Page 31 of Suddenly a Bride
It was there, the unspoken request that he join her, the request that could lead him to disaster if she was the Langstons’ ultimate revenge.
But she only said, “Good night, my lord.”
When she turned and walked away, Edmund was left feeling more alone than he had ever imagined he could feel. He was beginning to question his wisdom in accepting the earl’s challenge.
~oOo~
Once she was in her bedchamber, Gwyneth barely restrained herself from slamming the door. How could Edmund possibly think he was giving her a chance when he was trying so hard to shut her out of his life?
No longer could she think it was because he was injured. When he’d pulled her up against him, she’d finally understood exactly what her mother had told her about what a man’s body did to prepare for lovemaking.
She sank back against the door and covered her face, still overwhelmed by the sensations she’d felt when his hips pressed into her stomach. The long hard ridge of him had made her insides burn. When his chest had touched hers, she’d almost cried out at how good it had felt. For those nights when she’d wondered if he desired her at all she was somehow vindicated. But she was still too much a coward to slide into his bed. She wasn’t afraid of him but ignorant. How did she go about seducing her own husband? Her mother certainly hadn’t told her that. How could she make Edmund like her?
She forced herself to calm down, to have faith that he really was trying to give her a chance. All she could do was spend more time with him, hoping to learn about his first marriage and understand his relationship with her family. Once he knew her, he’d let her into his life.
But a niggling doubt kept her awake that night. Geoffrey had said Edmund never trained any more, but now they both knew that wasn’t true. Edmund must need to keep in practice, ready to defend their home.Home.Had she really thought of it that way, when she didn’t even feel like a wife?
Yet why did he train like this in secret, especially if he never meant to go back to mercenary work? Did this have something to do with Earl Langston and the steward who’d been under his control?
~oOo~
For a few days, Gwyneth backed away from her husband, wanting him to think she was sufficiently cowed by their midnight encounter in the great hall. Yet she felt better when Mrs. Haskell presented her with yards of fabric from the castle stores, saying that Sir Edmund had reminded her of it. More pleased than she could have imagined, Gwyneth spread the fabric out and thought of the new gown she could make. She and Mrs. Haskell exchanged triumphant smiles and went to work.
Edmund remained away much of the time, whether in his fields or at the village, Swintongate, which she still hadn’t seen yet. She was going to have to remedy that soon, for how could she make a place for herself here if she was always isolated at the castle? And how else could she help the villagers be comfortable with her husband?
With that resolve, she questioned Geoffrey about when Edmund would next have to visit his tenants, and he told her that in two days’ time, the rents would have to be collected. He was certain Edmund would once again insist on doing it himself.
So Gwyneth laid her plans.
~oOo~
Edmund spent several days free of mysterious visits from Gwyneth, and he told himself this was a good thing. He must have sufficiently scared her, and she was letting him take their marriage at his own pace. This meshed perfectly with his plans.
Yet he’d never been as lonely as he felt now, something he wouldn’t have imagined possible. He knew Gwyneth was captivating his servants with her sweetness and smiles. She and Mrs. Haskell were apparently forming a friendship, and the fabric he’d offered seemed to make them both happy. He was not looking forward to seeing her in her new garments, though they certainly couldn’t make his desire any more painful than it already was.
He was forced to watch from the shadows as Gwyneth wove her spell about Castle Wintering. She was a regular visitor to the tiltyard, bringing ale and cakes and laughter. She worked alongside the maids with a natural authority but easy friendship. The wild lady’s garden became a serene place under her ministrations, and he had secretly indulged in its peacefulness. He even saw her feeding scraps to his dogs as they gathered worshipfully about her skirts.
Much as his household seemed more harmonious, he didn’t trust it. Instead of living his life, he was becoming endlessly suspicious over the possibilities of what could bring about his downfall.
~oOo~
When Earl Langston heard that the bailiff from his Durham properties had arrived, he ordered the man shown to his private withdrawing chamber, anxious to hear his report on Blackwell’s wedding. George Irwin entered, looking about him hesitantly, and his travel-stained boots trailed dust across the polished floor.
Langston frowned as the man pulled a ragged fur hat off his balding head. “I have waited far too long for this report.”
“It took me but a week of travel, my lord,” Irwin said, bobbing his head. “And that was through a fierce rainstorm!”
“Give me no more excuses. Tell me about Blackwell.”
Irwin clutched his hat, and Langston imagined infected fur trailing from his fingers.
“My lord, I found them all in Richmond, and it was there they were married.”
“You’re certain he did not change his mind?”
“I watched the ceremony from just outside the church courtyard.”
Langston sat back in his wooden chair with relief. His plan had begun. “Did you travel to the lead ore site?”
