The Everlasting Covenant by Robyn Carr Read Free Book Online

could really accept the truth. She loved another and always would. But she boldly expressed one reservation she felt, if only to see the extent of the man ’ s professed understand ing. “ You are kind and polite, and handsome as well. Indeed, all the things a maid would wish to have in a husband. Perhaps too k ind, Brennan. You almost seem -- ” she paused, her eyes lightly closed, and took a deep breath before fi nishing, “ like a father. ”
    Only silence answered her. She cautiously opened her eyes and found him smiling at her. He slowly rose and held out a hand to help her to her feet. He tucked her hand in the crook of his arm and began to lead her out of the copse, down the path toward the gardens.
    “ Are you angry with me, my lord? ” she asked as they walked.
    “ No, my sweet. Some of those things you expect from a father will certainly be yours as my wife. You will have protection and a strong arm as you achieve your full womanhood. You will have the generosity of my purse, as if you were a favored daugh ter. You will lend dignity to my name, as you have given your father ’ s name greater worth while you lived under his roof. ”
    He paused on the path crowded by trees and looked down into her eyes. “ But there will come a time, my love, when the ways of men and women will be ours, and then you must see me as a husband and lover, not as a parent to guide you into your adulthood. ” He gave her forehead a light kiss. “ There is time enough for you to adjust yourself to seeing me in a dif f erent light. When the time has come, you will have no doubt -- my affection for you is not fatherly in nature. ”
     
    ***
     
    “ Mother will not allow it, ” Divina shrieked. “ It is unheard of! ”
    Anne stared at her sister in wide-eye wonder. Had she really looked forward to this? Divina had sullenly held her peace until the family had returned to Raedelle, and then the feathers began to fly. Anne had followed Divina up the stairs to the room they had shared all these years, only to watch Divina angrily throw all of her gowns out on the bed to remove them from their common bower.
    “ Divina, it was not of my doing. I ’ m sorry you are jealous. ”
    “ Jealous? I am not jealous but outraged! What did you do to attract him? What did you promise? ”
    “ Nothing, ” Anne cried. “ I had never even seen him before. ”
    “ He has been about. You have seen him. ”
    “ You have seen him, Divina. He has seen you. I have never gone to a tournament before. ”
    “ I will not stay here in this room with you another day. You lie! You did something sinful to attract him to you! ” The door to their bedchamber slowly swung open, and Marcella stood to her full and menacing height, frowning at her daughters. “ Mother, tell her that you will not allow it, this betrothal. It is not fair. ”
    Marcella looked from Divina to Anne, then back to Divina. “ It is done. The Earl of Ayliffe has requested the hand of your sister and would consider no other. ”
    “ But why? ” Divina wailed.
    “ His fancy, ” Marcella shrugged, smiling rather deviously. “ He is rich and was not enticed by her dowry. Understanding his fancy is not my concern, an alliance with his influence is. ”
    “ But Mother -- ”
    “ Lower your voice, Divina. I will not listen to this shrieking. ”
    “ I will not go to the convent in her stead. I will not! ”
    “ It is not too late to find you a suitable marriage. I was almost twenty when I was wed. And ... we have invested a goodly sum in that effort already. Your clothes will do you no good with the sisters. ” She glanced at Anne and frowned. She had not considered Anne to be good marriageable stock, she was small, thin, and had always preferred playing with the boys to learning the management of a castle. Divina, hearty and deter mined to copy her mother ’ s behavior, seemed more logical in a wifely role. Yet Anne had captured a rich earl in her simple, ill-fitting frocks,