The Snow White Bride Read Free

wedding him s eems to you a suitable scheme… ”
    Madeline took the woman’s other arm. “Then you may rely upon us to arrange the details.”
    “There will be guests aplenty in the hall this night,” Vivienne said. “No one will note another, and if you decide against this course, you can travel onward on the morrow.”
    The stranger nodded at this plan, but Madeline was not fooled by her apparent reserve. There was new vigor in her step, just for having a choice, and Madeline knew that Alexander would be at his amiable best this night. Her brother might try to delay his duty to wed, he might even protest the sisters’ interference, but once this beauty was in his bed, once he had a child to bounce upon his own knee, he would thank her and Vivienne for their aid in finding him such a bride.
    Madeline was certain of it.
    * * * * *
    A lexander Lammergeier, Laird of Kinfairlie, had had his fill of responsibility. The accounts for Kinfairlie would never balance, not without a massive financial gain from some unanticipated source. He had seen two sisters married this year, on the counsel of those who knew more of running an estate than he, and could not for the life of him see what fiscal benefit had been derived from having two less mouths to feed. There were dozens yet residing within his walls, after all.
    The sound of merrymaking rose from Kinfairlie’s hall below. It was Christmas Eve, and he was laboring over Kinfairlie’s books, trying to find a stray denier.
    There were no stray deniers. Alexander knew it well. And further, he despised being Laird of Kinfairlie. He wanted his parents back, hale and hearty; he wanted to ask his father how that man had managed the burden of responsibility; he wanted to know what he should do when the seed was washed away and the peasants who relied upon him were left hungry.
    Further, he wanted his uncle Tynan, upon whom he had heavily relied after his parents’ demise, to walk out of the grotto beneath Ravensmuir and explain that he was not dead, after all. He wanted his aunt Rosamunde, also lost in the rubble that had been Ravensmuir, to leap from beneath the stones, to explain that tales of her death were mere exaggeration, and to present an ancient relic along with its tale. Though Rosamunde was not their aunt in truth, Alexander and his siblings continued to regard her as such, even after the revelation that she had been adopted as an infant.
    Alexander wanted answers; he wanted counsel, he wanted the merriment of his former life back.
    Yet all Alexander had were burdens. His sisters were no longer foils for his teasing or even victims of his jests, but maidens for whom suitable husbands had to be found. He had seen the two eldest of his sisters wed, but did not for a moment deny that Fortune had smiled upon him in those two circumstances. He had not handled those nuptial arrangements well and it was good luck alone that had seen Madeline and Vivienne happily wed.
    His two brothers had been dispatched to Inverfyre and Ravensmuir to train, at Uncle Tynan’s suggestion, which had relieved Alexander of the cost of supporting them, but also of the merriment of their company. Worse, Malcolm stood heir to Ravensmuir, though he was younger and less knowledgeable than Alexander—and he came to Alexander for counsel the older brother could seldom give. Ross was at Inverfyre for the foreseeable future, training to earn his spurs, and though Alexander thought this a great favor by their uncle, the Hawk of Inverfyre, still he missed Ross’s companionship. It was beyond disappointing that Ross would not be home for Christmas after all.
    Alexander was lonely, he was frustrated and saw no promise for change in his future. He had failed on all accounts, when once he had been able to do nothing wrong. He scowled at the cursed books, listened to the music being wrought by musicians he had no notion of how he might pay, and swore with vigor.
    It was Christmas. He had seen fit to entertain