Thomas knew that before he even spoke to his father.
Whatever his father and Northumbria had discussed during the earl’s visit to Wark didn’t matter now. Thomas was certain his father, even if he’d begged Northumbria to break the betrothal, would now ask Thomas to do his duty, to marry Adelaide, and inherit a vast empire that would keep the northern ties of de Wolfe strong and wide.
Everything he’d ever hoped for his life was now ended.
He turned to Desmond.
“I will return home immediately, but you remain here with Lady Bowlin for the night,” he said. “Make sure she and the children are adequately protected and then return on the morrow. I am sure I will have need of you.”
Desmond nodded, but Thomas couldn’t even look at Maitland as he moved swiftly to his horse. He couldn’t say goodbye. Looking at her, and speaking to her, would emphasize the tremendous disappointment he felt at the moment, how the death of a man could force him into a lifetime of misery.
And a lifetime without Maitland.
Did he love the woman? He’d only known her a couple of days. He’d known love, once, so he knew he wasn’t in love with her– yet. But given more time with her, he was fairly certain that he could be. He had no reason to believe that, given time, he wouldnotlove her. From the beginning, he’d felt differently towards her than almost any woman he’d ever met other than Tacey. But Tacey was in his past. He only wished Maitland could be in his future. Attraction for her had turned to interest, and interest to disappointment.
What was it he’d said to her?
Must I go through the rest of my life wondering what could have been between us?
The message from the weary Wark soldier only a few minutes ago had answered that question.
Yes.
CHAPTER TEN
Wark Castle
“Hold the bandagetighter,” Jordan commanded. “Keep her arm up above her head.”
The servants were trying very hard to carry out Lady de Wolfe’s orders, but it was difficult when the woman they were trying to help was being so difficult.
At least, she was trying to be difficult without actually resisting too much. With Adelaide, it was mostly noise and weeping and some wriggling, but nothing to suggest she was really trying too hard to pull away. She was letting Jordan and the maids inspect her cut arms and wrists, and weakly struggling when they wrapped them to stop the bleeding, but not much beyond that.
She was in the midst of a performance of a lifetime.
Jordan was trying to be sympathetic. God help her, she was genuinely trying because the lass had only just received word that her father had been killed in an ambush. The man’s batteredbody had been brought back to Wark Castle, where it was placed in the cool vault until arrangements could be made to return the remains to Kyloe Castle for burial. Adelaide had been told of her father’s death and promptly collapsed, whereupon she was brought to her chamber to recover.
Her German nurse, a woman who was rarely seen and even more rarely heard, remained with her in case she awoke, but when next Jordan and William realized, the German nurse was screaming that Adelaide had cut her wrists and had smeared the blood on her fine bed curtains. Why she smeared the blood there, neither Jordan nor William could guess, but she’d done it before. They could only assume it was for dramatic effect. Now, Jordan and several female servants were bandaging up Adelaide’s arms as her nurse stood on the landing outside the chamber and loudly wept. William stood just inside the doorway watching everything that was happening.
Sincerely, it was a nightmare.
“My father,” Adelaide wept listlessly. “My dear and sweet father! Why did they kill him? And where is Thomas so he might comfort me? I need him!”
Although William did not blame the woman for her grief, her manner of dramatics had him on edge. Perhaps he was used to women who were more mannerly and in control of their emotions, which Adelaide was not. She wailed and writhed weakly on the bed as Jordan and the maids tightened up her bandages. When she finally seemed tightly wrapped, Jordan dared to leave her post by the woman’s side and went to her husband. Sighing heavily, she pulled William into a corner of the chamber, away from the German nurse on the landing and away from Adelaide’s bed.
She didn’t want to be overheard.
“She’s not cut herself deeply enough tae do any real damage,” Jordan muttered to her husband. “’Tis just enough to be bloody.”
William was trying not to react with complete and utter disgust. “I am truly sorry for Edmund’s death,” he whispered. “But what she has done…”
“What she has done is try tae play upon our sympathies,” Jordan said quickly. “Make no mistake, English; as sorry as I am for the death of her father, she is usin’ it as an excuse tae gain attention from us, and particularly, from Tommy. Can ye hear her callin’ for him?”
William nodded. “I do, indeed,” he murmured. “I have sent for him. I expect him shortly, as it is not a long ride from Edenside, but we have a crisis on our hands now. With Northumbria dead, Adelaide is now the head of a very powerful army. That unstable girl controls an empire.”
“What are ye sayin’?”
It was William’s turn to sigh heavily as he brought forth words he didn’t want to speak. But he’d had time to think on the situation and the words, unfortunately, were necessary.
