A Murderous Masquerade (10 page)

He leaned out of the window again and assessed the risk. The ivy was only split, not broken. It would probably hold his weight and he was only one floor up anyway. He stared across the wide, cobbled yard and then directly below him. There wasn’t much to break a fall if the vine gave way, just a couple of what looked like rosemary bushes. He lifted his head to look further across the yard. His room faced the rear of the house but the view was still very pleasant. Any out buildings or workshops were set well back from the castle. He could see the stables even further apart, at the other side of a wide drive and for a moment he wondered if he could extricate his own animal without disturbing any of the others stabled within. He could see the flickering of lanterns about the place. Several shadowed forms, probably the coachmen of the gathered guests, could be seen and he decided that it would probably be impossible. Even if he did manage to bypass the servants, the cobbled courtyard would echo with the sound of hooves and give him away if he left when everyone had settled down for the night.

He sniffed and cursed as another delicious scent wafted on the summer breeze and set his stomach rumbling. The kitchen was clearly somewhere below his window. Tantalizing scents clawed at his belly. The afternoon at the local inn had been a strenuous one and he’d not eaten anything substantial since. The pork pies, duck legs and poached salmon tartlets he had consumed from the buffet had hardly slaked his hunger and now, what with the roast beef sitting nearby and the delights being served from the kitchen, his insides needed filling.

He closed the window and turned back to the room. The curtains around the bed moved in the breeze and he watched the fringes flutter. The rich burgundy coverlet of his bed had been turned down, but he had no inclination to go to sleep only to be woken before dawn and chucked out on his ear. It was beyond humiliating.

His stomach rumbled even louder as his eye caught the plate of prize beef again and his mouth watered. One morsel wouldn’t hurt. He could make his protest by leaving the pickles. He grabbed hold of the knife and fork and set about cutting a generous mouthful of the still warm meat, but his fork skidded on the delicate, bone china plate and it snapped in two under the pressure. One side of the broken plate and a slice of the beef flipped up into the air and, to Edward’s horror, slapped down onto the pristine white, downturned sheet of his bed.

He snatched it up quickly but the damage was already done. A great smear of red had already soaked into the linen. He placed his head in his hands.

“Can this get any worse!” he exclaimed to no one. He looked down at the bloody spatter and rolled his eyes as embarrassment engulfed him. It was bad enough that he been caught attempting to carry off an innocent, but now it looked as though he’d either deflowered a hundred virgins or someone had been massacred in his bed. He snorted. Pity it wasn’t Denvers. The man wouldn’t be missed.

He was about to go to his jug of water on the dresser to see if he could repair the damage to the bed-linen and his reputation, when his hand stopped mid motion. The breeze that had blown the bed curtains now wafted over his hand. He turned back to the window. It remained closed. He narrowed his eyes and peered at the dresser. The bell rope beside it swayed gently.

He shook his head, picked up the jug and turned back to the bloody mark on the bed. He stopped again and stared at it long and hard before he put the jug back down, picked up the remaining slice of rare beef and threw it on the bed alongside the mark of the first. This time he didn’t try to remove it. He stared at it as the blood in the meat leached into the white sheet, spreading much further than he had thought would be possible.

He looked at the broken plate. A small puddle of deep red liquid had pooled around the dip at the edge of each half. He picked them both up carefully and dripped the beef juice onto the already ruined bedding. He stared at his handiwork before he picked up the original slice of meat and squeezed it between his fingers. More drops of blood dripped. He grinned as he flung it gently up and down the bed, spreading the mark and making it look even more gruesome.

He wrapped the beef slices in the bread and stuffed it into his coat pockets before he wiped his bloody hands down the front of his shirt. He removed his coat, tore the shirt from his own shoulders and the flung it on the floor by his bed. He quickly dipped his bloody fingers in the water jug and dried them on the bed curtain before he grabbed a clean shirt from a drawer and kicked his boots off before making for the window.

It took only a few moments for him to climb outside. He rested his weight on the thickest parts of the plant and began to scale down the ivy in his stockinged feet.

Giles twisted the heart-shaped motif on his mantelpiece and stepped through into the darkened passageway. His candle guttered and he held his hand around it, making sure that the flame stayed true. He closed the mechanism behind him and hastened to the secret room.

Anne had clearly just arrived. Her hair was unpinned and her night-rail clung to her perspiration dampened body. She wasted no time and immediately fell into her lover’s arms. Giles’ lips found hers and his tongue plundered her mouth. Within moments they were both naked, Giles kneeling between her spread legs.

“I love you, Anne.” he whispered as he parted her passion swollen nether lips and guided himself deep inside.

Anne’s body arched from the bed. She bit his muscular shoulder and stifled her scream of delight as his heated body filled her. Her fingernails caught the skin of his back and he let out a deep groan of desire.

“Dear God, woman. You are going to unman me!” he gritted his teeth and refused to move as he attempted to bring his raging libido back under control.

“I don’t care, I don’t want you to hold back. Do you have any idea of how long I have waited for you, for this?”

Giles’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as he drew out of her searing heat and then plunged back in.

“Yes, I know exactly how long. I have barely kept myself from taking you every time I was in your company. You have driven me nearly insane with want. It has been as much as I could do to not rip your clothes from your body and take you on your own parlour floor.”

Anne writhed beneath him as the sweat poured from his brow.

“You should have done it. You could have taken me any time of your choosing. Any place you desired. I wanted you from the moment I set eyes on you. I would have done anything to have been yours.” She panted as he withdrew slowly and then pressed home again.

“Now you tell me! Now, when I have had to walk around for months, with damned near blue balls for need of release. Nearly two years I have been loyal to you, constant and steadfast.” He withdrew again, this time even more tortuously.

Anne suddenly drove up from the bed, caught his shoulders and shoved him to one side. Instantly she was on top of him, sliding down his length and immediately finding a rhythm she could enjoy.

“Have you any idea how frustrating life has been for me. I have Lily showing me those damned books from Alexander’s father’s private collection every five minutes, so that I am supposed to know what I am doing now that I have you at last. She told me that it took her and Alexander a whole week to go through the first book. I’m hoping that we can get onto book two by Wednesday!”

Giles laughed as he lay beneath his perfect woman. He reached up to fondle her delectable breasts and swirled his fingertips over the already rigid peaks.

“All in good time, my love. We have a lifetime to experiment. You have made me the happiest man alive this day. Tonight I just want to hold you and make love you. You became my wife today, in spirit if not in law, but I am keen to change that state of affairs soon.” He groaned deeply as she settled over him and kissed his throat.

“As am I. My father won’t object now that a duke has made the announcement. It was a very clever thing that you did. I hadn’t thought of Alexander as being my next of kin but because Phillip had died, I could choose either my father or Alex.”

Giles closed his eyes as she moved over him slowly, the sensation of pleasure rolling over his whole body in fluid waves of passion. His breath came in staggering gasps.

“Me neither,” he managed as he took hold of her hips and rolled her back down on the bed. He gazed into her emerald eyes, “but enough talk and enough torturing me, woman. Only open your mouth again if you want to scream out my name!” He smiled lovingly as he buried his head in her swan like neck and began to thrust in earnest.

Chapter Six

“Where is my son!” the Earl of Lavenham thundered into the breakfast room and bellowed over the heads of Alexander’s guests, who all stopped eating and turned to stare at him.

Alexander immediately rose from the table and strode towards the outraged father.

“Your Lordship, if you would come to my study, all will be explained.” He guided the furious man towards the hallway.

At that moment a windswept Giles walked in through the front door and handed his riding coat to Grady. He’d had a fabulous gallop on Pegasus after spending the rest of the night with Anne. His body felt invigorated, his mind captivated as he thought of her heavy eyelids after their last bout of lovemaking. He had left her as dawn broke the horizon and took his horse for a good gallop across the fields. 

Now he looked curiously at Alexander who raised his eyebrows and indicated that he might need some help. Giles nodded and followed Alexander into his study. He shut the door behind him as Lavenham began bellowing again.

“I’ve searched his room and the grounds. The sheets and his shirt are stained with blood. His horse is still in the stables with that giant of a stable hand you employ. He told me that Rookwood and Latham left early but that he hadn’t seen my son. Edward is gone and his room is covered in blood.” He looked up at Giles and almost sneered. “I heard you threaten him and his friends last night. What did you do with him?”

Alexander stood with his back to the fireplace as he indicated to Giles that he would handle this.

“Your son and his cronies attacked a young woman here last night. I felt it my prerogative to remove the disgusting men from my home. I secured them in their rooms for the night so that I could personally escort them from the premises when my other guests had retired, however, when I returned for them this morning it appeared that your son had taken it on his head to climb out of the bedroom window. Where he has gone from there, I have no idea. Rookwood and Latham were released by my steward at about four this morning and escorted from Ormond with instructions never to return.”

Lavenham’s eyebrows twitched.

“My son, attack a woman! Never!”

Alexander shrugged.

“Whether you believe me or not is not in question. I know what I saw and I am convinced of what happened. Fortunately the lady was able to defend herself against their unwanted affections.”

Giles frowned deeply as he listened to his friend’s glossed over account of the previous evening’s events. Something of what Lavenham said niggled at him.

“What blood on what sheets?” His mind immediately went to the sheets he had left with Anne in the secret room and his heart began to thud painfully. If young Ellesworth had somehow got hold of them he could ruin Anne’s reputation easily. He might even attempt to marry her off to one of his cronies just to keep the scandal private.

Ellesworth waved his hand.

“I wanted to go for an early morning ride with my son. I went to his chambers but it was still dark in his room. I threw back the curtains at the window before I pulled back the covers of his bed, thinking that he was merely deeply asleep. Imagine my shock at discovering the scene! It looks as though someone was massacred in the bed. The front of his shirt bears evidence of the crime as well. I demand that you call the magistrate.”

Giles breathed again. The sheets cannot have been the same. There were only a few tell-tale smears on the ones that he and Anne had used.

Alexander’s eyes narrowed.

“When I went to collect him and sling him out at dawn, I confess that I didn’t strip the bed back. The lamplight showed that there was no one lying there. I immediately checked the window as it was his only other means of escape. It was only closed, not locked and the ivy on the wall had been damaged. I felt it safe to assume that he had decided not to wait for me to dismiss him from my sight.”

Lavenham snorted.

“You dismiss him for what? A tumble with a willing wench? You must be mad. If all noblemen did that they would never have any guests at all.”

Giles looked as though he was about to explode.

“That was my cousin and ward who you are talking about and she was most certainly not a willing participant to your son’s vile games. Fortunately she is not as defenceless as she first appears. She fought for her honour and won, but that didn’t stop your son or his odious friends attempting to ruin a lady. I would have run them through without compunction if Alexander hadn’t stopped me.” He stared down at Anne’s father.

The Earl leapt forwards.

“So you admit that you have murdered my son!”

Giles laughed.

“I wouldn’t soil my rapier with his filthy blood. He has clearly run off so as not to face his shame.”

Lavenham’s face turned a dark shade of puce.

“I hope you can prove your where-a-bouts from the end of the ball until this morning. I came to speak to you about your disgraceful betrothal to my daughter after the ball had ended. You didn’t answer my knock on your door. Fortunately you had forgotten to lock it. I took a look inside. Your bed wasn’t being slept in. I checked back twice more throughout the night. You didn’t sleep in your room at all.” He spat out the accusation.

Giles was about to laugh again but he suddenly thought of Anne. There was no way that he could admit to being with her until just before dawn. She would be ruined if she was to be discovered sleeping with him, even if they were betrothed.

“I don’t have to explain anything to you. My where-a-bouts last night and this morning is none of your concern.”

Lavenham took another step forwards.

“Don’t for one moment think that your sudden rise to nobility will excuse any of your actions. If you will not give your explanation to me, you can give it to the magistrate. We’ll let him see what he makes of it all. Just be aware that I have a witness to you threatening my son and Lords Rookwood and Latham.”

Giles felt his stomach curl. He glanced at Alexander whose expression was dark.

“No one will question my word, Lavenham. I can vouch for Caithwell just as vociferously as you can for your son and his friends. I will have to explain why they were being escorted from my estate, of course.”

The Earl raged.

“You wouldn’t dare! But however you attempt to impugn my son, none of it will matter if he remains missing for much longer. It is clear that something went on in his room, something deadly and as he’s not here to defend himself then it lies with his father to do it for him.”

Alexander sighed deeply, though his curiosity was piqued. He couldn’t imagine how the bed had become covered with blood.

“Of course we must investigate his disappearance fully. I only wish that I had checked the bed myself this morning but Geoffrey had stated that no one had either come or gone from the room save Grady who left young Ellesworth a plate of refreshments just before midnight. He must have been in the room for sometime after then because the plate of food had clearly been partially devoured. I assumed the crockery had been broken in a fit of temper before he left. I suggest that we all go and look at the evidence together and then we can see what is to be done.”

They made a grim looking procession as they climbed the stone staircase to the upper floor. Giles marched along a pace behind them desperately trying to think of any excuse as to why he wasn’t in his room for the night that would keep Anne’s reputation intact while freeing him from suspicion.

They reached Edward’s door at last and Alexander threw it open. Light poured in and Giles’ mouth fell open at the sight of the horror that drenched the bed sheets.

“Good Lord! What happened here?” He swept his hand across his brow which was suddenly covered in perspiration.

Lavenham glared up at him.

“That’s the question I would like you to answer. It appears that my son was murdered in his bed.”

Alexander dismissed the accusation with a wave of his hand.

“But Geoffrey states that no one except Grady came to the room. You can’t possibly think that my seventy year old butler had anything to do with this.” He strode to the window, opened it wide and looked down.

Lavenham peered at the crushed ivy with him.

“It looks as though someone climbed up from outside.” He pointed behind him towards Giles. “He wasn’t in his room and he has no explanation for his disappearance. It was him that came in through the window and killed my son. The blood is there to prove it!”

Alexander pushed back from the window and stared down at the Earl.

“Don’t be ridiculous. There is no body to prove your accusation and until we can find one I suggest you keep your mouth shut. Your son is probably lying in the arms of the local light-skirt down at the Bear and Dragon.”

Giles was about to agree, while hoping to God that the little idiot was somewhere so obvious, when there was a scream from downstairs. Voices could be heard coming closer while a multitude of footsteps clattered on the stairs.

There was a sudden pounding on the door and less than a second later it flew inwards. Lady Anne rushed in and ran to Giles’ side. She clung to his arm as a dishevelled and very smelly Lord Rookwood fell through the door. He pointed his finger towards Giles.

“It was him! He did it!” The man shouted without preamble. He gave a gut wrenching sob before he carried on. “Latham and I were too late to save our friend!” He punctuated his words with stabs of his finger towards Giles.

Alexander caught hold of the man as he flailed about.

“What are you talking about? Are you drunk?”

Rookwood shook his head.

“After we were thrown...er, left the ball, we went straight to the inn thinking to meet Edward. On our way we saw Denvers riding back from the farm on the outskirts of Oakley. We didn’t think anything of it until we couldn’t rouse Edward from his bed at the inn. It was only when we had woken Mary that we discovered that he hadn’t even been there. Latham and I were returning here to find out what had happened to him when the farmer came running out of his gate and flagged us down. He was in a terrible state. He’d gone to check on his prize sow and the rest of his herd at dawn, but when he arrived at the sty they were in some sort of frenzy, scrabbling at the ground and digging with their trotters...” He gulped audibly. “It only took one look to discover the reason for their strange behaviour. There was just his trampled coat and a few bones left.” He paused dramatically. “Edward’s body has been eaten by the pigs!” There was a collective gasp from those gathered in the doorway.

Giles grabbed hold of Anne as she slithered into a dead faint while Rookwood nodded enthusiastically at their spectators combined horror. “It took us nearly half an hour to get the beasts off what was left of him. The farmer is guarding the remains now.”

There was a strangled cry from the Earl of Lavenham and everyone turned their attention towards him. The man was trembling all over. He didn’t speak for a moment as he pointed accusatory fingers at both Giles and the bloody bed.

“Murderer!” He managed to shout when his voice returned.

Everyone stared at the reddish brown patch that stained the sheets before they all lifted their heads to gaze at Giles.

Alexander moved to his friend’s side as he glared at Lavenham.

“Don’t be ridiculous, man. Lord Caithwell has nothing to do with this. We don’t even know what is in the farmer’s pig pen. We can’t accuse anyone of a crime until we know one has been committed.” His voice echoed about the room.

Giles barely heard a word as Anne’s eyelids fluttered open again and she managed to hold herself upright, but Lavenham began ranting and pointing again.

“Caithwell wasn’t in his room last night and I have a witness of his threats to my son. There’s blood on these sheets and my Edward is nowhere to be found. I demand answers. I demand an investigation to be conducted and for this man to be arrested.”

Anne steadied herself against Giles’ arm.

“Father, stop. You cannot accuse Giles. He was wi...”

“There is no mystery to my where-a-bouts.” Giles interrupted quickly as he gave Anne a hard stare. “I was too fired up to sleep after the announcement of my betrothal to Lady Anne. I went for an early morning ride.”

Alexander’s eyes questioned his friend and Giles gave a few quick hand signs. Alexander answered him in kind and Giles felt Anne stiffen in his arms as Alexander began pushing people from the room.

“Everyone, please go back to your breakfasts. We have much to investigate but I can do nothing with everyone crowding in here and possibly contaminating the evidence.” There was a general buzz of voices as his guests curbed their curiosity and began heading back downstairs with Lily. 

“No.” Anne breathed quietly into Giles’ ear. “You cannot do this, my love. I am quite prepared for talk but I am a widowed woman. It’s not quite the same as if I were a maiden.”

Giles shook his head as his thoughts wandered to the previous day. She had been a maiden.

“Your reputation is important to me. You are too special to sully with any confessions of that sort.”

Anne shook her head angrily.

“We did nothing wrong. We love one another and will soon be man and wife. A few days anticipation of the event will be overlooked.”