The key turning in the lock rang in her ears for several moments.
* * *
“What did you say?” Callum demanded, rising from his chair and crossing the room. The butler cast a reassuring look to the man who’d come to share the unwelcome news.
He stammered slightly and looked down, then said again, “L-l-lady Beatrix. She said that’s her name.”
“Lady Beatrix… of what?” Callum demanded. “I don’t know anyone by that name!”
“I know not, My Lord,” the servant replied. “Only that she stated her name and title.”
“Lloyd, what have I done? It’s as I feared, perhaps she was in the company of those bandits against her will!” Callum cried. “I knew there was some air about her that demonstrated she was their better!”
“You had no way of knowing, My Lord,” Lloyd explained. “Apart from the faint insult, remember that you very well may have saved her life.”
“Oh? How so?”
“Well, if you stole her from them, even under coarse circumstances and under the shroud of accusation such as it was, you still managed to remove her from their company. Who knows how long she might have remained with them, and what brutal treatment she may have continued to endure?” The butler’s attempt at reassuring him brightened Callum’s mood considerably.
“Yes, that’s quite right,” he mumbled, thinking it through as he walked the length of the room and back. “She may very well have been rescued from further harm by my misstep. But that still doesn’t explain her title. Surely if she’d been stolen by rascals such as those, word would have spread among the ton?”
“Perhaps she’s from another region or even another country, My Lord? And only educated here?” Lloyd suggested. The guard only shrugged. “There’s no way to know where this band of ruffians absconded with her. They may have traveled quite a distance with her before arriving in these parts.”
“You may be right, Lloyd. In any event, she cannot remain downstairs!” Callum rushed from the room to rescue the person he’d treated so boorishly, his butler and servant following a few paces behind.
Callum need not have hurried. Behind the locked door, Beatrix still waited. She looked up only once all three of them had entered the room, barely turning her head to acknowledge them.
“I should rather have thought my name might bring you slumming down here in the bowels of the house,” she said slowly.
“Lady Beatrix?” Callum began, “I wish to extend my most sincere apologies to you for—”
“For what? For binding me like a pig headed to market and throwing me across your horse? Ordering me to be treated like a common criminal? Allowing me to sleep on the cold floor here as though I belonged in the Tower? Which offense is it exactly?” She still made no move to get up, instead allowing Callum to view her lowest state on the floor.
“I am heartily sorry, My Lady,” he said, but was interrupted by the sound of her scornful laughter.
“Your Lady? I’m nothing of the sort,” Beatrix answered, rolling her eyes. “Your buffoon there asked my name and I simply told him what I’ve been called all my life. I’m no simpering noble such as the likes of you. But it is rather amusing how fast you ran to my aid once you’d been told you had a fine lady locked in your cellar. I’m sure you had visions of being shunned throughout the ton floating before your dainty little eyes.”
Callum stared in consternation. Not a lady? What was she playing at? This was all some sort of diversion to her?
“Tell me, good sir,” Beatrix said, leaning up until she propped on her elbow and stared at him with a haughty expression, “did you ever exert yourself so dearly for any commoner? Or do you reserve all your strength on the off-chance that it’s one of your kind in trouble?”
“I… I don’t know what you mean,” Callum said, defending himself from what he felt sure was an accusation wrapped in her rude jest.
“What I mean is, you would never have hurried on my account had you known that I was… a nobody.” She glared at him and turned away to face the fall.
“Madam, I have spoken rather plainly,” he said, struggling to control his temper. “You and your kind have stolen something very important from me, and you may walk out the door within a minute’s time if you’d only return it to me.”
“Oh, would that be the servants’ entrance again, or does my ‘title’ allow me to use the fancy door?” she asked gayly, reminding Callum of his arrogance from the previous night. “As for your property, I have spoken rather plainly to you as well. I don’t have your precious bauble and even if I did, I’d chuck it in the nearest river before giving it to you. The very last thing on this earth I desire is for you to feel happiness.”
“Then you’ll rot here until such time as I can bring the authorities to arrest you!” Callum bellowed, his voice echoing off the walls in the empty room. Beatrix offered no discernable reaction. He fought to resume control of himself and added, “If you state the name of your fellow thieves so that I might have my property back, however, I will speak to the magistrate personally about offering you lenience.”
“Lenience? For stealing? You seemed to be fully aware only yesterday that theft—especially from someone of your mighty station by someone of my disgustingly low class—is a hanging offense. Tell me, how does one offer lenience during a hanging? Do they use a better grade of rope for the noose, perhaps, or tie it in a darling bow instead of the usual coiled knot?” she asked, feigning innocence. “Oh, maybe it is that they offer pastries at your last meal instead of merely gruel?”
“My Lord, this is a waste of your time,” Lloyd said quietly. “Let us call the constable and allow him to handle it.”
“No,” Callum said defiantly. “That is obviously what this insolent creature desires. I’ll call no one. You, madam, can stay precisely where you are without a word to anyone. Your friends can wonder where you are and what’s become of you. It certainly won’t be the most important matter which they are ignorant of!”
He turned on his heel and stormed from the room, striding down the hallway so forcefully that his steps thundered throughout the length of the passageway. He heard the door shut firmly behind him as his guard locked the door once again.
