Heavy boot falls sounded down the corridor, the sounds of men approaching from the direction of the grand hall. Peyton did not even look up; she was close to retching, trying desperately to gain a handle on her reeling senses. The first voice she heard was Brian’s.
“God’s Blood! What is going on?” Brian boomed, his big hands on Peyton’s shoulders.
Peyton couldn’t answer him; she began to cry and Brian looked to his frenzy-eyed daughter with shock. “Thia! What’s happened?”
Thia seemed to be losing some of her madness as she realized her father was speaking to her. She ceased to grapple against Toby’s iron grip and focused her small blue eyes on Brian.
“I….I…,” she swallowed hard, struggling for a convincing reply. “She was spying on me!”
Peyton raised her head in a great frenzy of wild red hair. “I did no such thing! How dare you accuse me of subversion!”
Brian looked to Toby, who met his liege’s gaze unwaveringly. “When I came upon them, Lady Thia was in pursuit of Lady Peyton. She has dealt her a serious beating.”
Brian looked to Peyton and attempted to help her to stand, but Peyton was far too shaken to rise to her feet. Instead, she sat heavily on her bottom.
“Peyton, are you all right?” Brian asked seriously, baffled with the entire situation.
Peyton opened her mouth to speak, but sobs suddenly bubbled forth and she buried her face in her hands. “I want Alec!”
Brian removed his hands from his hysterical daughter-in-law andstraightened, his hard gaze on Thia. “I would know what happened immediately,” he slanted a gaze at his startled steward. “Find Alec. Now.”
The man dashed off and Brian returned his focus to his daughter. “Answer me, Thia.”
Thia was calming rapidly as she realized the gravity of the situation. It was obvious her father was not going to side with her, instead, choosing to side with the bitch. She flushed mightily.
“I told you, father. She was spying on me and tried to harm me.”
Brian did not believe her for a moment, but he dutifully turned the question to Peyton. “My lady?”
Peyton removed her hands from her face, her gaze hot and angry on Thia. “I wasn’t spying. I was looking for Alec and came across Thia…. in a room.”
Brian’s eyebrows drew together. “And? And what?”
Peyton focused on Thia’s threatening stare, her terror being replaced by sheer anger and disgust. How could she tell Brian what she saw? She could barely think on it without becoming ill much less repeat the distasteful facts. As she struggled to find an answer, approaching boot falls distracted her attention.
Nigel and Colin stood in the hall, several feet behind Brian. Brian passed the men a glance, startled that they had not kept to the comfort of the grand hall, instead, choosing to pursue the sounds of struggle that had lured Brian from their company. The two were an unwelcome distraction and Brian impatiently focused on them.
“I apologize for the interruption,” he said, although he did not mean it. Tensions were so high that Peyton and Thia’s fight had actually provided him with a break. “’Tis nothing but a ladies’ squabble. Retreat to the grand hall and I shall join you momentarily.”
His request went ignored. Colin strolled forward and eyed the two women, the rake across Thia’s cheek and Peyton’s flushed face. “It appears to be more than a simply tussle, my lord.” Much to Brian’s dismay, his attention focused on Thia. “What’s the matter, my lady?Did she spurn your advances?”
Nigel snickered and Thia tensed in Toby’s grasp, her face flushing a deep, startled red. Before Brian could lodge a strenuous protest, Peyton struggled to her knees. “Certainly you only have your own rejection experiences to relate to,” she said breathlessly. “What occurs between the members of the House of Summerlin is none of your affair, Warrington.”
Colin’s face went taut with rage and he twitched in Peyton’s direction, but his father stepped forward. “Nay, lad. She is Alec’s wife.”
Colin struggled with himself a moment, well remembering the beating Alec had dealt him earlier. Angry or no, he had no desire to provoke him again. Instead, he clenched his fists behind his back and glared at Peyton. Peyton met his gaze unwaveringly, although her head was swimming and her knees were weak. Somehow, her hatred for him was strength in and of itself.
“Where has your sister gone, Lady Summerlin?”
From one focus to another, the subject had shifted from Peyton and Thia’s fight to Ivy’s whereabouts. Peyton rose to unsteady feet, assisted by Brian. Her eyes were blades of sapphire, deadly and sharp.
“Out of your clutches, you vile bastard. Return to Wisseyham and rot.”
Brian closed his eyes beseechingly a moment, wondering how such a beautiful woman could possess a razor-edged tongue. Although he would have liked to have said the very same thing, protocol and restraint prevented him from doing so. His grip tightened on Peyton, preparing to protect her from Colin’s wrath.
But he never got the chance. Much to his shock and Peyton’s as well, Thia tore herself free from Toby and thrust her meaty fist in Colin’s face.
“You heard her, you misbegotten whoreskin,” she seethed. “Return home. You are not welcome here.”
