Free The Gallows Bride by Rebecca King Page B

believed you had been hanged. You looked so
deathly pale.”
    Jemima
was absently aware of a young maid topping up the water to make it
warm again, but was lost to everything except the horrible memory
of her final moments in Mr Simpson’s office.
    “ So why am I still alive?” Jemima frowned, and sat patiently
as Eliza picked up the brush and began to comb her hair again.
Clearly she felt better having something to do with her
hands.
    “ We don’t know, but I get the distinct impression that Sir
Dunnicliffe does,” Eliza replied, staring distractedly at the long,
now silken, tresses in her hand. “It seems a little too convenient
that he arrived here mere hours after you – your body.”
    “ Sir Dunnicliffe?” Jemima frowned, searching her memory but
finding no trace of anyone of that name.
    “ When we found out where you were and what was going to happen
to you, Dominic sent word to one of his contacts at the War Office,
who in turn sent Sir Dunnicliffe to assist. When we got back to
Havistock Hall,” Eliza glanced at her sister, “where you are now,
Peter, Edward, Sebastian and Dominic immediately left again to try
and get you out of the gaol.”
    “ Got back? From where?” Jemima asked, her brow puckered in
confusion.
    “ I was going back to Padstow to check our secret hiding place.
When you vanished from your job, I didn’t know if Scraggan had seen
you and you had run to keep me safe. Edward, Peter, Sebastian and
Dominic all escorted me,” Eliza replied, leaving the pertinent
facts for a later date. “We were nearly there when we got news of
your being in Derby Gaol. As soon as the men found out, we came
rushing back to Leicestershire to help you.”
    “ I remember,” Jemima whispered, tears forming in her eyes at
the memory of the raw pain on Peter’s face moments before she left
the office. She turned solemn eyes to Eliza. “I gave Edward the
papers.”
    “ I know, he gave them to me,” Eliza replied. “They are safe
now. Dominic is going to see they get into the right hands at the
War Office.”
    “ Who is this Dominic?” Jemima frowned at the ceiling,
wondering if the rhythmic movements of Eliza brushing her hair were
helping to calm both of them in some way.
    “ Dominic Cavendish is head of the Cavendish family. There are
Dominic, Sebastian and Edward, who is the youngest,” her voice
softening as she spoke Edward’s name.
    Jemima
thought back to the group in the corridor. “Edward was the man
standing behind you in the servant’s corridor?”
    “ Yes,” Eliza paused, and smiled shyly at Jemima. “I should
like for us to get married.”
    Jemima
wasn’t surprised, and felt a thrill of delight for her sister that
was conveyed in the bright shine of joy in her amber eyes. “He
loves you,” she declared with certainty, thinking of the
protectiveness she had witnessed earlier.
    Eliza
nodded with a smile of satisfaction. “As I do him,” she whispered
softly. She briefly considered telling Jemima about her own near
death experience earlier that afternoon at the hands of Rogan
Scraggan, but decided to leave that for another day, when Jemima
was stronger.
    “ That’s excellent news, dear sister. Congratulations, I know
you will be very happy together,” Eliza smiled softly at her
sister, the first time she had smiled in many months.
    Companionable silence settled over them for a few moments,
each woman lost in her own thoughts.
    Suddenly
filled with the urge to discover the truth herself, Jemima turned
her gaze to Eliza. “I’m exhausted, but nothing is going to stop me
from asking this Sir Dunnicliffe a few questions of my
own.”
    “ I will be right beside you,” Eliza promised. “But now let’s
get you fed. Once you have eaten, you can see the doctor and get
some rest. We will confront this Sir Dunnicliffe later, and get the
truth out of him, even if Peter has to beat him to a
pulp.”
    Determination rang clear in her voice as she rose to her
feet, clearly not expecting