Lady Thief (32 page)

"William!
'Tis nonsense that a person can
inherit any bad behaviours and ye well know it.
If it were true, I
would be a gambling addict.” Marianne said.
“Elizabeth saved
Blaise's life, we owe her more than our suspicion."

"My dear, I am shocked that you so eagerly
defend the girl, considering your hatred for her father."

Blaise had heard this story more times than
he could count, and so he stopped paying attention to the bickering
of the older people in the room.
Blaise's true father was not the
man standing in the room with him at all, but a mere groom who
worked in the stables.
Robert.
Despite his lack of education or
wealth, the man had still managed to deceive Blaise's mother, the
first Lady Gray, Alice, into believing her husband felt no love for
her because of their constantly botched intimacy.

She allowed herself to be fooled by a man far
beneath her, letting a mere servant seduce and bed her.
William,
unaware of his wife's betrayal, sought the help of a prostitute
named Bertha to teach him the ways of the marriage bed.
It would
allow him and his wife to perform their matrimonial duties without
William causing any harm to Alice.

Thankfully Alice confessed to her sin shortly
after the affair.
Unfortunately, she already had the child of
another man in her womb.
She gave birth to Blaise months later.
She
died during the ordeal, but William, who loved them both so dearly,
raised a bastard son of a servant as his own anyway.

The groom, Robert, was sent away, only to
return years later, cold and starving during the winter months.
William took pity on the man and allowed him to stay as a groom
once more.

As Blaise grew older, he allowed himself to
be fooled by the man just as his mother had been.
Believing Robert
to be the victim of William's lack of love for Alice, Blaise had
sympathized more with a servant than the man who was raising him.
He had allowed himself to be used, not realizing until Robert
kidnapped Marianne and sold her to Ferdinand that he had been
tricked.

Robert had only taken such an interest in
Blaise in the hopes that one day, after William's death, Blaise
would lift him from his status as a groom and allow him luxuries
other men of such low stations could never even dream of.

William did not hold Blaise responsible.
And
when they went to Ferdinand to retrieve Marianne from his clutches,
Blaise was forced to take action when the man pulled out a dagger
and rushed to kill his father and Marianne.

Did Eliza know that Blaise was responsible
for the death of her father?
Did she even know what sort of man her
father had been?
Blaise knew that if he would ever have any peace
in his own home, he would need to find the answers quickly.

William approached Marianne and gently took
her hand from its resting spot on her belly, though she still
frowned and turned her head away in a pout.
"Do not trouble
yourself, my dear.
I am not accusing the girl of anything, merely
giving warning to stay on guard."

Marianne's face softened.
"I like her.
She
reminds me of myself."

"'Tis a dangerous notion ye speak of," Blaise
said behind his goblet.
Marianne spun her vicious eyes on him.
Blaise knew that if not for her condition she might have leapt
across the room to brawl with him.

'Twas just as well that a knock sounded at
the door.

“Enter,” William called.
Olma opened the door
and curtsied to the people in the room.
Blaise's eyes were drawn to
the vision behind the servant girl.
The same gown as before, yet
she still appeared as serene and heavenly as when his eyes first
witnessed her in it.

She was too beautiful, too innocent to be
involved in some devious plot to worm her way into his family and
this castle.

He shook his head to clear it.
Thoughts such
as that were exactly why he needed to keep his defences strong
against her sinful smile.
Her eyes half lidded and full mouth
parted as though inviting him to kiss it.
Surely she could not know
the silent message she was sending him at that moment?

He shook himself again.
Fool.
She is the
daughter of a prostitute.
She is perfectly aware of her
behaviour.

Blaise returned her lusty smile with a snarl.
Oddly displeased with her open shock and the way she stepped
back.

"Blaise!"

He cringed at Marianne's voice shrieking in
his ear.
She glared down at him with her hands fisted on her
hips.

He met her stare of annoyance with a playful
smile, refusing to be moved.
"Aye, Marianne?"

She made a sound of displeasure and walked
forward to greet Eliza with a warm smile.
Blaise watched them
eagerly.

***

Elizabeth found herself being embraced by
Lady Gray with all the warmth and comfort of a sister.
Elizabeth
grew warm under the treatment.

When Olma had first brought her to the door
of the solar, shock greeted her at the sounds of the voices within.
"I thought Blaise was at the mews?"

"'e was, last I heard, milady," the small
girl said timidly, and Elizabeth decided that Olma truly hadn't
known Blaise returned to the castle.

Olma raised her hand to announce their
presence with a soft knock, but Elizabeth grabbed her hand.
"Wait."

She pressed her ear to the door, eager for
any information that could aid her in making Graystone her
permanent home.

“Milady!
What are ye—?”

Elizabeth hissed, waving her arm at the girl
as though she were a fly.
“Shh!”

Olma twittered about nervously.
“Lady
Elizabeth, please, ye cannot.
‘Tis dangerous to spy on the lord.”
She whispered, but Elizabeth continued waving her off.

What she heard struck her harshly.
Aside from
Lady Gray, neither Lord Gray nor Blaise trusted her.

How could this be?
She was certain her
demeanour gave no reason to have anyone suspect her.
Did they
believe her to be responsible for Blaise’s attack?

No.
A moment longer of listening and while
she had no definite answer, she was certain they did not have any
thoughts that she could have arranged for Blaise’s attack.

‘Twas relieving, but what had Lord Gray meant
when he spoke of her father?
So they did know sir Ferdinand.
Elizabeth would find out what sort of girl they thought she was
based on a man she did not know.

She allowed Olma to knock, and they entered
the solar together.
She straightened her back, and prepared to
smile at the lord of the castle, hoping to win his affections
enough to convince him that he had not invited a dangerous woman
into his home.

Instead her eyes were drawn to Blaise,
sitting on a stool and leaning his back against the stone wall, a
goblet in his hand and hair windswept.
He must have come into this
room straight from riding his horse.

Perhaps his experience with the men Elizabeth
had hired had not convinced him to take safer precautions when it
came to his daily routines after all.

Regardless, his blue eyes captured her and
held her in place.
The innocent smile she had meant for Lord
William turned into a wanting thing devoted solely to Blaise.

Her memory conjured the image of his naked
form, standing before her, dangerous, and demanding.
Elizabeth's
breath left her, and her lips parted so that she might breathe
easier.

Blaise returned her gaze with a fierce
longing she had never seen before, as though he too was captured in
whatever spell had ensnared her.

Then he glared at her.

Elizabeth stepped back, shocked at the
hostility she found in his blue eyes.
Useless tart!
She
admonished herself.
The man believes you are out to steal from
him and you look at him in such a manner?
'Tis no wonder he chooses
not to trust ye!

Then Lady Marianne rushed forth and put her
arms about Elizabeth's shoulder, holding her so close that the
belly between them bumped her and pushed her away again.

Elizabeth smiled and pulled away from the
lady of the castle and curtsied to her, the one person who seemed
to believe she was worth trusting.
Tears welled in her eyes,
stinging their dry surfaces.

Stunned sympathy moulded Lady Gray’s cheeks.
"Whatever is the matter?"

Elizabeth shook her head and wiped her eyes.
"I have not been embraced like that since the death of my mother."
And never had she expected a gentle bred lady to do so for her
either.
It brought up old regrets and made her wish that she and
her mother had not fought so often before she died so horribly.

Lady Gray pulled Elizabeth into another
embrace and held her tightly.
Lady Gray threw a dirty look to
Blaise, who turned his head away from the scene.
Could he perhaps
feel guilty over his words about her now that she was in an
emotional state?

If he sought her honesty and would trust her
for it, she would give it to him.
She would spill all of her
secrets, or at least, most of them, if it meant she could keep her
new position in the castle.

She sent him another smile, though this one
lacked the lust that thumped through her earlier.
She squashed it
down and replaced it with the excitement of her new plan.
All she
needed was to carry it out.

Marianne took her cheeks in both hands and
turned her head so that she might face the older woman.
"I am sorry
for your mother, but I have some news that will cheer you.
To
celebrate Blaise's safe return, we have invited friends and family
to Graystone to feast.
There will be music and dancing to put a
smile on yer lips, and 'tis also likely there will be a handsome
man who will fall in love with a pretty girl such as yourself."

Elizabeth's face heated beyond anything she
ever felt.
Hope presented itself, stretched, and sprang around like
an excited child.
Being married would ensure her comfort
indefinitely.
"Do ye think so?"

"Marianne!
The woman's been in this castle
less than a fortnight and yer already trying to wed her off?"
Blaise barked, glaring.

Lady Gray stuck her nose in the air in a
haughty manner.
"Simply because you choose not to wed does not mean
that everyone else wishes to be a hermit."

Blaise crossed his arms, his sour mood
radiating from him.
"I am no hermit," he insisted.

He was pouting!

William shook his head and left the solar,
mumbling about finding Edward.

Lady Gray returned her attention to
Elizabeth, ignoring Blaise who still growled like a cat in the
corner.
"This celebration shall not be for at least another
fortnight.
We haven't even sent the messengers to inform William's
friends of our intent.
Ye surely shall have a new gown ready by
then."

Elizabeth glowed.
Then like a disappointed
bird, her puffed feathers shrank back into herself as her glee
disappeared.
"Milady, if ye introduce me, I shall surely make an
embarrassment of myself and you.
I am not knowledgeable in the ways
of courtly love, or manners, or—"

"Ah," Lady Gray raised her hand, silencing
anything else that would have escaped Elizabeth's mouth before she
took her hand and pattted it.
Elizabeth could hardly believe the
woman who behaved so motherly towards her was so close in age to
herself.

"I should tell you that while growing up, I
never had a nurse to teach me these things either.
I learned as
much as my brothers could teach before they passed on.
But even
then I never learned music, languages, or even sewing until Lady
Anne took it upon herself to teach me."

"Lady Anne?"

"William's cousin, and mine now I suppose.
But as you can see, despite all those flaws I possessed, William
fell in love with me."

"Had no choice in the matter, as I recall."
Blaise muttered.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to ask about his
meaning, but Marianne squeezed her hand and stole her attention
again, smiling brightly as though she hadn't heard the insult
Blaise uttered.
"If you need a tutor, then I'm certain Blaise will
be a true gentleman and offer his services."