The Silver Rose by Jane Feather Read Free Book Online Page B

window, to watch him emerge into the street below, expecting him to turn and look up at the window as he always did. But this time he didn’t. He left the inn that had always been their rendezvous, and walked down the lane, leaning more heavily than usual on his stick, his cloak billowing around him in the brisk winter wind that whistled around the street corner.
    Helene turned back to the room, filled with a strange apprehension. She told herself it was not apprehension for Simon but anticipation of the loneliness that lay ahead for her. She was still in her prime, too young to be condemned to a life of chastity . . . to exchange the turbulence of love and passion for the blandness of friendship.
    “No,” Ariel stated. “I will not dress up in a wedding gown when the groom is nowhere in sight.”
    Ranulf’s face darkened. “You will do as you’re bid, sister. Your wedding is set for noon and you will be ready for it.” He gestured to the bed where lay a froth of pale lace. “You will dress and show yourself belowstairs. It will not be said that the Ravenspeares reneged on their contract.”
    Ariel shook her head, standing her ground. “When the earl of Hawkesmoor comes to claim his bride, Ranulf, then and only then will she dress herself for sacrifice.”
    “Why, you obstinate, disobedient—” The angry words died and he fell back, his hand still upraised, as the wolfhoundsranged in front of Ariel, facing him, teeth bared, hackles raised. “Call them off,” he demanded tightly.
    “Not until you lower your hand, brother.”
    His threatening hand dropped to his side. Ariel said, “Down,” in a soft voice, and the dogs sat, but they remained in front of her, staring fixedly at the earl.
    “I command that you dress immediately for your wedding.” Ranulf spoke through compressed lips. “Hawkesmoor may well be intending to arrive at the chapel at the very stroke of noon. I will not have him find us unprepared. This family will give no sign of hesitation, of reluctance, for this wedding. The queen will receive reports that the Ravenspeares conducted themselves impeccably, and if there is to be any criticism, it will be directed at the Hawkesmoor.”
    “Why do you think he hasn’t come yet?” Obliquely, Ariel deflected the subject. She stepped backward and hitched herself onto the broad windowsill of her chamber overlooking the inner courtyard. “He should have been here for the prenuptial feast last evening.”
    “I don’t know,” Ranulf said as tightly as before. “He’s playing his own game. But he’ll not outplay us, Ariel. If he thinks to embarrass us, I’ll not have him thinking he succeeded. We will give him
no
indication that his late arrival has caused the least anxiety.”
    “So you do expect him to come?” She flicked at a straw on her skirt, a remnant of her recent visit to the stable.
    “Of course he’ll come!” Ranulf spat out the words, his charcoal gray eyes blazing in his angular face. “He’ll come because
he
started this. He arranged the queen’s command.”
    “Why?”
    “I don’t know, goddamn it! But whatever his plan, it won’t succeed. And he will not ever feel that he has humiliated us. You will be ready and waiting at the altar with a smile of welcome and the promise of obedience
whatever
time he comes.” His riding whip slashed across the surface of an inlaid table, and the dogs rose with a growl.
    Ariel had rarely seen her brother at a disadvantage, but itwas clear that Simon Hawkesmoor’s tardy arrival for his wedding was causing Ranulf a fair degree of consternation. She turned to look over her shoulder down into the court. It was deserted, the February day too cold and sharp for the wedding guests to venture outside. “Is there a watchman in the tower?”
    “Aye.” Ranulf seemed for once uncertain. He didn’t know how to compel his sister’s obedience when the damn dogs prevented his getting close to her. Ariel had acquired them as puppies two years