The Iron Knight (The De Russe Legacy Book 3) (31 page)

“I supposed you are going to run to de Russe and tell him everything you just heard,” he muttered. “My foolish daughter just made it easy for you to claim him. Now you know. Well? What are you waiting for?’

Truthfully, Sophina was still in shock. Juno was pregnant by another man and Holderness wasn’t going to tell Lucien about it. Now, the man’s aggressiveness in pushing the marriage between his daughter and Lucien was starting to make some sense. Juno was pregnant and Holderness wanted Lucien to believe he was the father. It was beyond vile; it was reprehensible. Holderness would have his wants and didn’t care who he hurt or tramped on in the process.

Lowering her hand, Sophina walked a wide berth around Holderness to where Juno and Emmaline were standing.

“Go up to your chamber,” she said softly, turning Juno and Emmaline for the door. “Go up there and bolt it. You will not open it for anyone but me or Lucien or Lucien’s knights. Is that clear?”

Emmaline nodded, pulling the sobbing Juno out the door with her, helping the young woman up the stairs. Sophina followed them from the room, standing at the bottom of the stairs until the two young women disappeared from sight.

Once they were gone, she couldn’t even bring herself to look at Holderness. He was the lowest form of life as far as she was concerned. He was trying to control everyone and everything around him without care or consequence. He was, in fact, much like her father. Aye, she knew men like that. She knew what lengths they would go to in order to gain their wants. But Holderness wouldn’t gain his wants this time. Without another word, she turned on her heel and quit the keep.

What she didn’t count on was Holderness pursuing her with a dagger.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

L
aurent and Colton
were escorting du Pontes two knights, de Fey and l’Evereux, through the gatehouse when they both saw Lady de Gournay exiting the keep. The morning was brightening up, the sky above a clear and deep shade of blue, and the vision of Lady de Gournay coming from the keep was without obstruction.

In fact, Laurent and Colton eyed the woman, for she cut a fine figure as she walked. Clad in brown broadcloth with a leather girdle cinching up her small waist, she was quite lovely and a bit of sweetness upon their eyes. Colton knew that Lucien thought the same thing although Laurent hadn’t been around enough to see how Lucien was eyeing Lady de Gournay. Nor had Laurent heard Lucien confess that he intended to marry the woman. It made for some interesting dynamics considering Lucien’s betrothed was in residence, the pale but lovely Lady Juno. Aye, odd dynamics and actions were afoot these days at Spelthorne.

As they were eyeing the lovely woman, they saw Holderness exit the keep, too, moving quite swiftly after Lady de Gournay. The man was moving in a bizarre manner, in fact, it appeared that he was staggering. He was grabbing at something in his robes, something neither Laurent nor Colton could see, but soon enough, they saw that he had a dagger in his hand. His pursuit of Lady de Gournay increased. Colton was the first one to speak.

“What is your father doing?” he asked Laurent. “What is he going to do with that dagger?”

Laurent was watching with concern. He knew his father could be rash and aggressive at times, but following a woman with a dagger in his hand was never a good sign. Knowing his father, the man was capable of anything, especially in light of recent events involving Lucien and his reluctance to marry Juno. Therefore, Laurent didn’t even answer Colton. He simply took off at a dead run towards his father. Startled, Colton did, too, yelling at du Ponte’s knights as he went.

“Into the hall!” he bellowed. “Go!”

Colton didn’t spare the attention to see if they obeyed him. He simply kept running after Laurent because the man’s father had a big dagger in his hand as he went in pursuit of Lady de Gournay. Something terrible was about to occur and they had to stop it. But Colton was a faster runner than Laurent and was on the man’s heels by the time they reached Holderness, who saw them coming. He tried to run at Lady de Gournay in a sprint, dagger lifted, but Laurent managed to put himself between his father and the lady. The dagger came down into Laurent’s shoulder.

Sophina, who had no idea that Holderness was behind her until the running knights drew close, screamed as Laurent and Colton tackled Holderness, all three of them hurling to the ground in a violent crash of flesh. Terrified, she jumped back just as de Fey and l’Evereux also came running up, watching Laurent roll off of his father with a dagger in his clavicle. That left Colton wrestling with the earl on the ground, trying to subdue the man.

Instinct took over and Sophina ran to Laurent with the hilt sticking out of his shoulder. “My God!” she gasped. “Sir Laurent! Let me get a look at this – let me see what damage the blade has done.”

Laurent was grunting with pain. The blade had rendered his left arm fairly useless. He pushed himself up, grabbing Sophina by the arm and trying to usher her away from the brawl as de Fey and l’Evereux jumped in. Holderness was howling, screaming to be released, but Colton had the man fast by the arms as l’Evereux grabbed the man by the legs, trapping him. More men began coming, lured by the screams.

“Move away, my lady,” Laurent said, staggering up to his feet, still holding her arm. “Quickly, move away. My father is far gone into madness.”

Sophina let the big knight move her away but she was thoroughly puzzled and very frightened. “But why?” she asked. “Why did he stab you?”

Laurent was moving her in the direction of the hall. Men were shouting now, some of them running over to the skirmish where the three knights now had Holderness pinned and subdued. But the man was still screaming his head off.

“It was an accident,” he said, sweat on his upper lip from the pain. “He was going after you, my lady. We stopped him.”

Sophina looked at the knight, horrorstruck. “Me?” she repeated. “But… why…?”

“That is what I would like to know,” Laurent said, pulling her to a halt well away from the pile of men. “Did you have a conversation with him recently? What did you say to him that he would come after you with a dagger?”

Sophina’s gaze trailed to the earl, now on the ground as Colton and another knight tied him up with rope that one of the de Russe soldiers had brought. Her mouth was hanging open, shocked, as she tried to grasp what had just happened.

“We just spoke in the keep,” she said hesitantly. “He said that Lucien does not wish to marry your sister and tried to buy out the marital contract. Your father called it a bribe. He… he accused me of seducing Lucien. But your sister… Sweet Mary, your lovely sister said that your father was only forcing her to marry Lucien so that Lucien would believe he was the father of your sister’s child.”

Laurent understood a good deal in that stammered explanation. He looked at Sophina for a moment, astonishment on his face, before turning his attention to his father. Colton had just finished tying his hands behind his back and Holderness lay there and screamed.

“Good God,” Laurent finally hissed, rolling his eyes as if coming to understand the gist of a very bad situation. “She said it. She really said it.”

“Who?”

Laurent glanced at Sophina. “My sister,” he muttered, putting a hand to the hilt of the dagger still sticking out of his shoulder as if to somehow ease the pain. “My lady… I am so very sorry. Sorry my father tried to….”

He was cut off as Lucien suddenly appeared with de Bretagne and du Ponte behind him. They’d come hurtling out of the great hall after being alerted by one of Lucien’s soldiers, now seeing a gang of men in the area between the hall and the keep with Holderness on the bottom of it, restrained. Colton and du Ponte’s two men were standing over him. Lucien’s expression was twisted with concern and bewilderment.

“What in the hell goes on here?” he demanded. Then, he noticed Laurent standing there with a dagger in his shoulder. His concern grew. “Who did that?”

Sophina was so relieved to see Lucien that she was nearly in tears. “His father did,” she said, struggling not to cry. “He was trying to stab me but Laurent saved me. His father stabbed him, instead.”

Lucien’s face lost some of its color at that moment. He looked at Sophina and, seeing how upset she was, couldn’t restrain himself from going to her. But he didn’t pull her into his arms, as much as he wanted to. He stopped short of touching her. But he stood very close to her, looking her over just to make sure she was unharmed.

“What happened?” he asked again. “Why did Holderness try to kill you?”

To have Lucien so close made Sophina feel very weak. God, she wanted to feel his arms around her. She wanted his comfort. She put up a hand, resting it on his chest. She simply had to touch him.

“He said terrible things, Lucien,” she whispered tightly. “He said that you were trying to buy my contract with du Ponte. He said you tried to buy his contract with Juno, paying him so that you would not have to marry her. He said he would take every pence from you before he would agree.”

Lucien still wasn’t clear on why Holderness had tried to kill her. “I did offer,” he said without hesitation. “I said exactly that. I offered to buy du Ponte’s contract and I further offered to pay Holderness if he would dissolve my betrothal with his daughter.”

Sophina wiped at her eyes because the tears were forming. “Lucien, Juno is pregnant,” she said quietly. She didn’t want anyone else to overhear. “That is why Holderness was trying to force you to marry the girl, so that you would think the child was yours. I suppose… I suppose Holderness knew I was going to tell you the truth so mayhap he was trying to silence me.”

Lucien’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped. “She is with child?”

“Aye.”

Lucien stared at her, utterly shocked. “But… how…?” he stammered. “How long have you known?”

Sophina gazed up at him with her big, bottomless eyes. “I was just told,” she said. “When the earl said those terrible things to me, Lady Juno confessed the true reason behind him pushing the marriage between you and her. He was trying to force the marriage quickly so you would not know Lady Juno was pregnant when you married her.”

Lucien felt as if he had been struck. Immediately, his accusing gaze flew to Holderness as the man now sat up, hands tied, on the ground of the bailey. But, just as swiftly, his gaze moved to Laurent, standing pale and injured. The realization of what the House of de Saix had tried to put over on him had him reeling. Even if he didn’t really know the earl, by virtue of the man’s station, he’d had no reason to mistrust him. Until now.

But Laurent… Lucien had fought with Laurent many a time. He trusted the man or, at least, he had. Now, he struggled not to become enraged as a very terrible secret came to light.

“Did you know?” he asked Laurent. “About your sister’s condition – Laurent, did you know?”

Laurent swallowed hard. “Aye, my lord,” he said, defeat in his voice. “I knew. But it was my father’s arrangement with you. He told me not to interfere. He threatened me, in fact.”

Lucien felt as if he’d been betrayed. “And you were not going to tell me?”

Laurent sighed heavily. “And go against my father?” he asked, trying to defend himself. “I am his heir, Lucien. He can easily cut me out and you know it. Everything I have depends on him. Would I have told you about my sister and risked my inheritance? It would have been the right thing to do, that is true, but it is an action that would have more than likely left me penniless. Was that worth telling you? Ask yourself that question. Could you have made that choice? You would have married my sister, she would have given birth to the child, and you would not have been the wiser. And it was a secret I would have taken to my grave with me. I am sorry, but that is the truth. I understand if you cannot forgive me for thinking of myself over you, Lucien, but my failing is that I considered my plight over yours.”

Lucien felt many different emotions at that point. He was disappointed with Laurent’s stance but, in a way, he understood it. He really did. Telling him what he knew about his father’s dirty dealings wasn’t worth the cost of the Holderness earldom. Nay, Lucien couldn’t really fault him that. Risking his entire legacy over a matter that, had it gone as it was supposed to, would have had Lucien believing that the child his young wife bore was his. Lucien certainly wouldn’t have suspected otherwise.

Still, he was disappointed. Disappointed and angry. Without much more to say on the subject, at least to Laurent, he turned to Sophina.

“Would you please take Laurent into the keep and tend his injury?” he asked quietly. “I have other pressing matters to attend to.”

That was an understatement. The situation with du Ponte and the arrival of an army had been chaotic enough without Holderness attempting murder. Sophina studied Lucien’s face, trying to determine what he was going to do and how he was reacting to all of this. She was concerned for him.

“Laurent saved my life,” she reminded him quietly. “Remember that before passing judgment on him.”

Lucien looked at her, into that spectacular face he was coming to depend on.
To love
. Aye, he loved her. He knew he did. It was a thought, so warm and subtle, that he wasn’t surprised when it occurred to him. It was as if he had loved her all along. Was it possible, at his age, to love someone without even knowing them for a day?