Page 19 of Suddenly a Bride
“Don’t be a fool. I spent the afternoon with her. I saw how desperate she is to be accepted here.”
Edmund surged to his feet and set his goblet down hard. It teetered onto its side and crashed to the floor, wine soaking through the rushes. “Maybe only you think so. Or maybe she’s doing a damn fine job acting that way.”
Geoff stared up at him. “You think she has some wild plan you don’t know about?”
Edmund took a deep breath and raked a hand through his hair. “I know for certain that the Langstons do. When I negotiated this marriage, the earl deliberately challenged me to best him. He said if I accepted Gwyneth and the dowry, I would have to be on the watch for his manipulations and plots. He means to see me humbled and even ruined, because he thinks I’m the reason Elizabeth died.”
“And you went along with this?” Geoff demanded.
Edmund shrugged. “I could not resist such a challenge. And I needed the money above all else. He enjoyed seeing me in no position to refuse him,” he added dryly.
“So that’s why you had me be on guard for strangers.”
“Aye.”
“But surely you don’t think Gwyneth—”
“She was given to me by the earl, Geoff. She could be a spy—or the means of my destruction. I certainly won’t trust her.”
“Just promise me you’ll give Gwyneth the benefit of the doubt. She could be innocent.”
His words were proof that Edmund needed to keep his own plans secret from his friend. “I shall try,” he said, bending down to pick up the shards of his goblet.
“There is one other matter,” Geoff said. “Remember that man at your wedding, the one who made you so suspicious?”
“Aye.”
“I think he was here on your land today.”
Edmund stiffened. “Why was I not informed earlier?”
“Because I didn’t connect this incident with the man at your wedding until you mentioned your worries about the Langstons. I received a report about a stranger wandering through the uplands of the dale above the northwest cattle pasture. I thought it was just a traveler, but the description of his garments, especially that fur hat he wears though ’tis summer, are too familiar to ignore.”
“Was there any mention of his activities?”
“None—and he’s probably gone by now, because this was after noon.”
“Send some men up there. Have them take a couple of days to look around. I want to make sure that man has not hidden himself away on my property.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Only a Langston might know,” Edmund answered with a sigh. “And speaking of Gwyneth—”
“You cannot think she knows this man.”
“I know not what to think. But I have to be vigilant.”
Shaking his head, Geoff smiled. “Very well. But I’m going to make the girl feel welcome, just in case.”
Edmund only shrugged and turned away. “Good night, then.”
He strode off down a dark corridor towards the servants’ quarters. When he found his own chamber, he closed the door firmly, wondering why it bothered him that Geoff wanted to be Gwyneth’s friend.
~oOo~
In the dead of the night, Edmund found himself outside Gwyneth’s door again. As he lifted the latch, he told himself he would not come here again. As he walked softly to stand beside the bed, he swore he was just relieving his curiosity.
This time she lay on her back, the coverlet at her waist. Her night rail, though plain, lovingly hugged her curves and more than displayed the duskiness of her nipples. He stood above her and stared, as if that would somehow ease the fire that was in his groin instead of inflame it further. Her halo of hair, spread out across the pillow, drew him. He touched one curling lock, rubbed its softness between his rough fingers.
