Free Defiant Surrender by Tamara Gill Page A

scuttling off. Why did people keep running away from her like that?
    “One thing I will admit to, Mistress Rhode, is the couple before us in that painting are indeed my parents. Their clothing may be unfamiliar to me, but otherwise they are most definitely a familiar pair.”
    “Lady Madeline,” her maid gasped, “Do you still think yourself from the future? Surely not. I’m sure given time, your memory will return and all this worry will be for naught.”
    “I’m sorry, but you’re wrong. I’m not sure what the other Lady Madeline was like, but surely you must see how different we are. My actions, my speech. Your Lady Madeline was a powerful baron’s daughter. A lady of the first water. I’m,” she said, clasping her hand to her heart, “the only daughter of a teacher and a housewife. I went to a public school, wore hand-me-down clothes and now run an antique store for a living. I have no social graces, and I do not remember anyone or anything here at Aimecourt, or at Kingston castle for that matter.”
    Mistress Rhode pursed her lips. “It is true, m’lady, that you hit your head. Perhaps worse than I first thought. But you are the Lady Madeline in features. There is perhaps,” she frowned, “a certain coarseness now about your manner of speech and graces that had never been there before. But that is nothing that cannot be fixed.”
    Maddie nibbled on a por tion of bread and sipped her mead. “What was the Lady Madeline you knew like?”
    Mistress Rhode sighed and sat back within her chair. “A tyrant, just as her father was. The property was always to be hers, or any sons she may have. Lady Madeline’s tutelage was thorough and hard. Your former self would never have said thank you to a mere vassal for anything. So it does not surprise me, m’lady, if your people are a little in awe and wary of you.”
    Maddie nodded, understanding now what William had meant by his dig at her in the carriage. It also explained why whenever she used her manners people looked at her as if they were waiting for another person to appear.
    “Perhaps something did happen in that carriage, that neither you nor I can explain, Lady Madeline. But you are a kind and considerate woman. Whilst Lady Madeline of old, the woman I had protected all of those years past, was mean, uncharitable, and hard.” Mistress Rhode paused, her attention fixed on the flames as she spoke. “I had at times even felt sorry for Lord William. I knew Lady Madeline would not make an easy wife.” She chuckled. “It seems even the new one will not.”
    Maddie’s smile fell short as she sat forward. “This time in history scares me, Mistress Rhode. I haven’t had the Lady Madeline of old’s upbringing, nor do I know what I’m doing. I’m lost.”
    “I will admit, m’lady, that you are changed, but not for the worse. You may lack some of the social graces appropriate to your status, but that is easy to overcome.” Her maid leant forward and clasped her hand. “You must promise me not to speak of your concerns or former life with anyone other than myself. It reeks of witchcraft, and if you are in fact from the future, you know what happens to such unfortunates.”
    Maddie’s stomach knotted. “I understand. But you will promise to ask your mother, when you see her, what could be done to return me home?” Maddie asked.
    “Of course, my dear,” she replied, smiling.
    They sat in silence and watched as their trunks were carted through the hall toward the winding stone staircase.
    “Mistress Rhode, while I’m here, there is something I must find, or at least try to find. You see, the day I returned to 1102, I had found an ancient ring, buried on the shore of the Thames River in London. It was a wedding ring of sorts, one made of pewter with an inscription inside. When I placed the ring on my finger, the next thing I was conscious of was sitting on the carriage floor talking to you. I am hopeful that…that if I find this ring, I will find a way