The Velvet Promise (Montgomery/Taggert 2)

He bent and kissed her forehead. “And if I were a French king, I’m sure you’d say the same of the English.”

She smiled lovingly up at him and he laughed and squeezed her arm.

There was someone else who took a special interest in the play of the Montgomeries. Alan Fairfax had started forward, his hands on his sword when he saw Gavin knock Judith into the trough. Then he looked about guiltily. A man could treat his wife in any manner he wished, and Alan had no right to interfere.

As Alan watched, he saw Gavin’s concern for Judith, how he took her from the water, held her and kissed her. This was no man who beat his wife! Alan frowned as he began to realize that he had been played for a fool.

He went back into the manor house where he found Alice Chatworth crossing the great hall. “I would like a word with you, my lady,” he said, his fingers tightening on her arm.

She gasped at the pain, then smiled. “Of course, Sir Alan. My time is yours to command.”

He drew her to the side of the room, into the shadows. “You have used me, and I don’t like that.”

“Used you? Pray, how so, sir?”

“Don’t play the coy virgin with me. I know of the men who frequent your bed. You are a woman of some intelligence, I am sure, and you have manipulated me for your own purpose.”

“Release me or I will scream!”

His hand dug deeper into her arm. “Don’t I please you? My friends tell me you’re not averse to pain.”

Alice glared at him. “What is it you wish to say to me?”

“I don’t care to be used. Your lies could have given Lady Judith great trouble, and I would have been the cause.”

“Didn’t you say you wished a few moments alone with her? I gave you that time—that’s all.”

“By trickery! She is a good woman and happily wed, and I’m no villain to resort to rape.”

“Then you do desire her?” Alice smiled.

He released her quickly. “What man wouldn’t? She is beautiful.”

“No!” Alice hissed. “She’s not as beautiful—” She stopped herself.

Alan smiled. “As you, Lady Alice? No, you are wrong. I have watched Lady Judith for days, and I have come to know her. She is not only beautiful on the outside, but inwards as well. When she is old and not so lovely, she will be well loved. But you! Your beauty is on the outside alone. If it were taken away from you, only a querulous, evil-minded, vicious woman would remain.”

“I shall hate you for this!” Alice said in a deadly voice.

“Someday every second you have spent hating will show on your face,” Alan noted calmly. “Whatever your feelings for me, don’t think I can be used again.” He turned his back on her and left her alone.

Alice watched his retreating back but her vengeance was for Judith rather than for Alan. The woman had been the cause of all her problems. Nothing had been the same since Gavin had decided to marry the bitch. Now Alice was insulted by a young man because of the deviousness of that Revedoune woman. Alice was even more determined to put an end to a marriage that

she considered wrong.

“Judith, sweet. Stay in bed,” Gavin murmured against her sleepy cheek. “You need rest, and the water may have given you a chill.”

Judith didn’t answer. She was sated with their lovemaking and feeling drowsy and languid.

He nuzzled his face against her neck once more and slipped from the bed. He dressed quickly, watching her all the while. When he was dressed, he smiled at her, kissed her cheeks and left the room.

Stephen met him at the foot of the stairs. “I can’t walk through a room that I don’t hear more gossip of you!”

“What now?” Gavin asked suspiciously.

“Only that you beat your wife and throw her in troughs of water, then flaunt her before everyone.”

Gavin smiled. “It’s all true.”