Betrayal (Book 2: Time Enough to Love) (17 page)

Laughing, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pleased with his public attentions to her.

After their wedding, she and Thomas had journeyed to Knowlton’s Keep, giving the courtiers little chance to see them together after their marriage. And none at all since that dreadful morning on the
Phillipa
. God only knew what rumors had been running throughout the ship. So, much as she disliked being made a spectacle, better to be the topic of happy gossip than the subject of unkind speculation. Unfortunately, they were the last to leave, thus few could mark their contentment.

As they moved across the dock, Alyse spied several odd objects scattered around the boxes and kegs along the quay side.

“What are those black lumps among the baggage, Thomas?”

He peered at them briefly. “I believe they are dead rats, my lady.” She shuddered and clutched his neck closer. “A normal sight for the docks, I assure you. I am surprised you have seen no live ones.”

Rats were common enough at the castle, but she had ever disliked them.

Thomas set her on her feet and opened the carriage door.

“I thought I would share the last ride to the castle with you, Thomas.” Geoffrey Longford held out his hand for Alyse.

* * * *

Over the past days, Geoffrey had wondered how Alyse would react to him after their short tryst last week. This day he had gotten an extremely unsatisfactory answer.

Early on in his marriage, he had realized they would be thrown together in company and had steeled himself to mask the deep love he still bore the woman he would ever call wife in his heart. That task had almost been beyond him, resulting in their indiscretion in the bow last week—a few fleeting moments he would cherish always. Yet those stolen moments had severed his wild hope of a courtly love affair. She had made it clear she would not betray Thomas.

Betrayal. He had not thought of it thus. Thomas had never borne any love for Alyse, save that of a friend and champion. The man had often tarried in the beds of married women, so the value he placed on the vows of matrimony could not be great. And ’twas rumored his marriage to Alyse had never been consummated. Did that not signal his disinterest in her? She might have been Thomas’s wife, aye, yet in that one way she remained his beloved alone. He had actually believed Thomas would not care overmuch what they did. An almost deadly miscalculation on his part.

And as a result of that blunder, Alyse would have nothing to do with him.

She snatched her hand back and plumped down abruptly opposite him on the cushioned seat. Thomas entered the conveyance, shot her a curious look, and sat beside her. Resisting the urge to slam his fist into the carriage wall, Geoffrey motioned to the driver and they set off on the brief ride to the castle.

“Has our baggage been sent ahead, Geoffrey?” Thomas asked as they started down the docks.

“Aye, as far as I know it has all gone ahead.” Thank Christ Thomas saw fit to speak civilly to him. “Have you been assigned your chamber yet?” He spoke to Thomas, but his gaze strayed to Alyse as he waited for her bid in the conversation.

Her silence continued as she peered out the window.

She should at least speak to him politely when in company. Their situation had seemingly been resolved and her husband bore him little ill will. Did she not know he had no intention of repeating their indiscretion? His true feelings for Alyse had changed not at all; however, he would die before revealing that to anyone.

He believed that he could, in time, resign himself to his marriage with Mary. She was a reticent woman, overwhelmed and fearful of him in the days after their wedding, yet she had served him dutifully, with strict obedience. Not what he had wished for in married life…but mayhap if he stopped expecting her to be Alyse, he would be happier with his wife. Their circumstances
of late had actually improved, owing to Mary’s raised spirits over her elevated status in the princess’s household. An elevation that had come at Alyse’s expense.

Had she grieved the loss of her status? She had borne much in the past month. As had they all. He glanced at Thomas, who took her hand and laced their fingers together absently, a deft movement that spoke of the intimate connection between the two.

Geoffrey suppressed a sigh. He understood, though he had not been told, that Alyse was now Thomas’s wife in fact as well as name. The change in Thomas almost immediately after his confinement with Alyse began spoke loudly of it. His friend had become relaxed, carefree. Where previously there had been great tension, now only…contentment. What that contentment heralded sent anguish through him as though devils stabbed him with red-hot pitchforks. Attempts to persuade himself that ’twas only the natural course of events provided cold comfort at best.

But he still longed to speak with Alyse. Just to hear her voice.

“No, Geoffrey,” Thomas replied, after a sharp look at Alyse, who did not seem to be attending the conversation. “We know naught of our quarters yet.”

“I believe I can help you, for they are quite close to mine. I will show you where they are as soon as we reach the palace.” Geoffrey glanced at Alyse, still wishing to engage her in the conversation. “All the ladies-in-waiting have been housed close to the princess. Indeed, I believe you are to be housed in the corridor closest to Princess Joanna. Between her apartments and ours.”

Alyse continued to look out the windows as though enraptured by the narrow streets of Bordeaux. She remained silent, though the fine skin around her eyes tightened with strain.

It was becoming a battle of wills that he would win, by the rood! He would make her speak to him. Mayhap a bolder tack was needed.

“Lady Alyse.” He looked squarely at her, addressing her alone for the first time since leaving her on the bow of the ship eight days before. “How do you find the port town of Bordeaux? You seem to have been entranced with it since we left the pier.”

He cocked his head and offered her his most charming smile, awaiting a response to his direct address. She had to speak to him now, and he would savor every word of the victory.

* * * *

“There were dead rats on the dock.”

“Alyse!” Thomas’s outraged tone brought censure for her bald statement, but she cared not. Geoffrey had trapped her into speaking with him or risk being rude and bringing about the displeasure of her husband. Common sense warned her to avoid all contact, including conversation, with Geoffrey Longford. Since he had made that impossible in this instance, she chose her own bold method of bringing an end to the conversation—make it as unpleasant as possible.

“Well, ’tis true, Thomas. We passed them on the way to the carriage.”

Geoffrey laughed, apparently determined not to take offense. “Aye, lady, you will find them living and dead all over the town, not just at the quay.” Turning to Thomas, he added, “There were fewer of them at Port St. Croix than at St. Lucie. ’Tis why Sir Robert decided to land the nobles here. Where the men-at-arms and the long bowmen came ashore, the dead rats were almost knee-deep in places.”

“Lord have mercy!” Alyse shuddered, sudden pity arising for the soldiers.

“They have had a plague of them recently here in Bordeaux, I am told,” Geoffrey continued. His eyes lingered on her face, a quiet satisfaction alight in their blue depths. “Brought into port aboard foreign ships. You would probably have to fire the entire town to get rid of them.”

Alyse trembled, not only at the thought of the unsavory animals running through the town, but at the look in Geoffrey’s eyes that made her stomach clench and her womanhood throb. She drew closer to Thomas, a potent misery stealing through her for the first time in days.

The men continued to talk, but she paid them no heed, caught in a private hell from which she had believed herself safe. She would have to be vigilant to ensure neither she nor Thomas were burned by the fire that had been kindled months ago between her and Geoffrey Longford. She could not trust any of them now—neither her husband to keep his jealously in check, nor Geoffrey to cease his pursuit of her, nor herself to keep him at bay.

She had believed she loved Thomas enough to lay the ghost of Geoffrey to rest in their bed. But from the moment she had seen him on deck this morning, her beloved still, she knew deep in her very core that Geoffrey had been right: it would never be over between them until they were dead and in the tomb.

This realization frightened her beyond all reason. It was as though she had been two people in one body all day, each belonging to a different man. As long as they lived that would never change. She played with fire each time she met with or spoke to Geoffrey, and one day the banked embers would flame up and consume them both.

There would be hell to pay one way or the other. The only question was how much damage would be wrought. Immortal souls hung in the balance, waiting for Judgment Day.

B
ELEAGURED

Time Enough to Love
Book 3

Coming Spring 2014

The documentation of the life of Princess Joanna of England is uncertain at best, with scholars unable to agree even on the date of her birth. It’s not surprising, therefore, that I’ve had to make choices about the historical information I used in the writing of
Time Enough to Love
. In all cases, I’ve chosen the dates and places that facilitate the plot and pacing of the story. Where facts are certain, I have included them in my story to the best of my ability.

Jenna Jaxon is a multi-published author of historical and contemporary romance. Her historical romance,
Only Scandal Will Do
, the first in a series of five interconnecting novels, was released in July 2012. Her contemporary works include
Hog Wild
,
Almost Perfect
, and
7 Days of

Seduction
. She is a PAN member of Romance Writers of America as well as a member of

Chesapeake
Romance Writers. Her medieval romance,
Time Enough to Love
, is being published

this summer as a series of three novellas.

Jenna has been reading and writing historical romance since
she was a teenager. A romantic herself, she’s always loved a dark side to the genre—a twist, suspense, a surprise—and tries to incorporate all these elements into her own stories. She lives in Virginia with her family and a small menagerie of pets. When not reading or writing, she indulges her passion for the theatre, working with local theatres as a director. She often feels she is directing her characters on their own private stage.

She equates her writing to an addiction to chocolate because once she starts she just can’t stop.

Connect with me online:

Blog: Jenna’s Journal http://jennajaxon.wordpress.com

Twitter:
@Jenna_Jaxon

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Jenna-Jaxon/146857578723570

Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4960704.Jenna_Jaxon

Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005CHPBD2

Only Scandal Will Do

He has the woman of his dreams, but what price will he have to pay to win her heart?

Kidnapped and sold at auction in a
London brothel, Lady Katarina Fitzwilliam squelches an undeniable attraction to the masked stranger who purchased her, pits her wits against him, and escapes him and the scandal that would ruin her life.

Unable to resist temptation in a
London brothel, Duncan Ferrers, Marquess of Dalbury, purchases a fiery beauty. She claims she’s a lady, but how can she be?

No lady of his acquaintance in polite society is anything like her. Then he discovers she is who she says, and that this latest romp has compromised her reputation. He knows how that is. One more scandal and he’ll be cast out of
London society, but he needs a wife who’ll provide an heir to carry on his illustrious family’s name. He seeks out Katarina, intending only to scotch the scandal, but instead finds his heart ensnared. He’s betting their future he’ll capture her heart, but does he have what it takes to win the wager?

WARNING: A blade-wielding heroine who crosses swords with a master of sensuality.