Medieval Rogues (51 page)

“Bring your stick. We can turn over stones with it.” Faye winked. “Maybe we will find a treasure.”

The little girl’s head bobbed. “Go.”

Hand in hand, they walked along the riverbank. Six, seven, eight paces. A portion of wooden plank, part of the washed away bridge, lay wedged in a mound of stones and dirt, probably flung there by cresting water. Angeline tapped the wood with her stick, then poked at the rocks around it. Smaller stones fell away, revealing more embedded in mud.

Clearly fascinated, Angeline thrust her toy lamb into Faye’s hands, hunched down and continued to dig with the end of her stick.

Faye sat on a nearby rock, the toy lamb in her lap. Leaning her head on one hand, she watched Angeline and listened to the child’s happy chatter. Moments later, the little girl let out an excited “Ooo!”

“Did you find a treasure?”

“Goad,” Angeline said.

Faye laughed. “Gold? That would be a treasure indeed.”

Bouncing on her bent legs, Angeline pointed. “Look.”

Her elbows on her knees, Faye leaned forward. Metal glinted within the pile of mud.

“Angeline,” she whispered. “May I borrow your stick?”

The little girl sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. Disappointment shadowed her gaze. “My ’tick.”

“Only for a moment,” Faye promised, trying not to show impatience. “I will give it right back to you.”

Angeline handed over the stick. With shaking hands, Faye dug away the dirt around the object. Little by little, the treasure revealed itself. Leaning forward, she picked it up.

A goblet.

It was dented on one side, where it had been tossed against a rock. Nonetheless, it was an exquisite cup. A beautiful object forged many years ago by a talented craftsman.

And likely worth a king’s ransom.

“Goad,” Angeline said with a big smile. “Pwetty.”

Lifting the toy lamb from her lap, Faye rose. “Let us wash the mud off, so we can have a good look.”

The little girl toddled at Faye’s side as they walked to the water. Gently dipping the vessel into the shallows, Faye sluiced water over its gleaming surface.

“What have you found?” Elayne called.

“Goad!” Angeline shrilled.

“Shh!” Faye quickly tempered her command with a smile. She didn’t want to upset the child, but if passing travelers learned they had found gold, the situation could turn dangerous. Especially when Elayne had refused to allow men-at-arms to accompany them on their picnic.

“’Tis best if we keep our treasure a secret for now. Promise you will not tell?”

Angeline glanced over at Elayne. “Tell Mama?”

Faye nodded. “We will tell your mother.” The treasure rightfully belonged to Angeline, since she had found it. ’Twas Elayne’s responsibility to look after it.

“Come show me, my lamb,” Elayne said from the grassy bank.

Rising to her feet from the river’s edge, tucking the vessel beneath her arm, Faye caught Angeline’s hand and headed toward the blanket—

A horse’s shrill whinny broke into Faye’s thoughts. She blinked. The memories dissipated like morning mist, although the ache inside her remained.

Another whinny. “Easy.” Brant’s voice came from behind her, followed by the ring of hooves on the stony bank. He’d watered the horses. Soon, he would be striding over to her, bent on learning what she knew.

She glanced over at the willow, then scanned the distance between it and the water. The broken wooden plank was no longer there. With the recent, bitter cold, a peasant had probably taken it to cut into firewood. Her physical point of reference was gone, leaving only memories.

Squeezing her arms tighter to her bosom, she walked to where she and Angeline had found the plank. Or where she thought it had been. The endless repetition of rocks and debris all looked the same.

A brown blur darted past her. Val scampered over the rocks, his tail wagging. He raced down to the water, sniffed the mud, trotted a few more paces along and sniffed again. The ducks huddled on the bank’s opposite side quacked and eyed him warily.

Forcing her gaze back to the nearby rocks, Faye lowered to a crouch. Mayhap from this angle, she could better remember.

At the water’s edge, Val yapped. Dipping his fuzzy head, he lunged for the river, then darted back again. Ignoring him, Faye pushed aside rocks with her hands.

Another excited yip. With sharp tugs, Val dragged an object out of the water. He snatched it up before glancing about, as if to locate Brant to take the prize to him.

Water dripped from the small, whitish object in the dog’s mouth.

A frayed ribbon jutted between Val’s teeth.

Blue
ribbon!

Lunging to her feet, Faye stumbled toward Val. Ears flattening to his head, he darted away. “Come here,” she screamed. “Come here!”

“What is the matter?” Brant yelled, his footfalls loud on the stones behind her.

Tears filled her eyes. Tremors shook her, wrenching up from the soles of her feet, through her legs, through to her very core. Her vision a blurry haze, she struggled after Val. Her breaths became sobs.

“Faye!” Brant shouted.

His forceful tone brought her to a teetering stop. She turned, wavering as though drunk. She tried to tell him what was wrong, but words failed her. Moaning, she pointed at Val.

Dropping to one knee, Brant whistled softly to the little dog. Casting Faye a wary look, the mongrel loped over to Brant. She held her breath, hoping desperately her gaze had deceived her, that the dog hadn’t found what she thought.

Gently scratching the dog’s head, Brant drew the object from Val’s mouth.

A soggy, dirty toy lamb.
 

Chapter Eight

Faye’s face crumpled on another despairing moan. The sound bore such anguish, the hairs at Brant’s nape tingled, a sensation akin to ants crawling from the base of his skull into his hairline.

What in God’s holy name was wrong?

Rising to his feet, he held out his hand, palm up, displaying the filthy little lamb. Water ran between his fingers to spatter on the rocks. Ignoring Val’s disgruntled barks, he said, “You weep for a child’s toy?”

She was shaking so hard, she looked about to collapse. She nodded, then immediately shook her head. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Apprehension warred with his impatience to begin the treasure hunt. “What is it, Faye? Aye, you are weeping for this lamb? Or nay?”

“Aa—” Her hands pressed to her belly. She shuddered, as though racked by terrible pain. Her face looked ashen.

As she wobbled on her feet, Brant caught her elbow. “Sit,” he said between clenched teeth. He didn’t mean to speak so harshly, but he couldn’t quell his growing concern.

Brant expected a scathing refusal, a tart reply that he had no right to order her about like his dog. Yet, she didn’t scorn him, or try to escape from his authoritative grip. When he tipped his head toward a large stone beside her, she sniffled, then wilted down onto it.

Cradling the lamb in his hands, Brant sat opposite her. His gaze slid from the pathetic looking toy back to her, acute helplessness sharpening his worry. What should he say? How did he comfort her? He had little experience comforting the fairer sex. He could slay an opponent with two slashes of his sword, but confronted by a lady’s tears . . .

Brant cleared his throat, a sound rife with awkwardness. Part of him longed to sit beside her, slide his arm around her shoulders, and draw her against him . . . but he couldn’t. Touching her would add another volatile element to this already unexpected twist of events.

Faye’s ladylike indignation had kept a welcome emotional distance between them. But raw, honest tears . . .

Sniffling again, she wiped her face with her mantle’s sleeve. Her gaze didn’t leave the bedraggled toy, and she made no attempt to explain her desolation.

“Faye?” he coaxed.

When the silence between them dragged, his concern tinged with misgiving. She wouldn’t weep so, and refuse to explain, unless she wanted to withhold the reason from him.

The lady had a secret. One that was devouring her.

Like his own secret devoured him, it seemed.

He might have smiled at the irony of such a common bond between them, except at that moment, she reached out and took the lamb from his hands. Her slender fingers were pale against the grubby, wet cloth.

A sob broke from her. Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks.

Enough
.

“Faye, what is wrong?”

She bit her bottom lip, then shook her head.

“’Tis only a toy.” His voice sounded rough, as though spoken by another man.

So gently, as though ’twere a precious object, she stroked the little lamb. “’Tis Angeline’s,” she whispered at last. “She would not part with it, unless . . .” She swallowed hard. “Unless . . .”

“How can you be certain this lamb is Angeline’s?”

“’Tis hers. I know.”

“
How
?”

“The blue ribbon, and . . . stitched eyes.”

From her horrified expression, she thought Angeline was dead. Faye’s anguish stabbed Brant like a dagger, the steel-edged pain driven deeper by guilt. While he’d had no part in Angeline’s abduction apart from negotiating the ransom, he couldn’t let Faye believe such a grim fate had befallen the child.

Leaning forward, bracing his arms on his knees, he struggled to reassure her. “’Tis the lamb which matches the ewe, the one I discovered in your linen chest.”

Faye nodded. “They were made especially for her, by a craftsman in the village.”

“The village close by?” Brant asked, gesturing toward the distant church spire.

“Aye. He has a stall at the market every week. He loves to . . . to make toys for the children.”

“Which means he has made more than one ewe and lamb.”

Faye paused in her tender stroking of the toy. Her moist gaze lifted and locked with his. How desperately, it seemed, she wanted to believe him.

“This could be any child’s lamb, Faye.”

With her finger, she wiped tears from the corner of her mouth. Hope shimmered in her eyes, warming them to the color of sun-warmed emeralds.

At last, he was reaching her, slaying her ghastly assumptions. “He has likely made many such as this. Hundreds.”

“True,” she said slowly.

“Angeline’s lamb is probably with her,” Brant went on, relieved that at last, Faye’s tears might end. “’Tis doubtful harm has befallen her. Why would the kidnappers want to hurt her?”

His confident words carried in the morning air. Yet, even as he spoke, he saw disquiet creeping back into her gaze. “I cannot imagine. You, of all people, might know.”

Brant dragged a hand over his jaw. “I do not. As I told you before, I was hired only to collect the ransom. I was not involved in her abduction.”

Torr, however, was familiar with the kidnappers
.

The words burned for release. Brant forced them down, for he couldn’t tell her. To betray Torr in such a manner would take Brant dangerously close to breaking his blood oath—a code of honor between knights he couldn’t forsake, especially after all Torr had done to protect Brant months ago.

Even more daunting, if Faye realized he had no significant role in the kidnapping, she might decide he was of no use to her in her quest to rescue Angeline. The arrangement forged between them would be as solid as a bridge made from twigs. Flimsy. Insubstantial.

She might resolve not to help him find the treasure, and Royce’s lost dream—within Brant’s grasp for mayhap the last time—would forever remain unfulfilled.

He mustn’t relinquish Royce’s goal. Not now. Brant must perpetuate the falsehoods, embellish them with the luster of Celtic gold itself, if he had any hopes of succeeding. To tell Faye the truth doomed him to failure.

Exhaling a long breath, he dragged his hands through his hair. She was studying him so intently, he shrugged to relieve his discomfort. “As far as I know, you have no reason to worry. Angeline is fine.”

Her stare didn’t waver. She clearly expected more of an answer.

He looked across the river. The less he said, the better. There was power in withholding all but the smallest details.

“Brant—”

“As far as I know,” he repeated, “she is well.”

Faye’s breath hissed between her teeth. She shoved to her feet. Val gave a startled yap before scampering several yards away.

Brant scowled down at his linked hands. He sensed his control of the situation slipping from his grasp.

“I want to see Angeline.”

He forced a brittle laugh. “’Tis not possible.”

“Why not?”

He tilted his head to look up at Faye. Her hands were pressed to the front of her mantle, between her breasts, the frayed end of the lamb’s ribbon just visible at her fingertips. “I must see her,” she said. “You know the abductors, as well as how to contact them. All I want is to know for myself that she is all right.”

“’Twas was not part of our agreement, milady.”

She huffed a breath. “I see.”

Brant pushed up to standing. He looked down at her tense, upturned face. Tears still glimmered on her lashes. Her lips flattened, but she didn’t break his gaze. Nor did she make further demands he couldn’t carry out. “Now,” he said in a curt tone, “to ensure we will both benefit from our agreement, I hope we can resume—”

“—the search for the gold.” She spoke as though he’d asked her to drop to her knees and kiss his grubby boots.

Refusing to give ground, he quirked an eyebrow. “That is why we are here.”

Her eyes narrowed. Her hands, still cupped protectively around the lamb, curled tighter against her ribcage. “How vile, to care more about the treasure than a child.”

Brant thrust up his hand. “Do not corrupt the truth. I did not say—”

“You did not have to.”

She was trembling again. Despair didn’t shimmer in her eyes now, but iron resolve. Before he could say one word in his defense, she bit out, “The gold was found here.” She gestured to the nearby mound of stones. “’Twas underneath a wooden board, lodged amongst dirt and stones.”

He crossed to the area she had indicated and stooped to examine the rocks. When he braced one hand on a nearby stone, the rock’s chill seeped into his palm, numbing his hand. But he didn’t care. “How deep in the dirt? How far amongst the stones?”

“Close to the surface,” she snapped. “If you look, you might discover more gold.”

The note of finality in her voice made him pause. Still at a crouch, he turned to face her.

Turning her back to him, she started to walk away.

“Where are you going?”

Her strides slowed before she swung back to face him. The rosy hue had returned to her cheeks. “I have told you what you wanted to know. I have kept my part of our arrangement.”