Intrigued Read Online Free PDF

indignantly as they were tied and slung over saddles. Her gaze moved to the east wing, where the servants were gallantly battling to save that part of the house and prevent the fire from spreading any farther.
    “Autumn, what has happened?” Her niece, Sabrina, was unexpectedly by her side. Then, seeing her mother, Sabrina screamed. “Mama!” She clutched at Autumn, burying her face in her aunt’s skirts. “Mama,” she sobbed.
    “She is dead, Brie,” Autumn said, and hearing the words aloud from her own lips, she collapsed onto the floor, cradling her niece while they both wept uncontrollably.
    It was there Charles Frederick Stuart found them when he finally reached his home less than an hour later.

Chapter 2
    B ess! His beautiful blue-eyed Bess lay crumpled in a heap upon the dark polished wooden floor of the entry; the blood on her bodice dried black now; her eyes wide, the image of shock and disbelief still lingering in them. Within his chest his heart was suddenly crushed, and then an emptiness such as he had never felt swept over Charles Frederick Stuart. His glance took in Smythe, also dead. His sister and his daughter huddled together weeping with sorrow. His eldest son was frozen by his side, his small hand clutching his father’s.
    “What has happened here?” He pushed the words up through his constrictred throat, his tongue almost becoming entangled in them. He wanted to shriek his outrage; howl to the heavens at this terrible injustice. Bess! Bess! Bess! Her name echoed in his brain.
    Autumn looked up, her eyes swollen and red. “Roundheads,” she said, and nothing more. Then she began to shake, finally collapsing unconscious next to her dazed and benumbed niece.
    The Duke of Lundy picked up his young daughter. She was cold but half-conscious with her shock. The servants were beginning to crowd into the hall. Many were sobbing with both fright at what had happened and relief to see the duke, their master, returned from Worcester.
    Becket, with a wave of his hand, called forth young Sabrina’s nursemaid, Mavis, taking the child from her father and transferring her into the woman’s arms. “Take Lady Sabrina to her bedchamber and see to her welfare,” he said in a very no-nonsense voice. “You two!” He pointed at a pair of young footmen. “Remove Smythe from the entrance to be prepared for burial. Lily! Don’t just stand there gaping, girl. See to your mistress. Samuel! Peter! Carry Lady Autumn to her chamber! Clara, take Master Frederick upstairs. My lord, if you will come with me, I will try and explain what has happened here this morning. Where is the duchess’s tiring woman? Sybll, stay with your mistress until the master decides what is to be done. The rest of you, back to your duties!
    The duke followed Becket to the relative quiet of his library. The servant poured him a generous dollop of smoky, peat-flavored whiskey, shoving the crystal tumbler into his master’s hand.
    “Forgive my boldness, my lord, but with Smythe dead I felt, as his assistant, that I had to make some order out of the chaos. I am at your service, and will tell you what little I know. Just after dawn a cowherd spotted a troop of Roundheads making their way toward Queen’s Malvern. He gave the alarm. Her ladyship ordered the children hidden with their servants in the gardens. When I had finished overseeing this duty I discovered some of the blackguards had entered the east wing and, finding nothing they might loot, fired it. I ran to tell her ladyship, but she was already dead. Lady Autumn orderd a bucket brigade and sent me back to oversee it. I fear I can tell you nothing else.”
    “Did my daughter see her mother murdered?” the duke asked.
    “She was not in the hallway, my lord, when I was there,” Becket replied. “There was, however, a third victim, a Roundhead soldier. I must assume the captain of the troop removed him. He was obviously quite dead. He lay on his back, a bullet hole directly between his