The Countess by Catherine Coulter

Manor.”

I fell into step beside him. “I should enjoy hearing some of Lord Waverleigh’s

ghost stories.”

“Yes, just as long as they don’t involve any of the restless spirits here at

Devbridge Manor.”

I didn’t agree. I wanted to know everything about anyone who had died here.

Everyone was in the drawing room. George was sitting beside Judith, his head on

his paws, as calm as could be. Everyone was still listening to Lord Waverleigh.

He looked up at us a moment, and waved us forward. “You are looking well again,

my lady,” Lord Waverleigh said. “Come and listen to this strange tale of the

laird near Fort Williams who buried his wife alive behind his bedchamber wall.”

Judith shuddered. I admit that I couldn’t see any reason not to shudder with

that introduction. But I smiled and let John lead me to a chair. “Please, sir,

tell us now if the dreadful laird came to a bad end.”

“The very worst. The wife didn’t die. One of the laird’s men dug her out and

nursed her back to health. I suspect they were lovers all along and that was the

reason the laird had bricked her up, but there is no one to say one way or

another. Anyway, the laird’s man and the laird’s supposedly dead wife made plans.

“The wife haunted the laird. I don’t know the tricks they pulled on him, but

they scared the fellow so badly that he ended up hurling himself from a cliff

into Loch Ness, and many claimed to have seen the Loch Ness monster gobble him

up.”

Judith gasped. Miss Gillbank squeezed her shoulder, then clapped. “A splendid

end to the wretched man,” she said.

Miss Crislock said after a thoughtful moment, “That is the sort of tale that

should curb wickedness. It fair makes the hair stand on end, Hobson. What do you

think, Lawrence?”

My husband rose and crossed his arms over his chest. “My dear Miss Crislock, any

wife who is unfaithful to her husband deserves to be bricked up.”

“Ah,” said Lord Waverleigh, “I don’t know that unfaithfulness was the case at

all. Perhaps the laird was just a bully and abused her and perhaps tired of her.

Perhaps he didn’t like the way she managed his household, and thus he decided to

do away with her, or he found another lady he preferred to her. Regardless, it

wasn’t well-done of him. Don’t you believe he got his just desserts?”

Lawrence just smiled. “Now that you explain away any unfaithfulness on the lady’s

part, I suppose I must agree that a fall into the Loch Ness monster’s maw was

exactly what the laird deserved. Now, Andy, your cheeks look rosy. You’re

feeling just the thing now?”

“Certainly. I cannot wait for all our guests to arrive. The ball is very kind of

you, Lawrence. I will meet all our neighbors.” I smiled at him, and felt the

very real tug of affection that was inside me.

I turned. “Now, George, you have given Judith enough attention. It is time to

come for a nice walk with me. Judith, I still haven’t paid off my wager to you.

Why don’t you come with us, and we can wager again. Perhaps this time I will

beat you, and we will be even.”

George, the traitor, selected the far yew bush that Judith had pointed to. I

groaned, and went back to the house to fetch the shillings I now owed my

stepdaughter, that laughing girl who now twitted me mercilessly. Lawrence was

standing right there in the entrance hall, two shillings in his hand. He laughed

as he handed them to his daughter.

And that night, when I pulled my derringer out of the deep pocket in my

beautiful lavender gown to shove it beneath my pillow, I saw John’s Moorish

ceremonial knife, with its lovely red tassel. Its burnished gold edge gleamed in

the dull light. It was quite beautiful. It could slice into a heart so easily.

I nearly lost my dinner at that moment the shock was so great. I leapt back,

slapped my hands over my mouth so I wouldn’t shriek. George wuffed and jumped up

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