The Heiress Read Free

Next to you, emeralds are dark; they do not twinkle as brightly as your eyes. Pearls have no luster next to your skin. Diamonds cannot—”
    She broke off because Jamie grabbed the worn cushion from under him and threw it at her, hitting her squarely on her flat chest.
    Catching it, she clasped it tightly. “This is from my most beautiful beloved. He … Oh, heavens, but he
sat
on it. That most tender part of him has touched it. Would that my eyes and lips could share what this lowly cushion has—”
    This time she stopped because Jamie had bounded over the table and clasped his hand over her mouth. She nipped his little finger with her sharp teeth, and taken in surprise, he released his grip on her.
    â€œHis arms about me,” she said loudly. “I shall die from the pleasure of it.”
    â€œYou shall die if you do not shut up,” Jamie said. “Where have you learned such things as you have said? No, do not tell me. But if you have no care for my own delicate sensibilities, think how you shock your dear sister.”
    Joby peeped around the great bulk of her brother to see her sister’s lovely face flushed with merriment. It suited her and her sister to pretend that Berengaria was as innocent and as angelic as she looked. The truth was that Joby was completely honest with her sister, often keeping her up half the night withtales of her latest escapade.
    â€œGo!” Jamie commanded, motioning his arm to include everyone in the room. “Your ridicule of me is at an end. Tell me, little sister, what did you do for entertainment when I was not here to make merry of?”
    Never at a loss for words, Joby said, “It was a solemn household. With only Father and Edward—” She broke off, the back of her hand going to her mouth.
    For a moment there was silence in the worn, old hall as everyone seemed to have forgotten that just two days ago they had attended a double funeral. Technically, the household was in mourning, deep mourning, for the loss of the father and the eldest son of this branch of the Montgomery family. But the son, Edward, had never shared in the simple joys of family life, and their father had been absent, barricaded in his room at the top of the tower. It was difficult to weep for people who you rarely saw or, in Edward’s case, did not miss.
    â€œYes,” Jamie said calmly. “I think it is time we remembered what we are about.” With his back rigid, he walked around the table to escort Berengaria from the room.
    It was only minutes later that he was alone with his sister.
    â€œWhy did someone not tell me?” Jamie asked, standing before the tiny, crumbling window in Berengaria’s room. Reaching out his hand, he broke a piece of stone away. Water damage. Years ago, while he’d been away, the lead gutters had been sold off the old stone keep, so the water seeped into the stone.
    Turning, he looked at his sister as she sat serenely on her cushioned chair, a chair more suited for a peasant’s hut than what had once been the keep of a proud and glorious estate.“Why did no one tell me?” he asked again.
    Berengaria opened her mouth to give the explanation she’d planned to give, but instead, she told the truth. “Pride. That great Montgomery curse of pride.” She hesitated, then smiled. “That pride that is now making your stomach churn and bringing out the sweat on your brow. Tell me, are you toying with the dagger Father gave you?”
    For a moment Jamie didn’t know what she was talking about but then realized that he was indeed holding the beautiful golden-handled dagger his father had given him long ago. The jewels in the hilt had been replaced with glass years ago, but if the dagger were held just so in the sunlight, one could see the gold that still coated the steel handle.
    He gave a laugh. “I had forgotten how well you know me.” With one easy movement, he sat on a cushion at