The two riders vanished into woodland near the river, and Laurie hastily urged her pony to a lope again. Neither May nor her knight had looked back while she watched them, and she could only hope that they had not ridden into the shelter of the trees simply to wait for anyone who might be following.
Her fear now was that they would cross the Liddel before she could get near enough to see where they crossed. She knew only that a ford existed and that it was somewhere west of Kershopefoot. She did not know its exact location, and lack of that information could doom her mission before it had properly begun.
Moments later, she rode into the woods, letting her pony pick its way through the undergrowth while her eyes adjusted to the increased darkness. She could hear swift moving water beyond, and soon she was able to discern a natural pathway through the trees. The sight reassured her that the ford would be nearby.
She reached the riverside margin of the trees moments later to see a rocky shore and roiling, tumbling water. Although she did not immediately spot the pair she followed, a murmur of voices to her right soon drew her attention to their shadowy figures. She saw with surprise that, rather than crossing, they had ridden some distance along the riverbank and stopped.
Since at that point the Liddel tumbled downhill and away, no doubt to behave even more energetically than the water in front of her, which flowed swiftly around and between huge boulders and over others, she was certain that they must have missed the ford. Her confusion increased when she saw May dismount.
“What
is
she doing?” she muttered to herself.
She dared not simply ride up to them and demand answers, because she knew nothing about May’s lover other than what May had told Isabel. They would surely see her coming long before she could reach them, and the notion that Sir John would just let May return with her to Aylewood was patently absurd.
His face was in a shadow, so she could not make out his features, let alone read his expression, but a man who would encourage a girl to betray her parents the way he had could hardly be trusted to behave properly when caught at his mischief. At the very least, he would ride off with the gold and jewelry that May had stolen from Sir William’s coffers. At the very worst—
To her shock, she saw him draw a pistol and point it at May.
Slowly, watching him the way a rabbit might watch a fox, May slipped off her cloak and let it fall to the ground beside her. Then, while Laurie watched helplessly and with increasing horror, May walked toward the rushing river, moving with a reluctance that was evident even at that distance and in that dim light until she stood right at the water’s edge.
Fighting off her terror, Laurie pulled the pistol from its holster and slipped down from her saddle. Wrapping the reins around a branch of a nearby bush, she left the pony standing and moved as quickly as she dared through the shadows at the edge of the woodland.
Although terrified of what lay ahead, she did not think she risked discovery as long as she did not run into the open. The sounds of the river drowned those of her passage, and the shadows would conceal her movements.
A moment later, she heard May’s tearful voice raised in protest. “But I don’t understand, Sir John! I thought you loved me!”
Her companion spoke in a less audible tone, and Laurie could not make out his words, but she saw May reach to unfasten her belt and girdle. When she dropped them to the ground just beyond the water’s reach, moonlight revealed the glint of tears on her cheeks.
Laurie pushed past branches that barred her way, moving faster. Shouting would do no good, nor could she try to fire her pistol. She still was not sure whether it was loaded, for one thing. In any event, she knew she would be wiser to get close enough for him to see it and hope that he would believe she could fire it.
She heard him speak again and froze, straining her ears to hear him, hoping that he had changed his mind about harming May. His words reached Laurie’s ears this time, aided either by a breeze or by the fact that she was closer and he had raised his voice to be sure that May heard it over the noise of the river.
“Don’t waste time now, lass. Take off the rest, as I bade you. Those garments be worth a tidy sum, and I don’t want to lose them to the river. And save your tears. They will avail you naught, and they annoy me.”
May bit her lip and reached for the lacing of her bodice with hands that Laurie was certain must be shaking with terror.
Laurie moved closer, trying to think. The man’s English accent reminded her of the two men she had seen in Tarras Woods, but it was no time to be thinking of them.
“You said you loved me,” May said.
“Be damned to your romantical nonsense. Take off your clothes!”
“I can’t take them off by myself,” May protested through a new burst of tears. “I have a maid! I cannot even reach the fastenings down the back.”
Muttering angrily, the man dismounted and walked toward her.
He had his back to Laurie now, but he still held his gun pointed at May, and Laurie gritted her teeth in frustration. She did not dare shoot for fear of hitting May. Even if she could hit him without hitting May, if he fell against May, they both would go into the water. She would have to wait until he moved away again.
She wished she could see his face and try to read his intent. What if he just picked May up and threw her into the turbulent river?
Rapidly, she considered her options. She could not just step forward and demand that he unhand her sister. There was nothing to keep him from pushing May in then, because Laurie was not sure she could wound him even if she fired.
She had never fired a pistol in her life, and she was sure that there was some skill involved. What if it failed to go off when she pulled the trigger? It had a mechanism that one was supposed to wind at some point. She did know that much, but she had not asked Willie how to do it. She could only hope that someone had wound it before hanging it on the wall. Still, even if she had only to point it and squeeze the trigger, the man looked much smaller when one thought of him as a target rather than as an enemy who threatened one’s safety.
If she could get close enough, he might believe her threat, but would he also be able to tell if the gun would not fire? Even if it did, if she missed him, he could just snatch it away from her. That would put her in as much jeopardy as May.
While these thoughts tumbled over each other in her mind, she saw him move closer to May. For a terrifying moment, she feared he would push May in, but then she saw that he had tucked his pistol under one arm and was actually helping May unfasten her gown.
He was talking, too, for Laurie could hear the sound of his voice if not the words that he spoke. When he had released the hooks in the back, which he did with a speed that revealed some practice in the art, May suddenly turned to face him, shifting position slightly so that Laurie could see their profiles. May’s gown gaped at the back and had slipped from her shoulders. Moonlight touched her breasts.
Laurie could not hear what she said, but she saw May’s hand move to the man’s face in a surprisingly gentle gesture. Then, to Laurie’s shock, May tilted her face up, clearly inviting the villain to kiss her.
Obligingly, he bent his head down, and his lips touched May’s. As he shifted the pistol from beneath his arm to his right hand, that arm went around her waist, pulling her nearer. The other hand moved to her cheek, stroking it and cupping her chin. Then briefly the hand grasped her throat before stroking downward toward those inviting breasts.
Laurie could not breathe. Was May trying even now to seduce him?
Suddenly, May’s knee came up hard between the man’s legs. As he doubled up toward her, she slipped from his grasp. Then, before he could recover, she turned back, put both hands against him, and shoved hard.
He tumbled into the water, and the current swept him away.
Lie there, lie there, you false-hearted man,
Lie there instead of me.
G
APING, LAURIE FOUGHT TO
collect her wits. Then, lowering her pistol, she ran up behind May and grabbed her arm.
May jumped and cried out, bringing a hand up defensively as she turned.
“It’s me, May! It’s Laurie! Oh, my dearest dear, are you hurt? Whatever happened just now?”
“He tried to kill me, that’s what,” May snapped. “But I sent him to lie for eternity with his other wives, and now I suppose that you and everyone else will say that I got no more than what I deserved. What are you doing here, anyway?”
“I followed you, of course,” Laurie said, understanding May’s fury albeit little else. “But why would he try to harm you, May? I thought that he wanted to take you to England and marry you.”
“You know a great deal about it,” May said bitterly. “I suppose Isabel has been talking out of turn again. That child wants whipping.”
“We will not speak of what anyone wants or deserves,” Laurie said quietly.
Peering at the river, she saw no sign of the man. The current was swift, its power undeniable, as the river swept on down the hillside. Doubtless, it was the end of him. Although Laurie felt no sorrow, she silently offered a prayer for his soul before turning back to her sister to ask, “Where are the things you took?”
“So you know about that, too, do you,” May said bitterly.
“Where are they, May?”
“Yonder,” May said, pointing toward the palfrey and the black standing quietly beside it. “In two sacks tied to his saddle.” She bent to pick up her cloak, clutching the front of her gown to her bosom with the other hand as she did.
“We should leave at once,” Laurie said, moving to make sure that the sacks were still where May said they were. When she found them, she added, “We are too close to the village. Even at this hour someone may be up and about, and it would not do for anyone to see us.”
“But what should we do with his horse?”
“I don’t think we should leave it here, and I’d rather leave those sacks tied where they are than carry them.” Laurie patted the black’s neck. “It seems well trained and would make a fine addition to our stable. We can say we found it wandering free.”
“Oh, indeed,” May said sarcastically. “We’ll ride into the yard in the middle of the night and say that whilst we were out, we happened upon a stray horse. We’ll say it followed us home, just as Isabel said about the kitten she found last year.”
Laurie grimaced. “It will not be as bad as that. Bangtail Willie let me out through the postern gate, and he is there now, awaiting our return. He will tell no one that he has seen us.”
“How can you be certain of that?”
“Faith, I think he is more worried about Bridget getting back safely than he is about us. So, turn around and let me do up your gown. Then we’ll go home.”
When May’s hooks were fastened again, Laurie left her to put on her cloak and led the black to where she had left her bay gelding.
May followed silently a moment later, leading the palfrey. She had not even protested Laurie’s decision to leave the sacks of gold and jewelry where they were.
With her thoughts taken up by the recent events, and then on protecting the precious sacks and getting away from the village unseen, it was not until they were riding up the slope above Kershopefoot that Laurie remembered what May had said about sending her false knight to his other wives. She glanced at May now, riding silently beside her, hunched over the palfrey’s neck as if it were too much effort to sit straight on her saddle.
“What did you mean back there when you spoke of his other wives?”
May shot her a look of resentment, but Laurie easily detected the hurt beneath it when May said bitterly, “He has been married before, Laurie. I don’t know how many times, but more than once. He told me he married the others only for their dowries. Once he had their dowries safe, he killed them.”
“Godamercy!”
“He is a wealthy man,” May went on. “But a man cannot be too wealthy, he said, and it occurred to him that he did not need to marry me to get my dowry, since I had brought it with me and had told no one where I was going. I forgot how much I had told Isabel.”
Laurie opened her mouth to say what she thought about May’s behavior, but she shut it again. It was no time for recriminations.
May was quiet for a few moments. Then she said, “Why did he not tell me before that he had had other wives? Many men marry more than once. Wives die in childbed or from disease…. Why didn’t he tell me, Laurie?”
“He did not think it important, I expect.”
“Well, I think it was important!”
“Aye, but you did not ask him, nor do you seem to have heeded other matters of practicality,” Laurie pointed out. She added more gently, “You thought you loved him, May.”
“I did.” With a sob, she added, “I was a fool, Laurie. He killed them and told their families they died in childbed. He wanted to kill me, too, but instead…” She hesitated, glancing back the way they had come. “How quickly does a dead man become a ghost, do you think? What if his ghost comes after us?”
“It will not,” Laurie said calmly. “And if you fear that he might somehow have survived, May, recall that the river was very swift and he was wearing chain mail. I do not see how he could survive. Did you see him even try to swim?”
“No, he went under straightaway, and I never saw him again. He’s dead. I’m sure of it, but I do fear his ghost.”
She faced forward again, straightening her shoulders, as if to show Laurie how calm she felt. Then, suddenly, her face crumpled. “I killed him! Godamercy, Laurie, what if someone finds out? We cannot take his horse home with us. They’ll know what we did!”
Laurie pressed her lips firmly together to keep from pointing out that
they
had not killed the false knight.
She heard another sob and saw that May had bent forward again. Her whole body was shaking.
Reaching to grasp her shoulder, Laurie said, “No one will know, May. Even if we take his horse to Aylewood, all anyone will know is that we found it. Willie will just put it with the others, and no one will think anything about it. Strange horses often show up in the stables. No one asks questions about them. And no one can possibly know what happened between you and Sir John, except me, and I won’t tell a soul. I will protect you, May. I promise, I will.”