Page 49
He gave her a reproachful look. “You must. I don’t want you to keep secrets from your mistress on my behalf.”
“You want her to know that you desired her maid?”
He glanced over to find her watching him intently. It would have been better if he could have said he’d only pretended to desire her. Anne would think badly of him, but then it would be over.
“She should know the truth,” he finally said. “And she needs to know that it is a product of the situation.”
She winced, and then nodded. “Very well. She would like to know if you have a plan to help her.”
“For the moment, I am biding my time. I have a plan, but I am not ready to share it.”
“And why not?” she asked, obviously affronted.
“Because it is not in place.”
“But—”
“An alternate plan would involve removing the two guards from the tower, which would be easy enough. Getting Lady Elizabeth out of the castle will be the problem.”
“And she won’t go.”
“What?” he demanded, staring at her.
“As I already said, she fears for her people. She will not leave them. She did try to send a missive to the king, but as you know, Milburn intercepted it. Why don’t you go to the king?”
There was true excitement in her voice for the first time, and John knew he would drive it away. The dampness soaked down into his shirt, the uneven road jarred his bruised leg—and Anne’s idea was about to be crushed. But how could he tell Lady Elizabeth about his plan to win the army’s support, if she was so worried about her people that she wouldn’t want force used? That was what an army was for!
“I considered this before I even arrived at Alderley. But I am a poor baron, without an army behind me.” For the moment.
“You have the ring, or so you say.”
“I have it. But who is to say he’ll believe me, especially if he’s heard the rumors?”
He had Anne’s full attention. “What rumors?”
“I was going to tell Lady Elizabeth when I met her, but I see it is too important to wait. While I was in Europe, rumors were spread among my people that I was the one demanding money from the estate, and the reason the land and castle were neglected. It was used as a more convenient excuse for why the money was taken. I imagine he thought I would never return, so that it wouldn’t matter,” he mused.
“He?”
John glanced at her. “My brother.”
She gasped in affront, as he knew she would. Lady Elizabeth had delusions about the kind of man William was, and she’d passed them on to Anne.
“How can you make an accusation against such a kind man, God rest his soul?”
The “kind man” had tried to beat and humiliate John in the attempt to make him into a man.
“The steward told me it was done under William’s orders,” he said, “and who else would have ordered it? William took the money for his personal use, and he didn’t want to look guilty of it.”
She opened her mouth as if to argue with him, but then she said, “I will tell my mistress what you have said.”
“And you will take my missive, as long as there is no danger to you?”
“You worry about me?” she said hesitantly.
“Aye.” He kept his eyes focused on the road. “You do not deserve to be caught between Lady Elizabeth and me.”
“Very well, I will take it for you.”
