The Velvet Promise Read online



  “Yes,” Judith agreed. “I am aware of that. I am grateful though that you took me from that place. I almost prefer Alice’s company to sewing, but the two together are more than I can bear!” She sighed. “I suppose Gavin didn’t send for me.”

  “Why must he send for you? Don’t you think he will be pleased to see you?”

  Judith frowned.

  “You are a foolish woman,” Joan said, risking harsh words from her mistress. “The man wants you, yet you don’t see it.”

  Once outside in the bright sunlight, Judith forgot all thoughts of Alice. Gavin leaned over a large trough of water, bare from the waist up as he washed himself. Judith crept silently behind him then leaned over and gave him a nipping kiss on his neck. The next moment she found herself gasping for breath as Gavin swung round and knocked her into the trough. Both of them were very surprised.

  “Judith! Are you hurt?” Gavin asked as he put his hand out to her.

  She knocked it away, wiping water from her eyes, looking at her soaked and ruined gown, the crimson velvet plastered to her body. “I am not, you clumsy oaf. Do you think I’m your war-horse, that I may be treated as an animal? Or perhaps you think I’m your squire?” She put her hand to the side of the trough to lift herself, but her feet slipped and she went under again. She gasped as she looked up at Gavin. His arms were folded across his chest and he wore a broad smile.

  “You are laughing at me!” she hissed, enraged. “How dare—”

  He grabbed her shoulders and lifted her dripping body. “May I offer my apologies? I’m not exactly calm since Demari’s. I was too late in recognizing your kiss as a kiss. You shouldn’t sneak upon me, but give me some warning.”

  “You needn’t fear such happening again,” Judith said grimly.

  “Only you, my little wife, would be so saucy while being held over a body of water. I could drop you in again.”

  “You wouldn’t dare!”

  He grinned then lowered her slowly until her toes came near the water again.

  “Gavin!” she cried, half-pleading.

  He drew her to him, then gasped as her cold body touched his skin.

  “You are well repaid,” she laughed. “I hope you freeze.”

  “Not with you near.” He swung her into his arms. “Let’s go to our room and remove these wet clothes.”

  “Gavin, you can’t think—”

  “Thinking, while you are in my arms, is a waste of time. If you don’t want to cause more attention drawn to yourself, be quiet and let me have my way.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  He rubbed his cheek against her wet one. “You will find those pretty cheeks will turn very red.”

  “Then I am a captive?”

  “Yes,” he answered firmly and carried her up the stairs.

  Queen Elizabeth walked beside her husband. They stopped when they saw Gavin knock Judith into the water. Elizabeth would have gone to help Judith, but Henry stopped her.

  “Look at their love play. It pleases me when I see a couple so in love. It isn’t often that a marriage of estates turns to happiness.”

  Elizabeth sighed. “I’m glad to see them each loving the other. I wasn’t sure there was love there. Lady Alice seems to think the Lady Judith isn’t a fit match for Lord Gavin.”

  “Lady Alice?” King Henry asked. “She is that blonde woman?”

  “Yes. Edmund Chatworth’s widow.”

  Henry nodded. “I would like to see her married soon. I have watched her. She plays with men, rather like a cat with a mouse. She seems to care for one, then the other. The men are in love with her beauty and will take much from her. I wouldn’t like to see them come to blows. But what has the woman to do with Lord Gavin and that lovely wife of his?”

  “I’m not sure,” Elizabeth said. “There is some gossip that Gavin was once in love with Lady Alice.”

  Henry nodded toward Gavin as he lifted his wife into his arms. “He is not so now, as everyone can see.”

  “Maybe not everyone. Lady Alice baits Lady Judith constantly.”

  “We must stop this,” Henry said.

  “No,” Elizabeth put a hand on her husband’s arm. “We can give no orders. I fear it will only make Alice more angry, and she is the kind of woman who would find a way to say what she wanted no matter what orders were given her. I think your idea of marriage to be the best. Can’t you find a husband for her?”

  Henry watched Gavin carrying his wife toward the manor house, teasing and tickling her, causing Judith’s laughter to ring through the yard. “Yes, I will find Lady Alice a husband, and quickly. I wouldn’t like to see anything come between those two.”

  “You are a good man,” Elizabeth said and smiled up at her tall husband.

  Henry chuckled. “Only to a few, my dear. You should ask the French who is a good king or not.”

  Elizabeth waved her hand. “You are too soft on them, too good to them.”

  He bent and kissed her forehead. “And if I were a French king, I’m sure you’d say the same of the English.”

  She smiled lovingly up at him and he laughed and squeezed her arm.

  There was someone else who took a special interest in the play of the Montgomeries. Alan Fairfax had started forward, his hands on his sword when he saw Gavin knock Judith into the trough. Then he looked about guiltily. A man could treat his wife in any manner he wished, and Alan had no right to interfere.

  As Alan watched, he saw Gavin’s concern for Judith, how he took her from the water, held her and kissed her. This was no man who beat his wife! Alan frowned as he began to realize that he had been played for a fool.

  He went back into the manor house where he found Alice Chatworth crossing the great hall. “I would like a word with you, my lady,” he said, his fingers tightening on her arm.

  She gasped at the pain, then smiled. “Of course, Sir Alan. My time is yours to command.”

  He drew her to the side of the room, into the shadows. “You have used me, and I don’t like that.”

  “Used you? Pray, how so, sir?”

  “Don’t play the coy virgin with me. I know of the men who frequent your bed. You are a woman of some intelligence, I am sure, and you have manipulated me for your own purpose.”

  “Release me or I will scream!”

  His hand dug deeper into her arm. “Don’t I please you? My friends tell me you’re not averse to pain.”

  Alice glared at him. “What is it you wish to say to me?”

  “I don’t care to be used. Your lies could have given Lady Judith great trouble, and I would have been the cause.”

  “Didn’t you say you wished a few moments alone with her? I gave you that time—that’s all.”

  “By trickery! She is a good woman and happily wed, and I’m no villain to resort to rape.”

  “Then you do desire her?” Alice smiled.

  He released her quickly. “What man wouldn’t? She is beautiful.”

  “No!” Alice hissed. “She’s not as beautiful—” She stopped herself.

  Alan smiled. “As you, Lady Alice? No, you are wrong. I have watched Lady Judith for days, and I have come to know her. She is not only beautiful on the outside, but inwards as well. When she is old and not so lovely, she will be well loved. But you! Your beauty is on the outside alone. If it were taken away from you, only a querulous, evil-minded, vicious woman would remain.”

  “I shall hate you for this!” Alice said in a deadly voice.

  “Someday every second you have spent hating will show on your face,” Alan noted calmly. “Whatever your feelings for me, don’t think I can be used again.” He turned his back on her and left her alone.

  Alice watched his retreating back but her vengeance was for Judith rather than for Alan. The woman had been the cause of all her problems. Nothing had been the same since Gavin had decided to marry the bitch. Now Alice was insulted by a young man because of the deviousness of that Revedoune woman. Alice was even more determined to put an end to a marriage that