Love and Deception: a Clean Medieval Historical Romance Read Online Free Page B

noble, he would have access to knowledge like that. Lord Fitzhugh could not escape from the betrothal contract. The Baron had a fist around his neck.”
    “He would murder her unborn child?” she gasped, her eyes wide.
    “It was the fear of him that drove Catherine mad,” he explained. “From then on, there was no reasoning with her. I tried to meet with her once more but we were unable to find the right opportunity. Her letters became more despondent and I knew then that I had lost her even before she leapt from the window.”
    “How?”
    “In her last letter, she bid me farewell,” he finished bleakly. “She would meet me at the gates of Paradise, holding our child’s hand.”
    Rosamund unfeelingly sank to the ground, her eyes not seeing the huge man before her reduced to tears as they relived the tragedy of Catherine Fitzhugh. Cathy had been too young and too naïve, carelessly believing that there would be a happy ending for her and her love. Instead, she was driven to despondency and madness and eventually, suicide.
    “I must warn you, Lady Rosamund,” Harry spoke again, his voice taking on an urgent tone. “Baron Ingram will not rest until he has what he wants.”
    “The story of my cousin is not easy to stomach, sir,” she said, her voice gaining a semblance of stability. “I am sure that the Baron was just as much disgraced by his bride jumping out of her window to her death as the rest of her family.”
    “You are mistaken, milady,” he told her. “Here in Braxton Hall, Kate is mocked as a strumpet who would throw herself at any man who showed her the slightest affection.”
    “What do you mean?” she asked him, eyes narrowed.
    He swallowed. “I understand that you would not like to talk about your cousin in unfamiliar settings, milady, but one hears things while one is about. Here in Braxton Hall, they never knew that your cousin committed suicide.” He raised his defeated brown eyes to meet hers. “They say your cousin had given herself to several men before running away with another, never to be heard of again.”
    She shook her head in disgust. “Gossip has wings on its feet and it changes its face as it passes. I do not know which story is worse.”
    “But you must already know, milady!” he argued.
    She held up her hand to silence him, her blue eyes boring into his stonily. “Yes, Harry, I do know.”
    “But you cannot marry the man who just destroyed your cousin’s life!”
    “I will marry whomever my father deigns for me to marry and before he passed, he deemed Count Braxton, then Baron Ingram, worthy of taking over his holdings!” she reminded him. “Unlike my cousin, who betrayed her honor and her family by loving you, I will not allow the memory of my father to be sullied by breaking this betrothal contract.”
    Eyes wide, he regarded her with a look that could only be described as horror. “But Catherine…”
    “Catherine is dead!”
    In the stillness of the night, those three words shattered her and she fought to maintain control of her composure. “Catherine is dead,” she repeated quietly, “and she will never come back. She is dead and you all allowed her to die.” She looked up at him, her hands clutched into fists at her side. “Go away, Harry. Run and never return. If you do, I shall bring down the wrath of Braxton Hall upon you.”
    His soft brown eyes turned hard with hatred. “You will regret this,” he swore. “You will regret spurning Catherine and me when we needed your support the most.”
    “If you had not ruined her for other men, she would have been alive today,” Rosamund reminded him coldly. “And that is why I will never forgive you Harry. This is the last time I shall speak with you. Begone with you and do not bother me again.”
    She turned away and walked back to the castle, not caring if this time, anyone would see her. She had come to find the truth about her cousin’s death. She had come expecting to hear of a romantic tale but found