Josephine didn’t like the idea of having to marry the man before Andrew was able to kill him, but she understood somewhat.
“Then I must go through with the wedding if it is here, at Edinburgh?”
“Aye, love.”
She sighed again. “If you believe that is best.”
“I am not sure where there is any other choice, as much as I hate to say it.”
Josephine was feeling sad and afraid. She moved away from the wall, heading back over to the bed. “I cannot believe that I will have to marry the man, but I understand why I must,” she said, throwing herself on the mattress. “So many people are at Edinburgh to help me but, in truth, no one can. The king has made this betrothal, and no one can break it. No one can stop the wedding from happening. If you try, they will arrest or even kill you. If Sully tries, he has Torridon to lose. I would not let Donald or even Nicholas help – they could not survive in a fight against your brother. Everyone is here to help me, but everyone is helpless. All they can do is watch while I am forced into a death sentence.”
Andrew heard the defeat in her voice, the same defeat he heard the night before. “I know you are scared, love,” he said. “I am scared, also. Mayhap, it would be better to steal you out of Edinburgh during the night and flee to France or Spain. But the truth is that my brother would still be alive, and my mother would be unavenged. I am sorry if my sense of vengeance is affecting my decisions, but I have lived with it for so long. I know that if we were to flee and never return, it would eat at me until I returned to finish what I had always intended to do. I cannot have that vengeance stand between us, Joey. I am afraid if I do not kill my brother as I have always planned, then that is exactly what would happen.”
Josephine looked at him. “I know you have a strong sense of duty, of what you must do,” she said. “I would never ask you not to fulfill your vow and I would never ask you to change. I trust you in that you will do what is right, for both of us.”
He needed to hear of her faith in him. It was as important to him as eating and breathing. Now that they were approaching a crucial point in all of this, it was important that they had complete trust between them. Quietly, he went to sit next to her, taking her hands in his once more.
“Mayhap I cannot give up my sense of vengeance for you, but there is something I will do for you,” he said quietly. “Once we are married, I intend to give up my mercenary ways. I will turn the army over to Thane, and you and I will live at Haldane and raise our children. I would rather stay with you, as your husband, than fight a thousand wars for a million marks of gold. You are what is most important to me, Josephine de Carron. I will spend the rest of my life proving it.”
Josephine smiled at the sweet declaration. “As you are what is most important to me, too,” she said. “I will not continue my warring ways after we are married, either. There is no need. I will leave Torridon to Sully and Justine, and find great satisfaction in simply being the wife of Andrew d’Vant.”
He leaned forward, capturing her sweet lips in his. “It will be a good life, I swear it.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and his big arms went about her. “And I cannot wait to live it, with you,” she murmured, her face in his neck. “You are my sun and my moon, Andrew. Never forget that.”
He held her against him, thinking he’d never heard such sweet words. He was about to tell her that when her door rattled as if someone were trying the latch. The door was bolted, so they were not able to enter. As Andrew and Josephine froze, someone knocked on the door.
“My lady?” It was Madelaine. “My lady, will ye open the door?”
Josephine sighed sharply. “It is my maid,” she whispered. “If I do not open the door, she will tell the king. You had better leave.”
Andrew was already standing up, pulling her with him. He kissed her swiftly. “I will see you tomorrow at this time,” he said, rushing towards the window. But he was also shaking his finger at her. “Do not come looking for me. If you need to get word to me, send Sully since he seems to be able to move about freely now.”
She nodded, anxiously watching him climb onto the windowsill. “I will,” she said. “Be careful!”
“I love you.”
“And I love you.”
He blew her a kiss and climbed from the window. As Josephine went to open the door and let Madelaine in, Andrew made his way down the wall, jumping to the ground for the last several feet. Hitting the dirt, he dashed back to the garden to hide and to make sure he wasn’t followed. For a big man, he moved very swiftly, disappearing into the darkness like a wraith.
But he wasn’t alone in the garden. He figured that out quickly. There was something over to his left in the garden, flush against the wall, that had his attention. It was completely in the shadows, but he could see an outline and it didn’t take him long to figure out that it was a man hiding deep in the shadows.
Even if Andrew was without his sword, he wasn’t without his dirk, and he unsheathed it from his cozy nook in the top of his boot. If the shadow figure moved against him, he was ready.
Still, he wasn’t going to wait for Death to come to him. Staying against the wall, he moved through the darkness, heading in the figure’s direction. At one point, he froze because he’d lost sight of it behind one of the many vines that cover the wall, so he simply remained where he was, waiting to see where the figure would pop up.
It didn’t take long.
“Lower your weapon, d’Vant,” came the quiet voice. “I mean you no harm.”
Andrew didn’t recognize the voice. “Show yourself.”
The figure drew closer, perhaps too close for comfort, but it stopped when it was an arm’s length away. Ridge de Reyne’s features came into the moonlight as he stepped out from the vines.
Andrew had seen Ridge at Torridon. He’d been introduced to the man but he’d never had any dealings with him, even though he felt as if he had. This was the man who had changed the course of his life. He couldn’t decide if he felt unmitigated hatred for abducting Josephine, or if he felt a kinship to him. It was an awkward standoff, indeed.
“How long have you been out here, de Reyne?” he finally asked.
Ridge scratched his head. “Long enough to know this is the second visit you have made to Lady Josephine in as many nights,” he said, watching Andrew surprised expression. “Aye, I saw you go to her last night, too.”
Andrew’s gaze lingered on him. “She told me you had been watching her,” he said. “I suppose I did not realize just how closely. Well? Are you going to arrest me now?”
Ridge didn’t say anything for a moment. He simply continued to stare at Andrew in the darkness. “It is strange, really,” he said, avoiding the question. “I know a good deal about a man I have never had a conversation with before, so as I stand here looking at you, I feel as if I already know you.”
“Oh?” Andrew said. “What do you know?”
Ridge let out a long, deep sigh and glanced up, looking at the stars through the vines overhead. “I know that you were betrothed to Lady Josephine before the king betrothed her to your brother,” he said. “I know that you clearly must love the woman, else you would not be here to try and save her. But I also know something else.”
“What?”
“That you intend to kill your brother.”
Andrew wasn’t surprised that Ridge knew all this about him. Considering he’d spent a good deal of time with Josephine, she had evidently told the man about the situation at large. Andrew wasn’t so sure that was a good idea, but it was too late to do anything about it now.
“And you intend to stop me?”
Ridge shook his head. “That is none of my affair,” he said. “In fact, Blackbank is someone who needs killing from what I’ve heard. He is not well-liked, you know. The king is hoping that this betrothal might make the man more pliable to Scotland’s wishes, but my instincts tell me that Blackbank is loyal to Blackbank. He is loyal to Alexander for what it can bring him –
in this case, a rich heiress.”
Andrew began to recall what Josephine had said about Ridge – that he was simply following the king’s orders but that his heart, nor his loyalty, was behind his actions. Simply his duty. He could almost believe that, based on the man’s manner.
“My brother is a ruthless barbarian,” Andrew said. “What he cannot control, he kills, and he will not be able to control Josephine should she become his wife. The king has given her a death sentence.”
“He does not see it that way.”
“I know he does not,” Andrew snapped quietly. “I had a conversation with the man where I clearly stated that Josephine and I were betrothed. He ignored it soundly. Instead, he chose to dissolve our betrothal and give her over to my brother. If you think I am going to stand by and watch this… this travesty happen, then you are sadly mistaken.”
Ridge could feel the passion bleeding off of Andrew as he spoke. Had he not known anything about the man and his relationship to Josephine, that fervent outburst would have told him everything he needed to know.
“She has the same passion about you, you know,” he said quietly. “Lady Josephine, I mean. She speaks of you with the same passion.”
Andrew struggled to keep his composure. “That is because she loves me and I love her,” he said. “And I will kill my brother before he can touch her. If you try to stop me, I will kill you, too.”
Ridge believed him without question. “I already told you that it was none of my affair,” he said. “Do not involve the king in anything you do, and it will continue to not be my affair. But the moment Alexander involves himself, and if weapons are drawn, I am obligated to enter the fray. Is that understood?”
“Without question.”
Ridge nodded faintly. “Then we understand one another,” he said. He paused before continuing. “But I will also tell you this – whilst on the road here from Torridon, Lady Josephine and I were set upon by outlaws. She saved my life. To that, I owe her a debt, which makes this a very strange situation for me. I cannot go against my king, yet I cannot let a debt go unanswered. She wanted me to let her go, but I could not. Even if I did, it would not solve the problem. The king would simply send someone else after her, someone who was, mayhap, not so sympathetic to her plight.”
Andrew was listening carefully. More of what Josephine had told him was coming back to him – and Ridge just confirmed it. Sympathetic to her plight. Ridge had fully acknowledged that he was, indeed, sympathetic. Perhaps, it was to this man he needed to appeal to, because certainly, if he had Ridge’s assistance, perhaps killing his brother would be far less difficult. But perhaps not; as Ridge said, it was none of his affair.
“That is true,” he said after a moment. “But it is not my intention to take her away from Edinburgh, at least not at the moment. I have come here to confront and kill my brother.”
Ridge nodded faintly. “So I have been told.”
Andrew’s gaze was intense, even in the darkness. “Then you know that Sully and I have only come to make sure Josephine is protected as much as we can, but my primary purpose in being here is to confront my brother,” he said. “I do not know how much Josephine has told you, de Reyne, but my need for vengeance against my brother goes back many years. When my father died, he banished me and imprisoned our mother. I have sworn to avenge my mother. The fact that Josephine is betrothed to my brother is a sickening coincidence and nothing more. When he is dead, and only when he is dead, will I claim Josephine. But for now… I must be near her. I must give her strength, as she gives me strength.”
Ridge heard more of that passion in his voice, of a deep love for a woman that was rare. There was such power in his words. Now, Ridge began to feel some sympathy for Andrew as well.
“I heard all of this already,” he said quietly. “And I do understand the need for vengeance. But surely you must understand that Josephine will marry your brother. You cannot stop that.”
“It is possible that I can kill him before he makes it to the altar.”
“And if you do not?”
“Then I will kill him before he can touch her.”
Ridge shook his head. “But how?” he asked. It was almost a plea. “D’Vant, there are too many variables here. If your brother marries the woman, then it is his legal right to consummate the marriage. How do you plan on preventing this once he marries her?”
“I have a plan.”
“I hope to God you do because, once he marries her, no one can interfere. Not even the king.” He hesitated. “But I will tell you this – I do not want to see your lady married to Blackbank any more than you do.”
Those words had a massive impact on him. Andrew knew all of this would be a huge risk but, as he’d explained to Josephine, he was assuming a great deal – that his brother would want to return home after their marriage and not spend the night at Edinburgh.
But… what if he did?
Andrew remembered his conversation with Thane back at Torridon, telling the man to take Josephine to de Wolfe or south to Cornwall in order to remove her from his brother’s reach. But that had been before de Reyne had brought Josephine to Edinburgh. But the reality was this – if he failed to kill his brother before or even after the wedding, and he himself was killed instead, then nothing was standing between Josephine and a living nightmare. While Sully was an excellent knight, he would be no match for Alphonse.
But Ridge would.
“If that is true, then help me,” he said quietly. “You said that you owed Josephine a debt. If, for some reason, I am killed instead of my brother, then I ask you to honor that debt. If I die, get Josephine to Sully and see them safely out of Edinburgh. That is all I am asking, de Reyne. I am not asking you to violate your king’s orders, which were wrong to begin with. I am simply asking you to honor the debt you owe her. Give her a fighting chance at life, which she will not have with my brother. Do you understand me? Get her to safety before he kills her.”
Ridge’s expression tightened. Andrew could see it in the darkness. The man was in a difficult position, as he’d said. He wanted to commit to Andrew’s request, but his sense of duty to the king prevented it. At least, it did for now. But very quickly, he might lose that battle and side against his king in this situation. He could feel himself leaning heavily in that direction already. To save himself, and his honor, he looked away from Andrew.
“Get out of here, d’Vant,” he said. “Get out and stay out of sight. I will pretend that I did not see you here tonight.”
Andrew was disappointed that Ridge hadn’t given him his promise but, he was certain, with time, that might change. Josephine said that Ridge was a decent man; Andrew wanted to believe that.
He was counting on it.
“I will be back tomorrow,” Andrew said quietly. “If you see me tomorrow?”
“I will pretend I did not see you again.”
With that, he walked away, heading out into the garden. Andrew watched him walk away, thinking that de Reyne was fairly lenient to look the other way in this matter. That gave him hope. Perhaps the man would side with them, after all.
But those thoughts of hope for the future were summarily dashed when Andrew returned to the inn that night. What he didn’t know was that he was being watched, and had been since the day he’d seduced Esme.
There was an added element to his troubles that he hadn’t expected. Aye, Esme was watching him and, when he entered the tavern, she knew what was in store for him. She’d been planning it for some time. For every time the man had looked the other way when she smiled at him, or otherwise ignore her, she was going to make him pay.
She didn’t like to be toyed with.
Aye… the man was going to pay dearly.
But Andrew was completely unaware of what awaited him. Things like Esme and vicious women were the furthest things from his mind. But it was his mistake. The moment he entered the small, rented room that he and Sully had shared, someone hit him over the head with a heavy object and the lights wen
t out.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Two days later
Josephine couldn’t delay the inevitable any longer.
It was this night she would meet her betrothed, as she could no longer put him off.
She’d managed to avoid the king, the earl, and most everyone else all day yesterday and most of the day today, her only visitors being Sully and Justine. She didn’t even let Nicholas in, not even when he begged. Andrew had been missing since the night he left her, and no one could seem to locate him, not even Sully when he made a sweep of the tavern where they had been staying and most of the taverns in the immediate area. Andrew and his possessions were missing, and no one seemed to know where the man had gone.
Josephine tried not to panic over it. She knew that wherever he’d gone, he must have had a good reason for it, but Sully had no hope or advice to offer about it. Andrew was gone and, as the hours passed, Josephine struggled against despair. She needed him now, more than ever, but he evidently had something else in mind.
She would have to trust that the man would show himself at the right time.
So, she tried very hard not to think about it and soldier on. But on the second day of Andrew’s absence, William Ward had made an appearance in the afternoon telling her that she was expected at the feast that evening to meet her betrothed and that the king would no longer accept any excuses. Ward seemed rather angry as he delivered the message, but Josephine didn’t rise to it. She simply eyed the man until he left in a huff. When he was gone, she rolled her eyes.
So, her womanly cycle excuse would no longer be tolerated. She wondered if it was because Madelaine, or any one of the number of other servants, had noticed she was not actually on her cycle and reported back to the king. Other than the discolored stain on the bed the night Andrew had bedded her, there had been no other evidence. Therefore, she knew she couldn’t put it off any longer.
She had to attend the feast.