Lady Thief - By Rizzo Rosko Page 0,77
been when he strangled her. Her knees wobbled.
Ferdinand sneered at the body. “Clear that away!”
He gestured for his men to step back, Marianne was pulled along with them. Several more servants she did not recognize scurried forth and in clean motions wrapped Robert’s body and spilling blood in old blankets while the others scrubbed and washed the floor.
They carried him out, and the women cleaning the floor left with them. All that remained was the wet, circular spot which would soon dry. ‘Twould be as though a man had not been killed at all. The only proof being the blood still cooling on Marianne.
Ferdinand turned his eyes towards her, but they were no longer hard and sneering. Now they were cold and dissecting. That alone made her squirm.
Marianne swallowed and, refusing to show him weakness, yanked herself free of the man who held her upright. She held her bloody hands still, now knowing that the cruel scent she picked up when she came into the house was in fact death. “Ye will send me home now?”
He shook his head. “I think not, Milady.”
Panic ripped through her. “But ye have killed my captor! There is no reason to keep me now that you have set me free!”
He waved a boney finger at her. “Ah, but you have heard him claim that I sent your father to Graystone to retrieve you. I cannot simply send you on your way knowing that.”
Marianne felt more hands grabbing her arms, pulling her away. “William will come for me! He will see to it that you pay for this you filthy pig!”
Ferdinand did not lift an eye at her insult, he touched her cheek with leathery fingers and purred. “Presuming he knows you are here, milady.” He looked at the men holding her. “Take her to my chamber, I shall be there shortly.”
Marianne fought and kicked the men grabbing her. She shrieked and a large hand held her mouth shut. She bit the hand hard enough to draw blood, but they still refused to release her.
Ferdinand’s men dragged her into a room and with a brutal shove threw her to the floor. She struggled to her feet and tried to follow them but they slammed the door of Ferdinand’s bedchamber in her face, locking it behind them.
***
She waited, twisting her hands in an effort to loosen the ropes, and then tried to wash away the blood which itched her skin in Ferdinand’s old basin. Some rinsed away, most did not. With her hands tied, they were nearly useless, and she could not scrub it all away.
She checked the closed shudders but they would not open.
Marianne circled the room, searching in the large chest in the chamber and under the bed, but found only strange leather straps and clips of a kind she had never seen before. They looked like something with which a man might use to tie a horse. A very small horse.
A shiver twisted through her fingers and up her back, and she had to drop the offending objects.
A commotion outside the chamber had her whirling towards the door, waiting with a beating heart for her new captor.
The door opened, only enough for her father to come inside.
He greeted her with a smile and a finger to his lips. “I said I would only be a few moments.”
Anger coursed through her, but she did not get the chance to demand an explanation. He grabbed her by the arms and silenced her with the sharpest look she had ever seen on his face.
His fingers travelled to her bindings. While he untied her wrists she puzzled over his old and worn clothes. Stains and holes littered his tunic, his hands were filthy and calloused. Not even her lowliest servants had ever been forced to wear such rags.
Her anger melted away as shock took over. “Father, what happened to you?”
“I should be asking that of you.” He held her bloody hands tenderly and touched her swelling neck with a gentle finger.
“‘Tis not my blood. Where are your garments?”
“There is no time, come with me.”
He pulled her to the tall fireplace where the fire burned low from lack of attention. Her heart and lungs nearly burst when he stepped inside and disappeared around the corner.
The sound of stones scraping over each other had her stepping closer. “Father?”
He peaked his head out and held his hand for her. “Watch your gown.”
She was careful of the fire she stepped around. To her shock inside the fire pit was a small