Rexanne Becnel by My Gallant Enemy Read Free Book Online

“It is only fitting that she should see to our most esteemed guest’s bath.”
    “That’s not a custom in common use any longer. We’ve not followed it since Mother died,” Lilliane countered as she put an arm around Tullia’s trembling shoulders.
    “We’ve had few enough guests since your beloved mother died. And none of such importance.”
    “Was Aldis of no importance?” Odelia cut in. “Are Santon and the rest of Tullia’s guests of no importance? That man is most likely an assassin come to lower your guard so he may strike you a death blow, and you court him like some—”
    “Silence, daughter!” Lord Barton roared. “Sir Corbett is the betrothed of my firstborn daughter. He will rule at Orrick when I’m gone and he has traveled long and hard. That is reason enough to honor his request for a bath.”
    “If he’s come from Colchester then he’s not come so far,” Aldis bit out the words.
    “His stay at Colchester was brief. I doubt Hughe gave his younger brother much welcome.”
    “And so he beat a hasty path here?” Lilliane put in. “Well, he can just as easily be on his way.”
    “He stays! And if Tullia will not attend his needs as a good chatelaine, then it falls to one or the other of you two.”
    “Don’t look to me,” Odelia hissed. “I’m only a guest here now. You’ve made it quite clear that Lilliane and her husband shall rule Orrick. Let her tend her bridegroom,” she said with a sneer.
    Lilliane was so taken aback by the venom in her sister’s tone that for a minute she was speechless. Lord Barton was equally stunned. As Odelia stormed away with her husband hurrying in her wake, the old lord turned to face his eldest child. “Then it must fall to you. I trust you will not shame me or Orrick with some childish display of temper.”
    “You call it childish to show a temper when you would wed me to our enemy? Well, I shall see to his needs,” she snapped. “I shall see his bath prepared. But if he expects a warm welcome, he’ll be sorely disappointed.”
    But her father only shrugged at her sharp words. “He’s a man. ’Tis unlikely a woman’s waspish ways can unsettle him.”
    Her father’s easy dismissal of her feelings seemed to pierce Lilliane’s heart. She had to bite her lip to still the sudden quiver in her voice. Forcing a wan smile, she gave Tullia a small squeeze. “See that Magda heats water and send up the biggest tub and adequate linen. I’ll go and prepare a chamber.”
    “I already instructed Thomas to have the tower room prepared for him,” Lord Barton stated as the two women turned to leave.
    “What?” Lilliane whirled to face him. “You had him put in the tower room?” Absolute shock reflected in her disbelieving eyes.
    “Am I not still lord here? Can I not put a guest where I will? I said the tower room. And Lilliane,” he added, “do see that he’s very comfortable.”
    She was too furious to reply. As she mounted the stairs that led past her sleeping chamber and up to the tower room, she seethed with resentment.
    The exalted Sir Corbett—their enemy—was receiving her father’s every attention. He was to be installed in the very room that had been her parents’ domain all during their wedded years. Her father had not set foot in it since her mother’s death. Yet this … this … this usurper was to be given free rein to it.
    And to her.
    A chill coursed down Lilliane’s spine. That dark, glowering man was to become her husband and to be given complete control of her life. Unbidden an image came to mind of Sir Corbett as he’d appeared when their betrothal had been announced. She’d felt small and insignificant next to his tall frame. But if he’d been pained at the thought of marriage to such a skinny child, he’d hidden it admirably. They’d supped from the same trencher, and he’d been most patient with her shy bumbling.
    But she was not that same impressionable girl, she reminded herself. Nor was he the cavalier of her