The Velvet Promise (Montgomery/Taggert 2)

Raine shrugged. “I never learned. My brothers did, but it didn’t interest me. I have never known a woman who could read. My father said women couldn’t learn to read.”

Judith looked at him in disgust as her queen put his king in mortal danger. “I think you should learn that a woman can often best a man, even a king. I believe I have won the game.” She stood.

Raine stared at the board in wonder. “You can’t have won so soon! I didn’t even see it. You kept me talking so that I couldn’t concentrate.” He gave her a look from the corner of his eye. “And my leg pains me so that it’s hard for me to think.”

Judith looked at him with concern for a moment, then began to laugh. “Raine, you are a liar of the first water. Now I must go.”

“No, Judith,” he said as he lunged and grabbed her hand and began to kiss it. “Judith, don’t leave me,” he begged. “In truth, I am so bored I may go mad. Please stay with me. Just one more game.”

Judith was laughing very hard at him. She placed her other hand on his hair as he began making outrageous promises of undying love and gratitude if she would only stay with him an hour longer.

And that was how Gavin found them. He had forgotten his wife’s beauty by half. She was not dressed in the velvets and sables she had worn at their marriage, but in a simple, clinging gown of soft blue wool. Her hair was pulled back into one long, thick auburn braid. If anything, the plain garment made her even more lovely than before. She was innocence, yet the lush curves of her body showed her to be all woman.

Judith became aware of her husband’s presence first. The smile on her face died immediately and her entire body stiffened.

Raine felt the tension in her hand and looked up at her questioningly. He followed the direction of her eyes and saw his scowling brother. There was no doubt as to what Gavin thought of the scene. Judith started to pull her hand away from Raine’s grasp, but he held it firmly. He would not give the impression of a guilty man to his angry brother. “I have been trying to persuade Judith to spend the morning with me,” Raine said lightly. “I have been confined to this room for two days with nothing to do, but I can’t persuade her to give me more of her time.”

“And no doubt you have tried every persuasion,” Gavin sneered, his look directed at his wife who stared at him coldly.

Judith jerked her hand away from Raine. “I must return to my work,” she said stiffly, as she left the room.

Raine attacked first before Gavin had a chance to do so. “Where have you been?” he demanded. “Only three days married, and you drop her on the doorstep like so much baggage.”

“She seems to have handled the situation well,” Gavin said as he sank heavily into a chair.

“If you hint at something dishonorable—”

“No, I don’t,” Gavin said honestly. He knew his brothers well, and Raine would not dishonor his sister-in-law. It was just a shock after what he had expected…and hoped…to find awaiting him. “What happened to your leg?”

Raine was embarrassed to confess falling from his horse, but Gavin didn’t laugh as he usually would have. Wearily, Gavin lifted himself from the chair. “I must see to my castle. I have been away a long time and I’m sure it’s close to falling down about my ears.”

“I wouldn’t count on that,” Raine said as he studied the chessboard, going over each of Judith’s moves in his head. “I’ve never seen a woman work as Judith does.”

“Bah!” Gavin said condescendingly. “How much woman’s work can one do in a week? Embroider five ells of cloth?”

Raine looked up at his brother in surprise. “I didn’t say she did woman’s work, I said I haven’t seen a woman work as she does.”

Gavin didn’t understand, but neither did he press Raine for an explanation. As the lord, Gavin had too much to do. The castle always seemed to flounder mightily after he’d been away for a while.

Raine knew his brother’s thoughts and called after him. “I hope you find something that needs doing,” he laughed.

Gavin had no idea what his brother was talking about and dismissed the words as he left the manor house. He was still angry that the scene he’d dreamed had been destroyed. But at least, there was hope. Judith would be glad he had returned to solve all the problems that had developed in his absence.

When Gavin rode through the baileys that morning, he had been so anxious to get to his weeping wife that he hadn’t noticed any changes. Now he observed subtle alterations. The half-timbered buildings in the outer bailey looked cleaner—almost new, in fact, as if they’d been recently chinked and whitewashed. The gutters that ran along the back of the buildings looked as if they’d been emptied recently.

He stopped in front of the mews. Here the falcons were kept—merlins, peregrines, sparrow hawks, tiercels. His falconer stoo

d in front of the building, a hawk tied by the leg to a post, while the man slowly swung a lure about the bird.

“Is that a new lure, Simon?” Gavin asked.

“Yes, my lord. It’s a bit smaller and can be swung faster. The bird is forced to fly faster, and its aim must be truer.”

“Good idea,” Gavin agreed.

“It’s not mine, sir, but the Lady Judith’s. She made the suggestion.”

Gavin stared. “The Lady Judith told you, a master falconer, of a better lure?”