His Rival's Daughter (Stafford Family Book 1)

by Catherine Woodville

  Jane didn’t want to answer. She turned her back on him. “You should leave,” she said. “I want to be alone.”

  “I am not leaving until you give me the herbs that she gave you.”

  Jane swore under her breath. Why couldn’t Edward have come a few minutes later?

  “I am waiting,” he said in a low voice.

  Jane had no choice but to give in. She would meet the old witch again and Edward would not be able to do anything about it. Jane turned around to face him and handed him the sack with the herbs.

  “Good girl,” Edward smiled, but his voice remained serious. “If I ever see that woman again in the castle or close to you – I will kill her. You know I mean it. Do you understand me?”

  “I don’t want this baby,” she whispered, tears tumbling over her lashes and down her cheeks.” The earl is your father. You, more than anyone, should know how dangerous he can be. He will kill me if he finds out. Edward,” she sobbed, “please, let me get rid of it.”

  “No,” Edward was stern. “I want this child to be born and you will give him birth.” He came to Jane, embraced her, and landed a kiss on her forehead. “Besides, herbs are not always safe. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

  But Jane didn’t listen to him. She was thinking about the old woman. They had to meet again as soon as possible, before it was too late. Whatever Edward said, Jane did not need this child. If she gave birth, Edward would never leave her alone and her relationship with William would be even more complicated, if possible. Yes, she needed to get rid of the child.

  ***

  Edward went down to the great hall and found Humphrey there.

  Humphrey moved to greet Edward, his right shoulder bandaged.

  “What has happened?” Edward asked in passing.

  “Nothing to worry about,” Humphrey said as if a wounded shoulder was something unimportant.

  The answer made Edward look at Humphrey more closely. Usually, Humphrey talked about everything, especially if he had been wounded. Edward suspected that if he preferred not to say anything, it had to do something with William and Elizabeth.

  “I came to ask you for help,” Humphrey said, reluctantly. “Earl Harmton is away, so I have to ask you.” He hesitated. “I need your men.”

  “Why?” it was a stupid question to ask. Edward was sure that Humphrey had come up with yet another plan to get Elizabeth out of William’s castle and now he needed men to make his plan work.

  “You know how much I love your sister,” Humphrey started his speech, but Edward did not let him finish.

  “Stop it,” Edward went cold with fury. “’Tis not love. You are obsessed with Elizabeth and with the idea of having her.” Edward was starting to boil with anger. How long would Humphrey annoy his sister? “Stop it! She is lady Stafford now. Accept it. Leave her be.”

  “No,” Humphrey shook his head. “She will be mine once I kill that bastard she calls husband. Will you give me your men?” Humphrey’s face hardened.

  “What for?”

  “I just told you.”

  “To make my sister a widow?” Edward shook his head. “No. She loves her husband and I won’t let you hurt them.”

  Humphrey’s face twisted. “I will do it with your help or without.” He turned around and stormed out of the great hall, leaving Edward alone. Edward stood there, silently, for several minutes. Humphrey was a dangerous enemy who had always gotten what he wanted. If he wanted Elizabeth, then he would do everything he could to get her. She and her husband were in great danger while Humphrey was obsessed with her. Edward shook his head as if waking up from a dream. He needed to warn Elizabeth and William. Although he would not give Humphrey the men he had been looking for, someone else might.

  ***

  Edward was lying next to Jane, both glistening with sweat from lovemaking. He was holding her in his arms and caressing her locks. She was such a beautiful woman. He hated that he could only enjoy her while his father was away. He kissed her temple and she closed her eyes in pleasure.

  “I need to leave, my love,” he said, and Jane opened her eyes in surprise. Fear clouded them, making his heart squeeze in despair.

  “Please,” she begged. “Don’t go. My husband can return at any moment. If he finds out that I am with child, he will kill me.”

  Edward stroked her hair. “I won’t be long, I promise. I have to go.”

  “But why?” she blinked.

  Edward took in a deep breath. He had been trying to avoid this conversation, but apparently, he had no choice.

  “Humphrey is still obsessed with my sister,” he said, playing with a lock of Jane’s hair. “He is planning something and I need to warn Elizabeth about it.”

  Jane wilted; her eyes flooded with tears.

  “Your sister is more important to you than I?” she recoiled from him. “You leave me here, alone, in real danger only because you think that Humphrey is planning something against Elizabeth?”

  Edward pulled her back into his embrace and held her tight in his arms. “You have nothing to worry about, my dear. Nothing will happen to you while I am away. I will be back in two days. I promise.”

  Jane shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”

  “You should.”

  He started kissing her cheeks, then her lips. She leaned to him and kissed him as if he were going to war. All his reasoning, all his worries were gone at once. He desired her, her tender body, and nothing else mattered.

  ***

  The weather had been cold and windy for a week. The fire had been burning for several hours now, but its warmth still didn’t penetrate the chamber. It was so cold. And lonely.

  Elizabeth was sitting by the window, wrapped in a blanket, and combing her hair. Time after time she looked down to the yard, where couples were sneaking into dark corners, looking for privacy. It reminded her of the night James helped her escape. Her mind moved on to the first time William kissed her. Tears shimmered in her eyes at the memory of being in William’s arms.

  Their relationship had become very bad since William’s injury. William had been avoiding her. On the rare occasions when they met, he hardly said a word. James said that it would pass, and William would realize that he had been wrong, but how much longer would she have to wait? Elizabeth blinked off her tears. She was tired. Why had she been paying for a betrayal she hadn’t committed?

  She shivered with the cold, got up and slipped between the cold sheets of her lonely bed. Lord, these nights showed her how much she missed William, how much she needed him. She wished she could be in William’s arms right now, to feel the warmth of his body. But it was impossible. They had been sleeping in different chambers. What was even worse, during the day he was the same William she had known, but at night he drank with his brothers, knights, or even alone. And went to bed completely drunk.

  So was the case tonight. Elizabeth could hear their drunk voices from the great hall. There was a movement by the door. Cautious, she turned around and looked into the darkness, but could see nothing. William walked out of the shadows near the door. Her heart beat with joy. But the happiness turned into concern in a matter of seconds. He was completely drunk, his eyes empty. He smelled of danger.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, getting out of the bed on the opposite side, so that the cot was between them.

  “You are my wife,” his voice was cold. “I came to possess what belongs to me.”

  A prickly sense of fear ran down her spine.

  “Go away,” she could hardly speak. Fear had completely blocked her throat. “I don’t want you to get drunk and come to satisfy your desire with me. I will belong to you when you are sober and truly desire me, not when you are drunk and don’t care who you bed.”

  William grinned at her but answered nothing. Suddenly, he crossed the distance between them in several steps and caught her in his arms. The sour smell of wine that came from him was dreadful and Elizabeth felt sick. “Let me go,” she jerked against his gr
ip, but he was too strong for her.

  William paid no attention to her attempts. Instead, he kissed her and threw her on the bed, pinning her down with his body.

  Elizabeth felt helpless in his big strong arms. She wanted to cry for help, but no one would go against their lord. She was alone against a man who could not control himself.

  She tried to push him away, but it was no use. Tears of silent despair flooded her eyes. She loved William, but this man who was here with her – it was not her William. This was a beast she had never met before.

  “Why do you resist me?” he asked, his eyes narrowed. “Is Humphrey so much better in bed than I that you don’t want to sleep with me?” sparks flashed in his eyes.

  William’s last words made her almost choke with anger. All the fear was gone at once. Before she knew what she was doing, she slapped him. His face hardened, his eyes went almost black with anger.

  He rolled away and sat up on the bed, his back to her. “I see that you really prefer Humphrey to me.”

  Relief that William wasn’t going to take her by force flooded over her and tears welled in her eyes. “How dare you to say such things?” she sat down behind him and hit his wide shoulders again and again. “Don’t you see that I love you? I don’t need anyone but you.”

  She was crying, giving in to the pain that had been tearing her heart apart.

  William turned around and caught her hands in his. He pulled her close to him and said through clenched teeth. “If you loved me, you would never have betrayed me.”

  He pushed, sending Elizabeth off balance, falling onto the bed on her back, then he stormed out of the room. Weak and humiliated, Elizabeth burst into tears. How dared he behave that way to her? She did not deserve it. Her tears eventually stopped, and she clearly knew what she had to do.

  ***

  William was sitting close to the fireplace, watching the flames. He hardly paid attention to his brothers, who had gathered in his chamber for their daily meeting. All his thoughts were occupied with Elizabeth. He was feeling guilty after what had happened last night, but he was too stubborn to go to her and admit it.

  To his utter disappointment, she had not attended breakfast. He felt an urge to go and check on her, but then he would have to apologize. Instead, he asked Hildred to check on her lady. Hildred reported that Elizabeth preferred breakfast in her chamber. Alone.

  Probably it was for the best. Over the past several days, while William had been convalescing, he did his best to feel hatred toward Elizabeth. He forced himself to try. But deep inside he could not. All it had taken was for her to walk past him and his entire essence screamed to go to her, to kiss her, to make love to her.

  The nights without her had turned into nightmares. He couldn’t sleep until he was completely exhausted, and only getting drunk numbed the pain in his heart.

  “Have you noticed that there are no village fires any longer?” Stephen said, pulling William out of his thoughts. “It looks like we have scared Humphrey well enough.”

  William looked at him with irony. “Maybe he stopped setting fires because he got what he wanted?”

  Both of his brothers stared at him in confusion.

  “What do you mean?” James asked, staring at him with blank eyes.

  “I am sure that he slept with Elizabeth. Why cause further harm if he got what he wanted?”

  “What a fool you are,” Stephen turned around to the window. Suddenly he looked back to William, his mouth open. He kept silence for a second, before he started to speak. “Is that Elizabeth?” he pointed out of the window. “She is leaving the castle.”

  William lurched to his feet and ran to the window. Indeed, Elizabeth was riding away from the castle. A cruel grin appeared on his face.

  “Do you believe me now that she has a lover? I bet she is going to meet him now.”

  William tried to appear calm, while the flames of rage and jealousy licked through him. He stormed to the door.

  “Where are you going?” James cried to him, worried.

  “I will prove to you all that I was right, and you were fools to believe her innocence.”

  “We are going with you,” Stephen followed him.

  “No,” William stopped them with a stare. “She is my wife and I am the only one to deal with it.”

  He slammed the door behind him and ran down as fast as he could. When he was in the yard, he took the first horse he saw and rushed to catch Elizabeth.

  “Where did lady Elizabeth go?” he asked at the gates and one of the guards showed him her direction.

  William urged the horse into a gallop and soon he reached the forest, where Elizabeth had disappeared.

  Once in the forest, he rode for some time, but there was no trace of Elizabeth. He stopped, listening. Elizabeth could not have gone too far. But he heard neither her, nor her horse. Silence reigned everywhere. He rode slowly, alert to every sound.

  He heard a flock of birds rush from the trees into the sky behind him. Elizabeth. William stopped abruptly, turned his horse, and rode back.

  To his surprise he reached a path to his secret place. No, it could not be so. Elizabeth could not be so heartless as to meet her lover in the place that meant so much for William. The very thought that Elizabeth could meet Humphrey in the place that William had shown her stoked his anger. If it was true, he would kill Humphrey.

  Anger surged through his veins and drummed into his temples, as William followed the path.

  When he was almost there, he dismounted and tied his horse to a tree. The rest of the road he would walk silently, to hide his presence from the lovers.

  William walked slowly, as quiet as he could. When he could see the lake through the branches of the surrounding trees, he saw Elizabeth. Slowly, she was pacing the shore, her horse tied to a tree. She sat on the ground, pulled her knees to her chest, and rested her chin on her folded hands.

  William took a comfortable pose and prepared to wait.

  Half an hour passed, and nothing happened. Elizabeth was sitting all alone. At some point William thought that he heard quiet sobs. It must have been his imagination, but then she wiped her eyes. His heart squeezed in his chest. The memory of what happened the night before flooded over him. He hated himself for that. What a bastard he had been to do that to Elizabeth.

  The understanding that Elizabeth had come here to be alone, not to meet anyone, slowly became clear to him. William had been a fool to think that Elizabeth had come here to meet her lover. She had come here to spend time alone, just as he told her he had done when he was a child.

  It had become her hiding place, too. His heart filled with joy. She honoured his past and his secrets. Maybe his brothers had been right about her and Humphrey all the time? What if she had nothing to do with that bastard?

  A sigh of relief escaped him, and his mouth curved into a happy smile. William wanted to leave Elizabeth alone, but he could not. He was the reason why she was in such sad condition and he had to help her.

  Trying not to scare her, William slowly emerged out of the trees.

  Elizabeth heard the noise and turned around with a gasp, her large eyes full of worry. And tears. They were as red as if she had been crying for hours. Indeed, she had not been waiting for anyone.

  When she saw William, she instantly moved her eyes away and stood up. Avoiding looking at him, she silently walked to her horse.

  William crossed the distance between them and blocked her way. She tried to walk around him, her eyes cast toward the ground, but he pulled her into his arms.

  “Let me go,” she said, trying to push him away but having no luck.

  Still, she did not look at him. Was she really that stubborn?

  “Look at me,” he said, but she shook her head and pushed him away once more. “I will not let you go until you look at me,” he said in a tone that would bear no objection.

  Elizabeth stopped all her resistance and looked up at him. Apart from being red, her eyes were flashing with anger. A happy smile cro
ssed William’s face. She reminded him of a child who had been forced to do something against her will.

  Suddenly, William got serious. “Please,” he whispered, pushing every word out with a great effort, “forgive me for last night. I was such a bastard for what I said and did to you. I cannot explain myself, but I do regret it.”

  Slowly, anger disappeared from her eyes and tears flooded them. Obeying his instincts, William kissed her cheeks, her eyes. Suddenly, the wall that she had built between them crumbled. Elizabeth burst into tears. Streams of large salty drops ran down her cheeks.

  William stopped kissing her, pulled her into his arms, and held her tight. He had not realized how much pain he had caused Elizabeth last night. He did not deserve her forgiveness.

  When her trembling eased and her sobs subsided to hiccoughs, William lifted her chin and wiped her tears with his palms. Gently, he kissed her eyes, her lashes spiked and salty, then her cheeks, and slowly moved a trail of kisses to her lips. He almost moaned with pleasure when his lips touched hers. Damn, he had missed this.

  To his surprise, Elizabeth answered the kiss. A barely restrained desire to possess this woman sizzled through him like lightning. Elizabeth leaned against him, running her hands through his hair. Her every touch aroused him more and more.

  William desired her. Badly. But after all what that happened between them in her chamber, William dreaded that his desire would scare Elizabeth.

  “Stop,” he begged, his voice hoarse, and tried to pull away from her.

  One look into her eyes, dim with passion, was enough to give up. She desired him as much as he did her.

  “Don’t stop, William,” her voice was as hoarse as his and she pulled closer to him. “I want this place to be special for me, too. For us.”

  These words were more than enough. Everything holding him back was instantly gone. He stripped himself of his clothes, throwing them to the ground, his tunic laid out like a blanket where they could make love. Then, he helped Elizabeth undress.

  When all the clothes had been piled by her feet and Elizabeth remained in only her chemise, William reached for the silk ribbon that kept the chemise in place. He pulled it and the chemise fell to Elizabeth’s feet in a matter of seconds. Gently, he kissed her neck, slowly moving to her shoulder. His entire body was shaking when his lips touched her bare skin. The feel of her skin against his lips and her scent was stirring his desire.