that her father hadn’t been an earl for all that long.) But she was curious enough to hope that Hugh answered.
Hugh said easily, “It's a fair enough question, I daresay. I was fortunate; my family's wealth came mainly from my mother's lands. She lost the best ones when Mortimer was in power, but when your father brought him down, the king very kindly permitted her to have them back. She died several years ago, and I was her heir, of course. The king also was gracious enough to give me some of my father's and grandfather's lands too, but most of them are in the hands of the crown or in those of others, and always will be, I suppose. I’ve no cause for complaint. It could have been much different.”
“It will be sad for you, getting married with no parents to see you,” said Sybil earnestly. Bess could have swatted her.
“Yes, Lady Sybil, but there will be plenty of family to see me. I have eight living brothers and sisters, and several fine nephews, and my aunt Aline from my father's family. My aunt Elizabeth, my mother's sister, will come, I imagine. I don’t know about my aunt Margaret, my mother's other sister; she never forgave my family for what happened in my father's day. Still, as her husband was made an earl along with your father, they may attend out of respect for him.”
“I daresay many will attend out of respect for my father,” Bess said loftily.
“No doubt,” said Hugh a little stiffly.
They were saved from the necessity of further conversation by the rapidly graying sky, which made Hugh determine to turn back to Denbigh Castle in north Wales, where the Montacutes had taken up residence for the time being. Their ride had been a meandering one, and Bess was surprised to see how easily Hugh retraced their path. “You must have been at Denbigh before, Sir Hugh,” she surmised, remembering too late that she had exceeded the ration of words she had determined to speak to him.
“Plain Hugh, Lady Bess—Bess, if I may. You have your wits about you, I see. I do know it. It was my grandfather's for a while, and I came here a time or two while it was in his hands.”
“He lost it when he was executed?” Bess felt a bad taste come into her mouth with the word “executed.” What on earth would she tell their children about this man's relations?
“Precisely. But it hadn’t been his for long. He gained it from Thomas, the late Earl of Lancaster, when he was executed; my grandfather lost it when he was executed; it went to Mortimer, who lost it when he was executed; and then it went to your father. Good Lord, I’ve made it sound an ominous place, haven’t I? I didn’t mean to, sweetheart.” He laughed. “It's a wonder the tenants can remember to whom to doff their caps, though.”
They arrived at the stables. To avoid Hugh, Bess would have scrambled down from her horse unassisted, as she was perfectly capable of doing, but he was too quick for her and in a flash was off his own steed and standing next to hers. Bess stiffened as he helped her dismount; now that he had sneaked in this “sweetheart” of his, was a kiss next on his list? An embrace? But he handed her down as chastely as her own page might have done.
Sybil, however, had given her an idea, and as soon as Hugh left the next morning, she went to find her parents. “I thought Sybil got on very well with Sir Hugh yesterday. Perhaps she could marry him?”
Katharine frowned at Bess, but her father laughed tolerantly. “Still trying to wiggle your way out of matrimony, Bess? It won’t do, I tell you. I think Sir Hugh wants a lady who can be a proper wife to him sooner than Sybil could. And in any case, he likes you. He told me before he left how pretty and charming he found you.”
Bess found this to be deceit on Hugh's part, for she knew well she had not been charming, and she did not see how Hugh could have found her pretty. But it was clear that she had no more weapons at her disposal,