Love's Ransom by Gwen Kirkwood Read Free Book Online Page B

shook his head as though to clear away a cloud. ‘He will never know how fortunate he is. Now I must leave you to your letter sweet Isabella for it will soon be time for Anna to help you dress.’ He sighed heavily and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
    Isabella found it difficult to concentrate on her letter. The memory of Zander’s kiss kept coming back to her. He had awakened the strangest, most wonderful feelings and there was an unfamiliar and pleasurable heat in the pit of her stomach.
     

 
    Four
     
    Anna led Isabella down two flights of the spiral staircase to a small chapel on the second floor where her wedding to Henry was to take place. It was overflowing with people. The sight of so many men in their fine clothes surprised her. Jamie came to her as soon as she and Anna appeared. He was limping badly but he was dressed in a green and gold doublet with a lace collar and matching cuffs. He had on padded breeches cut into panes and velvet canions to his knee.
    ‘Where did you get such fine clothes, Jamie?’ she asked.
    ‘Our host insisted I must borrow them from Alexander or Henry. Alexander’s were too big for me. Henry is nearer my height but these are a little too tight to be comfortable. You will see Alexander is dressed almost identically and Henry looks splendid in dark blue velvet. But you are a truly beautiful, dear sister. How proud our mother would be to see you now, and Marjorie too.’ His voice shook. ‘I have got you into this trouble. I should have listened to your suspicions about the Truddles.’ His mouth tightened making him look much older than his seventeen years and reminding her of their father.
    ‘Don’t blame yourself Jamie. I insisted Sam bring me. At least we are both alive. Zander assures me your wound is healing well?’
    ‘It is, thanks to Anna. Are you sure you will be happy here, Isabella?’
    ‘I cannot say I shall be happy without you and our mother and sisters but I think I shall be content. Anna is kind and generous. I think my life will be satisfactory. I’m sure Henry will not be cruel as Neb Truddle would have been. They are brutal men. I beg you to be careful when you return. Keep Mother and our sisters safe.’
    Zander was never far from Henry, giving him support by his presence and Isabella felt a peculiar yearning in the pit of her stomach as she stared at his long muscular thighs. All too soon it seemed the ceremony was over. Her husband did not kiss her but Anna did, and her new father-in-l aw, William Douglas, who was in jovial mood and ordering a new barrel of brandy to be opened. So, Isabella thought, he might be opposed to raiding and reiving of cattle and sheep now he was a warden, but he was not against trading with the French smugglers who plied the Solway coast with their little ships. She wondered if that was where he got the silks and velvets for Anna to sew. Plates were laden with meat, fish and fowl and often all three and gravy was mopped up with chunks of the whitest bread Isabella had ever tasted, even though her own mother was good at bread making.
    ‘How do you make such wonderful bread?’ she asked Anna at the first opportunity.’
    ‘We have used a month’s ration of wheat in your honour,’ Anna laughed. ‘We never have enough wheat so we often mix in barley or rye. We shall probably live on oatcakes for a month now but we are hoping for a good harvest so we shall set aside enough for my wedding too.’
    ‘When the English raiders came they often set fire to our crops,’ Isabella said, ‘even though they were almost ready for harvesting. That made a very lean year for any kind of bread, but Father used to say our own men were just as heartless when they went over the border. Now I would like to talk to Jamie. They leave at dawn tomorrow, and there is Sam. I must talk with him. He has been such a loyal friend.’ She blinked away tears.
    The music and dancing and revelry increased as the night wore on and Isabella