In early March a messenger wearing full regalia came from the king.
It was a day before the men Elizabeth sent out could find Roger where he’d been—alone in a shepherd’s stone hut. He looked to be a skeleton of himself, his cheeks gaunt under a beard, his hair long and dirty, his eyes wild and frightening.
He silently read the message in Elizabeth’s presence, then tossed it into the fireplace.
“Tell the king no,” he said calmly before leaving the room.
Elizabeth could only gasp, and wonder what message the king had sent. With as much calmness as she could muster, she dismissed the king’s men and sat down to wait. Whatever Roger had refused to do would no doubt soon be known to them when the king heard of the refusal. She put her hand on her growing belly and wondered if her child would live to worry about being called a bastard.
Chapter 14
SIX DAYS AFTER THE KING’S MESSENGER HAD COME AND gone, Elizabeth was alone in the garden. She had not seen or heard from Roger in days and Brian’s death was making Alice lose what sanity she had. It wasn’t that the woman cared for Brian but it was the fact that a Montgomery had killed him. Elizabeth thought of this Raine with hatred.
A shadow moved across her path and involuntarily she gasped before looking up—into the dark, intense eyes of Miles Montgomery. His eyes contemptuously swept her up and down, made note of the ivory satin of her gown, the double rows of pearls, the blood-red ruby at her breast.
Elizabeth felt she wanted to drink in all of him, that she couldn’t get enough of him. There were dark, faintly yellow shadows under his eyes and he was thinner. Obviously he wasn’t fully recovered from his fever.
“Come,” he said hoarsely.
Elizabeth didn’t hesitate as she followed him through the garden and into the forest park of the Chatworth estates. Supposedly these boundaries were guarded, but somehow Miles had entered undetected.
He didn’t speak to her, didn’t look at her and it wasn’t until they reached the two waiting horses that she realized what was wrong: He hated her. His rigid body, his cold eyes all screamed it.
She became rigid herself when they reached the horses. “Where are you taking me?”
He turned toward her. “The king has ordered us to marry. Your brother has refused the order. If we disobey, both your brother and I will be declared traitors and our lands confiscated.” His eyes touched on the ruby. “You need have no fear. After the marriage I will return you to your precious brother, but even you would not like to have all the things that mean so much to you taken away.”
He turned away from her. Elizabeth tried to mount her horse but her long skirt and trembling body made that impossible. Miles came up behind her and, touching her as little as possible, flung her into the saddle.
Elizabeth was too stunned, too much in a state of shock, to even think as they set off quickly to the north. Her eyes were so dry they burned and all she thought of was the way the horse’s mane whipped in the wind.
They halted less than an hour later on the outskirts of a small village, before a pleasant little house beside a church. Miles dismounted, didn’t look at her as she struggled to get down from her horse.
A priest opened the door to them. “So this is the lovely bride, Miles,” he said. “Come along, I know how impatient you are.”
As Miles strode ahead, ignoring Elizabeth, she ran after him, caught his arm. The look he gave her as he glanced from her hand to her face made her breath catch. She dropped her hand. “After this is over, could we talk?” she whispered.
“If it doesn’t take too long,” he said coolly. “My brother is waiting for me.”
“No,” she said, trying to regain her dignity. “I’ll not keep you long.” With that, she gathered her skirts and walked ahead of him.
The marriage was over in minutes. There were no witnesses from either family, only a few strangers who the priest knew. For all the feeling either participant put into the words, they could have been negotiating a grain contract.
When they were pronounced man and wife, Miles turned toward her and Elizabeth held her breath. “I believe we can talk in the vestry,” was all he said. Chin up, Elizabeth led the way.
When they were alone in the room, he lazily leaned against the wall. “Now you have your chance to say what you want.”
Her first impulse was to tell him where he could spend the rest of his life but she calmed herself. “I didn’t know of the king’s order that we marry. If I had I would not have refused. I would do a great deal to settle this feud.”
“Even to sleeping with your enemy?” he taunted.
She gritted her teeth. “Roger has been very upset at Brian’s death.” For a moment her eyes flashed fire.
Miles’s nostrils flared. “Perhaps you hadn’t heard that Raine survived your brother’s poison.”
“Poison!” she gasped. “Now what do you accuse Roger of?”
“Not Roger,” Miles said. “Your brother Brian poisoned Raine.”