The Maiden Bride Read Online Free PDF Page A

sight. Who was this jackanapes stripling that led an army as if he had the right? No doubt the son of de la Manse.
    The door flew open with a crash, startling them both. But it was only their grandmother and her maid Ida, not a pair of murderous soldiers.
    “Move aside, girl. Let me see,” Lady Harriet demanded. She grabbed Linnea’s upper arm in her pincer grasp and pushed her to the side.
    Linnea backed away, not bothering to rub her arm, though she was certain a bruise would rise there. She’d had a continuing series of bruises from her grandmother for as long as she could remember. Not that she’d ever been truly hurt. They’d only been surface hurts and swift to heal. But Beatrix was never treated so.
    Lady Harriet moved up beside Beatrix, sharing the window view, and even clutching her other granddaughter’s hand reassuringly.
    “Art bringing Maynard within. I saw from my solar. Look, there arrives the cart now.”
    Linnea inched forward, and standing on tiptoe, tried to catch a glimpse of her wounded brother. But all she could see were the tops of the wagon’s side stakes.
    “A pox on de la Manse!” Lady Harriet cursed with a vehemence that startled both younger women. “May he be damned unto hell—and all his family with him. Especially that boy!”
    For once Linnea was in complete accord with her grandmother. Yes, especially that boy. Beatrix tried to console her grandmother who was visibly shaking, so violent were her emotions. “It is not the boy who is our concern—”
    “Be not a fool! That boy is a de la Manse, son to Allan de la Manse. He above all is our concern! Agh, had I but a way to be rid of him.” She slapped the stone windowsill and turned away, her mouth pulled down in a bitter expression. “He should be the one carted around, broken and bleeding.” Then her icy gaze landed on Linnea and her expression grew grimmer still.
    Linnea shrank back instinctively, for she knew that look. It was the reason she avoided her grandmother as much as possible. But she couldn’t avoid her now.
    “The blame lies with the devil amongst us,” Lady Harriet hissed. “Once again am I proven right. First did we lose your oldest brother to the fever. Then your mother and nigh onto half our people. And now, once again, does your accursed soul, black as the depths of hell itself, visit disaster upon this family!”
    Had Linnea not leaped safely beyond the reach of Lady Harriet’s walking stick, her grandmother would have struck her with the heavy end of it. But that was another lesson she’d learned early. Always stay well out of her grandmother’s striking distance. Now, as Linnea kept a wary eye on her grandmother, Beatrix wrung her hands in agitation. Ida made a sign of the cross to protect her from Linnea’s wickedness. But whether a violent outburst like Lady Harriet’s, or a passive warding off of evil as so many at Maidenstone were wont to do in her presence, both symbolized the suspicion and rejection that were such a pervasive part of Linnea’s life. And both hurt just as badly.
    Linnea would never let anyone see her pain, though. Least of all her grandmother.
    As always, it was Beatrix who came between them. She caught her grandmother’s arm and stayed the stick in its place. “This avails us of naught. We must see to Maynard’s wounds. Will they let us see him now? Is he to be brought to his own chamber?”
    “I don’t know what they plan,” Lady Harriet snapped. “They are heathens, no matter what Father Martin may say.” But her anger petered out against Beatrix’s overwhelming goodness. The older woman sighed as if exhausted. “My Edgar awaits them in the hall e’en as we speak. He will receive their terms. Then will we have our questions answered. But do not expect any leniency from them.”
    Her eyes were fixed on Beatrix now, and for a moment the old woman’s voice wavered. “We must protect you from them, Beatrix. For once they lay eyes upon your beauty, there will be