The Highwayman of Tanglewood (11 page)
Read The Highwayman of Tanglewood Online
Authors: Marcia Lynn McClure
“It is good to see you,” Lord Rockrimmon said. “And what have you been about?” he asked. “Your mother is as red as a radish.”
“Your son has been about his mischief already,” Lady Rockrimmon said.
“Already? I’ve not seen you ’til this moment, and already you’ve ruffled your mother’s pin feathers?” the great lord chuckled.
Lochlan looked from his father to his mother and back again. It was good to be home.
“He’s ruffled Faris’s pin feathers,” Lady Rockrimmon said.
“Poor girl,” Lord Rockrimmon chuckled.
“And now I’m off to see Mary in the kitchens,” Lochlan said. “I’m sure she’s missed my visits.”
“I’m certain she has,” Lady Rockrimmon said. She smiled, shaking her head. The expressions on the faces of his parents were easy enough to read—they were glad to have him back at Loch Loland Castle.
Still, as he kissed his mother affectionately on the forehead, Lochlan Rockrimmon could not vanquish the vision of Loch Loland Castle’s newest chambermaid. There was a bewitching quality about the girl. She put him in mind of indigo evenings and star-spattered skies. He hoped he would find her dangling from his draperies again during his visit home.
❦
“Pardon me, Miss Lillias, Lord Kendrick,” Faris said as she approached the couple.
“Hello, Faris,” Lord Kendrick greeted, his smile as dazzling as sunlight. For a moment, Faris studied him. His smile was nearly as enchanting as the Highwayman of Tanglewood’s was in the light of the moon. She shook her head slightly, dispelling the ridiculous suspicion that rose in her every time she approached Lord Kendrick.
“Milady wishes to see Miss Lillias, sire,” Faris said. “Her brother has returned and—”
“Lochlan?” Lillias exclaimed. Taking Lord Kendrick’s hand, Lillias began tugging on his arm. “Come, Gawain! Lochlan is home at last! We must go to him at once.”
“He was in the upper east hallway with your mother,” Faris explained.
“Then we’ll begin in the kitchens,” Lillias giggled. “I’ve no doubt we will find him tormenting Mary near to apoplexy!” Lillias unexpectedly took hold of Faris’s hand. “And I’ve much to tell you later…when you have a free moment to converse with me, Faris. Much to tell you.”
Faris smiled. By the manner in which Lillias’s eyes widened, Faris knew the “much to tell” concerned the Highwayman.
“Then simply seek me out when you are able,” Faris said.
“I will,” Lillias said. “Come, darling. Lochlan is home, and everything will be even more wonderful now!”
Faris watched them go—watched Lillias tugging at Lord Kendrick’s hand in order to urge him on more quickly. They would be a happily wedded couple, there was no doubt. Faris thought Lord Rockrimmon the best of fathers. To have let his daughter choose whom she would marry on her own terms—it was rare among titled people. She tipped her head to one side as she pondered Lord Rockrimmon. She realized only then he looked quite like his son. Not as handsome, nor as boldly mischievous—still, father and son resembled one another in the green of their eyes and the tint of their hair.
“And so the young master has returned.”
Faris gasped, so startled at the sound of Graybeau’s voice as to feel her heart had skipped in the rhythm of its beating. Turning to see Graybeau leading Jovan by the bit, Faris placed a hand to her bosom to still her hammering heart.
“You startled me near to death, Mr. Graybeau,” she said. She caught her breath a moment as he grinned at her. He was so very tall and so very striking in his appearance, and there was quite an unsettling air about him. Faris quickly glanced away when she noticed several of his shirt buttons were not fastened, allowing his shirt to gape open near to his waist. The sculpted contours of his chest were easily visible, and Faris wondered what Lillias would say were she to see Graybeau so casually attired.
“Forgive me then, miss,” Graybeau said, stopping before her. Jovan whinnied, and Graybeau patted his jaw with reassurance. “He is returned,” he said. “I saw his mount in the stable just now. Jovan was quite excited himself to see Master Lochlan’s mount once more. They were good friends before Master Lochlan left.”
“Yes,” Faris said. “He…Master Lochlan is with Lady Rockrimmon.”
Graybeau chuckled, and Faris fancied the sound of it warmed her. “Oh, milady must be a whirlwind of delight. She has missed him painfully.”
Faris felt her eyes narrow as she studied Bainbridge Graybeau. Yes, he seemed to be as tall as the Highwayman. He was a good horseman—there could be no doubt of that, else Lord Rockrimmon would not hold Graybeau in such high regard. Again, Faris wondered at Graybeau’s being the Highwayman of Tanglewood. Yet, if it were so, would he not give some sign to her? Some signal he was the man she had met on three occasions—the man she had kissed on three occasions?
“Do you ride, Miss Faris?” he asked then.
“R-ride?” Faris stammered. “Me?”
“Yes,” Graybeau said. “It would not be difficult for you to learn, and if you are to learn, then I am the rider to teach you.”
“But—but I have no mount,” she stammered. It was odd he should offer to teach a chambermaid to ride.
“Aye, but I have,” he said.
Faris felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle. It was there—she was certain of it—just the faintest hint of accent.
“I have my own mount and would gladly tutor you in riding. All ladies should know how.”
Was he setting bait for her? Was Graybeau indeed the Highwayman of Tanglewood and attempting to draw her to him before their planned rendezvous six nights hence?
“I…I believe I would enjoy learning to ride,” Faris said.
“Good,” Graybeau said. “If you would meet me at the stables this evening after you have supped, then we can begin.”
“Very well,” Faris said.
Graybeau smiled, and Faris was suddenly breathless. In that moment, she had become conscious of something quite astonishing concerning Bainbridge Graybeau’s appearance. “Yet might I inquire something of you, Mr. Graybeau?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said, the dark of his eyes fixed upon her own.
“When did you rid yourself of your whiskers?” she asked. It was true! It was only in those moments, when her suspicion was at its ripest, that Faris noticed Bainbridge Graybeau had shaven his mustache and goatee. Yes! Before that very moment, Faris had failed to realize Graybeau had always worn a mustache and goatee—and in the same manner as the Highwayman of Tanglewood.
“Just this morning, Miss Faris,” he said, his smile broadening. He ran a large, callused hand over his chin. “Yet I will admit, I feel a might exposed somehow without it.”
Faris felt her own eyebrows arch with doubt. How could such a man—a man who brazenly walked the grounds at Loch Loland Castle with his shirt unbuttoned and hanging open—feel exposed in ridding himself of a mustache and goatee? Furthermore, it came to her then—the memory of the Highwayman favoring his left leg the night before. As Graybeau’s hand rested on his left thigh, as he seemed to rub the spot as if it were sore, she remembered—the Highwayman had done the same!
“And your injury?” Faris asked. “You said yesterday you were thrown?”
“Aye,” Graybeau said, still smiling. “But I am much beyond any discomfort today. Thank you.”
Faris smiled. Oh, it could not possibly be so! Bainbridge Graybeau was no more the Highwayman of Tanglewood than Old Joseph was.
“This evening then?” Graybeau asked.
“Yes,” Faris said. “I will meet you at the stables after the evening meal.”
“I look forward to it,” Graybeau said. “Good afternoon, Miss Faris.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. Graybeau,” Faris said. She watched him go—watched him walk away, favoring his left leg as he led Jovan.
It could not be he! Bainbridge Graybeau was not the Highwayman of Tanglewood. And yet the thought intrigued her. Graybeau was a handsome man. Something within her thrilled at the thought it might indeed be Bainbridge Graybeau she had met and kissed in the meadow one year earlier. Something in her thrilled at the thought it may have been Bainbridge Graybeau who told her the story of the Rockrimmon ancestors who slept beneath the entwined willows.
Quickly, Faris turned on her heel and headed toward the house. There was much to do before her rendezvous with Graybeau that evening. She must mend Lochlan Rockrimmon’s draperies for the first of it. Still she could not believe he had returned to his chambers for the first time in two years to find her dangling from his draperies! Even at that moment, she felt a hot blush rise to her cheeks. How thankful she was not to have been sent away.
“
Once I a weary, bonnie lass was set upon by thieves
,” Faris began to sing. She smiled, thinking of her first walk through the midnight meadow—of her first meeting with the Highwayman—of being set upon by the rogue Highwayman of Tanglewood. She thought of his kiss on that night—and on the two nights so recent. Splendor! Pure wonderment! In those moments, Faris could not believe the good fortune of her heart! The Highwayman of Tanglewood? What resplendent joy rinsed over her at the thought of him!
As she hurried to return to her duties within Loch Loland, she began her song once more—this time mixing up the words to please her own thoughts.
“
Once I a weary, bonnie lass was set upon by he,”
she began,
“
He smiled and asked oh if he dared
to steal a thing from me
.
I told him that I never would attempt to tell him no,
And he then kissed me blissfully in Tanglewood’s Meadow.
”
Faris giggled as she entered Loch Loland through the servants’ entrance. She was pleased with her clever writing of lyrics. She was no longer afraid of losing her position—Lady Rockrimmon had simply scolded her son for endeavoring to tease his chambermaid. She was no longer suspicious that Lord Gawain Kendrick might be the true masquerader—he was not the Highwayman of Tanglewood, she was certain. And what disappointment could there possibly be if Bainbridge Graybeau were the Highwayman? Handsome, strong, and with quite the chiseled form, Faris could be quite happy knowing Graybeau rode out at midnight to best the likes of Kade Tremeshton. In addition, the Rockrimmon family was complete! Lochlan Rockrimmon had returned, Lillias would be married, and Lord and Lady Rockrimmon’s joy would be complete! Furthermore, the day was fast waning. Faris scolded herself for wishing the days to wane more quickly. Yet what woman would not, if a meeting with the Highwayman of Tanglewood were at the end of five days waned?
Faris giggled to herself, pure in her delight as she hurried up the staircase toward Lochlan Rockrimmon’s room. She would mend his draperies! Further, as she had done when she had endeavored to dust them, she would sing to herself for company.
And so she began anew,
“
Once I a weary, bonnie lass was set upon by he.
He smiled and asked oh if he dared
to steal a thing from me
.
I told him that I never would attempt to tell him no,
And he then kissed me blissfully in Tanglewood’s Meadow.
”
The Highwayman of Tanglewood smiled as he stepped from his concealment in the lush east gardens of Loch Loland Castle. He had been witness to Lillias Rockrimmon’s tryst with her lover Lord Kendrick, and he had been witness to Faris’s arrival in the gardens to summon the Rockrimmon daughter to her mother. Further, with his own ears, he had heard Faris’s song. He knew the song well—a favorite from his childhood. Moreover, he had heard Faris’s changing of the lyric, and it encouraged him. Perhaps she did care for him. Perhaps it was not just the adventure of his having come upon her in the meadow one year previous.
“Fair Faris of Loch Loland Castle,” he mumbled. “’Tis rapt you have me with yar charmin’ ways, ye do.” Slipping through a large break in the otherwise impenetrable stone wall of Loch Loland’s east gardens, the Highwayman of Tanglewood chuckled to himself as he began to sing,
“
Once she a weary, bonnie lass was set upon by me.
I smiled and asked her if I dared
to steal a thing from she
.
She told me that she never would attempt to tell me no,
And we then kissed most blissfully in Tanglewood’s Meadow.
”
A Question of Saxton
“Graybeau tells me he is to teach you to ride,” Old Joseph said.
“Yes,” Faris said, retuning the old man’s smile. “He seems to think I should learn to ride well—though only providence knows why I should ever need to know how.”
“It’s a good thing, learning to ride well,” Mary added with one strong nod. “And if you’re going to learn, Faris, then Bainbridge Graybeau is the one to teach you.”
“I think Mr. Graybeau is nearly as handsome as Master Lochlan himself,” Sarah sighed.
“Fffp!” Mary breathed. “Always going on about what man is handsome and what man is not. There’s more to living than a handsome face, miss.”
Sarah ignored Mary, however. She smiled at Faris and asked, “Do you think Graybeau is taken with you, Faris?”
Faris felt blushed warmth rising to her cheeks. Yet shaking her head, she answered, “Oh, indeed, not.”
“Then why teach
you
to ride?” Sarah asked. There was no envy or malice in her voice or upon her countenance—simply curiosity. “Why not teach any other chambermaid to ride? Bethany, Willeen, or even me?” Sarah smiled. “No…no, I think Mr. Bainbridge Graybeau may be taken with you.”
