Page 44 of Never Leave Me
“Lord Durham’s wife?” The man’s hold on her upper arm didn’t diminish. If anything, it tightened.
Ellen prayed she was only dreaming, that she’d soon wake up. But another part of her quavered with the realization that she was truly standing in the past, that everything was too real and vivid to be a mere dream.
She tried to hold herself as regally as a nobly born woman would, although it was a difficult task considering she was attired in a thin sheet and even thinner nightgown of some sort. If this was real, was she at Reider Castle in 1382? Had someone brought her inside?
“I am traveling to Canterbury, to Chesterfield Park to visit Lady Marian. She’s expecting me any day.”
“Then why are you here? Why did my servants find you unresponsive on my doorstep?” His questions were harsh, his stance unyielding. Jasper had mentioned that the family who owned Reider Castle had gone by the name Worth. This was likely Lord Worth.
“My companion and I were attacked, and I was knocked unconscious.” Jasper’s plan had seemed solid before, but now that she was really here, she wished she’d taken more time to think through the details.
Lord Worth’s eyes narrowed. “The physician said you show no signs of physical distress.”
A physician had examined her? She held in a shudder and liftedher chin higher. “We were attacked from behind, and I have no recollection of what happened after that.”
“Where is your chaperone?”
“Isn’t she here with me?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t know.” She tried to maintain her confidence, but under this man’s glare, her trepidation was only mounting. “Now, if you will please bring me my clothes, I would like to get dressed.”
Her comment only seemed to draw his attention back to her scantily clad body, and his nostrils flared slightly. “Seems to me you have conveniently forgotten too much information. I suppose you also have no recollection of how you happened to get across my moat, through my locked gatehouse, and past my armed guard?”
“That’s right.” She was tempted to drop her gaze but suspected looking away would be perceived as a sign of weakness, one that would put her further into his clutches.
He scrutinized her face as if by doing so he could see past her mask to the truth. She prayed her facade would remain in place, at least until he left her alone. After several seconds, the angry slant of his brows shifted so that his expression—while still fierce—took on a decidedly dangerous quality.
“I have already questioned the guard who was on duty last night.” His voice dropped, and he motioned toward the narrow glassless window, its shutters open, allowing in the daylight along with a cool breeze that sent shivers over her exposed flesh.
She tried to break loose of his grip, but he was unrelenting as he guided her to the window so that the castle grounds spread out before her.
At the differences between the present and past, she almost gasped. The bailey, which had been wide open and overrun with weeds, was now like a miniature town. Wattle-and-daub huts with thatched roofs as well as long, low buildings were attached tothe inner wall. Smoke curled up from holes in the centers of the structures.
Chickens and dogs roamed about the muddy interior with several spotted cows visible in a shed. A well stood at the center of the yard, and servants were drawing water and pouring it into clay jugs. An armed man was leading a horse into a stable on the opposite wall, his shoulders slumped and head down.
Except for the cluck of the chickens, the courtyard was eerily quiet.
She started to shift her sights to the densely forested land beyond the castle walls, but her gaze snagged on something dangling from the gatehouse. At first, she wasn’t sure what she was seeing. Then she gasped and took a rapid step back. A soldier, with a rope about his neck, was twisting and turning in the breeze, his head at an odd angle.
She took another backward step, but the dark lord blocked her escape from the window and the gruesome scene. “My man-at-arms had naught to explain how you were able to get past him into my fortress.” His tone was low and menacing. “’Twould appear, my lady, you have no better account than he did.”
Had this lord killed one of his guards? Fear pushed up into her throat, and she had to swallow hard to dislodge it. “If I was unconscious, then I’ll have no explanation at all except that perhaps one of your household—a servant or relative—discovered me in my vulnerable state and brought me here intending to protect me.”
“Very unlikely.” He cast a glance at the handful of servants still motionless on the perimeter of the room. “My servants and family would not risk peril by admitting a stranger into my estate without first gaining my permission.”
It was becoming entirely too clear that coming to Reider Castle had been a dangerous mistake. She should have convinced Jasper to drive her to someplace else to drink the holy water. All she could donow was leave as quickly as possible. “Thank you for assisting me in my time of need. But now, I’d like to be reunited with my sister, Marian. If you’d be so kind as to take me to Chesterfield Park—”
He spun her around and gripped her chin, forcing her to look upward into his eyes, which were haughty and hard. “Fie, woman. If you will not tell me how you came to be inside my fortress, then you give me no choice but to hang you for trespassing with evil intent.”
Ellen’s pulse stumbled. So much for Jasper’s assumption that the Worth men would easily become enamored with her. She could picture herself in the gatehouse next to the dead guard, her body swaying in the wind, her neck stretched to breaking. She’d been awake no longer than five minutes in the past, and already she was about to be murdered.
If only this was nothing more than a crazy hallucination brought about by the holy water. But if this was a vision and not real, then why did she feel the pinch of Lord Worth’s fingers on her chin, smell the rancidness of his breath, and hear the squawking of chickens outside the window—apparently the only creatures in the castle that did not fear their master.
Please be a dream. Please wake up now.She closed her eyes and prayed that when she opened them, she’d be anywhere else but in this bedroom with this strange man. As she lifted her lashes, the same threatening face loomed in front of her.
Her muscles tightened. This was really happening. “If you take me to my sister’s home, I’m sure they will be in your debt.” She didn’t care about locating the hiding place down by the dungeon. All she wanted to do was escape from Reider Castle alive. If only she could send a message to Marian. Her sister would surely come to her rescue.
