Desmond’s brow furrowed. “But why should they go after Mae?” he asked. “Why would they even go near her?”
Thomas looked at the man. He’d refrained from telling him anything about his feelings for Maitland, but now he had no choice. He had to confess everything in what would perhaps be a confession not well received, but it couldn’t be helped.
Desmond had to know.
“Because I was at Edenside yesterday,” Thomas said quietly. “Des, I know you told me to stay away from Mae, but the truth is that I have feelings for her. In fact, I love her, and if that upsetsyou, I am sorry, but I cannot help myself. I was with her in Kelso when she sold her cheese and I escorted her back to Edenside when the day was through, but I swear to you that I left Mae and the children safe and sound.”
Desmond had gone pale as he listened to Thomas’ confession with rising disbelief. “And the reivers were watching you,” he hissed. “They have been watching you since Coldstream and when they saw you with my sister, they went after her.”
Thomas sighed with regret. “I believe that is true.”
Desmond went from pale to flushed all in a split second. “You bastard,” he growled. “I told you to stay away from her. I told you! This is allyourfault!”
Before Thomas could respond, Scott stepped in. He faced Desmond with a rigid expression. “Thomas is your liege,” he said in a low tone. “You will not show him such open disrespect, de Ryes, no matter what the subject.”
Thomas put his hand on Scott’s arm. “I am not troubled, Scott,” he said, trying to push the man aside so he wouldn’t get into a physical confrontation with Desmond. “He has every right to be upset. He did tell me to stay away from her but I could not. She is a wonderful woman, Des, and I love her. I am sorry if I deceived you, but I did not think you would believe that my feelings are sincere for her.”
Desmond was looking at Thomas even though Scott hadn’t moved out of the way. He was tilting his head sideways to look around Scott’s big body. “I told you I did not want her to become another de Wolfe conquest,” he said angrily. “You are to marry Adelaide and then what becomes of my sister? Does she become your whore?”
Thomas shook his head. “Nay,” he insisted. “I would never treat her so poorly. A whore is a name for a woman who means nothing to a man, and Mae means a great deal to me. I can give her everything but marriage, Des. I can give her my heart and mysoul and my love and my money. I will treat her like a queen for the rest of her life. Does that still make her my whore?”
“Yes!” Desmond nearly screamed. “It does! Paint the picture any way you wish, but you are making my sister your concubine, Thomas. She does not deserve that!”
The situation was getting out of hand, veering away from the crisis at hand and on to Thomas’ feelings for Desmond’s sister. Scott, Troy, Patrick, and Blayth were listening to it all very closely. They were quite surprised to hear the declaration from Thomas. Given what had happened with Tacey those years ago, and how their little brother had lived a loose life of women and wine since then, they weren’t prepared to hear him declare his love for another woman.
Even so, they were seeing all of the signs that Thomas was being sincere. Knowing the man as they did, he didn’t take things like this lightly. He never said something he didn’t mean. It was a most confusing situation, but one that would have to wait for clarification. Patrick finally put himself between the two men, a massive flesh and blood barrier to stop them from focusing on one another.
“You two can argue about this later,” he said, “but right now, there is a woman and children that need help. It seems to me that you can put aside whatever differences you may have and focus on that for now.”
“Agreed,” Scott said, turning to Thomas. “What do you want to do about this? If the ThurrockCúare after you, then they took the woman and those children for a reason.”
Thomas was glad for Patrick and Scott’s intervention because he was starting to become quite emotional in his argument with Desmond. He loved Maitland and nothing her brother said was going to change that. Raking his fingers through his dark hair, he struggled to focus on Scott’s valid question.
“Clearly, they want my attention and now they have it,” he said. “I am sure they killed Northumbria for the same purpose, but something tells me that they have not killed Mae and the children, at least not yet. If their intention had been to kill them, then they would have done that at Edenside. Desmond would have found the bodies. Instead, they have taken them away, which leads me to believe they have another purpose in mind.”
Patrick nodded. “I think so, too,” he said. “I have been dealing with the ThurrockCú, Tommy, as Northwood has also, but Troy and Scott haven’t, which brings me to the conclusion that they are somewhere east of Wark and west of Berwick. They are in this area.”
Thomas nodded. “My suspicions as well,” he said. “There are three ruined pele towers between Wark and Berwick that would be perfect for the reivers to hide in. I’ve had my men check those sites periodically, but they never found anyone. There are more pele towers further south, of course, but I do not think the reivers would be hiding out so far south when most of their activity has been between Wark and Berwick. So far, they have managed to evade us.”
Troy, who had remained silent throughout the conversation, mostly because he was a man of few words and more action, held up a finger to catch everyone’s attention.
“Think on it, lads,” he said. “Thurrock is not a name from the north; it is a town in Essex. I know because I’ve been there before. The House of de Grey had lands in Thurrock, in Essex, and de Grey used to be a major landholder in the north. They still hold Chillingham Castle further to the south.”
Everyone was looking at Troy by now. “What is your point?” Scott asked.
Troy lifted a dark eyebrow, looking very much like his father in that gesture. In fact, out of all of the brothers, he was the one who favored William the most.
“My point is that the de Grey family also used to own Castle Heton, which is in ruins now,” he said. “It is a ruinous mound that is east of Wark and south of Coldstream by a few miles, out in the wilds of Northumberland. It is not very far from here. You have speculated that the ThurrockCúis mayhap in one of the ruinous pele towers around here, but what about a ruinous castle? And their name may very well give you a clue as to where, exactly, they are.”
Thomas and Patrick looked at each other in surprise. “He’s right,” Patrick said. “My God, he’s absolutely right. We were fools not to have seen that before.”
Troy waved them off. “I do not deal with them regularly, so it is easy for an outsider to see something you may not,” he said. “I may be completely wrong, but if you want to locate these men, then that is as good a starting point as any. You should go to Castle Heton.”
Thomas was thinking that his brother made a good deal of sense. “We must start somewhere,” he said. “I will go to Castle Heton first, but being that they hold Mae and the children hostage, I cannot go charging in with an army to rescue them. If they see us coming, it could go very badly for Mae and the children.”
“What are you suggesting, Tommy?” Scott asked.
Thomas looked at the men standing around him, men he’d grown up idolizing. He so wanted to be great like they were, but he had no heroics behind him, no history other than his time in The Levant that suggested he was made of greater things. He hoped he wasn’t being foolish by speaking his mind.
