Sapphire - Book 2 (17 page)

“I know,” she said, running to him and
throwing herself into his arms. She buried her head against his
chest. “I love you, father, but you need to let me go. I am a woman
now and need to some day have a family of my own.”

He was obviously choked up and his eyes
glassier than before. He slowly put his arms around her, and then
shook his head in defeat and looked over to Sapphire.

“This is all your doing isn’t it? First you
take her away from me to work at the castle and now you are going
to take her away from me forever.”

“That’s not true, Father,” Erin broke in.
“Lady Sapphire has been nothing but kind to me, and being by her
side I have felt for the first time that special bonding of two
females that I had never known with mother. She brought us here
today because she knows how important it is to all of us that you
accept us and our idea of getting married.”

“That’s right,” agreed Dugald.

“Lady Sapphire is the only person I’ve ever
met who believes a marriage should be based on love,” added
Erin.

“Fine then,” he finally said. “You can be
betrothed for now, but I want you to wait for a while yet before
you get married.”

“Oh thank you, Father.” Erin hugged her
father and Dugald came over to thank him as well.

Sapphire heard that noise again coming from
behind the innkeeper. It sounded like wood and stone sliding or
scraping.

“And once again,” said Dugald. “I never hit
your daughter.”

“I believe you,” he finally said with a nod,
accepting the boy.

“Well, well, well, what do we have
here?”

Sapphire looked up to see the baron emerging
from the shadows behind the innkeeper. Her body stiffened and her
heart beat quickly. This was the last person she’d hoped to
see.

“My little wife has returned to my side
after all.”

He walked forward and reached out, gripping
Sapphire by the chin. She pushed his hand away and took a step
backwards.

“I am no longer your wife,” she told him.
“The marriage has been annulled and I am betrothed to Roe now.”

“Aye. So I’ve heard, tho I can’t say I like
it. What are you doing here, anyway?” he asked her. “And so early
in the morning?”

“I could ask you the same question,” she
answered boldly.

“Father, why
is
the baron here?”
asked Erin.

The man got a harsh warning stare from the
baron, and he seemed to be taking his time to answer.

“He just wanted a girl for the night,” Auley
said, “that’s all.”

“You seem to have had all the girls you can
get,” said Sapphire. “And I find it odd you are Baron of Lydd but
you spend so much time in Rye. Why don’t you go back to your wife,
Alice? She was in here looking for you, you know. And I see you
gave her a ring – something you never gave me. Perhaps there is
love for a woman in your heart after all? Or mayhap you are just
using her like you used me, treating us no different than
whores.”

That angered him and he stepped forward and
gripped her by the arm. His face came closer to hers and he growled
out his reply in a low voice.

“You bitch! Well, I suppose you’d know about
being a whore since you coupled with Roe right in this very place
while you were married to me. Don’t think everyone here didn’t know
it was you hidden beneath the cloak.”

“Leave me alone,” she said, trying to pull
out of his grip frantically.

“Walter, let the girl be,” said Auley.

She saw Dugald stepping forward to protect
her, and she raised her hand in warning to stop him. “No, Dugald,
don’t get involved.” Then when the baron’s other fist started to
raise and she was sure he was going to hit her, she shouted out,
“Guard, come quickly.”

The guard was there instantly, the sound of
his sword being pulled from the scabbard echoing through the room.
The baron released her arm and stepped back with his hands raised
slightly.

“Is there a problem, my lady?” the guard
asked, and she thanked the stars now that she had brought the man
along for protection.

“There’s no problem,” said the baron with a
sickening smile on his face.

“Let’s go,” Sapphire told Dugald and Erin.
And in a walk that she wanted to turn into a run, she made her way
out of the building through the kitchen with her entourage right
behind her.

She pulled herself up into her saddle
quickly, her body shaking inside just from being near the baron.
What was he doing here? she wondered. “And what was that noise she
had heard by the hearth? And how did the baron and the innkeeper
seem to have just appeared from nowhere? She didn’t know at the
moment and she was too upset to even think. And what made her even
more nervous was the fact that she knew now that she needed to tell
Roe about this, and she was going to have to break a promise to a
young girl who meant the world to her.

Nearly three days later Roe returned from
the hunting trip, hot and tired. He’d swum in the lake this
morning, which cooled his body but not his anger toward his uncle
and the way he’d acted. Henry had told him the baron wasn’t at
Lydd, and had Roe trusted the man, he wouldn’t have had to waste
the time in going to see for himself. But sure enough, the baron
was nowhere to be found. He wondered where the bastard was hiding
out.

The hunt had been very successful as they’d
fell several Hart of Tens, as well as small game like rabbit,
squirrel and pheasant. The falconers had done their part as well,
as the hawks had brought in extra food in the forms of ducks,
geese, crows and even a few pigeons.

Even the hounds were helpful and very happy
with all the entrails and scraps from the kills with which they’d
been rewarded for doing their part in the hunt.

“Did you find out any information about the
smugglers while you were in Dungeness?” asked his squire Waylon
from his side.

“Aye, do tell.” Henry interrupted, riding
his horse up next to him to join in the conversation. “You never
did reveal to me what the fishermen and sheepherders told you,
nephew.”

Since Roe didn’t trust his uncle, he’d been
quiet about his findings. While they weren’t much, he still had his
suspicions. More than one of them had said they’d seen Henry on the
marshlands lately, and that didn’t sit well with Roe at all. He
decided not to mention it, but feed him some other information and
see how the man reacted.

“Well, I did find out that someone with
money paid the sheep shearers dearly to pack up the wool in barrels
and load it aboard a cart a day ahead of schedule. They came
forward and admitted to it, but they thought it had been orders
from the baron. Of course, they said the baron had said later that
the order wasn’t given by him.”

“That’s odd,” said Henry.

“Yes,” said Roe. “They also said the baron
hasn’t been seen much at all in the last four months. And we both
know that’s because he’d been living in Rye with you.”

“Just visiting,” Henry corrected him. “Just
visiting, that’s all.”

“It seems odd he’d find more to do in Rye
than he would in running his own castle. Something must have been
of major importance to keep him here – near the docks,” he added as
an afterthought.

“Well, he was married to Sapphire, so that’s
why he was at Rye.”

“Aye, and I still don’t know why you let him
marry her in the first place.”

“I told you, Roe. We thought you were
dead.”

“Well, we all know now why he didn’t take
his new wife back to Lydd,” Waylon added. “That is, because he
already had a wife waiting for him there.”

“Uncle, you do realize that now that I am
betrothed to Sapphire, you are going to have to give up her
dowry.”

“I only have half the dowry,” Henry reminded
him, “and much of it has already been used or spent. The baron
actually has most of it, Roe.”

“Then I trust that you’ll contact him for me
someday and get that returned to me as well.”

“Of course,” he said, unconvincingly. “If we
ever find him.”

“Oh, I have a feeling he’ll show up sooner
or later,” said Roe. “After all, greedy men like him are not able
to stay hidden and quiet for long.”

“So do you think he’s been smuggling the
wool?” asked Waylon.

“I do,” Roe admitted, “among other things
as. And I am willing to bet he has several accomplices helping
him.” He looked at Henry. “People that we may even know or that
reside within my castle walls.”

“Do you really think so?” asked Henry. “Nay,
I don’t think anyone at Castle Rye is involved.”

They approached the castle, and before they
even got over the drawbridge, a guard from the gatehouse ran up to
Roe’s side.

“My lord, I need to talk to you anon.”

“Speak,” said Roe, continuing to ride as the
man ran alongside him.

“I don’t want to betray your betrothed, Lord
Sexton, but I need to let you know that while you were away I
accompanied her to the Bucket of Blood.”

“What?” He pulled on his reins and stopped
his horse, and waved with his hand for the rest to continue on into
the castle. Henry, of course, didn’t leave his side.

“She took that stableboy and her handmaid
with her to talk to the innkeeper.”

“What the hell is going on?” he growled.

“She got the innkeeper to agree to letting
the young couple be betrothed.”

“Really?” A sense of admiration filled him
that Sapphire was such a good matchmaker and also a mediator. She
held care and concern within her and would someday make a wonderful
mother as well. Still, she shouldn’t have deceived him. And the
last place he wanted to find out she’d been was at the Bucket of
Blood. “It’s dangerous for her to be near the docks. Why the hell
did you even let her go?”

“Here, my lord.” The guard handed him a
small pouch of coins. “She paid me to keep quiet, but I had to tell
you.”

“Thank you,” he said, “you did the right
thing.” He took the pouch of coins and tied it at his side.

“One last thing, my lord. I had to protect
her when the baron grabbed her and was about to hit her.”

“The baron?” He looked at his uncle. “So
that’s where the hell he was.”

“The baron at the Bucket of Blood?” asked
Henry. “That is odd indeed.”

“What do you think he was doing there?” Roe
asked his uncle.

“Surely, I have no idea.”

“Well, I have an idea, and I am willing to
bet it has something to do with the smuggling.”

“Ah, that explains it,” said Henry with a
nod of his head.

“It explains that what I said about him
having an accomplice is true.” He stared directly at Henry. The
man’s face froze and he looked to be biting the inside of his
cheek.

“How so?” he asked.

“The innkeeper,” said Roe, and watched as
the man’s face relaxed and his shoulders dropped too.

“Aye, that sounds feasible. They must be in
this smuggling ring together.”

“Did my betrothed get hurt?” Roe asked the
guard.

“Nay, my lord. And I brought her back to the
castle immediately.”

“Thank you for watching over her while I was
away,” Roe said, pulling a coin from the pouch the man gave him,
and handing to him for his loyalty. He then directed his horse once
more over the drawbridge. He knew now why Sapphire had not wanted
to go along on the hunt. And she was going to have hell to pay as
soon as he saw her.

* * *

Sapphire ran across the courtyard quickly to
meet the hunting party returning through the castle gates. Everyone
was excited and rushed over to meet them. It had been nearly three
days since she’d last seen Roe and she missed him immensely.

“My lord,” she said, walking alongside his
horse until he stopped. “How was the hunt?”

He dismounted and gave the reins of the
horse to Dugald who rushed out to join them.

“The hunt went well, but not as productive
as your own I’ll wager.”

“Roe?” she asked with a slight giggle,
reaching up and kissing him. She had hoped he’d take her in his
arms but he was acting cold toward her. “What do you mean?”

“So, did anything happen while I was gone?”
he asked.

Her eyes flitted over to Dugald who had
started to say something. She cleared her throat in order to warn
him to keep quiet. Then she returned her attention to Roe. “Nay,
not really. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“So what did you do while I was away?” he
asked.

“Oh, not much,” she said with a shrug,
wondering why he was acting so oddly. “I planned the wedding meal
with your mother. And now that you have all this glorious food from
the hunt, I see we will have to change it.”

“Is there anything else you want to tell me,
Sapphire?”

She tired of his game and would not play it
any longer.

“Why don’t you just come out and tell me
what is bothering you, my lord?”

“Well, let’s just say congratulations are in
order to you, Dugald.” He looked toward the boy. “As I hear you are
betrothed to Erin.”

“Thank you, Lord Sexton,” the boy said with
a large smile.

“I wonder if the baron was happy about it as
well as Erin’s father?” Roe made it a point to say this, and it
almost sounded as if he knew her secret.

Dugald looked over to her with wide eyes,
and she dismissed him, knowing how uncomfortable this was for
him.

“Dugald, take the horse to the stable to rub
it down, please.”

“Aye, my lady.” He hurried away from there
and she couldn’t blame him.

“Why are you keeping from me the fact you
went back to the Bucket of Blood while I was gone?” He pulled a
pouch of coins from his belt and shoved it into Sapphire’s
hands.

She stared at the bag in her hand, realizing
’twas the one she’d given the guard in order to keep her secret.
This was obviously how he knew, and there was no sense in her
denying it now.