The Devil Claims a Wife (26 page)

‘Go away, Richard. You have no right to be here.’

‘Want to go to bed, do you? That’s right.
You go to bed. I won’t keep you waiting.’ He laughed uproariously, which turned to a drunken chuckle of approval. ‘Don’t pretend to be shy—not when you’ve lain with Sinnington. But after tonight you’ll know what it’s like to lie with a real man, my pretty. Aye, when I’m done, be assured, I’ll teach you to spurn me. No woman get’s the better of me, Jane.’

‘Not even Lucy Lambert?’ Jane flung at him.

He stiffened and his eyes widened. And then he opened his mouth wide and laughed loud, yet it was a sound without mirth. ‘Aye—Lucy—delectable little Lucy Lambert.’ He wagged a warning finger at Jane. ‘You’ve been listening to Sinnington. How else would you know about Lucy?’

‘It was rumoured that you had an affair with her. Did you kill her, Richard?’

His expression hardened and he shook his head, as if to clear it of Lucy’s image. ‘The stupid wench got with child,’ he grumbled. ‘Her father and those damned brothers of hers would have run me through had they found out.’

‘So you did kill her—to silence her, was that it?’

‘She became hysterical when I told her nothing could come of it. She clung to me and I
pushed her away, knocking her down. When she didn’t get up I saw she was dead …’

‘So you put her in the lake and made it look as if she had taken her own life.’ Jane saw the truth in his eyes and shuddered. ‘That was a despicable and cowardly thing to do. You disgust me, Richard. What you did was beneath contempt—just like the malicious rumour you started, telling everyone that you called off our betrothal because I had given myself to Guy. And Guy? You drew your dagger on him that day in the woods, didn’t you? He reacted in self-defence and yet you tried to put the onus on him.’

Richard’s eyes flared and his teeth were bared as he hissed, ‘Aye—for his arrogance he deserved to die.’

Jane stared at him. So Richard
had
tried to kill Guy, not the other way round, and Guy had defended himself the only way he could. He hadn’t lied about that. The pain of betrayal began to hammer in her mind. The thought of what she must have put him through chastened her. Her heart contracted with the shame of it. She’d had her chance to prove her loyalty and failed him. It broke her heart to see it now, but she knew the charge was true.

‘You’re despicable, Richard. Guy was simply
defending himself when he attacked you. Go away at once before someone comes. I never want to see you again. I share this room with another—she will be arriving at any minute.’

‘Ah, but the Lady Ann is away visiting her family, so we won’t be disturbed. By God, you’re a beauty, Jane. Sinnington’s a lucky man to have you.’ The thick voice held a note of awe. He reached out an unsteady hand and lifted a long tress of her unbound hair.

Quite suddenly the numbness left her and gave way to sheer panic. She struck his hand in fury and terror. ‘Don’t touch me! Don’t dare to touch me!’ Her voice was hoarse with fear and loathing.

Swaying, Richard looked down at her and his red-rimmed eyes lit with hunger. He gave a drunken chuckle of approval. ‘Gad, but you’re ravishing!’

He lunged for her. His clutching hands were on her hair and they gripped it and jerked it brutally, pulling her to him with frightening strength. His eyes seemed to burn into hers and his breathing deepened until he panted over her like a hungry dog over a bone.

Jane screamed and strained against him, pushing at his chest, but he was strong and only laughed at her pitiful struggles. He crushed her
to him, forcing her to arch away in disgust, and covered her neck with loathsome kisses. They fell on to the bed. Panic was soon joined by wild instinct as she struggled to free herself, but Richard’s sweaty weight and the swathing folds of her own skirt were against her. The looming possibility that she would soon find herself a victim of his lust caused her to fight with every measure of resolve she could muster. She would not surrender her body to this disgusting lecher. She clawed at his face and tried to turn her own aside, but he dug his fingers into her jaw, causing her to cry out in pain.

‘Quiet, you little fool,’ he ordered, his over-bright eyes terrifying. ‘If you know what’s good for you, you’ll lay back and—’

His words were lost as the door was flung open and a feral growl rent the air, and, as quickly as she had been flung on to the bed, Jane was freed. Befuddled, she lifted her head and found herself staring into a pair of all-too-familiar blue eyes. His strong hands gripped her upper arms and lifted her up.

‘You vile dog, Sinnington!’ Richard snarled thickly. He was wheezing heavily, having exerted himself well beyond the limits when he was full of drink, and in the gloom his sweaty, reddened face seemed far more bloated than
usual. He balled his fist threateningly and shoved it in front of Guy. ‘You’ve intruded too often in my affairs—but this time you’ve gone too far.’

Guy easily knocked his fist away with the back of his forearm. There was a dangerous edge of scorn in his laugh. ‘Get out, Aniston. My wife has made it plain that she doesn’t want you here. You’ll find yourself dead if you lay one finger on her.’ His eyes raked him with contempt. ‘You’re drunk—which comes as no surprise after spending the day guzzling copious tankards of ale. Go and find a woman more suited to your—sordid inclinations, and leave my wife alone.’

The taunt caused Richard’s bulging eyes to flare, vividly attesting to his mounting rage.

Jane stood at a loss, despairing of this confrontation ending well. For now, at least, Richard was distracted from her, but unless he left, the danger wasn’t over.

Having expected something like this happening and having kept a watchful eye on Aniston for days, it had been no accident Guy had been close by to hear Jane’s cries. Vulnerable and innocent, he could not let Aniston hurt her. He could not let his wife be degraded and hurt by a monster. Taking the initiative, he
took Richard’s arm and forced him to the door. Opening it, he shoved him into the corridor, following him out. Having followed Guy, Cedric appeared at the top of the stairs.

A foul, guttural oath issued forth as Richard lunged towards his adversary with fingers curled into claws. Come what may, he intended to tighten them around Sinnington’s throat. ‘You filthy beggar,’ he roared. ‘I’ll teach you to take what should have been mine.’

A second before Richard reached his antagonist, Guy stepped deftly aside. A sharp, gasp was promptly snatched from Richard’s throat as he saw stretched out below him the steep flight of stone steps. Desperately he thrust out his hands for the iron rail and strove to untangle his feet, but to no avail. A moment later he was teetering on the brink, experiencing stark terror. His arms flailed in a desperate attempt to halt his forward momentum, but he was unable to gather his equilibrium no matter how he strove to stop himself from falling.

Guy rushed forwards to grab at his tunic, but in an expanse of time that spanned the chasm between life and death, an eternity flashed before Richard’s mind’s eye. Unable to find anything to hold on to, of a sudden, his rotund body was plummeting head over heels in an awkward
descent of the stairs, during the course of which muffled grunts escaped his throat. Then his head slammed into the wall. Though his stumbling descent continued unchecked, no further sound issued from his throat.

F
rom where they stood, Guy and Jane and Ced ric looked down to where Richard’s body lay at a grotesque angle.

‘Stay here,’ Guy said to Jane, without turning to look at her.

‘Please be careful,’ she whispered shakily, shocked by what had just happened. She was afraid Richard might be stunned and have a dagger concealed in his belt, waiting for Guy to draw near. ‘He will surely kill you if he can.’

Wary of deception, Guy went down the stairs and paused on the step above Richard’s body. A pool of blood was spreading around his head and his neck was set at an unnatural angle. He was obviously dead, but to make sure Guy stepped over the body and dropped down on
one knee. With two of his fingers he felt for a pulse in his neck. There was none.

Guy went back to Jane. As white as a ghost, she was visibly shocked.

‘Is—is he dead?’ she whispered.

‘Very much so. Come.’ He looked at Cedric. ‘See that the guards remove the body will you, Cedric? I’ll explain what happened to those who will question his death later.’

Placing an arm about her shaking shoulders, Guy drew Jane inside her chamber and closed the door. Clutching a trembling hand over her mouth, she sank bonelessly on to the bed. Not only was she shaking to the very core of her being, but her heart was pounding so hard she thought it would burst. She couldn’t breathe, much less think.

‘What am I to do?’ she asked in a desperate whisper. ‘How can I explain this? What can I say happened? Everyone will think I am to blame—how can they not when he’s lying dead at the bottom of the stairs to my chamber?’

Seeing her in such distress tore at Guy’s heart, but not so much that he had not assessed the situation fully.

‘You will do nothing,’ he replied firmly. ‘You will have no need to explain anything to anyone. I will do that.’

She stared up at him. ‘But everyone will think we killed him.’

‘There was no one to witness what tran spired but you, me and Cedric. We know the truth. Richard fell.’

‘But what if they don’t believe us?’ demanded Jane, deeply distraught, her voice hoarse to keep it steady. She hugged herself tightly, blinking through a blur or tears.

Sitting beside her, Guy reached out for her clasped hands and held them in his own. The flame of the candle wavered, illuminating her face. The pain in her eyes made his heart ache. ‘Don’t think. Listen to me. We will stay here together until morning. You will be safe with me.’

‘But—Richard is dead …’

He squeezed her hands. ‘Trust me, Jane, everything will be all right.’ He saw the way she bit her trembling lower lip and went on, ‘Considering the amount of liquor Aniston consumed and the state he was in when he left his companions, everyone will see that his own drunkenness led to his death. It will be nothing more than that. You are innocent of any wrongdoing—as I am, Jane.’

‘If I have done no wrong, then why am I so consumed with guilt?’

‘It will pass. When he was falling, I reached
out to save him, but I couldn’t. Do you understand what I’m saying? It was an accident.’

Jane nodded. His words made sense, but she was nearly frantic with fear. ‘I was so afraid …’

‘You had good reason to be. Aniston was a despicable monster. He meant you nothing but ill.’

Jane looked at him and considered him for the first time since he had come to her chamber. ‘You already knew that. I know now that he tried to kill you that day in the woods—he—he told me—and I was so ready to blame you. I’m so sorry, Guy. Please forgive me.’

He drew her into his arms. ‘Hush, my love, there is nothing to forgive. Aniston spoke the truth. When he drew his dagger, I swear
he
was going to kill
me
, Jane. My reaction was instinctive. Had there been time to think—or had there been distance between us …’

‘You are a soldier, trained to protect yourself and others. Instinct made you reach for your dagger—and I’m glad you did, otherwise Richard might have deprived me of my husband. I should have believed in your innocence. I was so confused—swept out of my depth and into a helpless maelstrom of emotions that I was unable to understand or control. I was haunted by the possibility that you weren’t as
noble and honourable as you seemed—when all the time … Richard also told me the truth about how Lucy Lambert died. You were right. It was no accident. He confessed to killing her, Guy. Her father was right to suspect him of her murder.’

Guy stared at her, his eyes wide. ‘Lucy? You spoke of Lucy?’

‘I—I was stalling for time—I thought of all manner of things to stop him hurting me.’

‘And he admitted murdering her?’

‘He—he said that when she told him she was with child, he—he pushed her and she fell. He said the fall killed her when she knocked her head. He put her body in the lake to allay suspicion.’

‘It was the despicable act of a coward. He deserved to die. I’ll inform Lucy’s brothers of what happened. What Aniston told you was what they suspected all along.’

‘What I don’t understand is what you were doing here. How did you know Richard would come to my chamber?’

‘I suspected he would try something like this. I’ve been watching him. I was proved right.’

‘You will stay with me?’

Seeing the vulnerability in her eyes and
knowing how difficult it would be for her to get through the rest of the night, Guy gathered her to him. ‘All night.’

The official verdict of Richard’s death was accidental with no blame attached to anyone. On his arrival in London, renowned for being a braggart and a drunkard, he had let it be known that before Jane’s marriage to the Earl of Sinnington, she had been on the brink of becoming betrothed to him. When the guards had removed his body from the bottom of the stairs leading to the countess’s room, it was assumed that after consuming large amounts of liquor, he had tried making his way to her chamber. In doing so he had tumbled down the stairs, hitting his head and breaking his neck.

Everyone was in agreement that she’d had a lucky escape.

This was not a lie or a flight of fancy, but the truth of what had actually happened.

Guy also wrote to Lord Lambert, informing him of Richard’s confession, finally proving Richard was guilty of killing Lucy.

With Richard no longer a threat, as soon as Guy had seen Jane settled into her routine, he left to prepare for the lists. Jane found it so
frustrating, this tendency of his to go tearing back to Windsor. How she wished the tourney would come and go quickly so they could get on with their lives together. She missed him desperately—her lover, her husband, her friend—and yearned for his loving to make her whole again.

Misery, loneliness and despair roiled inside her. After the days of abstinence, she knew she wanted him again. Alone in her bed she shifted and turned, running her hand down her body in restless need. Indeed, she wanted nothing more than to let him do to her every wanton thing he’d done to her before.