The Fairy Tale Bride

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Miranda held her breath. She dared not move lest the straw rustle or drop down through the loose floorboards.

Simon said curtly, “The child was lost and came here to escape the rain. I was unseated from my horse and did the same. There is no source for gossip here.”

Miranda marveled at his sangfroid. If she did not know that he had someone hidden in the loft, she would never have believed it. His entire bearing, even to inflection, spoke of aristocratic contempt. Not even Grimthorpe could guess that this man — but a mere hour ago — had held her in his arms, kissed her, nearly made love to her. She scarcely believed it herself.

Grimthorpe laughed sharply. “You? Unseated? I should have liked to see the Duke of Kerstone unhorsed. Perhaps this has not been a tedious waste of time after all. This will be a worthy story to tell —”

“Shame on you!” The outburst came from Betsy’s mother, who now stood, clutching her daughter in her arms, her eyes burning with fury. Her words were practically incoherent as she forced them from her tear-choked throat. “Taking advantage. First of me, now of him.”

Grimthorpe gaped at her, as if he’d been suddenly addressed by a wayward carp. And then his thin lips thinned even further. “How dare you speak to me like that. I’ve a good mind to see that you are prosecuted for horse theft.”

Miranda felt a shiver of fear as her eyes darted back to the mother and child, clinging together protectively.

Betsy’s mother was evidently beyond any such fear.

Her chin was held high and her finger wagged as she spoke with intensity. “It’s you who should be hanged. My Bets told me you said there was a crown in the crossroads.” Miranda had all she could do not to gasp. Grimthorpe had been the man who visited Betsy’s mother?

At the murmur of the crowd, Grimthorpe stepped back. “My good woman, I assure you the child is mistaken.”

The woman hugged her daughter tighter. “Of course. You’re a gentleman.” She sobbed softly. “I should never have let you in my door. I knew you were trouble the moment I saw you. You are nothing but a pig.”

“You ... “ Grimthorpe’s face reddened. Miranda feared for Betsy’s mother as she saw he was angered so beyond words that he stepped toward the woman with his arm raised.

Somehow, Simon inserted himself deftly between them and stood there, blocking any further threat. Miranda was not even sure how he had moved; he was simply there, between one blink and the next.

Grimthorpe stopped as if held in a grip of steel. He threw Simon one furious glance, and then turned his attention to the woman who had dared to criticize her betters. “I paid you good money for your services, woman. I merely wanted the brat out of the way for a time. You should have taught her the way home. Children are known to wander.”

Especially when promised a gold coin, Miranda added silently, her dismay at the sight of Grimthorpe rapidly growing into panic. The man seemed to be intent on shaking Simon’s secrets out of him, no matter what kind of fool he made of himself.

With a whimper of rage, the woman tore at a small leather bag around her neck. Coins clinked in her hand for a moment before they littered the packed dirt at Grimthorpe’s feet. “Keep your coins, then. I’ll have nothing more to do with you.”

Grimthorpe bent with self-conscious grace to sweep the coins into his hand. “I’ll consider this repayment for the use of Atlas.”

His smiled burned fury into Miranda when he said, as if amused, “After all, your brat led me into the scandal of the century — the upright Duke of Kerstone prefers little girls.”