Sapphire - Book 2 (6 page)

“Raise your face and greet my nephew before
you leave, Baroness,” his uncle told her.

And then ever so slowly she raised her chin,
causing Roe’s jaw to drop as he saw her bright blue eyes and
delicate features and realized he was looking upon the face of his
lover from the pub last night.

“Lark?” He felt his throat tighten and he
didn’t understand this at all. The woman he’d spent the best night
of his life with was not only the baron’s wife, but also the woman
who should have been his wife all alone. Life had just dealt him a
wicked hand and he didn’t like it in the least.

“What did you call her?” asked the baron. “You
sound as if you know my wife. Sapphire, have you been with this
man? Because if I find you have cuckold me, I swear you will pay
for your illicit act once we return to Lydd.”

Roe saw the fear in the girl’s eyes as she
looked at her husband and then her attention darted to him. Their
gazes interlocked and a tear lodged in her glassy eyes, silently
begging him to keep her secret. He couldn’t tell them she’d been
with him last night, or he knew the baron would beat her, mayhap
even kill her. Nay, he couldn’t allow that, and he also knew now
that he’d made the biggest mistake of his life by not returning
from overseas sooner. This could have been his wife. Sapphire,
they’d called her. And he knew she really was a gem. He didn’t know
what was going on here, but he had to find out before he let her go
anywhere with Baron Lydd.

“Nay,” he said, softly, shaking his head. “I
am mistaken. My apologies, Lady Sapphire.” He released his mother
from his hold and replaced his sword in his scabbard. Then he
walked slowly toward the girl and took her hand in his. “I am happy
to make your acquaintance, Baroness.” He raised her hand to his
mouth and pressed his lips upon it in a slight kiss. “And I only
hope you can forgive me for having confused you with a girl I know
who is naught but a whore.”

Chapter 4

Sapphire fumed at the knight’s words and
pulled her hand out of his grip. How could he say she was a whore
after the wonderful, passionate night of making love they’d shared
together? Suddenly, her image of him had changed, and he didn’t
seem so chivalric after all.

“Please refrain from putting your lips upon my
hand, Sir Knight,” she told him, “as I would not want to be thought
of as being a wanton woman.”

With his blue eyes the color of a summer sky
fixed on her, she could see he wasn’t amused by her
words.

“Well, I once had a woman named Lark who
reminded me of you. And I assure you, she was very good in bed, and
also very wanton.”

She felt her face flush and looked to her
feet, as she could not look upon his handsome face after knowing
what they’d done, and with her husband standing right there. If the
baron had any idea, she would be beaten for days when they returned
to Lydd.

“Is this some kind of game you play with my
wife?” asked the baron. “Because I don’t like it,
Sexton.”

Roe turned to face the man, and she watched as
he laid the hand atop the hilt of his sword as a subtle reminder to
him of his threat.

“I have reconsidered, Lydd. I would like you
to stay on at Castle Rye for a while after all. Perhaps I’ve
misjudged you.”

Sapphire didn’t believe a word of what he was
saying. Especially since he’d only changed his mind when he knew
she was the baron’s wife. Still, she was happy that she wouldn’t be
leaving with the vile man after all.

“Good choice,” said his uncle happily. “After
all, you have just arrived and need time to get to know the baron
before you can judge him.”

Sapphire saw a vein throbbing in Roe’s neck
and had the feeling he was biting back his words. Either way, she
was happy that she’d be staying after all. She had no intention of
leaving with the baron and would do anything at all to save herself
from his clutches.

“Well, I think we should have a feast to
welcome home Roe,” said Henry.

“I won’t be able to join, as I have business
in town all day today.” The baron excused himself and left the
stable in a foul mood.

“Roe, I am so happy to have you home,” said
his mother, reaching up and pecking him on the cheek. Sapphire felt
a tinge of envy, as she wished her mother were still alive so she
could get a kiss from her as well.

“Come along, darling,” said Henry, holding out
his arm to his wife. “Roe, are you coming as well? You have missed
a lot since being gone and I’d like to tell you of the happenings
in the past year.”

Roe glanced back at Sapphire and answered
without looking at his uncle. “I’ll be along momentarily,” he
said.

“Sapphire?” asked Henry. “You need to get to
the kitchen and direct the servants in preparing the
feast.”

“I’ll go to the kitchen instead, darling,”
said Roe’s mother, escorting Henry toward the door. “I am sure
Sapphire and Roe might like a minute to get to know each
other.”

“Well, I suppose,” Henry said, looking back
over his shoulder as Katherine whisked him away.

Henry and Katherine exited the stable and
Dugald who’d been standing there so quietly that she’d almost
forgotten about him, came forward.

“Welcome back, my lord,” he said with a large
grin.

“Dugald.” Roe put an arm around the boy’s
shoulders. “I have just come from the Bucket of Blood and Auley
O’Connor tells me you’ve been with his daughter.”

“Oh!” The boy’s face darkened. “I am sorry, my
lord, but . . . but . . .” He looked to Sapphire for
help.

“’
Tis my fault,” she said. “I
asked him to take me to the pub in secret. If I hadn’t, he never
would have been with Erin.”

“I don’t mind the fact you may be sweet on
her,” said Roe, “but I hear you’ve hit her as well.”

“Hit her?” The boy’s eyes widened and his body
stiffened. “I would never hurt Erin. I love her.” His hand flew to
his mouth as he covered it, having spilled his secret.

“I’m willing to bet you bed the girl as
well.”

“Lord Sexton, please do not punish the boy,”
begged Sapphire. “He cannot help the way he feels for the girl. I
admire him that he has found true love and I beg you not to put an
end to the boy’s happiness.”

“True love?” He turned and faced her then,
causing her to look in the opposite direction. “There is no such
thing.”

“There is!” She boldly walked up to him now,
and looked him in the eye. “My sister, Ruby found it with her
husband and the jeweled dagger proves it.”

“Now, that makes no sense at all.”

“My mother, bless her soul, bought jeweled
daggers from a blind hag in order to conceive a child.”

“So you are a witch, then?” he asked, taking
his arm from around the boy’s shoulders.

“There is no such thing,” she assured him. “My
mother acted only on a superstition.”

“A superstition that involved true love?” he
asked.

“Yes. She was told that for every dagger
purchased she’d have a child – which came true. And if she named
the children after the stones in the hilts, that child would
someday find true love.”

“Ah, so that explains your odd name of
Sapphire, and your sister’s name of Ruby. Are there more siblings?”
He raised a brow. “Perhaps one of you is named Lapis
Lazuli?”

“Nay,” she said. “But my twin sisters are
named Amber and Amethyst.”

“And if you had a brother would she had called
the poor boy Ruby?”

“There was no chance of that. You see, when my
mother tried to steal a fifth dagger, the curse was placed upon
her. She was to have all girls and lose a boy as well as her true
love.”

“What happened to her?” asked
Dugald.

“She died birthing my baby brother, who had
one black eye and one of bright orange.”

“This whole story seems concocted,” growled
Roe. “You are making this all up, aren’t you?”

“I promise you, ’tis the truth. And if my
father had not blamed her death on the daggers and discarded them,
I’d have my sapphire dagger today – and my true love, and not be
married to that deceitful wretch that takes the title of my
husband.”

“Lady Sapphire, you mustn’t say that.” Dugald
looked up to Roe nervously.

“Do not worry, I won’t take my hand to her
face the way you did to Erin, bruising her for all to see,” said
Roe. “I cannot and will not accept those types of actions, Dugald
and for this you must be punished.”

“I didn’t hurt her, I assure you, my
lord.”

“He wouldn’t hurt her,” interrupted Sapphire.
“And I find it amusing you are so willing to punish a boy when you
know not the truth, yet you saw with your own eyes the baron hurt
your mother and yet you let him walk away unscathed.”

Roe seemed to think for a moment and then
turned back to Dugald. “All right. I’ll give you the benefit of the
doubt this time. But if I find you’ve been with her again I’ll have
to take proper action. You are not to see Erin ever again, not even
in secret. Do you understand me?”

“I do, my lord,” the boy said sheepishly, his
shoulders slumping and his head falling forward as well. “Thank
you, my lord.”

“Good. Now go find my squire, Waylon, and take
my horse from him so he can attend to my other needs. And I’ll
expect to see you working twice as hard to make up for your
mistake.”

“Of course, my lord,” said Dugald, and he
hurried out of the stable.

Roe turned back to Sapphire, but she just
shook her head.

“You seem disappointed, baroness, please do
tell me why.”

“Stop calling me baroness,” she told him. “I
despise that man and if I could reverse time I would not be married
to him at all. And I find it appalling that you should order a boy
to keep away from the girl with whom he has fallen in
love.”

“I’ve had an official complaint from the
girl’s father. And as lord of Rye I need to address this issue, and
find an answer to the problem.”

“Then find an answer to my problem,” she told
him. “Kill off that bastard so I no longer have to be his
wife.”

Two stableboys entered just then, and Roe
placed his hand under her elbow and escorted her toward the
door.

“Walk with me,” he told her. “I’ll not have
the hired help hearing a noble speak as such, nor will I have
tongues wagging within my own walls that the lord was alone in the
stable with the baron’s wife.”

She said nothing to him at all until they came
to the garden of the castle. Purple larkspur and red poppies were
in full bloom, and coming here always took Sapphire’s breath away,
as the gardens were so pretty.

“I love flowers,” she told him. “And these are
so colorful.”

“They are my mother’s favorites as well. She
brought them here years ago, as a whole field of them grow outside
the castle walls and just over the hill.”

“I’d like to see that some day,” she said. “It
sounds very romantic.”

“Get that delusional idea out of your head, my
little lark, as you know as well as I that there is no such thing
as true love, especially in a marriage. Two people are married for
alliances and having heirs only.”

“I don’t believe that,” she said. “And I also
know that by being married to the baron I’ll have neither true love
nor heirs. He has been sampling every woman in the castle trying to
find one who’ll be planted with his seed, but to no
avail.”

“And is that what you were doing at the Bucket
of Blood?” he asked with a raised brow. “Sampling the wares and
trying to conceive a child as well?”

“You swine!” she spat, wrapping her arms
around her and turning away. “And to think I let you defile me and
even enjoyed it. Now I see what a fool I’ve been.”

“I told you, you’d enjoy it. But we both know
you were defiled long before I ever laid a hand on you.”

“I am not a whore,” she told him, sitting down
on a stone bench, looking the opposite direction. “I told you that
to begin with, yet you insisted on pushing yourself on
me.”

“Pushing?” He sounded amused and sat down next
to her. “If I remember correctly, you were begging me to thrust
myself inside you.”

Just the thought of their night together had
her body already responding. But she didn’t like the way the man
was talking to her, and she knew she had to get away from him
before she said something that would anger him and he’d be sending
her away once again with the baron.

“Well, you can’t blame a woman for wanting to
feel the same elation of a man once in awhile.”

“So . . . you’re saying you do not feel . . .
promiscuous while bedding your husband?”

“Why do you even ask me that when it does not
matter? I was betrothed to you, yet I was given away when you could
not even see to send a missive to your worrying mother. I should
think you’d feel terrible for the way you’ve behaved.”

“And I could say the same about
you.”