of the true outlaws.”

“True outlaws?” Aubrey blinked.

“Dear God, no!” Joanna raised a hand to her
throat. When Aubrey turned questioning eyes on her she said, “Toby
has been sneaking into the castle to visit me. He says that the men
that have flocked to the forest are getting out of hand, that Ethan
doesn’t have as much control of them as he thinks.”

“We have to go in there and save him!”
Madeline grabbed Aubrey’s arm.

“It’s too dangerous, my lady,” Tom shook his
head.

Aubrey stared from him to Madeline, mouth
open, eyes wide and overwhelmed. She shut her mouth with a pained
quiver of her lips. “Jack is one of the best friends I’ve ever had.
He stood by me when no one else would.” She pressed a hand over her
rounded belly, wincing in misery. “But we haven’t even begun to
recruit men for the force he was going to lead into the Derbywood.
And I can’t go into the forest to face a bunch of outlaws like
this.”

“I’ll go!” Madeline insisted, voice raised.
“I don’t care how dangerous it is!” she cut Tom off before he could
protest. “He risked his life for me. I’ll risk mine for him.”

“I’ll go with you,” Joanna insisted.

“You can’t go into the forest in the dark,”
Tom broke into their moment of camaraderie. “Even if there were no
outlaws. It’s not safe to travel at night.”

“Then we’ll go at first light,” Madeline made
up her mind. Her plan fell into place as swift as the setting sun.
“We’ll ride in and find Ethan and demand that he return Jack and
Simon to us.”

“My… Madeline, he’s not going to just hand
them over,” Tom sighed, rubbing his eyes the way Jack did when he’d
had a particularly bad day.

“Then we’ll just have to find out what will
make him let them go.”

Tom wasn’t convinced. Neither was Aubrey for
that matter. Madeline wasn’t willing to let the matter drop. But
there was nothing she could do until a long night had passed.
Aubrey had dinner and her room prepared and a room for Tom, but
Madeline could hardly eat. Sleep was the last thing she was capable
of.