Betrothal (Time Enough To Love) by Jenna Jaxon Read Free Book Online Page B

will not flee you and we will spar with each other in earnest.”
    “Of course, my lord. Whatever you will.”
    “Whatever I will, lady?” Geoffrey bit back a laugh as she snatched her hand from his and glared at him.
    “If you insist on turning every chance word into a seduction, my lord, we will get nowhere this evening. I do not have all night to simply bandy words with you.”
    “And what would you do instead, lady?”
    “I would learn something of the man I am to marry in so short a time. You said that was your plan.” Alyse shot him a triumphant look.
    “So I did. You would study me then?”
    As she cast about for a rejoinder, dinner arrived, bringing her a slight reprieve. Geoffrey would have preferred to have her answer before she had time to think. She blushed so charmingly when flustered. But she took her time—tasting her roast venison and drinking some ale before composing herself to put a question to him.
    “How long have you known of our betrothal, my lord? You seemed fully aware of the circumstances yesterday when we stood before the king.”
    “My father mentioned it to me in passing several days ago, before I left Longford, though not to grant me any boon. A chance word allowed me the advantage, nothing more. He might as easily have left it to His Majesty to inform me, as your father did. But, yes, at least I knew your name.” Geoffrey smiled, remembering the other useful tidbits he had discovered about his betrothed from Thomas. “Father’s main interest lay in my new position in the princess’s household, secured from the king because of my betrothal.” Geoffrey raised his cup, now in no mood for smiles. “His only other observation hinted that we may ne’er see England more when we set sail.”
    Alyse hesitated then ventured another question. “Does it sadden you, my lord, to leave England, perhaps forever?”
    There seemed no reason to hide his dismay at the prospect. “It does, Lady Alyse, for I love nothing so well as my home here. The manor house at Longford was my boyhood home and the lands around it are most pleasant and familiar to me. They will pass to my elder brother, Roland, in any case, so I would have left them eventually.
    “But now I have house and lands of my own in Derbyshire, a grant from the Earl of Derby for service to him and King Edward at Crecy. I worked there these last months to improve both, with an eye to residing at the manor when not at court or on campaign.”
    He could see the small stone manor house in his mind’s eye. The sheep dotting the pastures around the quiet village of Broome. Bitterness welled that his work of the past months had been for naught. “That plan, it seems, is not to be. So aye, Lady Alyse, to exchange the lush English countryside for the hot, dry climes of Spain excites my heart not at all.”
    “Then I am truly sorry, my lord.”
    He scarce heard her small voice, so intent was he on remembering the meadows in bloom when he had ridden away five days ago.
    “For your sake, I would wish it otherwise.”
    Geoffrey recalled then that she, too, would be an exile. “You have no qualms at leaving your home for unknown Spain?”
    Her face lit up and Geoffrey sucked in a sharp breath at the beauty before him. The same face, yet not the same, for her look resembled the one men sometimes got when the exhilaration of battle came upon them.
    “I think ’tis different with women, my lord, for we are born to leave our homes. I left Beaulieu when I was but a child, and although I have seen my parents from time to time, I have seldom resided at my birthplace for more than a fortnight since.
    “As I told you at breakfast,” she smiled, and seemed to recollect their encounter with fondness, “I attended Lady Elizabeth from the age of seven years until I came here to serve the princess. To continue on to Spain seems not strange at all but exciting beyond belief. Perhaps ’twill be strange to stay there for many years, but that too may change.