My Lady's Guardian by Gayle Callen Read Free Book Online Page A

of October to choose—or he would choose for her.
    Margery awoke before dawn and lay still in bed, prepared to face another dreaded day—one day less for her to solve her problems.
    And now she had Gareth to deal with.
    With a groan, she pushed aside the blankets and coverlet, and rose to her feet.
    She couldn't deny that it was good to know that he was alive and unharmed. After what he'd done for her when they were children, he was the one man she thought she could trust to help her. Yet he had changed. The wary watchfulness that had always been a part of him in childhood had grown.
    She didn't relish the coming days of outwitting him, as she'd been forced to do with so many of her friends and family. Here in this castle, she'd become numb, existing day to day during the brief respite she'd allowed herself. Sometimes she could almost forget the king's decree looming over her.
    Why did she feel that Gareth's presence could change all that?
    After she'd washed and dressed, Margery left the keep to attend Mass at the peaceful stone chapel tucked in a corner of the inner ward. She walked across the packed earth, absorbing yesterday's warmth beneath her feet, listening to the early morning sounds of roosters crowing and the welcoming bark of a dog.
    As she entered the building, she looked up at the cut-glass window high in the wall. In direct sunlight, one could stand beneath it and feel bathed in the magic of colors and the warmth of God's love. But with the gray dawn, the window looked as lifeless as Margery felt. Some mornings, her guilt almost choked her.
    At the completion of Mass, she introduced Sir Wallace, the new captain of the guard, to the company of soldiers and knights employed at Hawksbury Castle. Afterward she found Gareth waiting for her. She came to a halt and looked up
    into his eyes, where there was no emotion, only a perception that made her feel exposed, vulnerable. If he knew what kind of a woman she was, he'd think she deserved her fate.
    When everyone had gone past them, Gareth spoke in a low, angry voice. "Apparently I need to make the rules clearer."
    "I did not know there were rules." She raised her chin as she walked by him.
    He moved to her side.
    As people called good morning, Margery smiled at each. "I thought I had hired you to do a service for me," she said quietly to Gareth.
    "You hired me to protect you. If you want me to do my task successfully, I need to know where you are at all times. You cannot leave the castle without telling me."
    She bit her lip and risked a glance at him. He looked straight ahead, his eyes scanning the inner ward. At least he took his task seriously; she would be well cared for.
    "I'm sorry," she murmured. "You are right—I'm too used to controlling my own fate."
    "I thought that was your brothers' task."
    Again she heard that edge of bitterness, but his face showed nothing.
    "They trust me. They trust my judgment." And they were wrong.
    "So what are we doing today?" Gareth asked.
    "We?"
    "I go where you go."
    She sighed. "We are eating. I'm famished."
    He nodded and lifted his arm toward her. She stared at it for a moment in puzzlement.
    "You're supposed to take it," he said gruffly. "I am your suitor, you know."
    "Oh, yes. Of course."
    After only the briefest hesitation, she slid her hand beneath his elbow and lightly touched his arm. He pulled his elbow in and she was firmly trapped against the heat of his body, intimately aware of his strength, of the power that lay dormant inside him, waiting. All at her command.
    At the head table he insisted on sitting beside her. Her two suitors, short and dark to Gareth's golden height, showed their displeasure with frowns and whispers to each other.
    But Gareth seemed strangely oblivious to their jealousy. He ate only when she was eating. Otherwise he gazed solely at her, until Anne and Cicely dissolved into giggles, covering their mouths and pretending to cough. He finally bestowed his smile on them, and even Margery could