Read Online Lady Vengeance by Melinda Hammond - Free Book Online Page B

pierce your throat. Put your hands behind you.’
     The very calmness of her speech unnerved him and he did as she ordered.
     ‘What – what is this?’
     ‘Do you not remember me?’
     He began to shake his head, then remembered the steel at his throat.
     ‘No, I cannot recall having seen you before, save at the Briàre’s soirée. Pray put down the sword and let us talk sensibly.’
     The blade pressed deeper into his flesh and he feared that at any moment the point would puncture the skin. The lady’s eyes were hard as stone as she watched him.
     ‘Think back, Mr Poyntz. Think back to a winter’s day in December, eight years ago.’
     ‘Eight years!’ he repeated in astonishment, ‘how the devil can I recall –’
     The look on the lady’s face made him break off and he said in a quieter tone, ‘Well, let me think – that would be ‘forty-five. I seem to remember I spent most of that winter chasing over England – Good God!’
     She watched as astonishment and recognition crossed the gentleman’s features and she smiled grimly.
     ‘The - the girl at the inn?’ he asked her incredulously, ‘but you cannot be – Thurleigh said you were dead! He told me that when he had recovered the ruby he dispatched you –’
     ‘I know nothing of that!’ she cut him short impatiently.
     A wary look came into Poyntz’s eyes. He tried to move, but the steel at his throat never wavered from its target and he changed his mind.
     ‘You – you appear to have done very well for yourself, Madame de Sange. What is it you want from me? Money for some by-slip of that night? Damme but I don’t see how you can tell which of us fathered your love-child –’
     A look of loathing came over her face.
     ‘How dare you talk of love!’ she cried in disgust. ‘There was nothing but hate and violence on that night and I thank God He spared me a bastard from such a time!’
     He looked perplexed.
     ‘But if it is not a child – what is it you want from me?’
     ‘Did you think, sir, that if we should meet again I would let any of you go unpunished for what you did?’
     ‘‘Twas nothing more than a little dalliance –ahh!’ He screamed and fell to his knees as the sword bit into his skin and he felt a trickle of warm blood running down his neck.
     ‘Next time it will go deeper!’ she promised, her voice low and quivering with anger. ‘You must now realize how much I should like to drive this point through your throat right now – it is only the fact that I need information from you that prevents me from killing you.’
     He did not doubt her sincerity, and beads of perspiration stood out on his forehead, the colour ebbing and flowing from his cheeks.
     ‘P-please, Madame, consider what you are about! You cannot wish to damn your soul by committing murder!’ he cried shrilly, but she regarded him with cold, contemptuous eyes.
     ‘But you could save me from sin, and save yourself, Mr Poyntz. If you will but tell me who killed my father.’
     ‘I don’t know – please!’ He screamed again as the sword once more pierced his neck, ‘I swear I know nothing of this!’
     ‘My father was an old man, a peaceful man, but he went to the inn in search of justice. They brought him back to us on a litter - one of you had killed him!’
     He read the accusation in her eyes and trembled.
     ‘Not I, believe me! Pray, Madame, consider – it was I who showed you some little mercy and gave you the ruby as some recompense for your suffering. True, I did not then realize –’ he broke off, sweat glistening upon his brow. ‘I – I remember nothing after you had gone, I swear it. Most likely I passed out. I recall nothing more of that evening,’ He held his breath as she stared down at him, then she drew back slightly and he closed his eyes in relief as the sharp point came away from his neck. His heart was still pounding heavily, making it hard for him to breathe, but he struggled back to his