The Heiress Read online

Frances grimaced. She very well knew that Tode— that hideous little monster—would tell Lord James that she was not actually the heiress; then it would be Frances who would be left behind. She took a deep breath. “Axia did not try to murder me yesterday. She wanted only to make me sneeze. No one knew the daisies would …” She waved her hand. For all that her words were correct, her tone could not have been more flat.

  “And?” Tode said, letting Frances know he would allow her to leave nothing out.

  “Axia is angry because she wants to go.”

  At that Rhys gave a guffaw of laughter and even Thomas smiled. Anger? Is that what they had just seen was called? Anger? Men fighting in battle, trying to save their own lives, fought with less passion than they’d seen in this young woman.

  Rhys looked at Axia now, her waist-length hair, thick and shining, twisted about her like a rich auburn cloak, her breast still heaving. All in all, she was quite a bit more attractive than even he’d originally thought.

  When Jamie hesitated in giving his approval, Frances glanced at Tode and saw that he was about to tell the truth of who was the heiress. “Please,” Frances said and her begging was genuine. “She can go as—as my maid.”

  “I would rather eat—” Axia started, but Tode cut her off.

  “Not satisfactory,” he said to Frances.

  Frances gave a little moué of disgust. “All right, then, she can be my cousin or sister or whatever.”

  “I am your cousin,” Axia yelped.

  “So you are,” Frances said, giving Axia a look up and down, Frances in her yellow silk embroidered with thousands of blue butterflies, Axia in drab, serviceable wool. Frances’s look said she couldn’t understand how the two of them could be related.

  Seeing the look, Rhys guffawed again; Thomas put his hand over his mouth to hide his smile.

  “Are you sure Maidenhall paid you enough?” Rhys said under his breath to Jamie.

  Jamie put up his hand for the cat fight to stop. “If I must take you both, I wish I could send you on separate caravans, but I cannot.” He glared at Axia. “You will travel as my sister.” Moving close to Axia, he nearly put his nose to hers. “And if I have any trouble with you, I will send you back here with an escort. Do you understand me?”

  Axia wasn’t afraid of him, and she wasn’t going to allow him to intimidate her. Standing on tiptoe, she looked him square in the eyes. “I swear here and now that I will do everything I can to make your life as miserable as possible, and if you attempt to retaliate in any way, you will regret it.”

  Jamie, never before having encountered hostility from a woman, merely stared at her. Frances broke him from his trance.

  “Is he going?” she asked Jamie as she nodded toward Tode, her voice letting him know that she did not want Tode to go with them.

  Jamie ran his hand over his eyes. He’d once been caught at sea in a storm that had destroyed the other four ships near them; he, Rhys, and Thomas had once fought twelve Turks at once; he’d spent seven months in a prison that was filled with rats and unspeakable filth. But, by God, right now he’d rather deal with any of those things than these two women.

  Jamie took a deep breath. “Yes, Tode goes with us. Maidenhall has expressly requested that he remain with his daughter.” He narrowed his eyes at Axia. “As for you—” He couldn’t think of anything to say to her because if he opened his mouth, he feared what might come out of it. “You—paint the wagons as for a cloth merchant. Perhaps you can make yourself useful.” With that he stormed out of the room, his two men following him.

  The single candle glittered in the barren little room, and Jamie thought how his youngest sister would not like to hear that the Maidenhall estate was comfortable but did not have the richness he’d expected. Truthfully, only Frances glittered as he’d expected. But he must write them a letter and reassure them that all was well.

  “The woman Axia is insane,” Jamie wrote his sister. “But Frances the heiress—” He put down his pen. Frances what? Loved her insane cousin? Jamie ran his hand over the scratches on his face, then winced when his thumb touched his sore, swollen, and blackened eye. No, that girl Axia had some rule over Frances. What could it be? What secret could a nineteen-year-old heiress have that would cause her to do anything rather than have it found out?

  And what was between Tode and Axia? Were they lovers?

  At that Jamie smashed the end of his quill and had to use his dagger to cut a new point.

  It was not his concern what went on between the cousin of the Maidenhall heiress and … whatever capacity Tode occupied in this strange household.

  He turned back to his letter.

  But Frances the heiress will not allow her cousin to be left behind. I do not believe Frances sees her cousin for the threat she is.

  We will be traveling in disguise, with Frances as my wife, and I shall be pretending to be a cloth merchant. Shall I not make a fine one in my new clothes? Axia, the cousin, is very jealous of Frances, so I will need to watch her closely. She is to travel as my sister. No set of traveling players ever had such a farce as this one.

  I am sending a girl to you. Her name is Diana, and she is badly marked. Be kind to her as she has been to me.

  My love to both of you. May God watch over you.

  Your loving brother,

  James

  “Well,” Joby said. “Do you still believe he is in love with this Axia?”

  “He is in love with someone or else he would not be so miserable,” Berengaria answered. “Who is this Diana and how has she been so kind to our brother?”

  “The same ways that all women are kind to men like our divinely handsome brother,” Joby said sagely.

  Reaching out her hand, Berengaria waited until Joby put the letter into it. Jamie always said Berengaria could feel what was not written in a letter. “Yes,” she said, holding the letter, then turning it round and round. “Something is bothering him very much. He is …” Her face lit up. “He is looking for something.”

  “Probably lost that little dagger of his,” Joby said, trying to sound flip when truthfully she wanted to ask Berengaria to say more.

  Her elder sister was not fooled. “He is looking for someone, but she is hidden.”

  When Berengaria said no more, Joby said, “He should try the cellars. What do you think he means that this Diana is badly marked?”

  “We shall have to wait and see, will we not?” Berengaria answered, knowing Joby would be her eyes. Still holding the letter, she was frowning. Something was troubling her brother very much.

  Chapter 9

  Dawn was breaking and the inhabitants of the Maidenhall estate were just waking when Axia, yawning, walked into the house. The steward was moving toward the front door.

  “Did he give you something to give to a girl named Diana?” she asked, watching the man’s eyes.

  It was on the man’s lips to protest that according to what he’d been told, she was no longer the heiress and therefore need not be obeyed. But when he looked into Axia’s eyes, he could see that she was indeed the daughter of a man who was said to know more about business than anyone else on earth. Putting his hand inside his doublet, the steward withdrew the letter and handed it to her.

  “There was no little blue cap with the letter?” When he shook his head no, she said, “Then give me the money he left for this Diana.”

  He dropped coins into her outstretched hand.

  Axia looked at the coins, then looked at the steward. “While I am reading this letter, I suggest that you put the rest of the money in my hand.”

  To my dearest sisters Berengaria and Joby,

  This is Diana. Take care of her and watch over her. Do not let anyone harm her in any way. She is my gift to you as her spirit is a happy one. I hope she gives you as much joy as she has given me.

  With all my love,

  James

  As she was reading, Axia felt the clink of coins in her hand, and she closed her fist over them as the steward left the house. Cl