Haunted Knights (Montbryce~The Next Generation Historical Romance) by Anna Markland

chair and sat with his forearms on his thighs, hands clasped. “You’re right.”
    Vincent grimaced. “Black measles?”
    Lucien shrugged. “Papa feels as guilty as we do, probably more so since he is culpable for the crime in the first place.”
    Vincent turned to face his brother. “I will speak to father on the morrow. I intend to tell him we can no longer continue this farce. Rosamunda and Paulina deserve better.”
    Lucien remained silent for a long while. Vincent suspected they both had the same thing on their mind. When the silence became unbearable, he asked, “What’s your opinion of the dwarf?”
    “You read my thoughts, brother. He is a gentleman, a true knight, despite his stature.”
    “He would make someone a fine husband.”
    Lucien glanced up at him sharply. “No doubt, but we must tread carefully here. Paulina is not yet free, and Denis de Sancerre may have no interest in taking a wife. She on the other hand may judge him repulsive. He is not a handsome man. His deformity is not the same as hers.”
    Vincent stirred the embers with the poker. “You’re right. We may make a bad situation worse if we meddle. Rosamunda longs for a mate, but Paulina?”
    Lucien came to stand by his brother and put a hand on his shoulder. “She does not recognise her own beauty. Fear hides it from her.”
    Vincent took a long breath. “We should go up and see them.”
    Lucien sighed. “But what to say? Let’s wait until we have spoken to father.”
    “Till the morrow then.”
    ~~~
    Denis lay awake, listening to the unfamiliar creaks and groans of the house. Judging by the tossing and turning going on at the other side of the huge bed they shared, Adam was not asleep either.
    They had talked for a long while before retiring, in agreement that the Lallements probably had a hidden daughter. They decided upon madness as the reason a parent would lock away a child.
    Still something niggled at Denis. The woman he had glimpsed for a mere second had not looked demented, though her hair was dishevelled. Her beauty had struck him immediately.
    In addition, the ages did not add up. The face he had seen was that of a girl of less than twenty years. According to Lucien and Vincent, Paulina would be a few years older.
    He tapped his brother on the shoulder and Adam turned to face him. “Mayhap we are wrong and the girl was a servant,” he said loudly.
    Adam yawned. “ Non . I might concur had they not stumbled over each other to conceal the truth. Somewhere in this house, there is a woman who has been locked away for many a year.”
    Denis propped his head on his hand. “But how did they perceive that a child of three was mad? She must have been a raving lunatic. Unless there was some other reason.”
    Adam kicked off the linens. “We’ve been over this already. What other reason could there be?”
    Denis snorted. “You’re asking me? The man who came close to being murdered at birth?”
    Adam chewed his lip. “Perhaps she’s a dwarf.”
    Denis lay back against the bolster. Now there was an interesting notion. “She did not look like a dwarf. Besides, why wait until she was three? It is obvious at birth when one is born with my qualities.”
    They lay looking up at the ceiling, each lost in his own thoughts.
    Suddenly Adam gripped his arm. “Do you smell that?”
    Denis sat up and sniffed the air.
    He jumped out of bed, reaching for his boots. “Something’s burning.”
    ~~~
    Maudine Lallement gripped the railing at the bottom of the stairway that led to the third floor. Vertigo swept over her and she dropped the torch she had used to set afire the banners that hung from the rafters.
    “Send him to hell,” she shrieked, kicking away the fallen torch as flames licked at the hem of her nightshift. “I’ll not have a troll under my roof.”
    She watched as the hangings were quickly consumed with a woosh, and the fire crept towards the upper chambers. “The Devil take them,” she screamed, panic taking hold as