“As you say,” she said. “May I at least change my dress?”
He looked at her, looking lovely and charming in the blue dress with flour still on her sleeves. He nodded.
“Go ahead,” he said. “I will send one of my knights into town for a priest. I know we do not need one, but I would feel better. It would make it more binding in the eyes of the church.”
Juliandra nodded. “Very well,” she said. “I will hurry.”
She started to rush off, but he grasped her arm. “I will come with you,” he said. “I am going to move you out of the gatehouse and into the keep. There is a large chamber in the keep that sits unused and it would make a perfect master’s chamber. Besides– I do not want you in the gatehouse any longer. I only put you there to…”
He suddenly trailed off and she looked at him, a knowing grin on her face. “I know why you put me there,” she said. “To keep an eye on me. I could not escape without a dozen soldiers seeing me.”
He tried not to look guilty. “You figured that out, did you?”
“I did.”
“You are quite astute.”
She laughed softly as he took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his elbow. It was a very freeing feeling, knowing he could touch her like this in public, harmlessly, and it wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. The woman was soon to be Lady de Lara and he couldn’t have been prouder.
Even though he was sitting on a horrible, terrible secret.
But he couldn’t think about that now. Hewouldn’tthink about that now. He would marry her and then he would figure out how to tell her that her father was already gone. More and more, he was leaning towards Bannon’s suggestion. He would simply tell her that her father passed away in captivity of natural causes and leave it at that. He would find himself consoling his grief-stricken wife, who would turn to him for comfort.
Comfort perpetrated by a lie.
But he would deal with that later.
One thing at a time.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
In the greathall of Wybren Castle, Juliandra ferch Gethin became Lady de Lara.
The witnesses to the marriage were Sean, Gareth, Bannon, a disgruntled Cal, Alexander, Peter, and William. They watched as a tiny priest with terrible teeth presided over a short ceremony where the couple spoke their vows. The priest read a verse about marriage from his large, shabby bible and said a prayer that lasted longer than the ceremony itself. When it was over, food was brought forth and they sat down for a second time that day to enjoy a meal.
But this time, it was different.
There was something joyful in the air.
Sean sat next to Juliandra, monopolizing the woman’s time as he carried on a conversation with her. Mostly, he spoke of his wife and children, of his home of Lansdown Castle, and his plans to expand his empire. Although he was the Earl of Bath and Glastonbury, his castle was quite a distance from his propertiesbecause it had been in his wife’s family for three hundred years, before the first earl had been appointed.
As Juliandra listened with great interest, Sean spoke of gaining permission to build a greater castle closer to Bath, somewhere to the east because there was a great lake there that he had seen, once, and he wanted to be near the water.
It had been a marvelous conversation and Juliandra was coming to know a man who seemed more introspective and serious than Kevin was. Sean conveyed something she couldn’t quite put her finger on– it was almost as if beneath that handsome façade, something darker lurked. Not in the evil sense, but perhaps in the sense of life’s experiences. He almost seemed… wounded to her. It was difficult to explain. But in spite of that, she knew she liked him.
Sean de Lara was a kind and interesting man.
But even as she listened to the earl speak on the Mendip Hills, part of his earldom, her thoughts were wandering to Kevin as he sat beside her. She couldn’t really see him because her focus was politely on Sean, but she could feel him. That seemed to be a running theme with her, ever since she had come to live at Wybren in earnest. She had an extra sense when it came to Kevin, knowing he was around her, watching her.
It was a connection they already had.
As the afternoon dragged on, she was thinking more and more about what was to come. She had to admit that she was nervous to be alone with Kevin, but eager. There wasn’t anything about him that didn’t make her feel eager and anxious, and after the kiss they’d shared earlier in the kitchen yard, she was more than willing to do it again. Kevin must have sensed her anticipation because he finally pulled her up from the table when Sean was mid-sentence.
“Would it be too much trouble to borrow my wife?” he asked jokingly. “I only just married the woman, but you’ve been monopolizing her time. May I?”
Sean snorted, waving them off. “By all means,” he said. “Go. Enjoy. I will see you both later.”
Kevin lifted a sarcastic eyebrow. “Thank you, Brother.”
