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“Really. Well, there is a vicar in town who made it perfectly clear to us that the bride in question left you standing at the altar,” Ryan warned. “I know you are lying. As you have lied to your creditors about your ability to pay them back. As you have lied to Wilhelmina when you convinced her that yours was a fool proof plan. Like you lied to Sian about her father giving you permission to marry her.”
“You know nothing.”
“You are only saying that because you have lied to everyone you have ever met,” Norman snorted. “You are a fraudster. The magistrate is on his way. He wants to speak to you about your unpaid debts. From what I have learnt, you have a penchant of staying in taverns and hotels and leaving without paying your bills. You also have a penchant for gambling and running up debts in gaming houses but not paying those bills either. From what I hear, you owe a lot of people a lot of money and are not just morally bankrupt, you are financially bankrupt too.”
“You are an utter fool if you think I am going to stand here and listen to your web of lies.” Cedrick pierced Ryan with a dark look, even though he was one man standing in a muddy field against many of Ryan’s men who were dry, on firm ground, and heavily armed. “You cannot prove any of this.”
“The magistrate can. He has many witnesses who can identify you,” Ryan informed Cedrick.
“What has she said?”
“Wilhelmina?” Ryan pursed his lips and crossed his arms. “Well, she has lied to everyone around her as well. When she got kicked out of her house for not paying her rent, she decided to take advantage of her brother because he has done his duty to her far more than any man should. She has taken full advantage of his generosity but rather than do the right thing and pay her debts off, Wilhelmina has run up yet more bills she knows she hasn’t got a prayer of paying. With your help, of course, she then concocted a ridiculous plan to try to marry you into the family. That way, you and she could stay at Arthur’s house knowing that Arthur would never allow Sian to become homeless. You could then live their lifestyle without having to do a single thing to earn it. Not only that, but you could hide away from your creditors and live in a village where the bailiffs are less likely to ever be able to find you.”
“And if anybody did turn up demanding you pay them, you would then have dear Arthur to pay them off for you,” Norman added.
“He would have to pay anybody who turned up demanding payment and would risk losing the house if he didn’t,” Ryan added. “When you turned up in the middle of the night, it wasn’t because your house had burnt down at all. You left in the middle of the night so nobody in town would see you sneaking out of the area. When everyone in town woke up it was to find you had vanished without a trace, and your creditors had lost all ability to ever be able to make you pay your debts. It was a courageous scheme but failed miserably because when you arrived at Arthur’s house, you didn’t get the tea and sympathy you expected. Instead, you got told you couldn’t stay for long.”
“I suppose this utter rubbish has come from that silly little creature and her mother.” Cedrick snorted.
“No, actually. It has come from my wife,” Arthur announced.
Ryan jerked and whirled to face Sian’s father. “Arthur.”
A contrite looking Arthur nodded. “I apologise for bringing trouble to your door, and for not listening to you earlier. I shall get them moved on. Wilhelmina and Cedrick that is.”
“I am afraid not,” Norman mused, stepping in front of the man. “This doesn’t require your involvement now, Arthur. The magistrate is involved seeing as these two are fraudsters.”
“Have you already called the magistrate?” Arthur asked.
“He is on his way, if not already waiting for us at the house,” Norman advised.
“Even now, you are prepared to do everything to protect your sister, Arthur, even at the expense of your wife and daughters. Why? Does your family not mean anything to you?” Ryan scowled his disapproval.
“It isn’t that,” Arthur whispered looking pained. He looked helplessly at Ryan but received no sympathy.
“Maybe you should explain yourself because all I see is someone who has turned his back on his family for the sake of a selfish, devious, relation who doesn’t deserve any regard for her welfare or financial status. She has fleeced you, Arthur, and has done so for years. If you had stood up to her and made her curb the way she lived maybe this might not have happened,” Ryan snapped.
“They both have to be arrested for kidnap,” Norman added.
Ryan looked at Arthur, who nodded sadly.
“There is nothing I can do now, Arthur. It is in the magistrate’s hands and rightly so. Now, I must concentrate on finding Sian,” Ryan said.
He turned to the groundsman, accepted a bunch of keys off him, and then disappeared through the trees, leaving Norman to deal with Cedrick, and Arthur staring after him thoughtfully. He didn’t stop to explain himself not least because he had no idea what he was going to do if his suspicions were proven wrong.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Ryan quietly tried the doors to the church only to find they were locked. Even the side door, which was usually left open for the vicar and the cleaning ladies, was bolted. Ryan made his way around the building to the front door, and eventually let himself in using the keys the groundsman had given him. The hushed silence that greeted him was far from reassuring, but he ventured inside anyway.
Ryan cautiously made his way down the aisle. The interior of the calm and silent church lay a contrast to the chaotic day he had just endured, which had probably been one of the worst in his life, but it didn’t soothe him.
“Sian?” Ryan called when he was half-day down the main aisle. He looked at every pew on either side of the small church, but it wasn’t until he reached the front that he found what he was looking for.
The relief that slammed into him almost brought him to his knees. All he could do for a moment was stare at her and wonder how in many more times he would have luck on his side. The warnings in his nightmares would one day come true if he didn’t do something to thwart them, he knew that for definite now.
“Sian?” Ryan edged closer and eyed the sodden material of her dress. As if to tell him of how she had gotten that way, a rumble of thunder rattled through the vaulted ceiling high above their heads. “Sian?”
When she still didn’t respond, Ryan gently shook her shoulder. One touch of her cold flesh was all he needed to feel. Snatching off his great cloak, he draped it over her and knelt beside her while he shook her shoulder once more.
