Julie Garwood - [3 Book Box Set] (27 page)

Geoffrey immediately turned to his wife and said, “Elizabeth, tell me what you know of this Rupert.”

“I am so ashamed, Geoffrey. I should have gone to him to offer him my comfort. He was my sister’s husband and I knew that Margaret and he dealt well with each other, from the way they behaved when they visited us. They were a well-matched couple, my mother used to say.”

“But what of Rupert himself?” Geoffrey asked. “What can you tell me about him? Can he really be ‘mad with grief,’” he asked. “Is he so weak that he cannot leave his room to see his wife’s grave?” There was ridicule in Geoffrey’s voice and Elizabeth shook her head, saddened by his questions, his tone.

“You do not understand,” she whispered. And now I fully know the difficulty in your nature, she thought. You do not love me, else you would comprehend. A weight, like a stone, lodged against her heart, and Elizabeth turned away from her husband so that he could not see the sorrow in her eyes.

Geoffrey misunderstood his wife’s obvious withdrawal, incorrectly assuming that discussion of her relatives opened the wound she was trying so hard to cover. He placed his hand on her shoulder and slowly turned her to face him once again. “Tell me the story of what took place here once again, Elizabeth. I know that it is painful for you and I am sorry, but I have need to hear it all again. To make sure,” he said.

Elizabeth puzzled over his last words and wished he
had not asked her. “Will my telling you help you understand something?” she asked. Geoffrey nodded, and Elizabeth added, “Then I will tell you.” She took a calming breath and closed her eyes and repeated her story. Geoffrey did not interrupt once and she was thankful he did not, as she wished to finish as quickly as possible. When she was done, she looked up into his eyes, trying to read his thoughts, his conclusions.

“You have left something out,” Geoffrey said, rubbing his chin in a thoughtful manner.

“What is that?” Elizabeth asked, frowning.

“Before, with the first telling, you said that one of the men wearing the hoods was injured . . . stabbed, I think you said.”

“Yes, I did forget that,” Elizabeth answered. “Margaret stabbed him. Why? Is that important?”

“Perhaps. Where did she stab him?” he asked, his voice casual, his eyes alert.

Elizabeth concentrated and pictured the scene again, trying to keep herself as detached as possible. In her mind she saw Margaret turn and raise her dagger and . . . “Just below the shoulder, the right shoulder. I saw the blood come through the cloth.” She looked again at Geoffrey but found no answer in his gaze. “What are you thinking?” she asked.

“Not now,” he hedged. “But when I return from my journey you will have your answers.”

“Always you ask me to wait,” Elizabeth said, unable to keep the anger out of her voice.

“You have given me your trust,” Geoffrey reminded her. He almost added that she had pledged him her love too, but decided not to bring that subject up again. “You have made a pledge to me,” he substituted instead.

But I have made a pledge to my parents and my sisters too, she argued to herself. Should they not come before her pledge to her husband? She sighed with
weariness. If only he could understand her position, she thought.

“I made another pledge,” she whispered. She turned before her husband could respond and hurried out of the room. There was much she had to consider, and she needed to be alone. She went back to the bedroom and sat down on the bed. Have I become obsessed with my vengeance? she asked herself. Is it so wrong to want justice so that their souls will reach heaven?

The sobs caught her by surprise. She couldn’t hold them back any longer. She buried her face in the covers and cried until she was exhausted, weeping for the loss of her family. I will not fail you, she told her parents, her sisters. I will find a way to bring justice so that you may rest in peace. The vow was barely repeated in her mind when the idea took hold. Rupert! She would go to him, pull him from his grief with her knowledge of her uncle’s treachery. Aye, she would give him cause to leave his room. She would give him her vengeance. The transfer of the vow would also, she admitted, leave her free.

Vengeance had kept her sane when she would have elsewise gone mad, it would do the same for him, Elizabeth decided. It would give him purpose. Rupert would vow revenge and was strong enough to challenge Belwain for the truth. He would not be so concerned with the law, Elizabeth thought.

She dried her eyes and bounded off the bed. There was much to do, and before the day was over. She must convince Hammond to accompany her and order him to find another willing to aid her. He would do it, she thought with determination, if she threatened to go alone. And he would not betray her to Geoffrey either. No, she thought, he is loyal to me first.

She would leave as soon as Geoffrey and his men were on their way, early tomorrow morning. And it wasn’t such a great distance to Rupert’s home, not if
she could remember the way of the cut-through her father had chanced upon. With any luck she would be back before Geoffrey returned. She hadn’t a hope that her absence would go unnoticed by the men he left behind, but by then it would be too late and the deed would have been done.

E
LIZABETH SOAKED IN THE WOODEN TUB OF STEAMING,
rose-scented water for a long while. Geoffrey had washed and changed and she sent him away to the dinner table with a wave of dismissal. “I will join you shortly,” she promised with a wink.

“Perhaps I will join you now,” Geoffrey teased, hesitating at the door. He wanted to stay and gave her a look that told her as much.

“You cannot,” Elizabeth replied, laughing. “Your men and my grandfather wait for you. If you are late, they would know what we . . . my grandfather would guess . . .”

Geoffrey threw his head back and laughed at her discomfort.

The wet rag hit his forehead and he was forced to pull
Elizabeth from the tub and give her a long kiss. “Until later,” he said in a husky voice full of promise.

“Yes,” Elizabeth whispered, “until later. But now you will have to change, my lord, for I have shared my bath with you.” She laughed again and sat back down in the water, casually splashing him with one hand while her other covered her breasts from his view.

Ah, he was a magnificent man, she thought as she seductively studied her husband’s physique. He was dressed all in black, save for the golden crest proclaiming his worth, and the water was truly invisible against the dark fabric. She was pleased that he had worn the black, for it would go well with the surprise she had planned and had even gone to great lengths to see that he did. Both the black braies and the bliaut were spread out upon the bed, with the white chainse atop, and Geoffrey, though he had raised an inquiring eyebrow when he saw that his wife had selected his outfit, changed into it without a question.

What a contradiction she is, Geoffrey thought as he watched his wife. She hides her breasts from me with the shyness of a virgin, yet stares at me with a hunger that matches my own. “Your lust is showing, wife,” Geoffrey said with extreme smugness. He shook his head with feigned despair and walked back to the door.

“Ever you would delay me,” he said in parting.

She heard his laughter through the door and smiled with anticipation. “Tonight, dear husband, you will delay me from my sleep. I will see to it.”

She hurried with her task of drying herself and then pulled the black ankle-length chainse from her chest. It was one of the new gowns the seamstress had fashioned for her, under protest, for the chainse was usually of a lighter color to give added contrast to the bliaut worn, but Elizabeth had been insistent. She would match her husband tonight, in both dress and passion. Sighing, she pulled the gown over her head and let it fall against
her bare skin. She had decided that she would not wear a chemise, and felt herself blush with her wanton behavior. Oh, the surprises I have in store for you, husband, she thought, smiling with anticipation. Even when she slipped the black, knee-length bliaut over the chainse, it still hugged her curves. She brushed her hair, deciding against plaiting it, and then hurried back to the chest once again to remove the wide piece of material she had hidden there. She had designed this herself, though the gifted seamstress had been the one to do the actual sewing, and Elizabeth was extremely pleased with the result. Embroidered upon the golden strip of material was her husband’s crest, sewn in contrasting black threads, looking quite wonderful, she thought with pride.

She slipped the material over one shoulder and draped it across one breast, down to the opposite hip, where it tied into place. Then she pulled the black cloth shoes from under the bed and put them on. She was ready.

She reached the door and opened it wide, just as the squire Gerald was about to knock. His hand was poised in the air, but he stood frozen in the act as he looked at his mistress.

“You are beautiful,” Gerald blurted out. “You wear his crest.”

“It is fitting, is it not?” Elizabeth asked with a smile.

“It is, it is,” Gerald stammered with embarrassment.

“I did not mean that it was not, my lady.”

“I know that you did not,” Elizabeth soothed. “Did you wish something?” she asked, changing the subject.

“I did,” Gerald admitted, though he did not continue his explanation. He just stood there, grinning from ear to ear, and Elizabeth wanted to laugh at his silly expression. She did not, of course, for she had no wish to hurt his feelings.

“And what is it you wished to see me about?” she
coaxed, folding her hands with a relaxed stance that suggested she would stand there for as long as it took for the squire to gather his thoughts.

“Your husband. He awaits you and grows impatient,” Gerald remembered to say.

“Then I will go to him,” Elizabeth answered.

She scooted around Gerald and started down the hall. “It is a warm evening,” she said, trying to put the boy at ease, “and I can smell the scent of new flowers in the air. The warm weather will be welcomed by the men, don’t you think?”

Elizabeth turned to hear his reply and found herself alone at the end of the hall. Gerald was still standing at her bedroom door, looking after her with what Elizabeth could only call a stupefied expression. With a laugh she could not contain, she called to the lad and waited for him to reach her side.

“Accompany me to the hall, Gerald. Your lord awaits your service.”

Gerald nodded and clutched at Elizabeth’s arm, awkwardly leading her down the steps. I only hope that my husband is as affected, as surprised and pleased, she thought, as the knight holding her arm with trembling fingers.

She was not disappointed. When she reached the entrance to the hall, she stood with her hands at her sides and waited for her husband’s attention. The talk and the laughter receded as each of the men spotted her, and by the time Geoffrey glanced up from his position at the table, silence filled the hall.

Still she did not move. She merely stared at him with a becoming smile on her face and waited for him to come to her.

Geoffrey saw his wife and was stunned speechless, like the rest of his men. His breath got caught some-where in his throat and his legs tried to trip him as he stood and slowly made his way to her.

The crest was visible from across the room, and
Geoffrey’s chest swelled with pride that she wore it, proclaiming to all the world just who she belonged to.

He stopped when he stood directly in front of her.

“You grow more beautiful with each passing second,” he said in a whisper.

“Thank you, Geoffrey,” Elizabeth answered. She placed her hand on his arm and walked with him to the table.

The talk between the soldiers gradually resumed, but Elizabeth continued to feel their stares and smiled with pleasure.

Her grandfather sat down across from Elizabeth and Geoffrey. “You look lovely, granddaughter,” he said. “Don’t you think so, Geoffrey?” he asked, turning his gaze to his grandson-in-law.

“I had not thought on it,” Geoffrey replied in a mild tone, and then grinned when his wife nudged him with the tip of her shoe. “But now that you mention it, I think you might be right. She is not too displeasing.”

Elslow laughed as hard as Geoffrey and Elizabeth looked toward the heavens with exasperation. When she had first met her husband, she had despaired at his lack of humor, and now found she had created a tease that surely rivaled her grandfather.

A fine red wine appeared and Elizabeth toasted her husband and her grandfather. She found herself giggling over the most absurd statements all through the meal and realized that she was drunk with anticipation of the time she would share alone with her husband. She kicked one shoe off and began to rub her toes against her husband’s muscular legs and delighted in seeing his reaction, which he tried to mask as he talked with her grandfather. He would have me believe that he is unaffected, she thought with another chuckle.

“Stop that,” Geoffrey whispered when she slid her bare toes higher, “else you will be made to pay the price.”

“I will get the coin,” Elizabeth replied in a saucy whisper, “you have only to name the amount.”

“And who will give you the coin?” Geoffrey asked in a growl against her ear that sent shivers of warm need down her legs.

She pulled away and favored him with a long, sultry look and then answered, “My husband. There is much I could barter in exchange.”

She gave him a slow, calculated wink then and puckered her lips.

Geoffrey laughed, causing everyone to look their way, and then leaned down toward her again. “I think you try to seduce me, wife,” he told her.

“Nay,” Elizabeth answered him with a hopefully innocent gaze. She casually slipped her hand to rest in his lap and added, “I do not think it, Geoffrey. I know it.”

Geoffrey could not remember the rest of the meal. He knew that he ate his fill in record time and that he had removed his wife’s hand from his lap countless times, only to find it nestled there again and again. Before Elizabeth could take more than two bites of her food, he had hauled her to her feet and into his arms. To the cheers of his men and a roar of approval from Elslow, he carried her out of the room. One bare foot peeked out from beneath her gown and Geoffrey smiled as he ignored her protests and strode out of the hall.