Seduced by Grace by Jennifer Blake Read Free Book Online Page A

likely,” David allowed, his thick, gold-tipped lashes shielding his expression.
    “What may not be so obvious is that the betrothal from which you saved her with so little difficulty was no more than a ruse.”
    “A ruse,” Marguerite repeated in stunned disbelief.
    Not a shadow of remorse lay in the king’s face. “Regrettable, but necessary.”
    “I feel certain there was a purpose.” Though the words were polite enough, David’s voice sliced like honed steel.
    “She was a lure, nothing more or less.” Henry gave him a jaundiced look.
    “One meant to draw me back to England.”
    “If you had answered our many letters, our many messages that invited you to appear before us, if you had met with the representative sent to request your presence, then the fright for Lady Marguerite—this entire charade, in fact—need never have taken place.”
    “The fright for her? You are saying she knew nothing of this ruse of yours?”
    Though David spoke to the king, his gaze, as hardas blue glass, was bent upon her face, Marguerite saw. She ceased to breathe as she awaited Henry’s answer.
    “Lady Marguerite is intelligent beyond most, but we do not make a habit of confiding matters of state to females.”
    Marguerite lifted her chin as she absorbed the backhanded compliment. That her escape from an unwanted marriage could be construed to be a matter of state was as difficult to accept as that no union had been intended in the first place.
    “To Halliwell’s men then? Or Braesford’s?”
    “It was considered, in order to prevent bloodshed, but we decided that might be best left to you. To encourage Halliwell seemed unwise. He has recently shown signs of being overeager for this marriage.”
    “Has he?” David asked, his voice soft. “Enough to prevent the rescue?”
    Henry’s features congealed into hauteur. “What mean you?”
    “I noted a man at Calais with uncommon interest in my route of travel.”
    “Ours, no doubt.” The king shrugged. “If he attracted your attention, we are employing inferior servitors and must look about us for replacements.”
    “‘Spies,’ you mean to say, sire,” David said in clarification.
    “What would you? If every crowned head in Europe has its network of agents, then we must have the same or be left naked in our lack of information.”
    “Keeping watch on your own subjects as well, sire?” Marguerite asked, entering the conversation with determination.
    The king acknowledged her sally with a grim smile. “There is where the lèse-majesté lies, Lady Marguerite, and the threat of sedition that goes with it.”
    David watched them, his gaze considering. “Halliwell was never a party to this ruse of yours.”
    “As you say.”
    “He did not seek her hand.”
    That explained, for Marguerite, the peer’s continued health. If he had not attempted to defy the curse of the Graces, then he had never been in danger from it. “The betrothal was a mere ploy then,” she said in her need to clarify where she stood. “There was no possibility of a marriage.”
    “Lord Halliwell did not disagree when it was proposed to him, and he will naturally be compensated for any mortification he may now feel at the loss of his bride. Of course, if the Golden Knight had not appeared…”
    Her lips tightened as she saw Henry’s point. She would have been married off with scarcely a qualm, thrown away upon Lord Halliwell as easily as disposing of a lure refused by a hunting falcon. “I fail to see why you thought he might trouble himself.”
    “The ability of the Three Graces to draw men to them has been proven in the past. We depended upon it.”
    “Yet how could you know there was any reason he should, anything between us then or now.”
    The king merely looked at her. Anger roiled inside her as she realized she was a subject who must have been watched along with the rest.
    David stirred, his gaze upon the king. “So you hadyour spies in all camps, and used them to come upon us