The Legend (46 page)

He put his hands on her
shoulders, unnaturally large against her petite frame. He gazed at the flowers
a moment. "She loves sunflowers."

Peyton worked on the shading,
blending a mustard yellow into the paler yellow. "I know. She told me
so."

His gaze lingered on the flowers
a moment longer before he bent over and kissed the top of her head, releasing
her shoulders to gain himself a stool. "How are you feeling today? Ivy
says your headache has not retreated."

"It hasn't," she said.
He noticed that she was particularly pale. "In fact, I do believe it is
getting worse."

He touched her leg
sympathetically, watching her as she worked on her painting. "Why do you
not rest, then? The sunflowers will wait."

She snorted. "All I have
done is sleep. I have never been so tired in my entire life."

"Do you suppose I should
summon a physic?  Mayhap you have caught an illness."

She shook her head, rinsing off
her brush. "I shall be fine."

He stood up and shoved the stool
aside. "I would feel better if you'd allow me to summon a physic. You are
so pale, love, and you have hardly eaten in a week."

She dried her brush and rose,
weaving slightly as her head swam. Alec reached out to steady her, concern
etching his handsome features. When the swaying passed, he gathered her into his
arms despite her weak protests.

"No more of this
foolishness, Peyton. You haven't been feeling well for days."

She tried to squirm out of his
arms as he swept her into the corridor. "I am fine, Alec. Put me
down!"

He ignored her, instead, taking
her to their chamber. Once inside, he set her carefully on her feet. "Get
into bed. I am going to send Ali for the physic this instant."

She cocked an eyebrow at him,
planting her bottom on the edge of the bed. She was fully preparing to
stubbornly refute his assessment of the situation, but instead, she shrugged
faintly. "I am not sick."

He rested his hands on his hips.
"I beg to differ, madam. I have ignored your symptoms until this day, but
I will not disregard them any longer. You will see a physic this day."

Peyton opened her mouth to argue.
Suddenly, their bower door opened with a groan and Jubil stood in the archway,
appearing somewhat stronger since her bout with the monkshade, but pale
nonetheless. Alec frowned at the woman.

"Jubil, you will not enter
our chamber without knocking."

Jubil stepped into the room.
"I heard voices and knew that you and Peyton were not compromised. You do
not usually talk through your lovemaking," she looked to her niece.
"The child is announcing himself, is he not?  You are ashen,
sweetheart."

Peyton's eyes widened and Alec
suddenly looked as if he'd been struck. The color drained from his cheeks and
he looked to his wife, remembering Jubil's strange words not two weeks earlier.
Your seed has taken root. Nearly choking on his tongue, he began to weave and
his wife reached out a hand to guide him to the bed.

"Sit down, Alec, before you
fall," she said, eyeing him anxiously. "Are you well, darling?"

He could only stare at her.
"Me? Christ, Peyton, is Jubil speaking the truth?"

Guiltily, she eyed her aunt.
"I.... I believe so. My menses are overdue."

" Two and a half weeks
overdue!" Jubil announced. "I told you when we arrived at St. Cloven
that your seed had found its mark, my lord. Did you not believe me?"

Alec was pallid, his sky-blue
eyes like saucers. "I must confess, I did not. But.... Christ, Peyton, is
this why you have not been feeling well?"

She sighed heavily, leaning
against his arm as if her strength had suddenly fled. She should have been
thrilled, but she was frankly too weary to muster the energy. "Aye.
There's simply no other explanation."

Alec touched her head reverently,
still reeling with the news. He was torn between berating her for failing to
tell him the moment she suspected and complete, utter elation. The elation won
over.

"A son?" he put his
hands on her face, forcing her to look at him. "I am to have a son?"

She smiled wanly at his
excitement. "Come late spring or early summer."

He couldn't speak. Lacking the
words to express his surprise and joy, he clutched her against him with such
powerful tenderness that Peyton's throat constricted with sobs. As tired and
miserable as she was feeling in recent days, they were always close to the
surface.

But Alec's unspoken demonstration
of joy undid her.  As she sobbed softly in his arms, Jubil continued to stand
beside the bed and observe the touching scene.

"She carries the next
Summerlin heir," she said softly. “Her safety is more important now than
ever."

Alec glanced at the aged aunt.
"What do you mean? She is in no danger."

Jubil looked particularly pale
and drawn, and she pulled her shawl about her tightly. "There is a storm
approaching. I can smell it."

She had spoken the same words a
few days earlier when she had come forth from her trance. His expression was impassive.
"So you have said, but you have failed to clarify yourself. Be more
specific and I shall consider your advice."

Jubil seemed to falter a moment.
She averted her gaze, moving to sit beside her weeping niece. Alec's eyes
watched the woman intently. When she finally spoke, it was in a strangely quiet
voice.

"I can smell a betrayal,
murmurs of treachery upon the fall winds. An enemy where you least expect
it."

"Who would do this? And,
more importantly, why?"

"Why does one man betray
another? For money, lands, revenge. All of these things are powerful
motivators," Jubil touched Peyton's back comfortingly as her niece
quieted. "All I can tell you is that this betrayal, this danger, will
threaten your soul far more than your brother's death did. You must be alert,
or you could lose your wife as well as your unborn son."

Alec unconsciously tensed as
Peyton's weeping ceased. "Warrington?"

Jubil shook her head faintly.
"I wish I knew. I can only tell you what I taste, or hear, or what the
shades of the winds tell me. I cannot foretell the future as an exacting art,
Alec. I can only warn you of what approaches."

In Alec's arms, Peyton wiped her
eyes and twisted about so she could see her aunt. "Who told you of his
brother, Jubil?"

Jubil smiled gently. "He
did, sweetheart."

Alec's face was calm. "I
never told you of Peter, Jubil. Someone else must have."

Jubil shook her head faintly.
"You did not tell me in words, my lord. But there is a hollowness in your
soul that reflects in your eyes. Only since you have met Peyton has the
hollowness filled."

Alec stared at the woman a
moment. Was she so perceptive, or had she merely heard the rumors? He wondered.
Inevitably, his curiosity and sense of desperation got the better of him and he
found himself focusing on another subject of more concern. If she were indeed
so astute, then mayhap.... "My father hasn't been the same since this
betrothal madness with Nigel Warrington. Can you.... sense anything?"

Jubil gazed at Alec steadily,
pausing but a moment to collect her thoughts. As she spoke, she looked away
from him. "I can sense nothing but turmoil within the House of Summerlin.
Your father is greatly disturbed and it cloaks Blackstone like an evil
fog."

In spite of his doubts, Alec
found himself listening closely to her. Christ, he was so puzzled by his
father's behavior that he was willing to listen to anyone for their insight.
Even his wife's crazy aunt, who was so far proving to be less insane and far
more wise.

"But why?"

Jubil shrugged, studying her
hands. "I do not know, but I can only tell you what I have heard long
ago."

Alec forgot all about Peyton's
pregnancy for the moment. His attention was riveted to Jubil de Fluornoy.
"What?"

Jubil felt his gaze and she rose
from the bed as if it was too much for her to bear. "I have lived at St.
Cloven all of my life, my lord. My brother Albert and I were the only children
of Clive and Maeve. When I was young, I remember hearing my parents speak of a
rumor regarding Sir William Summerlin, your grandsire. 'Twould seem that Sir William
had fallen in love a woman other than his wife and it was rumored that the
suspect woman was Anne Warrington. Nigel's mother."

Alec did not say anything for a
moment. "I have heard the same rumor, but I did not hear who the woman
was. My grandsire had a wandering eye, so I was told."

"I do not believe that to be
the case, Alec. Your grandsire was devoted to your mother as much as he could
be, but she was a sickly woman with a heart of ice. Anne Warrington was a
beautiful, vivacious woman married to a beast. Mayhap it was inevitable that
dashing William and lovely Anne should find comfort in one another's
arms."

Alec gently released his wife and
rose, scratching his scalp thoughtfully. He peered at Jubil. "Do you
suppose Nigel is blackmailing my father with that rumor? Threatening to spread
more lies and gossip to damage the Summerlin honor?"

Jubil moved to sit by Peyton,
refusing to look at Alec. "'Tis possible. But it is more possible that he
threatens to bring forth an even darker secret."

"And what would that
be?"

Jubil looked at him, then. Her
faded blue eyes were as steady and hard as Alec had ever seen them. "That
Nigel Warrington is your father's half-brother."

Alec's controlled facade
vanished. He couldn't speak for a moment as Jubil's words pounded him.
"You have heard this?" he managed to rasp.

Jubil could see his horror and
nodded faintly. "I have. But it was a fleeting rumor, passed on by the
servants. Most likely, it is a figment of ignorant imaginations."

Alec continued to stare at her in
shock, finally putting a hand over his mouth as if to forceably shut it. He
turned away, pacing across the scrubbed floor aimlessly.

Peyton and Jubil watched him
closely as his boots shuffled toward the window with absent echoes. He stopped
a moment, contemplating the world beyond the lancet window before returning to
his wife's aunt.

"Is it possible that Nigel
has threatened to make this knowledge known?" he asked softly.
"'Twould explain my father's severe change of character."

"As possible as
anything," Jubil replied. "There is one way to find out; you must ask
him."

Alec shook his head, turning away
from the window. "He'd probably run me through. My father is so damn
concerned with family honor and reputation that he'd explode if I even
suggested such a thing."

"Then ask the black
man," Jubil suggested softly. "He is known your father for many
years. Mayhap he can help you. I can only tell you what I have heard."

Alec rubbed his chin
thoughtfully. "I shall do that," his shock somewhat recovered, his
soft gaze fell upon his wife. "I am sorry to have dampened your news with
my preoccupation, love. I did not mean to suggest it was any less
important."

Peyton rose stiffly, moving to
embrace his slim waist. "You did nothing of the kind. Besides, I am not
completely sure yet."

Jubil bolted to her feet and put
her warm palm on Peyton's flat belly. "Have no doubt, sweetheart. You will
continue the Summerlin line."

Peyton gave her aunt an impatient
look but Alec merely laughed softly. "I choose to believe you, Aunt Jubil.
My wife is refusing to face facts."

Peyton sighed heavily, leaning
against her husband. "Mayhap so, but I cannot ignore my pounding head. I
think I shall sleep until sup."

He kissed her sweetly. "I
shall bring you sup personally and feed you every bite."

She grinned and he kissed her
again. He would have surely liked to have stayed with her to celebrate their
happy news but, due to her headache, he doubted she would have enjoyed the
'celebration' as much as he would have. Furthermore, she most definitely would
not have slept.

His gaze lingered on her a moment
and he could not recall ever having loved anything as much as he had grown to
love his wife. Not even Peter. She was his all, the center of his world, and he
loathed himself for being too frightened to tell her.

She had told him once that she
would never love him. And he had informed her that he did not require her love.
That knowledge alone, words spoken during a turbulent phase in their
relationship, was enough to keep him from voicing his feelings. He simply
couldn't bear the rejection.

Bidding his wife a tender
good-sleep, he escorted Jubil from their chamber as his mind refocused on the
greatest paradox he had ever faced. His body and soul screamed to rejoice over
the coming babe, but his mind was preoccupied with the possibility that his
father was being blackmailed by dark family secrets. 

True or not, he was horrified all
the same and set out to find Olphampa. 

Alec made it to the foyer before
Toby came running in from the bailey, his fair face flushed with excitement. He
did not afford his brother the chance to speak.