kitten back to health, keeping it hidden in the barn, until Broderick had found it and tormented the poor thing. He had pleaded with his older brother to stop, to leave Shadow alone. Broderick had responded by beating Roland until his nose bled and his eye was swollen shut. Shadow had fled the barn and never been again.
After that, he had never outwardly and publicly shown any affection for any person or animal. He hadn’t even spoken to the lads of the village, or the sons of the servants, lest they suffer, too.
Gerrard’s teasing and mockery hurt far worse than any beating and lingered longer. “Is the little baby going to cry?” he’d said then, and many times after. “Is Rolly going to sob like a girl? Better fetch him a dress!”
And there had been more. “No woman of any worth will ever want a cold stick like you. No woman will ever love you unless she’s paid. You have no wit, no charm, nothing to recommend you to anybody except our father’s wealth and title.”
Now he nearly smiled, envisioning Gerrard’s surprise when he returned to Dunborough with his beautiful bride, especially if a woman of such worth wanted him for more than wealth or power. That would truly be a triumph and the fulfillment of a dream he’d scarcely allowed himself to harbor.
“What’s keeping the wench?” Lord DeLac muttered, leaning his bulky body against Roland and reeking of wine. Not even his expensive, long blue tunic and gold-linked belt sitting below his belly, or the equally thick gold chain about his neck, could hide the man’s coarse nature.
No doubt the lady would be glad to be out of her father’s household and it was tempting to think of himself as a hero from a ballad who had come to save a lovely damsel from a monster.
“Women!” DeLac grumbled, a frown creasing his wide, bearded face. “Nuisances, the lot of them.”
“Even your own daughter, my lord?”
“Well, she’s a woman, isn’t she?”
Yes, she was very much a woman, Roland thought as he scanned the chapel without moving his head. Although hastily assembled, given that it had been less than a sennight since he’d arrived and the marriage agreed upon, there was the usual assortment of guests one could expect at the union of two powerful families, including the nobles and hangers-on who’d come to any feast. Also among them would be those who wanted to be noticed and those who would be noticed regardless of their station, like Sir Rheged of Cwm Bron, the husband of his bride’s cousin. Few men were as tall as Roland, but he was. Fewer men wore their hair to their shoulders, as they both did. Even fewer were Welshmen, or had that aura of power and command Rheged possessed. Such a man could be a valuable ally, or a dangerous enemy.
No one from Roland’s family or household was there, of course. Even if he had wanted his twin brother in attendance, there hadn’t been enough time.
His gaze drifted to Sir Rheged again.
He well recalled Sir Rheged’s prowess in tournaments. Nobody had been more delighted than he when Rheged defeated his boastful braggart of an older brother, and nobody was more grateful that Rheged’s wife, that slender slip of a woman, had rid the world of Broderick. After Broderick had disgracefully attacked and killed an old man, he had then fought and nearly killed Rheged, even though the man was so sick he could barely stand. Tamsin had killed him in the struggle to save her wounded husband.
Rheged had surely spoken of him to Mavis. Perhaps he also owed Rheged for her good opinion.
“If I have to send someone to fetch her again,” her father muttered, “she’ll regret it!”
“If someone needs to fetch her, I will go,” Roland said. And if he found she’d changed her mind, he would leave DeLac at once.
Fortunately, and to his vast relief, the sound of the crowd of villagers, soldiers and servants gathered outside in the courtyard began to grow louder, like the dull roar of ocean waves in the distance. Everyone in the chapel turned expectantly toward the opening doors—and there was Mavis, her white veil not quite covering her golden hair that shimmered in the autumn sunlight, a smile on her beautiful face.
A fierce hunger that was more than lust seized him as his bride walked toward him with slow deliberate steps, her head high, a smile on her luscious lips, her shining, bright blue eyes holding his. Friendship, much as he desired it, suddenly seemed a weak and feeble thing compared to what her smile promised.
“Thank God,” Lord DeLac said under his breath.
Roland didn’t reply. His happiness had diminished, for he saw that despite her smile, his bride’s lips trembled, making him fear she wasn’t as confident and happy as she was trying to appear.
That was probably so of every bride, he told himself, and given his family, some trepidation should surely be expected. Once they were wed, though, he would do all he could to make her see that he was not like the rest of his family. He was the dutiful, honorable son of Sir Blane of Dunborough, not the cruel, greedy Broderick or a wastrel like Gerrard.
Joining them at the altar, Mavis stood between Roland and her father as Father Bryan appeared from the sacristy and began to bless their union.
Roland scarcely breathed throughout the entire ceremony. He dreaded someone suddenly objecting or Gerrard bursting through the doors. Mercifully nothing untoward occurred before he put the ring on the bride’s finger and the priest spoke of sealing their vows, then looked at him expectantly.
The kiss. He was supposed to kiss his bride.
No woman of any worth will ever want a cold stick like you.
Roland was no novice, no lad about to kiss a lass for the first time. He had been with women, albeit only when natural urges threatened to distract him from his duties, and even then, the coupling had been a simple transaction, money for service provided.
This was his wife. His beautiful, desirable wife, who could make the gods jealous, let alone Gerrard, and—best of all—who had agreed to the marriage.
He took Mavis in his arms and kissed her, and it was no perfunctory, public kiss. It was a kiss to show them all—including Mavis—that he knew how to love a woman.
Until she slid her arms around him and parted her lips. Thrilled, excited, he forgot everything except her and deepened the kiss. He would have kept kissing her had not Lord DeLac loudly cleared his throat and muttered that he was starving.
Roland drew back and was even more delighted when he saw that although Mavis, blushing with suitable maidenly modesty, looked down at the floor, there was a little smile playing about her lips that made him wish the wedding feast was over, so they could be alone.
And in the bridal bed.
* * *
Mavis could hardly look anybody in the eye as she left the chapel, not even Tamsin. She had known that there would be a kiss at the end of the ceremony, nor had Roland’s been her first. A few bold young nobles had cornered her in the shadows at feasts and put their lips over hers.
Those kisses had been almost childish, like playacting. Roland’s kiss was completely, wonderfully different. She had never felt anything like the rush of burning need that seemed to leap from his lips to hers, not even in her daydreams. She’d been completely unprepared for the reality of Roland’s embrace and her own passionate response, or the way desire lingered after he let her go.
Until
