It should not have been such a painful shock, she thought, as tears stung her eyes. She had certainly not been welcomed into the family. The man she had married had obviously never cared for her. Arianna now knew that, if she had had a child, that child would not have been completely accepted, either. She could not believe she had been so naive as to trust any of them. People who treated a person as they had treated her were not ones that should be trusted. Worse, she had accepted the possibility that no one in her family cared how she was treated, and for stirring that mistrust of her own kin in her heart, she would never forgive Claud’s family.
“Weel, this shall anger my family,” she murmured. “Ach, what am I saying? They will all be furious o’er how I was deceived, over how they were deceived as weel. Kenning that I was treated poorly by that whole cursed family and robbed of my dower, too, will send them into a killing rage.”
“Do ye think they will want to fight the Lucettes?”
“They will wish to, but I think in the end they will only fight with words and demands for restitution. There is a connection through blood and marriage with the family, ye see. An old one. I was to be a renewal of that connection. There are some verra good people within the Lucette family. I wrote to them, as weel.” She sighed. “I suspicion those letters also went into the fire and that is why I ne’er saw the ones I have met before, ones more closely tied to my clan.”
Brian was just about to give her his opinion on the way the Lucettes had treated her when he heard the sound of approaching horses. “We must leave now,” he said even as he grabbed her by the arm and tugged her to her feet.
“Do ye think it is them?” she asked, hurrying to mount her horse.
“Aye, I suspect it is. Move into the trees where the shadows will hide us. I wish to see to be certain. E’en if it isnae them, I think it best if we keep out of sight. We dinnae want them to be able to gain any information on where we have been.”
“But if they pass so close to us, will they nay see us?”
“They are on the other side of the burn.”
Once within the shadows, her gaze fixed upon the other side of the burn, Arianna leaned forward to lightly stroke her mount’s neck. She closed her eyes to listen carefully and finally heard what Brian had. There were definitely horsemen approaching on the other side of the burn. She was astonished at the keenness of his hearing. She would have sat there in full view, probably not hearing the approach of anyone until they were right there staring at her.
Opening her eyes, she stared at the opposite bank and tensed as the riders came into view. She easily recognized Amiel. The man sat a horse with all the stiff arrogance he showed in his every dealing with people. Arianna would feel badly for the people who served the Lucettes if they had not, almost to a man, scorned her and the boys as completely as Claud’s family had. They were certainly not blessed in the people who ruled them, but that did not fully excuse their unkindnesses. Claud had been neglectful, his parents the same, and Amiel would be cruel. She had seen that in him from the beginning.
It troubled her that Amiel remained on their trail no matter what Brian did. It was possible that the few people who caught sight of them as they traveled told Amiel and his men, but it was still a wonder that she and Brian had not shaken free of the man yet. It was almost as if Amiel knew where they might go, that he was not so much following their trail as forging along one he felt sure they would use.
Arianna looked at Brian, about to ask him what he thought, but he signaled her to follow him. As she did so, certain her every move thundered through the trees, she fought the feeling that Brian knew a great deal more than he was telling her. She then recalled that he had slipped away last night to spy upon Amiel but had not told her what, if anything, he had discovered. As soon as they were safely out of the hearing of her enemy, she intended to demand he tell her all he knew.
It was almost sunset by the time Brian signaled for them to halt. Very few words had been passed between them, speed and silence being more important. Arianna no longer believed they had shaken free of Amiel; they had only put a safe distance between them.
“Brian,” she said as she dismounted, “I think Amiel kens what he is looking for.”
“Aye, ye and the laddies.”
He glanced at her and grimaced as he tended to the horses. She stood there staring at him, a frown on her pretty face and her hands fisted on her gently rounded hips. Arianna did not have to openly accuse him of lying with harsh words; her stance said it quite clearly.
“I think ye learned something whilst ye were creeping about last eve,” she said.
“I ne’er creep.”
She ignored him and continued, “And ye failed to tell me what it was. Amiel is too much the spoiled courtier to be able to keep so close on our heels through skill alone. Aye, and too vain to think anyone else might ken what to do better than he, so I doubt he heeds the wisdom of a good tracker.”
“Arianna, let us tend to the horses and ready our meal,” he said. “Then I will tell ye what I have learned.”