Heart of Honor (3 page)

Prayed that Krista Hart was a woman of honor.

K
rista rushed into her Mayfair town house, heading down the hall to her father’s study. Since they had come straightaway from the circus, Coralee flew along in her wake.

Krista knocked, then shoved open the study door without waiting for permission. “Father! You won’t believe—”

She stopped as Matthew Carlton rose from the chair in front of her father’s desk. She hadn’t expected to see him, though lately Matthew had been stopping by the house more and more often.

Her father also came to his feet. “What is it, my dear? Not more trouble with the gazette?”

She glanced at Matthew. He was openly courting her now, though Krista still wasn’t sure how she truly felt about him. But Matthew was intelligent and a good conversationalist, and with his light-brown hair, hazel eyes and well-defined features, he was attractive. He would make a good husband, her father believed. And Matthew also believed they would suit each other very well.

Of course, there was every chance his interest was spurred by the size of Krista’s very substantial dowry and the inheritance she had received from her mother.

“No, Father, this has nothing to do with
Heart to Heart.
” She glanced again at Matthew, uncertain why she hesitated to speak in front of him. Coralee stood in the doorway, eager to hear what the professor would say when Krista told him about the man in the cage.

“I am sorry,” Krista said, “but I need to speak to my father. In private.”

“Of course.” Matthew kept his expression bland, though it was clear he didn’t like being dismissed. He was, after all, an associate professor and the second son of an earl. And he was becoming more and more proprietary where she was concerned.

He bowed his head politely. “If you will excuse me…”

“Perhaps Matthew and Miss Whitmore would care for some refreshment in the drawing room,” her father suggested diplomatically.

“That would be nice.” From the doorway, Corrie gave Matthew an airy smile as she floated into the study and took his arm. Casting Krista a
you-owe-me
glance, she led him off down the hall.

The moment the study door closed behind them, Krista launched into the tale of her adventure at the circus and the wild man she had seen in the cage.

“It was amazing, Father. The man speaks Old Norse. That is the reason no one understands what he is saying. I didn’t figure it out myself, right away.” She tried not to blush as she recalled the big man’s bawdy remarks as she had bent over in front of the cage.

The professor removed his spectacles, his curiosity piqued. “Did he say how he learned the language?”

“That’s just it. He says he is from a place called Draugr Island. He says everyone there speaks Norse.”

The professor’s eyes widened. “Draugr Island? Are you certain that is what he said?”

“Why, yes. Do you know it?”

“In Old Norse,
draugr
means ghost. There is a legend about Ghost Island. They say it is a place shrouded in fog, a rocky, fearsome bit of land, dangerous for an unwary sea captain and his ship. Most men say it doesn’t actually exist.”

“What is the legend about it?”

“Supposedly the ancient Vikings who settled in Greenland did not die off at the beginning of the sixteenth century as most scholars believe. When their numbers began to dwindle from disease and hostile weather, the people fled to the safety of an island somewhere north of the Orkneys.”

“Draugr Island?”

He shrugged his thin shoulders. “No one really knows. But that is the legend.”

Krista thought of the man in the cage. “There is a good chance, Father, it is far more than that.”

She told him about the shipwreck and that the man had said he had been captured and sold into slavery. “It was pitiful. No one should be treated the way they do that poor fellow.”

The professor rounded the desk, his brown eyes gleaming. “And you don’t believe he was insane…someone who might have learned the language some other way and is making all of this up?”

“I have no idea what to believe. But I promised we would help him. I gave him my word.”

“Then help him we shall.” Her father walked over and opened the study door, waited for her to step out into the hall. “We’ll make our excuses to Matthew and drop Coralee off at home on our way back to the circus.”

Krista felt a rush of relief. She had given her word. She was determined to keep it.

Leif was back in his cage for the late-afternoon performance. The fat man, Snively, didn’t even have to prod him to get him to shout and rage at the crowd. All Leif had to do was imagine that the woman he had spoken to would break her vow and not return. All he had to think of was living out his days crouched on the floor of an iron-barred cage, and the frustration inside him bubbled over into fury.

The usual crowd gathered. The little monkey, Alfinn, appeared, somehow sensing his need for companionship during these times. Leif raised his manacled fist and banged it against the bars, and one of the men in the crowd tossed a stone in his direction. Several others followed, the sharp sting of the rocks sending Leif’s fury up another notch.

Snively was grinning, thrilled by his performance, which only made his anger more fierce. He was raging, calling them names not fit for a decent man’s ears, when he caught a glimpse of shiny blond hair at the back of the crowd.

His heart kicked into gear, slamming like a hammer against the inside of his chest. She had come. There was no mistaking the tall blond woman who stood above the rest, the smooth skin and bright green eyes. He bit down on the next words he might have hurled at the crowd. He had offended the woman once. He would not do it again.

Silently, he watched her move toward him, followed by an even taller, very thin man wearing one of the silly-looking high hats the men here seemed to favor. Leif made himself wait patiently for the pair to arrive, when he wanted to shout with glee, his hopes soaring again.

Just then Snively stepped in front of the cage, blocking the man and woman’s approach. Leif could tell he was warning them away from the danger.

The thin man just smiled. He began speaking to Snively, but Leif couldn’t tell what he was saying. All the while, the woman watched Leif, her expression growing more and more grim. Then the fat man said something and started walking away. Leif imagined he was going to get his master, and a chill went through him. The man called Leopold was even crueler than the fat man, Snively.

Leif fixed his attention on the pair in front of the cage.

“My name is Paxton Hart,” the thin man said, and Leif understood every word.

“I am Leif of Draugr. That is where I come from.”

“My daughter has told me some of your story. I would like to hear the rest.”

Leif glanced back toward the wagon where Leopold would likely be found, but saw no one coming. Quickly, he told the man, Pax-ton Hart, the story of leaving Draugr Island with nine other men, the shipwreck and how he had been badly injured and washed ashore. That the other men had all been killed, and that while he was unconscious, healing in the barn owned by a local shepherd, he had been bound and sold.

“I was a free man, but now I am a slave. I am hoping you will be able to help me.”

“There are no slaves in England,” Pax-ton said. “Here no man can own another.” He turned to the woman who said she was his daughter, and spoke words Leif couldn’t understand. Leif looked up at the sound of footsteps and saw Leopold approach. As much as he tried to control it, his insides quivered.

“Are you the man who owns the circus?” the professor asked.

The man was black-haired, perhaps in his forties. He made an exaggerated bow and came up with an oily smile. “Nigel Leopold, at your service. And you would be…?”

“Professor Paxton Hart.”

“
Sir
Paxton Hart,” Krista added, hoping it might somehow help them.

“Pleasure meeting you, Sir Paxton.” Leopold flashed another phony smile and Krista felt an instant dislike for the man.

“Mr. Leopold,” she said. “You’re holding a man against his will. He claims that you abducted him. That makes you guilty of a terrible crime.” She pointed toward the cage. “Release him at once.”

Leopold just laughed. “The fellow escaped from Bedlam. I am doing him a favor, but if you wish to see him returned—”

“There is nothing wrong with his sanity,” her father said. “He merely speaks a different language.”

“Gibberish—that is what he speaks. Mad as Mrs. Crane’s daughter. Here, at least he earns his keep. We feed him three meals a day and give him a dry place to sleep.”

“He isn’t an animal,” Krista said. “He doesn’t deserve to be treated like one.”

“The man is mad. As I said, I am doing him a favor.”

Her father studied the circus owner with a frown. “I believe I understand the problem. How much do you want for his release?” Leif was a unique attraction. The Last Barbarian drew large, very profitable crowds. Leopold would not want to lose him, and buying his freedom would not be cheap.

“Trust me, my friend, you can’t afford the cost,” Leopold said.

Krista glanced at the blond man in shackles crouching in a cage that was far too small for him. Though the day was fairly warm, a sharp breeze blew, and with so little clothing he had to be cold. For an instant, their gazes met and held, and there was such despair, such a tortured look in his eyes that her stomach squeezed with pity for him. There was no way she was leaving any human being locked in that cage, no matter how much it cost.

Her father rattled off a more than fair sum of money, but Leopold just smiled and shook his head. “’Fraid not, gov’nor. Like I said, here he earns his keep.”

“Then I suppose we shall have to take another tack,” Krista said. “First, let me remind you that my father has been knighted by the queen. Second, my name is Krista
Chapman
Hart. My grandfather, Thomas Herald Chapman, is the Earl of Hampton.”

Leopold’s thin black eyebrows shot up, though he quickly smoothed his features.

“That said,” Krista continued, “the man in the cage has accused you of a crime. My father and I both speak his language and we will be more than happy to testify in a court of law that you have abducted him illegally and are keeping him here against his will, that you have forced him into slavery for your own selfish purposes. We will make it abundantly clear to the authorities, Mr. Leopold, that
you
are the man who should be locked behind bars.”

Leopold’s face turned a vivid shade of red. “You can’t threaten me!”

“My daughter has made no threat,” the professor said. “She had merely stated a set of facts. If you wish to refute them, it will be your word against ours.”

A greedy circus owner against a knight of the realm and a member of the aristocracy. Krista almost smiled.

“The choice is yours,” the professor continued. “Either you accept a reasonable amount of money as repayment for your investment in Mr. Draugr’s
care
these past six months, or you face the wrath of the authorities. Which will it be?”

Leopold sputtered and cursed. One of his hands tightened into a fist he raised in Krista’s direction. In the cage behind her, she heard Leif threatening to cut out Leopold’s tongue if he laid a hand on either one of them.

Again she might have smiled, but when she turned toward the cage, she saw the man’s big, manacled hands wrapped around the bars as if he meant to pull them out with pure brute strength, and his eyes, the most intense blue she had ever seen, promised vengeance.

Dear God, what would they do with the man once they set him free? They couldn’t simply abandon him. And of course, her father would be determined to study him.

What if he really was as dangerous as the circus owner claimed?

“Mr. Leopold…?” her father pressed.

“All right, all right. You win. Give me the damnable money. Take the bloody bastard and good riddance, and none of you better show your faces around here again.”

The professor cleared his throat. “I’m afraid I don’t carry that quantity of money on my person. We shall have to wait here for my daughter to return with the coin.”

Leopold swore an oath and stalked away.

Krista took her cue and hurried back to the carriage. Half an hour later, she returned to the circus grounds with a bag of gold sovereigns. Her father delivered them to Mr. Leopold’s wagon, then walked back to the cage with the heavyset man she had seen before, the man with the scar on his cheek.

With a muttered curse, the man shoved the rusty iron key into the lock and opened the door to set Leif of Draugr Island free.

Krista stood by as the cage door swung open and the big blond giant climbed down the wooden stairs. When he stretched to his full height, she saw that he was at least six inches taller than she.

It was amazing. For the first time in her life, she actually felt petite.

He stood quietly in front of her father as the heavyset man, Snively, she recalled, knelt to unfasten the manacles around his ankles, then removed them from his wrists. As soon as he was free, Leif grabbed the man by the front of his shirt with a growl and lifted him clear off the ground, shaking the fellow so hard Krista was afraid he would break the man’s neck.