Velvet Song (Montgomery/Taggert 4)

In consternation, Alyx looked at the men surrounding her. Jocelin’s eyes danced with laughter, Raine’s smouldered with barely controlled rage and Gavin seemed to be amusedly tolerant of everything. The priest was waiting patiently for something from her.

“Alyx!” Raine growled. “I know you can’t speak, but you could at least nod your head—unless of course you’d rather n

ot marry me. Perhaps you’d rather have Jocelin . . . again?”

“Marry?” she mouthed.

“For the Lord’s sake, Raine! Sorry, Father,” Gavin said. “Have pity on her. She’s had a shock. One minute she’s about to be burned at the stake and the next she’s getting married. She needs a moment to adjust.”

“And since when have you known so much about women?” Raine asked hostilely. “You dumped Judith on your doorstep hardly minutes after you married her, and if I hadn’t broken my leg, she’d have been alone.”

“If you hadn’t been there she might have come to me sooner. As it was—”

“Quiet!” Jocelin shouted, then stepped backward when the two Montgomery brothers turned their wrath on him. He took a deep breath. “Alyx was looking at Lord Gavin and I’m not sure she realized she was marrying Lord Raine. Perhaps if it were explained to her, she’d answer the questions properly, even without her voice.”

The full realization of what was going on hit Alyx and, with her usual ladylike finesse, her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.

“Is that horror at the idea?” Gavin laughed.

Raine looked away from Alyx, obviously not sure what her expression meant. “She carries my child. She will marry me,” he said flatly.

Alyx couldn’t speak, but she could hiss at him through her teeth, and when Raine still wouldn’t look at her she looked about for other means of getting his attention. He didn’t ask her to marry him, didn’t allow her the sweet pleasure of throwing herself at him and telling him she loved him, but instead stood sullen and angry and announced she would marry him.

“Would you like to borrow my sword?” Gavin asked, and his voice was so full of laughter he could hardly speak. “Oh, Raine.” He slapped his brother’s shoulder, making the armor clank, but Raine didn’t move. “I hope she leads you a merry chase. Judith’s going to like a sister-in-law who looks daggers at her husband. It’ll make her feel less alone in the world.”

Raine didn’t bother to look at Gavin and Alyx sensed there was some old argument involved. Never in her life had she wished more for the power of her voice than she did at this moment. She’d make Raine look at her if she could speak.

“My lady,” the priest said, and it took Alyx a while to understand that he was speaking to her. “It is not the church’s place to encourage unwanted marriages. Is it your desire to marry Lord Raine?”

She looked up at Raine’s profile, furious that he wouldn’t look at her. With two steps, she planted herself in front of him, his eyes focused somewhere over her head. Slowly, she reached out and took his hand, held it in hers. His hand was cut in several places, bloody, bruised, and as she looked down at it she knew he’d been hurt saving her. She raised it to her lips and kissed his palm, and when she looked up, his eyes were on her. For a moment they seemed to soften.

“She will marry me,” he said as he glanced back at the priest.

Alyx wanted to curse at him for his self-assurance and for his refusal to weaken in his anger at her. Silently, she moved back beside him and the marriage was completed, a gold ring slipped onto her finger.

Raine gave no one time to congratulate her. “Come, Lady Alyx,” he said, fingers digging into her upper arm. “We have a great deal to discuss.”

“Leave her alone, Raine,” Gavin said. “Can’t you see she’s tired? And besides, this is your wedding day. Rail at her some other time.”

Raine didn’t bother to even look at his brother as he ushered Alyx from the chapel back through the courtyard and into her room. The moment the door was closed, Raine leaned against it.

“How could you, Alyx?” he whispered. “How could you say you cared for me then put me through the last few months of hell?”

It was very frustrating not to be able to talk. She looked about for a pen and paper but remembered Raine couldn’t read.

“Do you know what it’s been like the last few months?” He tossed his helmet on the bed. “For years I’ve searched for a woman I could love. A woman with courage and honor. A woman who wasn’t afraid of me or after money or land. A woman who made me think.”

He began unbuckling the leather straps that held his armor in place, tossing piece after piece in a heap on the bed. “First you drive me nearly insane in those tight hose, flipping about in front of me, looking up at me with big eyes so full of hunger you frightened me.”

With one movement, he pushed all the armor to the side, sat down on the edge of the bed and began unfastening his leg coverings. Alyx knelt before him and helped. Raine leaned back on his elbows, never stopping his tirade.

“When I found you were a female I had a fever and wasn’t sure I wasn’t dreaming, yet that night I found more joy than I ever had. There was no coyness about you, no holding back, just exuberance, pleasure given, pleasure received. Later I was furious at you for having played such an ugly trick on me, but I forgave you.”

He said the last as if he were the most magnanimous person alive, ignoring Alyx’s look of disgust as he raised his leg for her to unbuckle the second leg sheath.

A knock on the door made him pause. Several servants, dressed more costly than Alyx had ever been, entered the room bearing a large oak tub and several buckets of steamy hot water.

“Put it there,” Raine said distractedly.