The Iron Knight (The De Russe Legacy Book 3) (28 page)

Du Ponte’s mouth flew open. “You
slander
me!” he hissed. “You are mad, de Russe,
mad!”

“Then deny it. To my face, deny it.”

“Of course I deny it!’ du Ponte was so agitated that he nearly spit in Lucien’s face as spittle flew from his lips. “Why would I do such a terrible thing?”

Oddly enough, the more agitated du Ponte became, the cooler Lucien became. “To collect the dowry,” he said simply. “You could tell Andover that his daughter was killed by outlaws and you would still be entitled to her money without the matrimonial entailments. There is simply no other explanation for the ambush because it is
you
who controls the outlaws in the woods west of Tisbury and everyone knows it. De Bretagne, have you heard such things about du Ponte?”

De Bretagne was looking at du Ponte, now coming to understand more to the story than what du Ponte had told him. Of course, what Lucien said made perfect sense. Du Ponte was rumored to control several bands of outlaws in the area but no one had been able to definitively pin it on him. Aye, what Lucien said made perfect sense, indeed.

“I have,” he said steadily. “It seems that whenever we find someone who is willing to testify against him, they mysteriously vanish. I wonder how many murders are on your conscience, du Ponte.”

Eyes wide, du Ponte’s entire body stiffened with fury. “That is outrageous!” he sputtered. “You have no basis to make such accusations!”

Lucien spoke without hesitation. “Untrue,” he said. “We have had witnesses attest to seeing your men mingled with the outlaws west of Tisbury and also with a gang that is based around Shaftesbury. But those witnesses have vanished. Based on this knowledge, I say that it is
you
who ambushed your own carriage. Moreover, if you think, for one moment, that I am going to return Lady de Gournay and her daughter to you, then you are a fool.”

Du Ponte was enraged. “Then you cannot prove anything!” he said. With jerky movements, he pulled forth a rolled piece of vellum, tied off with hemp. He was so angry that his hands were shaking as he pulled off the string and unrolled the vellum. “This is a missive from Lord Andover, Lady de Gournay’s father. He has offered the lady’s hand to me and I have accepted. If you refuse to give her to me, then you have abducted my property and I can have you charged with theft. This is a legally binding contract between me and Lady de Gournay’s father!”

So the contract had been brought into play, the crux of the conversation at this point. Lucien, however, was unmoved. Nothing in the world was going to coerce him into turning Sophina over to du Ponte.

“It could be a forgery,” he said evenly. “You could have written that yourself for all I know.”

If they didn’t think it was possible for du Ponte to grow any angrier, they were wrong. He slammed the missive onto the table. “You dare go against the laws of this country?” he snarled. “You – a man who has sworn to uphold them?”

Lucien crossed his big arms. “I did not say I was going to go against the laws of England,” he said. “I simply said that your missive could be a forgery. You are not beyond such tactics.”

De Bretagne picked up the missive and looked at it. “It is signed by Lord Andover,” he said casually. “It also contains a seal. Lord Tytherington, you told me at the gatehouse that the lady confirmed she was destined for Gillingham Castle. This would seem to confirm that du Ponte is telling the truth. You can certainly bring the lady here to confirm this is her father’s signature if you truly believe it to be a forgery.”

Lucien’s heart sank. He knew de Bretagne was only pointing out the truth, trying to be fair in both cases. He didn’t know that Lucien was deeply attracted to Lady de Gournay and wished to marry her. Nay, he didn’t know any of that but, very quickly, he was going to catch on. There was no earthly reason for Lucien to keep the woman here when her intended was demanding she be returned to him. Very quickly, this was going to go against him if he didn’t say something.

Confess.

Say something!

“It is not necessary to produce the lady,” he said. “I believe I am satisfied.”

Du Ponte smacked the vellum triumphantly. “Then you
will
produce my intended,” he said. “And my carriage – I want my carriage returned to me, also.”

Lucien glanced at Gabriel, who had so far been standing strong and silent behind him. “Tell him of his carriage,” Lucien muttered.

Addressed, Gabriel took a step forward. “Your carriage is back at the lake, my lord,” he said formally. “We recovered the baggage and left the vehicle.”

Du Ponte appeared surprised by the news. “You left it there?”

“There was no reason to bring it back to Spelthorne, my lord.”

Truth be told, du Ponte was astonished by the news. His carriage had been more important than the return of the lady. As he’d planned, the entire fuss about the woman had been a cover to get that fine carriage back. He thought he’d been fairly clever about introducing the carriage into the conversation without making him seem very petty, but now that he was told it was still back at the lake it was all he could do to keep from running out of the door and ordering his men to flee south to claim the carriage. In fact, someone else could have claimed it by now and his astonishment at the news began to transition into agitation again.

“So you left it there but brought the woman and her baggage to Spelthorne?” he asked. “That makes no sense. Now you’ve left the carriage for someone else to take it!”

Gabriel felt as though the words were directed at him, at least about the carriage. He didn’t have the luxury of showing his distaste with du Ponte like Lucien and de Bretagne did. Of a lesser rank, he had to maintain the illusion of respect.

“My lord, I had seven wounded men as a result of your attack by the lake,” he said. “It was more important to me to get them home than drag along a carriage that was of no concern to me. I was leading the salvage contingent and I tried to call to you when your men attacked, but you did not hear me. You never made any attempt to find out who we were or what we were doing there. You simply sent your men against us with swords drawn, forcing us to defend ourselves. Hauling that carriage back to Spelthorne was the least of my worries after that.”

Du Ponte could hear a rebuke in that polite statement. His eyes narrowed. “You made no attempt to contact me.”

“I did, my lord. Several times.”

Du Ponte could most definitely hear the rebuke, then. He refrained from responding to the knight, as the man was beneath him, and, instead, turned to Lucien again.

“I will go and retrieve my carriage,” he seethed. “If it is missing, then I hold you responsible. Right now, however, I want what I have come for. You will give me Lady de Gournay.”

Lucien couldn’t help but notice the entire time he spoke of Sophina, he’d never once mentioned Emmaline. Lucien was coming to wonder if du Ponte even realized the woman had a daughter.

But it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Lucien already had his answer ready and waiting. It was time to take a stand against this unsavory bully of a man and he knew how to do it without causing a battle. At least, he thought he did. He could only pray that de Bretagne would support his stance of what he was about to do.

Confess.

“How much will it take to buy the contract?” he asked.

Du Ponte wasn’t sure he heard correctly. “Buy it?” he repeated, irritable. “What are you talking about, de Russe?”

“Exactly what I said. I want to buy the marriage contract with Lady de Gournay. How much will you take for it?”

Du Ponte stared at him; quite honestly, so did de Bretagne. “You want to buy the contract?” du Ponte finally said.

Lucien nodded. “I will give you seven thousand
denier
and three thousand
florins
,” he said. “That is a great deal of money, far more than the value of her dowry, I am certain. Will you take it?”

Du Ponte’s agitation was starting to fade as the surprise of Lucien’s proposal settled in. He was genuinely perplexed. “But why should you buy it?”

“Because I want to marry her.”

Du Ponte’s eyebrows lifted in shock. Lucien wasn’t looking at de Bretagne. If he had been, he would have seen the man’s jaw drop. Even Gabriel, standing behind Lucien, looked at his lord with some surprise before quickly wiping it off of his face. All of them were stunned to hear Lucien’s reply but no one was able to speak before, from the shadows, Holderness appeared.

“You cannot marry her!” The earl emerged from the alcove where he had been listening to the entire conversation. “You are pledged to my daughter and you cannot marry another! Damn you, de Russe! I knew you had brought that woman here for a reason. Now I know! You want to shame my daughter and marry this man’s betrothed!”

Lucien had been in control of the conversation until Holderness purged himself from the alcove near the hearth. When he heard the man shouting, there was nothing he could do to prevent him from not only speaking, but the others from hearing. He was startled to realize that Holderness had disobeyed him and, quite soon, furious. Moving around the table, he went to head off Holderness from getting any closer to du Ponte or de Bretagne.

“What I do is none of your affair,” he snapped, reaching out to grab the earl by the arm in a complete breach of etiquette. As a man of lesser rank, he had no right to touch the earl. “I told you yesterday there would be no betrothal. I told you yesterday I would not be related to the likes of you. Now, get out of this room before I do something you will wholly regret.”

For the first time since his arrival to Spelthorne, and through all of the arguing and insults he’d dealt Lucien, Holderness finally felt some fear of the man. He was finally coming to realize that perhaps he shouldn’t have spoken as he did because the expression on Lucien’s face suggested utter murder.

His
murder.

But, true to his nature, he couldn’t stay still.

“Is that why you refused the betrothal?” he demanded. “Because you lust after this man’s intended?”

“Lust after her?” du Ponte had heard him. He was coming towards Lucien and the earl, his face alight with the realization. “So this is why you have refused to bring my intended to me, de Russe? Because you want her for yourself.”

Lucien was caught. Everything they said was true. But he would not relinquish the control in this situation, not even if it cost him everything. And it quite possibly would. He knew how to get to the heart of men, at least the heart of these men. He yanked Holderness off to the side, getting in the man’s face.

“I will pay you to agree to dissolve the betrothal,” he hissed. “Keep your mouth shut and get out of here, and I will make it well worth your while. Do you understand me?”

Holderness could see, in that brief instance, what he had wanted from Lucien all along – his financial backing. The de Saix family had been bereft for years now, hiding their poverty behind their good name. That had been the driving reason behind the marriage between his daughter and de Russe, to get his hands on the de Russe wealth. That’s why he’d fought so hard against Lucien’s desire to break the betrothal. That, and the fact that his daughter was newly pregnant.

That was the little secret she had been hiding. Holderness had been determined for the marriage to take place immediately so that de Russe would claim the bastard as his own, but now, the situation had changed a bit. Now, the earl had the opportunity for wealth in a most unexpected way. Wealth for himself and wealth for his daughter, who would be unmarriageable once her pregnancy became public knowledge. Holderness might even be able to get more money out of Lucien if he was to threaten to tell everyone that he forced himself on Juno and when she became pregnant, he abandoned her. Most assuredly, they were thoughts to consider. Holderness was never one to let an opportunity for money pass him by. Firmly, he pulled himself out of Lucien’s grip.

“You will find me when this is over,” he said. “You
will
make this well worth my while or I will not relinquish my suit, not in any way. Is this clear?”

Lucien hated the man. He really did. Petty, vicious bastard. “Get out of here,” he said, his voice low. “Be prepared to negotiate when I find you.”

That was good enough for Holderness. Swiftly, he moved to clear the hall but du Ponte wasn’t going to let the man go so easily. He started to follow him but Lucien put himself between the earl and du Ponte. But du Ponte didn’t much care. He was starting to see the reality of the situation with Lucien and his intended and he saw a remarkable opportunity to control The Iron Knight.

This knight, one of Henry’s most respectable and seasoned men, wasn’t going to be so respectable when du Ponte was finished with him.

“Now, de Russe,” du Ponte said, no longer the agitated fool. “You and I are going to have a long discussion about your lust for my intended or the king and the church will hear about your misbehavior. They won’t like it very much, considering that you are also betrothed to another woman. Shocking, indeed.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

T
he keep was
locked up tightly. The shutters were in place and food stores had been neatly tucked into the solar off of the entry. Emmaline, Juno, and Aricia had been put to work and they were very good workers, helping Sophina with the inventory and organizing it into groups – things that would spoil quickly and things that wouldn’t. The process was very businesslike, with no apprehension involved thanks to Sophina’s leadership. Moreover, it gave the younger women something to do while Sophina pretended not to worry about what was happening outside of the keep.