Alas My Love by Tracie Peterson

Author:Tracie Peterson [Peterson, Tracie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cookie429, Extratorrents, Kat
ISBN: 9781620291979
Google: zeQfr8kqNhEC
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Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Incorporated
Published: 2012-09-23T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Come.” Tancred pulled Helena to her feet. “Let us go reason with your brother.”

“There is no reasoning with that one.”

Tancred put Helena’s hand upon his arm. “Perhaps not, then again maybe there is. We’ve dealt him a double blow this day. First he finds you after many weeks and then he finds me not far behind. Now that he has had time to simmer, perhaps he will listen.”

They walked out into the clearing and Tancred paused. “I have known days past when your brother was a reasonable man. I trust God can give him the ability to deal evenhandedly with this, Helena.”

“Roger cares naught for fairness or evenhanded dealings. He cares for Roger.” She paused and let her gaze go to the open meadow where men and women laughed and cheered the children in three-legged races. “I fear him, Tanny.” She couldn’t help but shudder. “He hated me, mayhaps not as much as Maude, but nevertheless I was a thorn in his side. Henry would not allow him to force my hand in marriage and that angered him greatly. He could neither touch the dowry left me by my mother, nor could he benefit from a wealthy arranged union.”

“You have never married?” Tancred asked in disbelief. “But you must be at least. . .” The image of Helena as a little girl faded more and more.

“I am twenty,” Helena said with a frown. “And no, I could not marry when my heart belonged to you.”

Tancred shook his head. “All those years spent in my miserable exile and you were here across the sea.”

“I would gladly have shared your exile, Tanny. Most gladly.”

Her eyes pierced his heart in the warmth of their sincerity. Her love caused him to feel strong in a way he’d not felt in years. Uncertain of what he might do should they tarry any longer, Tancred led her forward and motioned at the castle in the distance.

“My brother and I will not allow you to be taken. Roger will have little to say in the matter when Henry learns of this. But tell me, why did you refuse to tell us your story?”

Helena lowered her head in shame. “I could not admit to being Lady Helena Talbot. Richard would no doubt have sent word to Roger and in turn my brother would have retrieved me. I could not bear the thought of another beating at his hand. Nor could I agree to his terms in regards to the abbey.”

Tancred stopped abruptly. “He beat you?”

“Aye. ’Twas the reason I ran. While he was just boisterous and raging, I could handle him and Maude as well. But Maude convinced him to starve me and then put me to shame at the whipping post. I bear those lash marks even now.”

Tancred’s eyes narrowed in rage. “He will answer for it with marks of his own.”

“Nay, Tanny,” Helena begged, her hand firmly gripping his arm. “ ’Twould resolve nothing. I am reconciled to the matter and know that Roger would never have acted as he did, if not for Maude.

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