Lady Thief - By Rizzo Rosko Page 0,105

a playful smile, refusing to be moved. "Aye, Marianne?"

She made a sound of displeasure and walked forward to greet Eliza with a warm smile. Blaise watched them eagerly.

***

Elizabeth found herself being embraced by Lady Gray with all the warmth and comfort of a sister. Elizabeth grew warm under the treatment.

When Olma had first brought her to the door of the solar, shock greeted her at the sounds of the voices within. "I thought Blaise was at the mews?"

"'e was, last I heard, milady," the small girl said timidly, and Elizabeth decided that Olma truly hadn't known Blaise returned to the castle.

Olma raised her hand to announce their presence with a soft knock, but Elizabeth grabbed her hand. "Wait."

She pressed her ear to the door, eager for any information that could aid her in making Graystone her permanent home.

“Milady! What are ye—?”

Elizabeth hissed, waving her arm at the girl as though she were a fly. “Shh!”

Olma twittered about nervously. “Lady Elizabeth, please, ye cannot. ‘Tis dangerous to spy on the lord.” She whispered, but Elizabeth continued waving her off.

What she heard struck her harshly. Aside from Lady Gray, neither Lord Gray nor Blaise trusted her.

How could this be? She was certain her demeanour gave no reason to have anyone suspect her. Did they believe her to be responsible for Blaise’s attack?

No. A moment longer of listening and while she had no definite answer, she was certain they did not have any thoughts that she could have arranged for Blaise’s attack.

‘Twas relieving, but what had Lord Gray meant when he spoke of her father? So they did know sir Ferdinand. Elizabeth would find out what sort of girl they thought she was based on a man she did not know.

She allowed Olma to knock, and they entered the solar together. She straightened her back, and prepared to smile at the lord of the castle, hoping to win his affections enough to convince him that he had not invited a dangerous woman into his home.

Instead her eyes were drawn to Blaise, sitting on a stool and leaning his back against the stone wall, a goblet in his hand and hair windswept. He must have come into this room straight from riding his horse.

Perhaps his experience with the men Elizabeth had hired had not convinced him to take safer precautions when it came to his daily routines after all.

Regardless, his blue eyes captured her and held her in place. The innocent smile she had meant for Lord William turned into a wanting thing devoted solely to Blaise.

Her memory conjured the image of his naked form, standing before her, dangerous, and demanding. Elizabeth's breath left her, and her lips parted so that she might breathe easier.

Blaise returned her gaze with a fierce longing she had never seen before, as though he too was captured in whatever spell had ensnared her.

Then he glared at her.

Elizabeth stepped back, shocked at the hostility she found in his blue eyes.Useless tart! She admonished herself. The man believes you are out to steal from him and you look at him in such a manner? 'Tis no wonder he chooses not to trust ye!

Then Lady Marianne rushed forth and put her arms about Elizabeth's shoulder, holding her so close that the belly between them bumped her and pushed her away again.

Elizabeth smiled and pulled away from the lady of the castle and curtsied to her, the one person who seemed to believe she was worth trusting. Tears welled in her eyes, stinging their dry surfaces.

Stunned sympathy moulded Lady Gray’s cheeks. "Whatever is the matter?"

Elizabeth shook her head and wiped her eyes. "I have not been embraced like that since the death of my mother." And never had she expected a gentle bred lady to do so for her either. It brought up old regrets and made her wish that she and her mother had not fought so often before she died so horribly.

Lady Gray pulled Elizabeth into another embrace and held her tightly. Lady Gray threw a dirty look to Blaise, who turned his head away from the scene. Could he perhaps feel guilty over his words about her now that she was in an emotional state?

If he sought her honesty and would trust her for it, she would give it to him. She would spill all of her secrets, or at least, most of them, if it meant she could keep her new position in the castle.

She sent him another smile, though this one lacked the lust that thumped through