Rowan's Lady Read Online Free Page A

nor could she walk freely about the keep. Her meals, if
one could call them that, were brought to her room. Her lady’s maid, Margaret,
had been reassigned to work elsewhere in the keep.
    Arline was fully alone every hour of the day save
for when her meals were brought to her or when maids came with clean linens.
They rarely spoke to her save for a yes m’lady or no m’lady. Arline supposed they were as terrified of Garrick Blackthorn as she was.
    To help stave off insanity from her solitude, she
read the books she had brought with her from Ireland. When she wasn’t reading,
she worked on her embroidery, her sewing or her painting, though she was far
better with her stitches than her brush strokes.
    She wrote letters to her two sisters, Morralyn and
Geraldine. Letters that she could not send per Garrick’s decree that she have
no contact with anyone outside the keep.
    It mattered not to Arline that her sisters were
the illegitimate castoffs of her father, she loved them all the same. Each had
a different mother but they all had one thing in common: a father who cared
very little for any of them.
    Her mind wandered hither and yon as she paced and
chewed on her thumbnail. She could hear her father’s voice in the back of her
mind, chastising her for her own stupidity. Ye couldn’t keep yer mouth shut,
lass. Ye just had to step in. Ye only had two weeks left!
    A cold shiver fell over her skin as she thought of
her father. Arline didn’t believe it was his actual intention to be mean or
cruel. It was simply how he was. The man was blunt, to the point, and always
went straight to the heart of any matter. Arline supposed that if her mother
still lived, she would have had her to go to in times of trouble and doubt. As
it was, her mother had died when Arline was seven, left to be raised by a man
who made no qualms about how easier his life would have been had Arline
been born a lad instead of a lass.
    Now here she was, consigned to her rooms and for
the briefest of moments she found herself wishing her father was here.
She didn’t necessarily miss the man, but she knew that her father would keep
her from being killed by her husband. Aye, she may have to agree to another
arranged marriage, but even that was better than death.
    At the moment, she was more than tempted to
bargain with the devil himself in order to ensure the safety of the little girl
below stairs and to live through the next two weeks. What she needed was a
plan, a way out of this mess and a way to keep the child out of harm’s way.
    Mayhap she should throw herself at her husband’s
mercy and beg. Begging wouldn’t be such a bad thing, if it meant she would have
the chance to live through the next sennight. And it would be worth it in the
end, if she knew she had saved the child.
    Bribery was another option. Arline’s father had
been holding onto a substantial sum of coin for her. It was a large amount,
left to her by her first husband. She had hoped to use the funds to travel the
world, once this farce of a marriage was annulled.
    Strictly speaking, she couldn’t actually get her
hands on the funds until she reached the age of five and twenty, just a few
months away. Under her current circumstances however, she felt certain her
father would part with it if it meant securing her life and future.
    Arline was jostled out of her thoughts by a
commotion that was taking place in the hallway outside her chambers. Sounds of
heavy feet and grumbling, agitated men’s voices grew louder as they neared her
rooms.
    Arline stopped pacing and pulled the heavy, iron
poker from its stand next to her fireplace and hid it behind her. She was
uncertain at the moment, just what made her decide she’d not go down without a
fight. Insanity perhaps, or the maternal instincts she’d not known she
possessed until less than an hour ago. Or it could be something all together
different. Whatever it was, it did not matter. She was determined to keep
breathing for at least a few