Debra Kay Leland (32 page)

She made no move to join him as he settled down at the table and looked at her curiously from across the room.

“I take it ye are staying for my meal.”

“I am.  I thought ye might enjoy the company.”

She blushed and moved towards the empty seat, trying very hard not to look at his soft smiling face.

“I thought women who were with child were always hungry.”

She didn’t look up as she answered coolly.  “I am.”

He laughed softly, and then leaned forward and plucked the bit of the meat from the tray put it in his mouth before he leaned back with a smile.

She didn’t know how to respond to his teasing and merely frowned.

“No smiles?  It occurred to me, that ye have done little smiling of late.”

“I shall smile when I have something to smile about.”

“Ah, but not really smile, not one of those smile
s that makes a man grow weak.”

She frowned at his words and took bit of meat.  “I have n
aught to smile about of late.”

He leaned forward and helped himself to another morsel of her food.  “’Tis true, but soon things shall be well, I’m sure of it.”

“Ye have heard something then?”

“Aye, we have things we are looking into.”

“Things?  And my brother?!”

“…Has not yet been located.”

She couldn’t help but feel relief at his words.  “Garrick—why must I be kept here like this?”

He eyed her curiously.  “Why do ye ask?  So, ye could go and find thy brother on thy own without my knowledge?  Oh, and I know ye would too, despite
the fact that ye are with child.”

She
flushed at his knowing words.

“Ah see, I guessed it, haven’t I?  Ye
are not a good liar, Miranda.”

She frowned and took a bite of bread trying
her best to ignore him again.

“
’Tis safer for thee and William’s child to be here, though it may not suit thy tastes.”

“For how much longer?”

He leaned back at the abruptness of her words.  “I had hoped it would not take long to put an end to this business.”

“I am nigh nine months and I do not wish to spend the
rest of my time locked away.”

He smiled. “So I noticed.”

She blushed again, annoyed at his handsome smile.  “As for that, Lord Farrington, ye would do well not to be so… so—”

“Yes, go on.  Do ye mean ‘familiar’?”

She flushed again at his words. 
“So, ‘informal’ with me!”

He laughed again and picked up a piece of meat popping it in his mouth as he smiled at her.  “Actually, m’lady, I liked ‘
familiar’
much better.  I believe it suits.”

She leaned back in her chair and stared at him. 
“Ye are teasing me?”

He smiled even more.  “Aye, I am.”

She drew a long breath and folded her hands in front of herself.  “Lord Farrington—”

“Garrick.”

“Lord Farrington…”
  She lowered her gaze trying hard to set things right with him as she had decided, but even now it was not going as she had planned. 
“…Ye are not to be such with me again.”

He smiled and leaned back in his chair folding his strong arms comfortably over his broad chest.  “I think that is quite impossible; for ye see, who shall share in the wonder of thy child within thee?  Who shall listen when ye need to talk?  No one…”

She could not meet his gaze as he slowly stood and drew her to her feet, his hands settling softly on top of her child.  She closed her eyes against his words and his hands, and yet something within her wanted to be held, and cared for, something needed to feel secure again...

“…No one shall be there to share this with thee… save me...”  He slid his hands slowly around the sides of her rounded belly watching her catch her breath, feeling the child move against his lingering caress as he tried to memorize the feel of it, as if he would never feel such wonder again in his life.  He smiled, warmed by the feel of the life beneath his hands, then leaned forward and
brushed his lips against her.

He felt her stiffen, heard her whisper.
  “Nay.”

He smiled gently.  “A
s ye wish, m’lady, as ye wish…”

She opened her eyes and looked at
him as though she were lost.

He stepped back before he headed to the door, then he turned and looked at her once more, his voice soft and low, hoping that she would realize she missed his presence when he was gone.  “Goodnight, my lady.”

She stared after him as he left her, her heart heavy and confused, but she said not a word...

It was two days later when Miranda looked up at the sudden sound of the keys in the door, it was late and her maid had already laid down.  She had just enough time to don her robe when the door opened and the guard said sternly. 
“Ye are to come now!”

Without a word she took her maids hand and went to the door wondering at the order.  She glanced at him warily as they took the stairs
, but yet he remained silent wondering why Garrick or one of the other men had not come to get her!

He motioned her towards the stairs at the end of the long dark corridor
.  “Down there.”

She stopped
.  “But why?!  Where are ye taking me?!”

He was stiff as he answered her. 
“I was only told to bring thee, nothing more!”

She gripped her maids hand even tighter knowing the woman didn’t want to be here with her in the first place, but she refused to go alone.  He motioned again, and she slowly took the steps downward glancing behind her as she went.  Her maid whispered more to herself than to Miranda as she pulled back,
“The dungeons…”

She glanced at her, and at the guard who followed them down the narrow staircase motioning for her to continue despite the wild beating of her heart as she somehow took step after step.  She was not sure what she had done or who had ordered her here, but she knew she was trapped and prayed that somehow Garrick would find her!

When she got to the bottom she saw a group of men standing around the hearth, torches blazed here and there, a horrible foul smell assaulted her senses and she stepped back feeling faint as she stared at them.  Then she saw him standing with his men and she stepped back again, holding onto her old maids arm tightly not sure if he meant to harm her or not! 
“Garrick…?”

Garrick turned and stood watching her for a long moment before he walked towards her slowly, his face hard and cold, not at all like it had been just two night before.  “
Miranda, we have thy brother.”

She gasped, hardly able to speak.  “…
Turin?” 
She broke away from them without waiting for his reply and pushed her way through the barrier of men till she saw him there, chained to the wall, his thin frame breathing hard from the beatings he’d endured.  She dropped by his side and held his bloodied face in her trembling hands as she whispered to him gently.  “…
Turin?  Oh Turin, why are ye here
?”

Somehow, he managed a weary smile at her soft voice then murmured a reply for her alone to hear.  “
I—I came to get ye, lass
.”

She felt the sob she’d been holding back overtake her as she kissed his dirty cheek and pressed her forehead against his lovingly.  “
Oh Turin, ‘tis all my fault…”

“They—they only roughed me up a bit.”

She looked up at the men around her. 
“He is but a boy!”

“Aye, a
boy that fights like a wild cat!  He bit me, he did!”

She gathered him in her arms and hugged him closer.  He stiffened and moaned at her touch and she released him gently.  “
Turin?”

“He has cracked ribs, m’lady.”
  She looked up into Garrick’s stern eyes as he came to stand before them.

“Yur men did this to him?!”

“He is lucky they did not crack his skull.  As it is, they took the greatest amount of care to get him here in one piece.”

She frowned at his words then turned back to her brother speaking softly in Gaelic, hoping the men around her would not know what they said.  She asked him if her father was with him and he told her it was Egan and his father who had brought him to find her and bring her back, and she stiffened at his words. 
“Ye do not belong here, lass.”

Miranda glanced around her at the men who watched her cautiously.  “
Did ye try to kill the Earl, Turin?”

“
Nay, we only came to take ye back with us, and away from these English dogs!”

“But t
ruly, someone tried to kill the Earl…
”

“
All the better reason for ye to leave.  I shall help thee, Miranda.  We can take ye from here if ye only can find a way out of the castle and go towards the north, there is a stream that runs there and a small bridge, we shall find ye there, I promise thee!”

She shook her head slowly as she closed her eyes.  “’
Tis impossible.  And even if I could, I am heavy with child, the journey would be difficult
.”

“
We would help thee!  This is no place for thee, ye are Welsh, and ye don’t belong with the likes of these!”

She closed her eyes as tears streamed down her pale cheeks and she kissed him.  “
I—I don’t know if I can, not the way things are now.  They are suspicious of everyone, even me.  And they don’t leave me from their sight
.”

“
Ye are smart, lass, ye shall find a way.  And when ye do, we shall be waiting for ye
.”

Garrick grabbed her arm and drew her away. 
“Enough whispering!  Take him to the dungeon.”

“The dungeon?  Nay, Garrick!  He’s but a boy!  Ye cannot do this!”

He held her back when she would have gone after the boy who was hauled to his feet and dragged roughly down the dim corridor.

“Garrick, I asked him if he shot the arrow that hit the Earl, he told me he did not!  He swore it to me!”

“That remains to be seen.  Now, calm thyself, my lady.”  She struggled against him until he encircled her in his arm and forced her to stand against his tall frame that felt more like a cold stone wall against her back this time, her breath heaving in and out of her lungs as she looked at her brother’s fearful eyes.

He murmured in her ear.  “The truth shall be had; if the boy is innocent he shall be released…”

“He shall be tortured!  I—I hate ye!  Do ye hear me!  I hate ye
!”

He turned her in his arm and glared down at her, holding her thin arms in his strong hands.  “Careful what ye say, m’lady, I am the only cool head here this night and the only thing that stands between thy brother’s release and his death.”

She stepped back away from him, but he didn’t let her go.  She dropped her head, not wanting him to see the hatred or the fear in her eyes; but he took her chin and lifted her face to his anyway
. 
“I told ye before, ye are an awful liar.  Hiding thy head doesn’t hide the look in thy eyes!”

She pulled away again and refused to look at him, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the steps.

“
Nay, please let me stay here with him!  Please!” 
She pulled away again but he caught her wrists and dragged her easily along with him again, then scooped her up in his arms and took the stairs to the corridor above; her arms pinned at her sides—and yet she struggled breathlessly.

“Have a care for thy child!”

At his words, she ceased with a great sob and glared at him with teary eyes.  “
I—I swear if ye kill him—”

“Ye would do well to plead his case and not to threaten me!  I heard ye
whispering as ye held him, Miranda, what were ye saying?”

“If ye heard, then why don’t ye tell me?!”

“Ye know well ye did not speak the King’s English!  Do not be a fool, Miranda.  I told ye before, ye would do well to plead his case and not waste time arguing with me this night!”

She closed her angry eyes as she considered his words, knowing he was right.  Knowing he was the only thing that prevented the guards from killing her brother.  “…
He—he told me that they didn’t shoot the Earl, he swore they didn’t!”

“Who
are
‘they’
?”

“Two men from our village.”

“Who?”

“…Egan Wallace and his father.”

“That is the man who ye told me of?!”

She closed her eyes again. 
“Aye, but he said that they are innocent!”

“Then why are they here?”

She shook her head, knowing she couldn’t tell him.

“Miranda?”