Free Mystique by Amanda Quick Page A

her to see that she and young Benedict are packed and ready to leave by noon.”
    Ralf blinked several times. “I don’t comprehend this, sir. Forgive me, I don’t mean to pry into your personal affairs, but I cannot help but wonder at this turn of events. Granted, Alice appears young for her years, but you do realize that she is three and twenty?”
    “’Tis no great matter.”
    “But ‘tis well known that a young bride is much easier to train than one of more advanced years. The youthful ones are more docile. Easier to manage. My own wife wasfifteen when we wed. I never had a bit of trouble out of her.”
    Hugh looked at him. “I do not anticipate any difficulty in managing Lady Alice.”
    Ralf flinched. “Nay, nay, of course not. I’ll wager that she would not dare to gainsay you, my lord.” He sighed ruefully. “Not the way she does me, in any event. Alice has been a great trial, you know.”
    “Is that so?”
    “Aye. And after all I’ve done for her and that lame brother of hers.” Ralf’s heavy jowls shuddered with indignation. “I gave her a roof over her head and food to eat after her father died. And what thanks do I get for doing my Christian duty by my brother’s children? Naught but constant quarrels and irksome demands.”
    Hugh nodded soberly. “Annoying.”
    “By the Rood, it’s damned annoying.” Ralf scowled furiously. “I tell you, sir, that, except when it suits her purposes, as it did last night, Alice cannot even be bothered with the management of my hall. You will note, however, that her own chambers are kept clean and perfumed.”
    “Aye.” Hugh smiled to himself. “I did notice.”
    “‘Tis as if she lived in a different household up there in the east tower. One would never know it was connected to the rest of Lingwood Hall.”
    “That was plain enough,” Hugh said, half under his breath.
    “Not only does she dine in the privacy of her own chambers together with young Benedict, she gives her own instructions to the kitchens regarding the food that is served there. And it’s a far cry from what the rest of us eat, I can assure you.”
    “That does not surprise me.”
    Ralf seemed not to hear the comment. He was in full sail on the sea of righteous indignation. “Last night was the first decent meal I’ve had here in my own hall since my wife died seven years ago. I thought things would be different when I brought Alice here. Thought she’d assume her natural female responsibilities. Thought she’d supervisethings the way she did when she was in charge of her father’s manor.”
    “But it did not work out that way, I take it?” Hugh suspected that Alice had practiced her own form of revenge against her uncle.
    Ralf sighed glumly. “She blames me for taking her and her brother away from their home, but I ask you, what choice did I have? Benedict had but fifteen years at the time. And you’ve seen him. The boy’s crippled. No amount of training will turn him into a proper fighting man. He could not possibly defend his own lands. My liege lord, Fulbert of Middleton, expected me to see to the defense of my brother’s lands.”
    “Which you chose to do by installing your son as lord there,” Hugh observed softly.
    “‘Twas the only solution, but my shrew of a niece would not acknowledge the fact.” Ralf swallowed ale and slammed his mug down on the table. “I did my best to secure her future. Tried to find her a husband.”
    “After you realized that she was not going to take over the management of your household?” Hugh asked with mild curiosity.
    “Was it my fault none of my neighbors would have her as a wife?”
    Hugh recalled Alice’s description of her very convenient fits of hysteria. “Nay, ‘twas most definitely not your fault.”
    “Not once did she thank me for making the effort. I vow, she did her best to foil my every attempt to do my duty by her. I have no proof, mark you, but to this day, I remain convinced that she plotted stratagems to