Bond of Blood Read Free

was a little—a little elderly."
    It was Lord Radnor's turn to laugh then, and he too sat down, grimacing as he took his weight off his feet. "And if it had been he that was to be your husband?"
    "I would be obedient to my father in whatever he bid me, but I am—I hope—I do not know, but I think, perhaps it is easier to please a younger man. My lord—I mean Cain—what an odd name. I would think …" Her voice drifted away because of the scowl that spread over Lord Radnor's face.
    "Anill-favored name, but my own." The husky voice was still low, but there was a snarl in it now.
    "Nay, my lord," Leah touched his sleeve again, but timidly this time, her color fading slowly, "it cannot be ill-favored to me." She could say no more. An angry man was terrifying.
    "So pretty a compliment must needs make me reconciled." His tone was clear then, and sharp with sarcasm, and Leah felt crushed and helpless. Her eyes filled with easy tears and she looked away. For a moment the silence hung between them, and Leah was startled when Cain spoke again in his normal voice, a little uncertainty in the words.
    "I am sorry. That was unkind. Nay, I pray you, do not weep. I was only—I pray you, do not weep." Cain moved closer on the window seat.
    They had, in that place, all the privacy that the great hall afforded, because the window opening in the walls, five feet thick at that level of the keep, formed almost a private room around them.
    "Come,” he went on, “you shall have your revenge for my unkindness. Set me a task, or ask for—for—oh, Lord what do women like—a jewel, and you shall have it."
    Leah looked at him. To her surprise, for she had expected only a frown or the sly expression her father wore when he set a trap for her, Lord Radnor's face was perfectly serious, even concerned. The thought that her lord and master should offer her "revenge" for a harsh word was so ludicrous to her that she was surprised into laughter again.
    The sunlight filtered in a haze through skins scraped thin and oiled that covered the window to keep out the April chill; it made an aureole of light of the fine ends of fair hair that escaped from Leah's plaits and warmed her enough to set free a delicate odor of lavender that seemed to float about her like the shimmering light. Leah could not know her own charm with the teardrops sparkling on her long lashes, and she did not understand the curious expression that crossed Lord Radnor's face, but she took courage for it was certainly not anger. In reply to his repeated request she smiled shyly and shook her head.
    "Will you cherish your hurt, then?"
    "But I have taken no hurt. I was only frightened when you frowned, for I am sure that if I make you angry my father will—will kill me." Leah was telling the literal truth when she said that, for if the plans fell through because of something she did her father would kill her.
    Lord Radnor's mouth hardened again. He intensely disliked Gilbert Fitz Gilbert, the Earl of Pembroke, and the daughter's fear did not improve matters. "No one will do you any hurt. As we are betrothed, your care is in my hands. Do you but please me and all will go well. And be not so timid for a frown. You will find that I frown often enough about matters indifferent to you."
    Oh, God, Leah thought, no matter is indifferent to a wife.
    Does not my father beat my mother when the crops are poor? Is not the will of God a matter indifferent to my mother? And yet, do not the blows sting just as shrewdly when the matter is indifferent? But she had training enough in concealing such thoughts, and she continued to smile.
    There was a pause. Cain studied the slightly downcast face of his future bride. He had not wanted this marriage, but he was a good deal better pleased than he had expected to be by the girl, her gentleness and soft beauty striking a chord to which he could not help responding. Leah racked her brains for further ground for conversation, inquiring politely at last how long