The Rose Red Bride JK2 Read Free

happiness. He was reassured that Nicholas seemed to know fully the details of his holding, the number of tenants and amount of land, the annual tithes and what was yet to be done. Here was a responsible baron, to be sure.
    “You need not doubt the weight of my purse,” Nicholas said in conclusion. He removed a sack that jingled as he set it upon the table. He shoved it across the expanse of wood toward Alexander. “And I am prepared to show compense to you for seeing my suit successful in short order.”
    Alexander stared at the sack of coins, guessing that Kinfairlie’s salvation was within it. He lifted the sack, as if less concerned with its contents than he was, and peered inside. His heart leapt at the quantity of silver coin, though he kept his features impassive. This would see them all through the winter, and let him take his leisure in wedding his three younger sisters.
    “You seem anxious for haste,” he said, noting the sole detail that troubled him. An honest man has no need to rush, Alexander’s father had often said, and Nicholas’ urgency made him suspicious.
    “What man would not desire speed when the yearning of his heart is clear?” Nicholas smiled, though his lips seemed so unfamiliar with forming that curve that it looked more like a grimace. “I grow no younger. I have dallied overlong over this matter and would see it resolved. A man must seize the moment when the Fates favor his course.”
    “You have a scheme.” Alexander did not let his hand close over the coin, not yet.
    “I would not linger over banns and betrothals.”
    “What then?”
    Nicholas frowned, then leaned forward, bracing his elbows upon the table. His eyes shone a vehement blue, which told Alexander the vigor of his intent. “I would capture my intended in the night, consummate our match, then be wed in the morning.”
    Alexander put the coin down on the board with force and pushed it back toward the other man. It slid across the polished wood until Nicholas caught it. “It is vulgar to steal a bride! Though others condone kidnapping and rape as expedient, it will not be done at Kinfairlie!”
    “This course is a necessary one.”
    “No man of honor refuses to court his bride.”
    Nicholas leaned back, touched the wound upon his own face with a fingertip, and said no more.
    “The Lammergeier wed,” Alexander insisted, fearing that Nicholas offered some pagan convention instead of marriage. “We exchange our vows honorably and before witnesses.”
    “I fully intend to wed Vivienne as you suggest. I would merely celebrate the nuptial night before making those vows.”
    Alexander understood that the other man feared that his injury would repel his intended, but still he was troubled. One heard of such arrangements, though usually the maiden was seduced because her father protested the match. “Why such need for haste?”
    Nicholas’ lips tightened to a harsh line. “My cousin means to contest my suzerainty of Blackleith on the basis that I have no bride. I have need of a wife and a son, I have need of both soon, and I choose Vivienne.” He looked Alexander in the eye. “There is no time to delay, for a babe is not brought to light in a night and a day. I desire to wed Vivienne, and I desire to ensure that she cannot deny my suit because of my wound.” He cast the sack of coin back across the table and Alexander caught it.
    This time, Alexander let his fingers close over the hard coins. Though he did not like the means, he could not find no fault with the end result. And he guessed that if he declined Nicholas’ plan, the man would leave Kinfairlie and find another bride.
    Alexander could not so disappoint Vivienne. He knew that if ever there was a woman who could look beyond a man’s face to his heart, it was his sister Vivienne. And he guessed that the reason she found favor with no other suitor was that this was the man she wished to wed.
    “It is Thursday,” Alexander said thoughtfully. “And it would be