Alice muttered something beneath her breath that made her comrades snicker. A little boy near her gasped and stared at Beth with wide eyes. Michael straightened away from the wall he had been propping up, his eyebrows lowering in a suspicious frown.
Her hackles rising, Beth crossed to stand a few feet in front of the much taller woman. “I didn’t quite catch that. Would you care to repeat it?”
Lips clamped shut, Alice glared at her mutinously. Unbridled anger oozed from her sapphire gaze. That and a certain grating smugness.
“If you have something to say to me,” Beth told her, “I suggest you say it to my face instead of behind my back like a coward.”
“I am no coward!” the woman hissed, swallowing the bait. “I said I know my place and ’tis not serving Lord Robert’s whore!”
Michael lunged forward with a furious growl.
Beth planted a hand on his chest before he could storm past her. “Let me handle this, Michael.” She kept her tone neutral, her expression calm and her manner unruffled, though she snarled and growled a bit on the inside.
Keeping her gaze on Alice, she raised a brow. “Excuse me?”
An unattractive sneer twisted the woman’s face. “All here know you share his bed.”
“Really,” Beth commented, letting her tone drop on the second syllable. “Well, since I’m pretty sure the earl doesn’t invite you all to sleep in his chamber every night, I suppose that means you can see through wood and stone? Or do you forego sleep and keep your ear pressed to his door instead?”
“We need not be there to know ’tis true,” Alice declared disparagingly. “We have all seen the way you throw yourself at him like a camp follower. ’Tis obvious he was bedding you long afore you arrived at Fosterly.”
“You deceitful slut!” Maude shouted furiously. “’Tis not true and you know it! She was a virgin ere last night! You saw the sheets yourself!” As soon as the words left her lips, the older woman gasped and clamped a hand over her mouth. “Oh! Forgive me, my lady. I did not mean… I only thought to… Oh, dear!”
Michael groaned.
Lovely. Beth had never tried so hard in her life to suppress a blush. “Be that as it may, what business is it of yours, Alice?”
The blonde’s face darkened as Beth continued.
“Lord Robert is the earl. Fosterly is his. And all who inhabit it are subject to his authority. Is that not correct?”
“You have it aright, my lady,” Michael spoke behind her, barely restrained by the hand she still pressed to his chest.
“Lord Robert asked me to set his kitchen to rights,” Beth said. “He also said that my will is his will and that to please him”—she took a step forward and stared Alice directly in the eye, uncaring that she had to look up to do so—“you will have to please me.”
“You will not last!” Alice screeched. “You will never please him the way I do. He will tire of you quickly. Then he will come back to me. He always comes back to me!”
A fist fastened itself around Beth’s heart and slowly began to squeeze.
Alice and Robert had been lovers?
Michael took a step closer, ready to interfere. “You dare to—!”
“Shut up, Michael. I’m handling this,” Beth snapped, then gritted her teeth. Damn it. Don’t show any reaction. Don’t let her see that she’s rattled you.
And she had. Vivid images of Robert and Alice making love filled her mind as a primitive urge to do violence rose up within her.
Jealousy, rage, and insecurity all buffeted her as she stood there, outwardly impassive.
Wait a minute. What was she doing, taking this woman’s word that Robert had slept with her? Josh had taught her better than that.
While all of the other occupants of the kitchen waited amidst a fascinated hush, Beth examined Alice and the situation as objectively as possible, then drew the only conclusion she could, knowing Robert as she did.
Her eyes on Alice, Beth shook her head, a slow, steady wagging from side to side. One corner of her lips she lifted in a patronizing smile as she released Michael and folded her arms across her chest. When next she spoke, she infused her words with condescending amusement. “You’ve never shared Robert’s bed.”
Alice’s lips tightened. “I have. Lord Robert has sought me out many ti—”
“Not even once,” Beth interrupted. “You’re not his type.”
Michael grunted. “Aye. Lying bitches in heat do not appeal to him.”
Male laughter and female giggles and snickers filled the room.
Alice’s face twisted with rage as she leapt forward.
Beth didn’t know who the intended target was—herself or Michael. She simply reacted according to all of the self-defense drills Josh had put her through.
Dodging to one side, Beth grabbed Alice’s wrist, knocked her off-balance, and—seconds later—pinned her to the floor, facedown, with one arm twisted up behind her back and Beth’s foot planted firmly between her shoulder blades.
While their audience gaped, Alice struggled in vain for several seconds, most likely believing her size would give her the advantage, then subsided as Beth forced the woman’s captive arm up a fraction higher.