Page 92 of Suddenly a Bride
He sighed. “I shall look into the matter of where he was last night. If I find no definite proof that he was involved, I will wait until his parents arrive, when I can confront them all together. Christmas is only a few days away.”
Gwyneth looked worried, but he knew no words would reassure her.
Chapter 22
On Christmas morning, Gwyneth awoke alone, as usual. Edmund always left before dawn. She knew a holiday could not make everything right, especially not with Earl Langston due to arrive at any moment. But she had dreamed of her family warm and safe by Christmas, and since they were, she was determined to pretend everything was all right rather than worry them.
She had thrown herself into preparations for the season, decking every room in the castle with holly and ivy. Wonderful smells wafted from the kitchen for days as the feast was prepared. Last night, the Yule log, still dripping with snow, had been dragged into the great hall, and one of the woodsmen had been Harold Langston himself. Gwyneth had watched her husband most carefully, but all he’d done was smile as all the castle residents had gathered around the hearth to sing.
Though she’d gone to bed alone and awakened in the same state, he had been at her side through the night, which offered her comfort—and hope. She lifted his pillow to her face and breathed deeply of his scent and prayed that somehow on this glorious day she could magically make him love and trust her.
Hearing a soft knock at the door, Gwyneth drew on her dressing gown and opened it. When she saw Lucy’s tentative smile, she drew the girl inside.
“So how is it being the consort of the Lord of Misrule?” Gwyneth asked, smiling. Hugh Ludlow had been elected by the villagers as the head of the Christmas festivities. Both Hugh and Lucy had become so much a part of Swintongate that Gwyneth assumed they’d soon be living there as husband and wife.
Lucy smiled tremulously, then dissolved into tears, throwing her arm over her eyes.
“What is it?” Gwyneth cried, ushering her friend to a chair before the fire. She pressed a handkerchief into Lucy’s trembling hands and watched her mop her face. “Have you and Hugh had a quarrel?”
“Oh, ’tis not that, Gwyn. I fear I’ve done somethin’ awful and ye’ll never forgive me.”
“You couldn’t have done something as drastic as that,” she said, pulling up the other chair to sit across from her friend. “Do tell me, so I can make you feel better.”
“Nothin’ can do that,” Lucy wailed, burying her face in the handkerchief.
Gwyneth waited for her sobs to lessen. The girl finally composed herself and stared with anguish into Gwyneth’s eyes.
“ ’Tis all me fault,” she whispered, then hiccuped on a sob. “The earl is comin’ because of me.”
The first hint of worry settled in Gwyneth’s stomach. “I do not understand.”
“We sent him a letter, Hugh and me. We didn’t know what else to do. We thought that surely Sir Edmund could deal with him!”
“Why did you send him a letter?”
“Because ’tis me who’s at fault, me who persuaded Hugh to do these horrible deeds.”
Gwyneth sat back in her chair and stared aghast at Lucy, whose tears dripped onto her bodice. “What are you saying?”
“I only came with ye to Yorkshire because the earl forced me to. He said he’d hurt me family if I didn’t do what he wanted. He paid me so they wouldn’t starve.”
“You’re behind all the problems we have had?” Gwyneth said in a faint voice.
“Me and Hugh,” she whispered mournfully. “I hated every moment of it, but Gwyn, I had no choice! He threatened me parents! He told me he has someone nearby watchin’ me, ready to kill me! I didn’t know what to do! I…I persuaded Hugh to help me when I saw how angry he was at Sir Edmund. We did only little things, though, didn’t we? I tried not to hurt anyone. Say ye can forgive me, Gwyn.”
“A fire is not a little thing,” she said, feeling the sad heaviness of betrayal.
Lucy’s tears started again. “Hugh set it where he thought no one would be, away from anythin’ important, but we never thought about people comin’ to put it out. Someone could have” –her sobs shook her chest—”d-died. I couldn’t live with it any longer, even if the earl decided to kill me.”
Gwyneth sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Edmund takes great pride in what he’s accomplished at Castle Wintering, and you’ve tried to ruin it.”
Lucy’s face went sickly white, and she put her trembling hand to her mouth. “Do ye think he’ll have us killed?”
Gwyneth frowned. “Have you learned nothing about him in all these months?”
“But I seen him angry over this, Gwyn, and I’m afraid.”
“I will speak to him with you.” She would calm Edmund’s temper and make everything right. She had to.
