The Loyal Heart (10 page)

“Where’s Jack?” Ethan jogged the last few feet of muddy road.

Aubrey nodded towards the carriage. The young man with Ethan and Tom was dressed in nothing but a tattered shirt and chausses, no shoes on his feet. He was hardly more than a boy but tough with stringy hair and beady eyes. He wore a bitter scowl for the rain and tried to shake out of Tom’s grip when they came to a stop. The spite he shot Aubrey made her stomach knot. He didn’t look like an innocent man.

“What’ve you got here?” Jack asked as he hopped out of the carriage and strolled over to the others.

“Prisoner,” Tom answered him.

“We got two nuns and a merchant,” Jack replied. “A very generous merchant at that!” He held up two hands full of rings with a grin.

“Jack,” Ethan scolded.

“Oy, mate, he gave ‘em to me.”

Ethan was ready to reply but the prisoner started struggling again. Tom twisted the young man’s tied arms behind his back. He shouted a curse before he stopped struggling.

“We need to move,” Ethan told them. “One of the guards got away. And there’s no telling how long the others will be out.” Aubrey motioned to the nuns and mimed tying. “Right. Jack find something to tie those nuns up with. Put them back in the carriage.”

Jack turned to do as Ethan said, Aubrey following, but as they reached the nuns again the serene one said, “You will not touch us,” as calmly as if they were at dinner. Jack and Aubrey stopped and exchanged glances. The serene nun looked first to Jack and then to Aubrey. “You will take us with you.”

Jack laughed. “Well that’s a first.”

Frustrated beyond words, even if she could have used them, Aubrey turned to Ethan and gestured to the nuns. “Look we don’t have time to argue.” He shook his head as he approached.

“Precisely,” the serene nun answered with a nod. “You do not have time.” She stared at Ethan for a brief moment then took the hand of the younger nun and bolted with her into the forest.

Aubrey growled and ran after them. She was surprised at how quick they were. Maybe the older had been feigning her injury. Aubrey dodged in and out of the undergrowth for several long, wasted minutes, feeling like she was just a few feet behind them the whole time. When she finally did catch up she grabbed hold of their soaking wet garments to drag them to a stop. She held them where they were, all three of them panting. The serene nun was grimacing again. The younger one wore a look of misery and cried as she caught her breath in gulps. She wiped her face with the corner of her wet wimple, pulling it askew to reveal the smallest patch of strawberry blonde hair.

Aubrey’s eyes widened with recognition. “Madeline?” The younger nun stopped crying with a hiccup. Aubrey let go of them and reached up to pull the scarf from her face, throw her hood back, and peel her mask off.

The young nun’s mouth dropped open in shock and then broke into a huge grin. “Aubrey!” For a moment they stood there staring at each other. Then they launched into each other’s arms and embraced like sisters.

When Ethan and the others caught up they were treated to the uncanny sight of Aubrey and the young nun holding each other’s arms and chattering like two magpies on a fence.

“That is not what I expected,” Jack spoke all of their thoughts aloud.

“Something you’d like to tell me?” Ethan arched an eyebrow at Aubrey.

“Ethan, it’s Madeline of Matlock! You know, Edward’s youngest sister.”

Ethan squinted at the beaming young nun. “But you’re ten years old.”

She laughed. “Ten years ago.”

“Madeline was sent to the Abbey of St. Mary in Coventry,” Aubrey reminded him. “I was so angry with your father for sending my best friend away.”

“Madeline of Matlock.” Ethan shook his head.

“It’s Sister Mary Peter now.” She nodded to Ethan in an imitation of the serene sister.

“Uh, good to see you again.”

“I’m Jack.” Jack elbowed his way past Ethan and Tom. He reached for Madeline’s hand and brought it to his lips with a wink. “And it is more than a pleasure to meet you.”

Madeline squeaked and her face went bright pink, her green eyes round.

“Jack loves nuns,” Aubrey explained, unable to keep a straight face.

Ethan cleared his throat. “We need to get out of here.”

“Fine.” Aubrey agreed. Jack let Madeline’s hand go, his eyes twinkling. Aubrey turned to her friend who was staring hard at the soaked ground in front of her, face violent pink. “Can you run?”

“I … I think so,” Madeline stammered and turned to the serene nun. “Sister Bernadette?”

“Oh, I can run, child.”

“Good,” Ethan nodded. “Let’s go!”

Geoffrey expected his sister and friends to return with one bedraggled accused murderer, grateful to have been rescued. When they arrived dripping wet escorting one glowering criminal and two nuns that looked more like drowned cats he could do nothing but glare at Aubrey as she slopped her heavy cloak onto the floor next to the door.

“We ran into a few hitches,” she explained, not meeting his eyes.

“Hitches,” Geoffrey repeated, adjusting his weight on his crutches.

“Yeah.”

Aubrey put her arm around the younger nun’s waist as if they were old chums and ushered both nuns to the fire, leaving a damp trail in their wake. Jack pushed his way through the open door, wide grin on his face, and followed the women to the fireplace. He shook rain out of his hair and onto Morley Hall’s good furniture. Geoffrey quirked an eyebrow at the casual way the upstart peasant leaned against his mantle and drummed up a conversation with the younger nun. Ethan and Tom remained outside in the driving rain holding the writhing prisoner between them. Geoffrey glanced up at the heaving sky then down to the slick stairs leading into the front yard.

“You know, he doesn’t exactly have the angelic pallor of an innocent man.”

“I’ll cut your bleedin’ heart out!” the boy hollered and strained against his captors.

“You noticed.” Ethan wrenched the young man’s arm to keep him at bay.

The scrambling clop of footsteps running up the hall from the servant’s quarters preceded the wide-eyed form of Toby. He skittered to Geoffrey’s side, nearly knocking him flat. “My lord! Thank God you’ve made it back in one piece and – what in blazes?” Toby’s mouth hung open as the prisoner flailed and tried to bite Ethan. When his attempt failed he stomped on Tom’s foot instead. Both men grunted with the effort of restraining him.

“Mind if we use your barn to, uh, secure him?” Ethan growled.

“Be my guest,” Geoffrey scowled. He hobbled back to the warm, dry room as Ethan and Tom dragged the man across the yard to the storage barn.

Toby gaped at the scene before shutting the door in Geoffrey’s wake and following him into the main room. “That … that man is a murderer!”

“A hitch?” Geoffrey reached for the main hall’s long table to steady himself as he rounded on his sister.

Aubrey was reluctant to meet his eyes. “Okay, so he might be an actual murderer. We can always take him to Derby Castle in the morning.”

“With a sweet explanation of how it is that you, Lady Aubrey of Morley, just so happen to have an escaped murderer in your possession?”

Aubrey opened her mouth to reply but snapped it shut and turned to the fire. Thick silence fell over the room. Even Jack kept his grinning mouth shut as he shot a glance from Aubrey to her brother and rested his dancing eyes on the young nun.

“I didn’t think I would ever feel my toes again,” the young nun sighed. She had pulled off her soaked wimple and was shaking her short-cropped hair to dry. “It feels so good! I don’t think I’ve been warm for years, except for when I’ve been too hot!”

“Sister Mary Peter.” The older nun sent her warning look.

“Forgive me, Sister.” She lowered her eyes. “I did not mean to complain.”

Recognition hit Geoffrey. “Madeline Matlock?” Madeline glanced up to smile at him, mouth open to speak, but he spun on his sister before she could say hello. “Anything else happen out there that I should know about?”

Aubrey bit her lip and sheepishly met her brothers eyes. “Other than the guards who saw us and got away? Or would you be referring to the driver who recognized the Bandit or the merchant whose rings are in Jack’s pocket.”

“Oy! He gave me them rings!” Jack straightened from his perch by the fire.

Geoffrey held up his hand to make them stop and hobbled to the far end of the table. “Henry!” he shouted for his steward. “Bring some dry blankets and some food for our guests!”

“I’ll take care of that.” Toby followed Geoffrey’s command down the hall to the servant’s quarters.

Throughout the bustle that followed Geoffrey never took his eyes off of his sister. Morley’s servants brought out clean, dry blankets and took away soaked cloaks and tunics. He and Jack were shooed off while the women peeled themselves out of their wet clothes and dressed in Aubrey’s frocks, which looked more like tents on the two petite nuns. Trenchers of food and a pitcher of wine were brought in from the kitchen and by the time the chaos of the arrival began to subside as everyone was seated at the table it almost felt like Geoffrey and Aubrey were hosting a party. Still Geoffrey glared at his sister while she tried to bat her eyelashes at him. Murderers and nuns. He shook his head.

“Ethan!” Aubrey’s face brightened when Ethan burst through the front door soaking wet and scowling. “You’re just in time. Sit down and have some roast.”

“We can’t stay,” Ethan told them, striding to the table and trying to pluck Jack out of his chair.

“Oy!” Jack protested while Aubrey blurted, “You can’t leave without eating.” Ethan let go of Jack as Aubrey went on. “When was the last time you had a decent meal anyhow. You’re starting to look straggly.”

“We can’t risk being caught here.”

“Don’t be silly.” Geoffrey narrowed his eyes at the panic in his sister as she rose and rushed to Ethan’s side. “It’s still pouring rain. No one is going to come looking for you in the pouring rain. Besides, they might not even know anything is wrong yet. So go back out there, get Tom, and come have something to eat! You can even bring the prisoner in here and tie him to the banister.”

“He’s gone.” The air left the room. “Escaped.”

Aubrey stared at him. “You let him escape?” The sweet, coaxing tone vanished from her voice.

“He overpowered us while I was tying his arms,” Ethan raised his voice in self-defense. “He may be young, but he’s slippery. He kicked Tom in the face and then bolted.” Jack jerked out of his chair. “Tom’s okay. He’s gone after the bastard,” Ethan calmed Jack, “but he’s not going to catch him.” He sighed, head dropped, and repeated, “We have to leave.”

“Fine.” Aubrey huffed, marching to her seat and plopping into it. “But I don’t think we have to worry about him marching into Derby and telling Buxton where you are. So why don’t you take your wet things off and sit down and
have something to eat
.”

The room bristled as Aubrey glared across the table at Ethan. Geoffrey clenched his jaw tighter. One minute his sister was fawning all over his friend and the next she wanted to strangle him. If she was any more in love he would have to join the crusade again just to have some peace.

“Ethan, sit down,” he ordered, pushing the chair next to him with his peg so that it scraped away from the table.

Ethan met Geoffrey’s hard stare with a moment of challenge, then sighed and took the offered seat. He picked up a fork from the place in front of him and skewered a cut of meat from the platter in the center of the table.

Jack resumed his seat and glanced across the table at Madeline. He studied her creamy skin peppered with tan freckles before saying, “You’re never a nun.”

“I beg your pardon?” Madeline colored.

“I mean, you don’t hit like a nun,” he went on, mouth half full of food. “I’ll have bruises on my back for weeks.”

“You had it coming.” Madeline narrowed her sparkling eyes at him from across the table.

Geoffrey raised his eyebrows and sat back in his chair. “Hitches?” He sent a wry grin to his sister.

Aubrey shrugged.

“Oy! You think you’d know better than to make a run for it when someone’s got the door blocked.” Jack was oblivious to anything but Madeline.

“Forgive me for believing that unarmed innocents would not be attacked on the road,” Madeline replied with mock offense. She missed the admonishing glance of Sister Bernadette.

“We were never attacking you.” Jack shook a slice of apple in her direction. “We were after the murderer bloke.”

“Lady Aubrey has informed us that you were attempting to rescue the man whom you believe to be held prisoner falsely,” Sister Bernadette interrupted before Madeline could say anything else. “See me later for penance,” she slipped to Madeline. “I find it strange that one set of miscreants would try to rescue another.”

“We didn’t think he was an actual criminal,” Aubrey defended their actions.

“And what made you think this?”

Aubrey didn’t know why she felt so guilty under the woman’s calm glance. “Well, Buxton’s done it before. Jack and his brother were condemned to hang for stealing horses.”