Ruby - Book 1 (Daughters of the Dagger Series) (4 page)

King Edward liked his ladies, and having had
a dozen children of his own, he felt the queen would not be happy
to know he’d taken a mistress. After all, his newest son, Thomas,
was only born six months ago. But the king had a secret mistress -
one that Nyle knew only too well. When the king found his mistress,
Lady Jocelyn in bed with another man, he’d had the man executed,
taken the baby, and banished his mistress from his kingdom. And now
the king wanted Nyle to take over the care of his bastard baby for
now. But Nyle had a suspicion that someone was trying to stop him.
Three dead wives were proof of what someone would do to keep the
baby out of Sheffield.

But with Ruby as his wife, he’d bring the
king’s bastard into the walls of his castle, and bring the killer
closer as well. He would catch the assassin responsible for the
deaths of three innocent women if ’twas the last thing he did. He
may have never loved any of his wives as he knew them barely, but
he still felt the need to bring their murderer to justice. He felt
responsible for their deaths, as he knew they were only a
distraction to take his concern. And possibly, to keep the baby
with the king for some odd reason.

That’s why he needed a woman who was strong.
Someone who could stand the trials and tribulations, and also bear
him many sons. No woman he’d ever set eyes on was like Lady Ruby.
She had the fine makings of a warrior woman. A warrior woman who
would now learn to be a wife and also a mother, as she would be the
one to bear him an heir of his own.

“M’lord?” He heard a small voice and looked
down to see two small girls beside him. Their hair was tangled and
their faces dirty, and he was not able to help the horrid thought
that ran rampant through his brain. He pictured himself the father
of all girls. Girls with dirty faces and torn clothes who thought
nothing of acting like men. What had he done? Mayhap he shouldn’t
have chosen Lady Ruby after all.

“M’lord,” repeated the little girl. “We
found this while playing and wondered if ’twas yours?”

He was surprised to see his cloak in their
filthy little hands. His garment was covered with a muddy footprint
and the tear in the hem had grown. And that footprint looked an
awful lot like the muddy slipper worn by his newly betrothed.

“Why, yes. Yes, I thank you.” He looked over
to his squire. “Locke, take my cloak from the girls and put it in
the saddle bag.”

“Your cloak?” Locke looked at the dirty,
torn garment as he took it from the children with one hand.

“Don’t mention this to anyone,” Nyle
muttered to his squire as he took two coins from his pocket and
handed them to the girls. The girls’ eyes lit up as they palmed
their treasures.

“Thank you m’lord,” they called as they ran
off to play. Once again, Nyle pictured himself with two little
girls such as this and just shuddered. After all - one filthy,
mouthy, untamed wench was going to be more than he wanted to
handle.

“My daughter shall be ready in a moment,”
said the earl coming to see Nyle off.

“I thank you for your generous dowry,” said
Nyle, looking at the cart loaded down with silks, spices, grains,
weapons, jewelry and a small box of coins. There were crates with
chickens and one of his best stallions for breeding also included
in the deal. The cart was hitched to a travelling horse and one of
the earl’s men sat at the ready to deliver it to his home.

“My daughter will have her handmaid along to
assist her.”

Nyle doubted Lady Ruby needed anyone’s help,
let alone a handmaid. “I’m sure she’ll manage fine without one. I
have my own servants in Sheffield to assist her once we
arrive.”

“I won’t go without her!” came Ruby’s voice
from the stairs of the great hall.

Nyle’s eyes darted upward toward her voice,
intending to reprimand her for overstepping him, but he swallowed
his words when he saw the beautiful woman at the top of the
stairs.

If he hadn’t recognized her voice, he would
have thought her to be someone else. Dressed in a satin
cream-colored gown with long dangling tippets lined in gold trim,
stood his betrothed, glaring down at him. A handmaid was
straightening the long train of her gown that trailed out a full
body’s length behind her. A rare color and an odd choice for a gown
since he knew how much she liked to wallow in the mud. He’d no
doubt the gown would be filthy in no time.

Still, she was surprisingly clean,
especially since he’d just witnessed her filthy, muddy body. Her
hair was wet as if had just been washed, and ’twas also plaited in
a long strand that hung over her shoulder, halfway to her waist.
She reached one slim hand around it and used her long fingers to
flip the braid carelessly to her back in her signature act of
defiance. While her tresses seemed to be a dirty blond earlier, he
could see now that her hair was so light it almost looked like
glowing white spun silk. Her eyes were golden orbs of sunlight,
shining a tawny brown.

And while most ladies strived for a fair,
pale complexion, her face held a smooth golden tone to it, which
looked as if ’twas kissed by the sun from her days on the practice
field. She was adorned with a glittering ruby ring on her right
hand, and an ornate neckpiece boasting several rubies there as
well. They winked in the sunlight as she surveyed him.

A kitchen servant appeared with a bundle in
his hands that Nyle guessed to be food, and two pages dragged along
her clothing trunks and loaded them into the wagon. Her sisters ran
out to hug her and wish her luck. The twins wiped the tears from
their eyes with the back of their hands and Sapphire pulled her
closer protectively as she eyed him up. Then she whispered
something into Ruby’s ear and kissed her once more before releasing
her.

Ruby said goodbye to each of her sisters in
turn, but yet kept her composure and did not cry, but nor did she
smile. She just maintained that stone-like expression upon her face
and he wondered how long the little spitfire would be able to keep
it up. Not long, he bet, knowing that as soon as they left the
castle she’d probably be showing her true colors again.

“Is that you, Lady Ruby?” he questioned,
walking to the stairs, delightfully surprised at her sudden
transformation.

“Who did you think I was? One of your dead
wives come back to haunt you?”

If he had had any doubt at all as to her
identity, her sharp tongue brought him back to his senses. It was
she. Even with the nice outer packaging, he’d already seen was
truly lie underneath. Like a wormy apple, her appearance couldn’t
disguise the bitterness inside, and ’twas no secret she wasn’t the
fresh and docile image she was now portraying herself to be.

“Thank you, Papa for the ring and
necklace.”

She fingered the short necklace around her
throat, his eyes following her actions. He marveled at the beauty
of her long neck and the line of silken white skin that peeked out
ever so slightly from under the neckline of her gown. ’Twas a true
contrast to the skin that had seen the sun, and he found himself
wanting to inspect just where those lines stopped and started. Once
again this led him to believe there were two sides to this complex
woman and he longed to find out more.

“’Twas your mother’s jewelry, Ruby. She
would have wanted you to have it. I bought it for her right after
you were born. I gave her gemstone jewelry to celebrate the birth
of each of our daughters.” He smiled and wrapped his arms around
the twins who were standing on each side of him.

“You look beautiful, Ruby,” called out her
sister Amethyst, reaching out and giving her another hug.

“I’ll miss you,” said the girl’s twin,
Amber, wiping a tear from her eye.

“I will too,” added her sister, Sapphire.
“But you are so lucky that you will be married and someday soon
have children as well.”

Nyle half-expected her to have a reaction to
that comment, but she didn’t say a word.

She reached out and again embraced each of
her sisters in turn, and then threw herself into her father’s arms
and buried her face in his chest, obviously not wanting to go. The
earl kissed her atop the head and ran a loving hand over her
hair.

Nyle felt a tinge of jealousy that Ruby had
such a close relationship with her father. Nyle had always been at
arms with his belated father. He had a twin brother at one time who
was now dead, as well as a sister still alive and married in
Scotland. But his father had planned to have his brother, Nigel
inherit his dwellings, tho Nyle had been the first born of the
twins. But now, none of that mattered, as his entire family except
for his sister had died and he had inherited after all.

Nyle ran his thumb over the gold signet ring
on his finger – the ring that had once been his father’s and now
was his. He wished they could have made amends before he’d left
this world, and realized now that he’d been wrong in staying away
at Windsor and avoiding his father for the past five years. But he
had other things to think about now, and the first one was standing
right in front of him.

“’Tis time to depart.” Nyle held out his
hand to help Ruby down the stairs, intending to help her mount her
horse as well.

She only glared at him, and ignored his
proffered hand and descended the stairs on her own. Her handmaid
held up the train of her gown, and stood next to her as she
prepared to mount her horse. Ruby put her foot in the stirrup and
hopped on by herself expertly, causing Nyle to just smile. Why had
he thought she’d ever need help to mount? Once her leg was wrapped
securely around the saddle horn, the handmaid splayed her gown out
over the back of the horse. It was quite a site to see, and so
opposite the girl he’d just met an hour ago.

He could have sworn he saw a tear in her eye
as she turned the horse and headed toward the gate. Nyle pulled
himself up into the saddle of his own steed, already perturbed that
she was the one leading the way when her place was behind him.

“Take good care of her,” came the earl’s
final words. “You harm her in any way and I’ll deal with you
personally, Sheffield.”

Nyle gave a slight nod to the earl, and
turned his horse and headed for the gate. He didn’t doubt for a
moment the earl would have his men ready for combat if Ruby died.
And with the luck he’d been having lately, he only prayed she
wouldn’t end up dead. Rumors said he was responsible for his wives’
deaths, though he’d never harmed a one. And he knew with his
reputation, if Ruby wound up dead too, he’d never be able to
convince a soul of his innocence.

He watched her charge on out of the gates,
passing up the cart with the dowry and spooking its horse in the
process. The driver was securing the trunks with rope in the cart
and was knocked to the ground as the horse reared and took off at
full gallop, spilling the dowry everywhere along the way.

“Damn her!” shouted Nyle.

Chickens squawked and flew out of the
smashed cages as she passed. Children scrambled after the spilled
goods, and the horse broke loose sending the remaining items on the
cart straight into a nearby pond.

“Locke, retrieve my dowry at once,” called
out Nyle, gritting his teeth and shaking his head. “I’m going after
the girl. And say a prayer while you’re at it.”

“A prayer, my lord?” Locke lifted his lithe
body onto his horse to go after the goods.

“Aye. For when I catch up with her, she’ll
need all the prayers she can get, because I am going to kill
her!”

Ruby charged her horse through the woods,
looking over her shoulder sporadically to see Lord Nyle chasing
her, the darkened anger on his face making her go even faster. She
hadn’t meant to spill the dowry in the lake and scatter it over the
courtyard. She’d only meant to show Lord Nyle she could ride a
horse. She wasn’t a proper lady but she could ride a horse mounted
in a lady’s saddle faster than any man riding astride.

She had hoped he would change his mind about
marrying her, but obviously she’d only infuriated him. She wouldn’t
stop now if her life depended on it. And she was sure by the scowl
on the man’s face he would kill her if he ever caught up with her.
She’d managed to lose him once or twice in the woods, hiding and
taking unmarked trails that were hard to decipher in the thicket.
But even though she knew the area like the back of her hand, he was
experienced at tracking and before long was always right behind
her. She had no idea what happened to his entourage, the dowry or
her handmaiden, but right now neither did she care.

She felt no different than an innocent deer
being hunted down by a wolf. He the hunter, she the hunted, she
rode for her life for what seemed like hours, never stopping for
fear he’d find her. Always staying just ahead of him and taking
turns down paths that weren’t fit for riding. Now, as her horse
tired, she knew she had no choice but to stop.

Looking over her shoulder once again, she
neither saw nor heard any sign that he’d followed her into the
deepest part of the woods. Ruby had no idea where she was anymore,
but it was getting to be dusk, and in the damp night air she
shivered. She stopped her horse near a stream, and dropped herself
to the ground. She fell to her knees in the dirt. Parched, she
eagerly scooped water up into her mouth, managing to spill most of
it down the front of her bodice.

Though the summer was well into its season,
the air of the night was still sharp at times. She drank her fill
and leaned back wearily against the trunk of a tree, closing her
eyes for a mere second to try to regain her breath.

Then she heard it. The snap of a twig, a low
growl. Her horse became spooked and she jumped to her feet to catch
its loose rein, but it ran off before she could still it. One more
growl, and then she heard the sound of feet pattering closer toward
her. Two shiny eyes glowed at her from the midst of the dark woods,
and she picked up the train of her gown and hugged the tree closer,
wondering just what it was that was stalking her.