Chapter Fourteen

“Douglas,” Isabel said. “It is very important that you allow me to redeem myself with a game of chess. I am certain you realize that no one bests me in my own home. Not even Eric, though he tries.”

She was heavily into the wine this night, on her third cup that Douglas could see. He fought off a grin, not taking her too seriously.

“My lady, you are most formidable,” he said. “But I was only able to best you by the grace of God. I should not like to test Him with another game and could not stand the shame if I lost, so mayhap it is best if we do not play again.”

“Nonsense,” Isabel said, slamming her empty cup to the table. “You will play with me again. You have a keen mind, and I admire that.”

“Thank you, my lady.”

She eyed him, sitting back in her chair as she dragged her gaze over him from top to bottom. “You are also a fine form of a man,” he said. “Has anyone ever told you that?”

He couldn’t help it then. His grin broke through. “You should see my brother, Myles,” he said. “He is the one all of the women find attractive. Westley isn’t so bad, either.”

Isabel snorted. “So you are from a family of beautiful men,” she said, seeing a servant with a pitcher and waving them over. “My family was never so fortunate. All of the men looked like old trees with the bark peeling off. My brother was so ugly he looked as if he’d been struck by lightning.”

Douglas broke down into silent laughter, watching Eric do the same thing. Isabel’s cup was full once more, and she took a big swallow before her attention turned to Jerome and his son at the end of the table.

“Raymond was always a fine-looking lad,” she said to Jerome. “You only have one son?”

Jerome was fairly drunk, too, on the very strong wine. “One is enough,” he said. “He is my only child. My wife, God rest her soul, could only manage one. But he is a proud son and I am content.”

“I see,” Isabel said, her gaze lingering on Raymond. “No marriage for him yet?”

Raymond shook his head but before he could answer, Jerome spoke. “We are very selective,” he said. “The lady must come with a good dowry and property. There have been a few prospects, but there are better ones out there. Money and position are key.”

“What about her character?” Douglas said. He’d been listening carefully. “It seems to me that a lady without good character is not worth the money and property she brings to a marriage.”

Jerome looked at him. “What do you mean, Sir Douglas?”

“I mean simply that I would rather have a wife of good character, one I was compatible with, rather than a fool who simply brought money and property to a marriage,” he said. “The last thing you want is a wife who shames you or reflects badly on the family. You want a wife to be proud of.”

“True,” Jerome said. “That is very true. But marriage is more about strengthening a family.”

“I would rather be with someone I liked. Even loved.”

Jerome snorted. “Marriage is not about love,” he said. “That is a fool’s dream.”

“My parents love one another and my father is most certainly not a fool.”

“Who is your father, then?”

“Don’t you know?” Isabel spoke up. She was incredulous. “You mean to tell me you do not know who Douglas’ father is? My God, man, the standards of the Earl of Hereford and Worcester are flying all over Axminster. Did you not see them?”

Jerome suspected he should have, but he honestly couldn’t remember. “I do not suppose I was looking at any standards,” he said. “I do apologize if I have said something offensive.”

Isabel shook her head at the man’s propensity for ignorance before lifting the cup to her lips and drinking. It was Douglas who answered.

“You’ve not said anything offensive,” he said. “My father is Christopher de Lohr, the Earl of Hereford and Worcester. He is not a fool.”

Jerome’s eyes widened. “Good God, he is not,” he said. “I did not know, Sir Douglas. Forgive me.”

Douglas waved him off. “No need,” he said. “I suppose we all have our different philosophies on marriage and women.”

“I think women need to be tamed,” Raymond said. He, too, was feeling his wine because it had been a long day and he was exhausted. “There isn’t one woman out there who knows what she wants or what she needs. It is up to men to teach them.”

Isabel eyed the man from across the table. “You think so, do you?” she said, a hint of hazard in her tone. “I think men are in for a lesson themselves if they think that.”

Douglas banged his cup on the table a couple of times softly in agreement. “I think men could learn a thing or two from women,” he said. “My mother is a great teacher. I do not think my brothers and I would be the men we are today without her. That being said, she had to learn such a skill because my father was already a very important man when they married. He told me that all they did was fight the first few months of their marriage. I think they both had to learn a thing or two before they settled down and fell in love. In any case, they have set a good example for my siblings and me.”

“Then what you are looking for in a marriage is love, Sir Douglas?” Jerome said. “It would seem to me that the son of an earl would look for something more.”

Douglas shrugged. “I want to be happy,” he said. “I think that is a fair statement for all of us. We all want to be happy in a marriage. But we must each decide what that happiness is.”

Jerome conceded the point. “Very true,” he said. “And may each of us find what we are looking for.”

He lifted his cup in a toast to that sentiment, and Douglas lifted his as well. As they both drank deeply, Isabel leaned in Douglas’ direction.

“And have you found what you are looking for here at Axminster?” she asked quietly.

He didn’t turn in her direction, but he smiled at her question. She knew he’d taken Mira away from the escort earlier that day. The woman wasn’t stupid. He was coming to respect Isabel for more than simply being a strong, independent woman with the weight of an earldom on her shoulders. Her respected her for asking an honest question.

He wasn’t going to lie to her.

“I suspect you know the answer,” he said quietly.

“I do,” she said. “But you told me yesterday that your public display was only for show.”

Douglas shrugged. “That was not a lie,” he said. “It was for show at the time.”

“What has changed since then?”

He had to think on that. “I have,” he finally said. “My eyes are open now.”

Isabel chuckled. “I am surprised you would admit that,” she said. “But that is good to know. And I approve.”

He turned to look at her. “That means a great deal to me, my lady,” he said. “I may have to dominate you in another game of chess to celebrate.”

She hissed and sat back in her chair, eyeing him unhappily. “I challenge you to another game at the day and time of my choosing,” she said. “But not tonight. My head is swimming and an infant could best me.”

Douglas was still grinning. “Then that is the best time to play, because my head is swimming, too.”

Isabel laughed. She didn’t laugh often, and she had a pretty smile. Eric had moved over one chair next to her when Mira had vacated, so he was sitting next to her now, grinning because she was laughing. Douglas gestured to the two of them.

“Speaking of marriage,” he said quietly. “When can I expect to attend your nuptials?”

Eric’s smile faded and Isabel’s laughter abruptly stopped. “Where on earth did you get the idea that Eric and I will wed?” she said, almost angrily. “Who told you such things?”

Douglas gave her a long look. “I have eyes,” he said. “I believe Eric will make an excellent Earl of Axminster. He is well liked, he is bright, and he is experienced. Moreover, you have affection for the man, so it would be perfect for you both. You should consider it.”

The smiles on both of them were gone. Isabel was looking at Douglas, her eyes shining with a thousand words that she would like to say on the subject, but she refrained. After a moment, she simply shook her head.

“This is not a subject to bring up in jest, Douglas,” she said softly.

Douglas could see that he’d hit a nerve. Eric was staring at the floor and Isabel’s good humor had been greatly subdued. He was usually more tactful than that, but he’d had enough wine that it had tipped his judgment a bit.

He backed down.

“My apologies,” he said. “I simply meant that I am sure my father would like you both as strong allies. And… feelings and affection do not happen every day. They are precious when they do. If I have overstepped, I did not mean to. It’s simply that I feel happiness is within my grasp these days, and I suppose I want everyone to be happy too. To take the chance before it passes by.”

Isabel nodded but looked away, perhaps with too much on her mind. Eric’s gaze came off the floor and he focused on Douglas.

“Mira is a good girl, as I said,” he said quietly. “She will make you a fine wife, Douglas. I could not be happier for you both.”

His comment seemed to bring Isabel around. “Let us speak about you and Mira, then,” she said, changing the subject away from her and Eric and back onto Douglas and his interest in Mira. “I said that I approve, and I do, but I am still greatly curious. What has changed since yesterday, Douglas?”

She wielded his name like a club when it suited her. Imperiously. Demandingly. Douglas! She did it with focus and foresight, but in this case, she was drunk and repeating questions, so he simply shook his head.

“As I said, my eyes are open,” he said. “Open to the possibilities, to a chance I should not pass up. To be perfectly truthful, I thought Lady Mira was quite beautiful when I first met her, but nothing beyond that. Then I came to know a delightful young woman and… Well, when things happened, they happened quickly.”

“And now you really do wish to marry her?”

“Do you think her mother would give permission?”

Isabel rolled her eyes. “You will get your permission from me,” she said. “Mira’s mother does not care what becomes of her and cannot be bothered. She is a weak, joyless woman. How she managed to give birth to someone as strong and stalwart as Mira is a mystery.”

“If I ask your permission, then, will you give it?”

It was a straight question. Isabel’s eyes glimmered at him, so much so that she had the man’s attention. They smiled at one another, him in anticipation and her because she wanted to draw it out. She liked taunting Douglas because, as she’d said, he reminded her of her brother. There was a strange sort of sibling association there. They were so focused on one another, in fact, that they failed to notice Raymond leave the dais.

He’d been too far away to hear most of the conversation, but it didn’t interest him anyway. He’d finished his food and had a couple of cups of that strong wine, and quite frankly, his mind was elsewhere. While his father sat there with a cup in his hand and his eyes closed, listening to the distant strains of the lute, Raymond headed around the back of the raised platform, back into the shadows where the servants were.

Where Mira was.

He, too, was on the hunt.

*

It has been a strange hour.

That was what Mira thought as she directed the servants to clean up some spilled drink in the middle of the hall before someone slipped on it, but it had been strange not for that reason. It had been strange because soldiers, men she had known for many years during her time at Axminster, were smiling and waving at her. She wasn’t sure why, so she hesitantly waved back. But it was happening at the table near the hearth, and one man even pointed to the minstrel and made swirling motions with his hands—as if he was telling her, or asking her, to dance. Strange things, indeed. But her first real inkling that something was seriously amiss was when someone grasped her by the wrist.

“Come, Mira,” Raymond said. “I’m told you wish to dance with me, so let’s dance.”

Instantly frightened, Mira dug her heels in. “I do not wish to dance,” she said. “I am busy at the moment. Mayhap one of the other girls would like to.”

Raymond continued to pull. “Do not be shy,” he said. “There is no need, not now. You are a woman grown and I am a man grown. May we finally declare our interest? I have thought of you through the years, you know.”

He hadn’t, but it sounded good. But Mira’s eyes widened in horror.

“Interest?” she repeated, aghast. “In you? There has never been a more untrue statement, Raymond. I do not know who told you such things, but it is not true.”

He grinned leeringly. “You do not have to lie to me,” he said. “I knew you had feelings for me years ago. How you would gasp when I touched you.”

Mira tried to yank her hand from his grip. “I gasped because I was horrified and disgusted,” she said, finally managing to pull free. “Did you not realize that? I do not like you, Raymond. I never have.”

He paused, the smile fading from his face. “I do not know why you should be so cruel to me,” he said. “I am admitting that I have always been fond of you. You do not need to be cutting in order to hide what you feel.”

Mira took a few steps back, creating distance between them. “I am not hiding anything,” she said. “Leave me alone, Raymond. Your attention is not welcome.”

With that, she scooted off, back into the shadows, as he watched her with both irritation and confusion. He was debating whether or not to pursue her when someone walked up beside him.

“Is she taunting you, my lord?” Astoria asked. “That is her way. She is known to tease men.”

Raymond frowned. “Either you are lying or she is enjoying treating me this way.”

“As I said, she is known to tease men,” Astoria said convincingly. “The chase makes it sweeter in the end, I suppose.”

Raymond nodded as if he suddenly understood Mira’s game. “I see,” he said. “Then I suppose I shall continue the chase, but the rewards had better be damn sweet.”

“I have heard she lifts her skirts to the right man.”

He looked at her in shock. “Truly?” he said. “I would have never expected it from Mira. She did not seem the type.”

“Time changes people.”

Raymond considered that. “I suppose,” he said. Then he peered down his nose at Astoria as if looking the woman over. “Well? You seem to know so much about her. What do I do now?”

Astoria watched Mira over by the dais. “What do you want to do?”

Raymond raked his fingers through his hair irritably. “If I could only get her alone, we could speak,” he said. “But the way she is now… She is working this hall like a servant. She will not focus on me.”

Astoria thought on that a moment and an idea came to her. “Do you remember the passages and stairwells of Axminster’s keep?”

He nodded. “I should,” he said. “I spent enough time in them. Why?”

“Do you recall the servants’ stairwell down to the storage vault?”

“The one with the small door outside?”

“The same,” Astoria said. “If you go there and wait, I could send her to you and you would have all of the time and privacy you need.”

Raymond looked at her. “Why should you be so eager to do this?” he asked. Then he eyed her for a moment. “I thought I did not know you, but I believe I was wrong. I think I do know you.”

You called me ugly, once, Astoria thought, but she didn’t say it. Instead, she tried to seem as innocent as possible.

“I am eager to do this because Mira is my friend and I want her to be happy,” she said. “She has spoken of you often in the years you have been gone. This is a chance for me to help her. But only if you are agreeable, of course.”

Raymond believed her. He had no reason not to. With a shrug, he turned for the hall entry. “Then send her to me,” he said. “I will be waiting.”

With that, he headed out of the hall, leaving Astoria thinking she was about to get even with Mira for every little insult, every little infraction the woman had ever committed against her. It couldn’t have been easier. Now the trap was set.

She simply had to send the quarry to it.