WolfeStrike (De Wolfe Pack Generations #2) - Kathryn Le Veque Page 0,80

sisters, it would have hurt her greatly.

But today, they’d made a great misstep.

They’d gone after Isalyn.

Tor realized he wasn’t afraid to punish them any longer. They’d crossed a line and he’d been forced to act, especially when Isabella had testified against them. He believed his cousin implicitly, for she wasn’t the type to lie.

Therefore, Barbara and Lenore were currently in the same chamber they’d locked Isalyn in, only Tor had sealed up the shutters overlooking the pigsty so they could not escape. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with them, but he wasn’t going to allow them to run free any longer. Seeing Isabella protect Isalyn when she felt he wouldn’t had been like a dagger to his gut.

It was at that moment that he began to see things clearly.

He’d been a fool.

That being the case, facing an enraged Gilbert de Featherstone was something he welcomed. He deserved every last lash of the man’s tongue.

“My lord, let me assure you that we do not want the entire House of de Featherstone dead,” he said. “The offenders are being punished. It will not happen again, I assure you.”

But Gilbert was not assuaged. “What are you doing about this?” he asked. “I discover that your chatelaines have tried to harm my daughter, so I want to know what you intend to do about it. And I hear they have a history of this? Why have you allowed this to go on?”

Tor could feel Blayth and Christian’s eyes upon him. They knew the history. They had probably been wondering the same thing for years. Tor wasn’t oblivious to that. It was time to finally acknowledge that which he had long refused to.

Quietly, he cleared his throat.

“About seventeen years ago, my wife died in childbirth while I was away in battle,” he said, his voice low. “I returned to a dead wife, a dead child, and my wife’s two younger sisters, who were only children at the time. They became my responsibility and not a welcome one. I suppose… I suppose much of this is my fault. I looked at them and I saw Jane, which meant I did not want to look at them at all. They had no parents, no sister, only a brother-in-law who paid them little attention. What I am trying to say is that they ran amok and I refused to believe it. I denied it, ignored it, and made excuses for it. But no more. Believe me when I say that I will take their offenses very seriously, my lord. I will not let their actions against your daughter go unpunished. You have my word.”

By the time he was finished, Gilbert didn’t look so angry. Tor wasn’t a man for a lot of words, nor was he a great orator. In the short time Gilbert had known him, he had seen that. Therefore, that rather impassioned speech meant something.

He believed him.

“I am sorry for you,” he said. “I did not know you were married.”

“It was a long time ago, my lord.”

Gilbert could feel himself giving in to Tor’s tragic tale, prepared to forgive him completely, but something stopped him. He’d had a plan when he had come to Blackpool and it was the entire reason he had come – to find a husband for his unruly daughter, and now he saw the perfect opportunity to press that agenda.

Tor was a widower. He was eligible and wealthy, and Gilbert wasn’t a fool. He’d seen how his daughter had looked at the man.

Now was the time to strike.

“Be that as it may, my family has suffered devastation at the hands of the House of de Wolfe,” he said. “I understand that my son wronged Lady Isabella and I make no excuses for him, but his death was by your hand. Would you agree?”

Tor nodded. “In order to defend my younger half-brother, it was.”

Gilbert lifted his shoulders. “It is quite possible that, given the proper persuasion, he could have returned to the lady to fulfill his promise. Would you not agree?”

Tor looked at Blayth, who simply shook his head in annoyance. Gilbert was grasping at straws given how Steffan had behaved and they all knew it.

“I suppose it is possible, in theory,” Blayth said, answering for his nephew. “Given that he ran and then fought the men who had come to force him to honor his promise, I would say the possibility of him admitting wrongdoing is very small, but I will concede the fact that it might