Bond of Passion by Bertrice Small Read Free Book Online

grown used to Annabella, Rob considered.
    “Do I look all right, Rob?” Annabella asked anxiously. She was wearing the gown in which she would shortly be wed. It was lovely, but not quite the right color for the pale girl. The bodice was a light gray velvet embroidered with silver threads and black jet beads. The heavy silk skirt was a blue-gray. On a lass with golden hair it would have been stunning, even if it was a bit old-fashioned. But it did not really suit Annabella’s coloring at all. Her dark hair was left loose to proclaim her innocence.
    “Ye look fine,” he said dismissively.
    Brother and sister descended down the narrow staircase that led into the hall.
    Once there, the laird waved to them to come quickly forward, indicating they should stand with him. The lady Anne reached out to take her eldest daughter’s hand in hers, giving it a little squeeze of encouragement as the Fergusons entered the hall.
    “Welcome to Rath,” Robert Baird said, smiling.
    “Thank ye, my lord. We have not met, but I am Matthew Ferguson, the laird’s half brother, and steward of Duin. This is James Ferguson, the laird’s brother, a priest come to inspect the contracts and perform the ceremony.” Matthew bowed politely.
    The laird greeted both men cordially, noting that the priest did not wear the robes denoting his office. A wise move, he thought, considering the recent law of the land outlawing the old Church. Then Robert Baird introduced his wife, his son, and, finally, Annabella.
    Matthew and James acknowledged each introduction pleasantly. Then Matthew turned, nodding to his sister to step forward. “This is the earl’s half sister and my sister, Jean, my lord. She has been raised to serve my brother’s wife. Angus thought that since the journey back to Duin is one of several days, his bride would feel more comfortable in the company of another woman.”
    “How kind!” Annabella exclaimed before anyone else might speak. She would indeed enjoy having another woman with her. Her family could not send a female servant with her, for she and her sisters had always been taken care of by their old nurse, who was too ancient now to leave Rath. “I must thank the earl as soon as we arrive,” the bride said. “To send me a companion was a most thoughtful gesture.”
    “I commend your good manners, Annabella Baird,” James Ferguson responded. “My brother is a man who values the courtesies.” He already liked this young woman. There appeared to be no deceit about her. As a priest, he had learned to quickly assess those about him. Despite Matthew’s concern over her lack of beauty, his eldest brother’s bride seemed a sensible lass, which would serve Angus far better than some flighty beauty. He turned to the laird. “I have brought the marriage contracts with me, my lord. May we sit and go over them? Then, with Matthew standing proxy for the earl, I will perform the ceremony making your daughter Angus Ferguson’s wife.”
    The four men moved off to sit at the high board, where the marriage contract was now spread out upon the long rectangular table. The lady Anne and her daughter moved away to seat themselves by the hearth.
    “Who are the mothers of these men?” Annabella asked her mother. “Did the earl’s father have a second wife?”
    “Nay,” the mother told her daughter. “The earl’s mother was a Frenchwoman. The story told is that when she was enceinte with her first child, she begged her young serving woman, a lass who had been raised with her and come with her from France, to fulfill her husband’s manly needs, for he was a lusty man. She swore to raise any bairn born of such a union with her own bairns. She gave her husband three, and her serving woman gave him two. That is the tale your da told me, for the earl told him when they met at Hermitage several weeks ago. The five were raised together.”
    Annabella was shocked. “How could the old laird’s wife bear to keep such a servant? Did ye not