The Velvet Promise Read online

  Gavin carelessly tossed her aside. “Do you dare touch what is mine?” he growled at the knight. “I will take your life for this!”

  Alan was on his feet instantly, his hand going for his sword. They glared at each other, not speaking, their nostrils flared in anger.

  Judith placed herself between the two men, facing Gavin. “You want to fight for me after you have willingly turned me aside?”

  At first Gavin didn’t seem to hear her or even be aware of her presence. Slowly, he pulled his eyes away from Alan to look at his wife. “It wasn’t I who set you aside,” he said calmly. “It was you.”

  “It was you who gave me just cause!” she stormed. “It was you who throughout our marriage fought me when I tried to offer you love.”

  “You never offered me love,” he said quietly.

  Judith stared at him, the anger leaving her. “Gavin, I have done nothing else since we were married. I have tried to do and be what you wanted of me, but you wanted me to be…her! I could be no one but myself.” Judith bent her head to hide her tears.

  Gavin took a step toward her, then looked back at Alan with hatred.

  Judith felt the tension and glanced up. “If you touch one hair on his head, you will regret it,” she warned.

  Gavin frowned and started to speak, then gradually began to smile. “I had begun to think that my Judith was gone,” he whispered. “She was only hidden under a cloak of sweetness.”

  Alan coughed to cover the laughter that threatened to escape.

  Judith straightened her spine and held her shoulders back as she started to walk away from both men. It disgusted her that both of them were laughing at her.

  Gavin watched her for a moment, torn between his fight with Alan Fairfax and his desire for his wife. Judith easily won the tug-of-war. Gavin took three long strides, then pulled her into his arms, sweeping her from the ground. Alan quickly left the two of them alone.

  “If you’re not still, I will set you in a tree until you can no longer move.” The horrible threat quieted her. Gavin sat down on the ground with her and pinned her arms between their bodies. “That is better,” he said when she was calmer. “Now I will talk and you will listen. You have humiliated me publicly. No!” he interrupted himself. “Don’t speak until I’m finished. I can withstand your fun of me in my own castle, but I’ve had enough of this in front of the king. By now all of England laughs at me.”

  “At least I have some pleasure in that,” Judith said smugly.

  “Do you, Judith? Has any of this given you pleasure?”

  She blinked rapidly. “No, it hasn’t. But it wasn’t my fault.”

  “That’s true. You have been innocent of most of it, but I’ve told you I loved you and I have asked for your forgiveness.”

  “And I told you—”

  He put two fingers over her lips and smothered her words. “I’m tired of fighting you. You are my wife and my property, and I plan to treat you as such. There will be no divorce.” His eyes blackened. “Neither will there be more afternoons spent with young knights. Tomorrow we’ll leave this gossip-ridden place and return home. There, if need be, I will lock you in a tower room and only I will have a key. It will take a long time to still the laughter throughout England, but it can be done.” He paused but she didn’t speak. “I’m sorry about the trick Alice played, and I shed my own tears over our lost son. But a divorce now won’t change the past. I can only hope that soon I will get you with another child and that will heal your wound. But if you think it won’t, it will not matter, for I am to have my own way.”

  Gavin had said all of this in a deliberate manner. Judith didn’t answer, but lay quietly in his arms. “Don’t you have anything to say?” he asked.

  “And what would I say? I don’t believe I’m allowed an opinion.”

  He didn’t look at her but stared across the green countryside. “Is the idea so repulsive to you?”

  Judith could contain herself no longer. She started laughing and he stared at her in wonder. “You say you love me, that you will keep me apart from everyone but you, locking me in a tower room where we spend nights of passion. You admit the woman you swore you loved has played you false. You say all these things to me and ask if I am repulsed. You have given me what I have most wanted since I first saw you at the church.”

  He continued staring at her. “Judith…” he began, hesitating.

  “I love you, Gavin,” she smiled. “Is that so difficult to understand?”

  “But three days ago—the divorce—”

  This time she put her fingers to his lips. “You ask for forgiveness from me. Can’t you forgive me?”

  “Yes,” he whispered as he bent and kissed her. He drew away abruptly. “And what of that man who kissed you? I will kill him!”

  “No! It was but a token of friendship.”

  “It didn’t look—!”

  “Are you getting angry again?” she demanded, her eyes shooting sparks. “I have stood by for several days and watched woman after woman paw you.”

  He chuckled. “I should have enjoyed it, but I didn’t. You have ruined me for all time.”

  “I don’t understand you.”

  “The women talked of nothing but clothing and”—Gavin’s eyes twinkled—“face creams. I had more trouble with the ledgers, and not one woman could I find who could help me!”

  Judith was instantly concerned. “Do you again allow some baker to rob us?” She started to push away from him. “Come on, let’s go. I must see to this straightaway.”

  Gavin tightened his arms about her. “You will not leave me now! Damn the ledgers! Can’t you think of anything else to do with that sweet mouth of yours but talk?”

  She smiled at him innocently. “I had thought I was but your property and you the master.”

  He ignored her jibe. “Come then, slave, and let’s find a secret den in this dark wood.”

  “Aye, my master. Most willingly.” They walked hand in hand into the forest.

  But Judith and Gavin were not alone. Their words of love, their play, had been witnessed by Alice. She watched them with feverish blue eyes.

  “Come, love,” Ela said as she forcibly steered her mistress away. She looked with hate at the couple who walked through the trees, their arms and bodies intertwined. Those devils played with Alice! she thought. They teased and laughed at her until the sweet and lovely child nearly lost her mind. But they would pay, she vowed.

  “Good morning,” Judith whispered and snuggled closer to her husband. He kissed the top of her head but didn’t speak. “Are we really going today?”

  “If you wish.”

  “Oh yes, I do. I’ve had enough of gossip and sly looks and men asking me improper questions.”

  “What men?” Gavin frowned.

  “Do not bait me,” she answered, then suddenly sat up in the bed, the covers falling away. “I must speak to the king! Now! He cannot keep believing that I want the divorce when I don’t. Perhaps the messenger can be overtaken.”

  Gavin pulled her down in the bed beside him. He ran his teeth along the cord of her neck. He’d made love to her in the forest yesterday and most of last night, but he wasn’t anywhere near satiated. “There’s no need for such haste. No message will reach the pope.”

  “No message?” Judith asked as she moved away from Gavin. “What are you saying? It’s been days since I talked to the king about a divorce.”

  “No message was ever sent.”

  Judith pushed forcibly away from him. “Gavin! I demand an answer. You speak in riddles.”

  He sat up in the bed. “King Henry told me first of your request and asked if I wanted a divorce. I told him it was an absurdity you had dreamed of while you were so angry with me. I told him you would repent it in a short while.”

  Judith’s mouth opened to speak, her eyes wide. “How dare you!” she finally gasped. “I had every right—!”

  “Judith,” he interrupted. “A divorce cannot be granted to every wife who is angry