The Faithful Heart (36 page)

The situation was beginning to sink in. She
turned wary eyes up to him. “I feel like the most foolish.”

To her surprise, Crispin grinned. “Why on
earth are you wearing Aubrey’s Bandit disguise?”

She glanced down at her clothes. “It’s easier
to ride in.” Her mind clicked back to the urgency of the task at
hand. She grabbed Crispin’s arm. “We searched everywhere in the
Derbywood for Lydia’s treasure but Tom thinks they have been moving
it. We were fine until Pennington showed up.”

“Pennington?” Crispin’s expression grew
dark.

Madeline nodded, beginning to catch her
breath at last. “He was in the process of taking every farthing out
of Derby Castle’s treasury when I left. And when Jack let slip that
Simon is the son of the old lord I knew what we had to do. Simon is
in on it. All you have to do is convince Lydia that Jack isn’t a
lord anymore.”

“How do you propose I do that?”

Madeline bit her lip, glancing around at the
encampment. It looked as though a whirlwind had blown through it.
Half of the men were putting out campfires and loading horses. Only
half.

“If you declare it, shouldn’t that be
enough?” Before he could reply she went on. “Or I could write up
some sort of document. I have a good hand, I can make it look
official.”

Crispin nodded. “We can try it.” Relief
poured through Madeline, bringing with it exhaustion. She nodded
with a sigh, turning to go find her horse. “But Madeline,” Crispin
stopped her with the power of his voice, “if this doesn’t work then
you will have to let Jack do what he needs to do.”

She shook her head, walking backwards toward
the corral. “It will work. It has to work.”

Chapter Twenty

Lydia flopped in one of the high-backed
chairs in the so-called Great Hall of Kedleridge. “No, I don’t like
that one.” She dismissed the bolt of silk brocade held up by the
merchant who she’d called out to the manor. “It’s too drab. Show me
something brighter.”

“Yes, my lady.” The round man tossed the bolt
to one of his young assistants and hissed at the other. The second
assistant dragged his wary eyes from the hulking guards positioned
around the room and pulled another bolt of rich gold and red from
the large trunk they’d dragged into the hall earlier. “I can see
that for a woman of your taste only the finest fabrics will
do.”

Lydia smiled at his flattery, obvious as it
was, and popped another honeyed almond into her mouth. “Yes, that’s
much better.” She leaned out of her chair to run a hand along the
soft fabric.

“Lydia!” She sat up with a jerk at the sound
of Jack’s voice calling her name. A moment later the front door
banged open and Jack strode into the room. He wore a dark scowl
over his drawn, pale face. “I found a priest.” Tom Tanner and a
middle-aged man with a tonsure and robes followed him along with
the bodyguard.

Lydia leapt from her chair, knocking the bowl
of almonds over and scattering them across the floor. “You didn’t!”
He looked as though he had come to tell her a hangman was waiting
outside to string him up, but she didn’t care. At last she’d won.
“Oh Jack, this is wonderful!” She skipped across the room, arms
outstretched.

“Oy! Don’t touch me!” He flinched away.
“Remember our bargain.”

Her eyes flickered to the confused merchant
and his helpers. Embarrassing as Jack was, at that moment she
didn’t care. “We’ll talk about that later,” she simpered. “Right
now we have a wedding to attend! Simon! Someone fetch Simon.”

“I’ll get him,” Jack scowled and turned to
walk off.

There was no need. Simon strode into the hall
from the servant’s quarters. “My lord,” he nodded. “You have
returned.”

“Yeah,” Jack glowered. “An’ I found the
bloody priests too.” Simon’s expression was blank but Lydia knew
him well enough to notice the alarm in his eyes. More alarm than
there should have been. “Did you know they were camping out at
Morley?” Jack arched an eyebrow at Simon.

Simon’s expression was blank as he answered,
“Yes, my lord, I did.”

Rage flared hot on Lydia’s cheeks.
“What?”

“An’ why didn’t you tell me?” Jack echoed her
thoughts.

Simon didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. He
glanced to her. She closed her mouth. Could it be that he had kept
the secret so he could keep her?

“What does it matter?” Lydia spun to face the
priest, heart light with all sorts of victories. “You can marry us
right now, can’t you?”

The priest opened his mouth to reply. Simon
cut him off with, “No, you have to wait!”

All eyes in the room turned to him. “What do
you mean we have to wait?” Lydia plastered on her most beguiling
smile. It was just her luck that now he wanted her, when it was
least convenient.

Jack said nothing but crossed his arms and
waited for his steward to answer.

“The money, my lord.” Simon resumed his
unemotional demeanor. “I wouldn’t trust her to deliver it. If I
were you I would demand that it be brought here to Kedleridge
before the marriage takes place.”

Arms still crossed, Jack switched his scowl
to her. “You have a point there, mate.” She wanted to scratch the
smug grin from his face. “Time to pay up, Lydia. You deliver the
goods and so will I.”

She threw her shoulders back, turning up her
nose at them all. “Oh I see. You think I’ll try to weasel out of my
end of the bargain, do you?”

“Yes, I do.” Jack smiled back.

Her glanced flickered to Simon. He stared at
her with intensity that flushed her whole body with heat. She
licked her lips and sniffed as if she didn’t care. “Fine. I’ll go
get it.” She started towards the door.

“Oy!” Jack called after her as she passed.
“Just like that? You’re just gonna walk out of here an’ go fetch a
bleedin’ great lot of treasure as if you got it tucked up your
skirts?”

She glanced over her shoulder with a wicked
grin as she reached the door and said, “Yes. And don’t think I
don’t know how much that irritates you.” She glanced past a fuming
Jack to Simon. “Don’t think I don’t know you have been trying to
find my money for a month without success. I was always going to
win this one and you knew it.”

Simon’s eyebrow twitched just enough to let
her know she’d tweaked him. She sent him a satisfied smirk to prove
her point before glancing to her faithful guards. They nodded,
understanding her unspoken command to stay behind and watch her
prey.

The stupid little boy in the stable managed
to saddle her horse to her liking and she mounted and set off along
the Derby road without delay. Jack and Simon would eat humble pie
for months if they knew how close the money was and how easily
she’d eluded them. She only needed to ride at top speed for half an
hour before reaching an abandoned village near the edge of the
forest. It was nothing more than a handful of hovels and a pitiful
row of rotting haystacks.

Roderick wandered out of the door of one of
the huts when he heard the sound of her horse. He leaned against
the cracked doorframe, picking his teeth with a piece of straw
until she came to a stop and dismounted.

“Where are Connor and the rest of the men?”
she asked as she marched up to him.

“On a walk. Why are you in such a good
mood?”

“Jack’s finally caved! He’s found a priest
and brought him to Kedleridge.”

Roderick stood straight, spit, and burst into
sharp laughter. “Congratulations Aunt Lydia!”

Lydia jumped forward and hugged him. She
wrinkled her nose and stepped back when she got a whiff of him.
“Take a bath, Roderick.” His scowl was cut off when she charged on
with, “No, on second thought, never mind the bath! Go find Connor
and the horses and the rest of the men. It’s time to take the
treasure home.”

She clapped her hands with giddy laughter and
bolted off towards the ancient haystacks while Roderick ducked into
the house. He returned with a small trumpet and blew it in a loud,
shrill pattern as he walked towards the trees. Lydia dove at one of
the haystacks. She tossed the stinking hay aside with abandon until
her hand struck the hard corner of a cart.

“What in blazes are you doing, you mad
woman?”

Lydia yelped and jumped back as Ethan, of all
people, hobbled towards her, his miserable little shadow Toby in
tow.

“What are you doing here?” She slapped a hand
to her heart to still it.

Ethan’s saucy grin combined with his limp as
he continued towards her made him look more like a cutthroat than a
former lord. “I hear you’ve got something that belongs to me.”

“What?” She blinked, recovering herself. “I
don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The money that everyone keeps talking about.
It’s mine, Lydia and you know it.”

Her initial reaction of fear fizzled into
plain old surprise. Her shoulders dropped and she stared at him. He
was serious. His man Toby hovered behind him, wringing his hands
and glancing around as though they would be ambushed at any
moment.

She shook her head and drew in a breath.
“Don’t be absurd. You left the forest. Finders, keepers.”

Ethan chuckled. “Your little game is up,
Lydia. You may have fooled the likes of Jack and Madeline and Tom,
but you can’t fool me.”

Now she was genuinely lost. “I still don’t
know what you’re talking about.”

“How much do you really have? A couple dozen
marks? One strongbox? Two?”

Lydia flushed. He really didn’t have a clue.
“Yes,” she agreed slowly. “Something like that.” She stole a quick
glance at the cart hidden in the haystack to make sure it was still
hidden.

Toby followed the line of her eyes. He
squinted at the haystack, then his cheeks went pink. “My lord-”

“So why don’t you just hand it over and we’ll
forget this ever happened,” Ethan ignored him.

Mouth hanging open, Lydia glanced between the
two men. “Sure thing, Ethan.” She checked the line of trees where
Roderick had gone to sound the signal. He could still be heard
trumpeting. Connor and his men needed to get their asses back as
soon as possible. “Why don’t you come inside and have some
tea.”

“You don’t have any tea.” He took a wobbling
step towards her.

At last she spotted movement from the trees.
She thanked her luck that she wouldn’t have to deal with this
madman anymore. “Look, I like you, Ethan. You’re stupid, but you’re
a good lay. So if I were you I would get on your horse and go away.
Keep out of this.”

“My lord-” Toby seconded her sentiments.

“Hand over the money, Lydia!” Ethan didn’t
listen to either of them.

She ignored him and went back to pushing hay
off of the cart.

“Hey! Did you hear what I said?” Ethan
hobbled after her.

Moments later Connor and his men galloped out
of the forest, Roderick walking behind them. Ethan’s eyes flew wide
and he stumbled, Toby catching him.

“Clear off the carts!” Lydia ordered the men
as they rode near, hollering as they dismounted.

“What are you doing?” Ethan shouted.

“Roderick, get the harnesses. We need to get
these carts moving as fast as possible.”

“You!” Roderick shouted at one of Connor’s
men. “Where did you put the harnesses?”

“I got ’em.” The man waved Roderick off and
gestured to one of his friends, heading for the huts.

“I asked you what you were doing!” Ethan
demanded through the sudden chaos.

No one had time to answer him. Lydia stepped
back and let the men continue the work of clearing the carts. As
the hay flew, four carts loaded with strongboxes and bundles,
barrels and sacks seemed to materialize in front of them. Ethan’s
blustering stopped when he noticed. He stepped back, Toby helping
him to get out of the way of the work.

“Where did all this come from?” he demanded,
turning to Roderick when Lydia continued to ignore him.

“What do you care?” Roderick sneered at
him.

Ethan blinked in shock. “If this all came
from carriages passing through the forest then it belongs to me.
Hand it over and I’ll be sure everyone gets their fair share.”

Roderick shook his head and laughed. “Playing
the fearless leader now, are we?” he sneered. “Noticing the rest of
us now that we’ve got something you want? You should have made nice
to me when you had a chance, my lord. How much do we get to keep
anyhow?” He glanced away from Ethan to ask Lydia.

“You!” Connor’s booming shout split through
the buzz of activity. Lydia turned to see the hulking man charging
at Toby. “You cut me!”

Ethan’s man yelped and swung around, looking
for a place to hide.

Connor reached for his sword, advancing on
him like a wild boar. “I’ll skin you alive!”

“Ethan, help!” Toby quivered as Ethan
stumbled on his one good leg, looking for a way to protect the
man.

“I’ll kill you!” Connor looked like he was
considering cutting through Ethan to get to his man.

“Connor, put that away,” Lydia sighed. “We
don’t have time for games. Get to work on the carriages!”

To her satisfaction, Connor cowered under her
order. Ethan and Toby stumbled back. Connor growled at them as they
went. “I’m not through with you!” he shouted at Toby then nodded to
Lydia and rushed to help with the treasure.

“What an idiot,” Lydia smirked to Roderick,
lumping all of the men into one.

The men worked fast, clearing the carts and
hitching their horses to them. As soon as the first cart was
completely clear Lydia picked her way through scattered hay to it,
reaching for a strongbox and opening it. She scooped out handfuls
of coins to give to the men.

“Here you go, boys.” She distributed coins
like the king on tour. “The second installment of your pay. One
more to go once we get to Kedleridge and you’ll all be set for
life.”

A cheerful cry rose up from the men. They
came to claim their coins then rushed to finish hitching the carts.
By the time Lydia was seated with Roderick at the head of a small
caravan starting down the road she had lost track of Ethan. He and
his man had disappeared. She shrugged and snapped the reins on her
team of horses’ backs. Everything she’d ever wanted, title, riches,
and Simon, were just there, within her grasp.