She looked up at him. Though she had never told him anything, and she had no knowledge if William had ever told him anything, simply by the tone of his voice she knew that he knew everything about them. Curious that the thought would occur to her just now.
The trumpets blared and she jumped, feeling Deinwald pat her hand comfortingly. He must have done it before he realized what he was doing, she mused, an attempt at humor to get her mind off her nerves. The crier elegantly announced her and the room grew quiet, waiting for the bride to make her appearance.
Jordan did not have to be told when to move. She entered the room with a straight back and a great deal of forced courage, making her way to where her bridegroom and his family awaited by the dais. She noticed through her haze of terror that the earl was smiling broadly at her, and that Alexander and Analiese were staring at her as if she was a creature from another world.
The earl reached out and pulled her to him, turning her to face the crowd. His hands were gripping her arms too tightly and she fought the urge to pull away from him.
“My friends and allies,” he said loudly. “I know you are all eager for the opportunity to meet my future wife, as you should be. We would be pleased for you to approach the table and extend your wishes.”
A low hum came from the crowd and they began to move into what appeared to be a long, single line starting at the dais and extending out of Jordan’s view. The earl placed her beside him; Analiese on her other side, Alexander and Adam on his other side. Jordan was so nervous that she was barely aware that she stood next to her future step-daughter.
The music picked up again softly as the first of the guest offered their congratulations. Jordan was gracious and unerringly polite as she said and did all of the correct things. Analiese was perfectly mannered as well and the two women soon began sounding alike.
Jordan glanced over at Analiese for the first time, trying to bring up the nerve to speak to her. The simplest word could start a war.
“Yer dress is lovely, Analiese,” she said nicely, hoping Analiese would not read an insult into it.
Analiese snorted. “That may be, but it is not me the men are looking at.”
Jordan immediately went on the defensive. “I am sorry, I dunna know what ye mean.”
Analiese looked at her. “I mean that your breasts are hanging out and you look like a whore.”
All of Jordan’s resolve to be nice fled. “At least I have breasts, which is more that I can say for ye, and if ye’ll notice, all of the ladies from London are showing considerably more flesh than I am, so shut yer yap.”
Analiese opened her mouth angrily but Adam was thrusting himself between them, not missing a beat as he greeted guests. He elbowed his sister roughly to remind her of her manners when a well-dressed woman spoke to her and extended her hand. When the woman had passed by Jordan, Analiese snaked her neck behind her brother.
“You are not even English, so why should you care what the ladies from London wear?” she hissed. “They look fashionable; you look like a Scottish slut trying to imitate them.”
Adam reached over and grabbed his sister firmly, still not saying a word except to the guests. Jordan greeted another partygoer before returning Analiese’s barb.
“Slut or not, at least I have a husband,” she retaliated. “All the money yer father has canna buy a man willing to bed yer skinny arse.”
The earl’s hand latched on to her arm with a firm, steady pressure and she knew exactly what his touch was telling her. But she was damn mad, greeting guests like the perfect hostess and then trading barbs behind Adam’s back with Analiese.
“Why didn’t that damn arrow kill you?” Analiese whispered harshly.
Jordan smiled twistedly. “Because it was fired by a dimwitted Sassenach archer,” she said. “Next time ye want me dead, come see me yerself and I’ll give ye what’s what.”
She had no idea how close she was to what William and the other knights had been thinking since the day of her attack. Analiese yanked free of her brother’s grip, stepping toward Jordan.
“I shall give you a fight, you little tramp,” she hissed.
Jordan smiled menacingly. “I would love to oblige ye, but a countess would be less than dignified if she accepted.” It was a reminder to Analiese that soon Jordan would be above her station.
Instead of raging, Analiese appeared visibly hurt. Her thin mouth twisted and she blinked several times, as if blinking away tears. “And a countess would also be less than dignified if she slept with her husband’s captain.”
Jordan’s mouth popped open with shock and disbelief. She was no longer simply angry; she was bitter and hurt as if Analiese had reached in and ripped her guts out. Of course the woman had heard the rumors. Jordan didn’t know why she believed Analiese would not have heard the gossip. True or not, she could not allow such an insult to go unanswered.
“I swear ye’ll pay for that remark,” she growled. “With God as my witness, ye’ll pay with every petty bone in yer skinny body.”
Analiese gave her a smirked smile and Jordan was suddenly slapped with the realization that she was jealous. Of course. Why hadn’t she seen it before? The girl was in love with William. Her William. She felt sorry for her, but was flaming jealous at the same time.
“Then I see that my first observations that you were a whore are accurate,” Analiese said with thin triumph.
There were more guests in front of Jordan demanding attention. She greeted them mechanically, her mind reeling from Analiese’s statements. She was close to snapping with pent-up emotions. This feud with Analiese had to end here and now, for if the earl was convinced that some indiscretions had occurred, it could mean her head and William’s. She was fearful that the earl would listen to his mean and jealous daughter. Things could go no further.
She leaned close to the earl. “Sire, might I have a few private words with Analiese, please?”
The earl glanced at her dubiously. “Now? Why?”
Jordan forced her sweetest smile. “Because, my lord, if this party is to proceed uninterrupted, Analiese and I must come to an understanding. I promise I shall be completely amicable. I merely wish to talk to her. We have had little time to do that since my arrival.”
The earl gazed over Jordan’s head at his daughter’s pale blond one. Mayhap Jordan was right. He indeed wanted to live out the rest of his life peaceably and mayhap there was no better time to start. With misgivings, however, he gave his fiancée a nod.
“Very well,” he said. “You may use my solar. But only for a few minutes and then I’ll send someone to retrieve you both.”
“Thank ye, sire,” Jordan curtsied quickly and ducked behind Adam to lean close to Analiese’s ear. “Yer father has given us permission to brawl. Come with me now.”
Analiese was startled. She turned around to stare openly at Jordan, then looked to her father, then back again. Suddenly, she was not so brave.
“I…I do not want to fight,” she stuttered. “I have no desire to ruin my best dress.”
“I willna touch ye,” Jordan promised, grasping her thin arm. “Come.”
Before Analiese realized it, she was being led from the hall. The knights on duty tensed, their eyes following Jordan as she led Analiese away. William’s direct orders were that the two must never be left alone. Paris passed a glance to Kieran, who was closest to the women. The big man nodded imperceptibly, waiting until the women quit the room before discreetly following.
Jordan pulled Analiese into the designated private room and softly closed the door. When she turned to the other woman she saw the fear and uncertainty in the pale blue eyes, along with a good deal of anger. Jordan cleared her throat.
“Here and now, Analiese,” she said quietly. “We will be done with this here and now. I will not live the rest of my life trading insults with ye. I want to know why it is ye hate me so much. Can ye even tell me?”
Analiese puffed up as if she were about to give a vicious retort, but instead, she squ
eezed her lips together and turned away, twitching and pacing.
“My mother was killed by a Scot,” she said plainly. “She was in the forest collecting mushrooms with some of the servants when she was attacked and killed by marauding Scots. I was only eight years at the time. It seems that that is reason enough to hate you.”
Jordan was stunned. No one had ever made mention of that very large piece of evidence. She felt as if she were losing her edge already in the conversation.
“Then I am truly sorry,” she said softly. “But I dinna kill yer mother. Yer countrymen have killed more of my kin than I can count, but I am willing to forget that. Yer father and Adam seem willing to go beyond the hatred. Why canna ye?”
Analiese’s movements slowed as if she were considering the request. She started to reply but tripped over her words and turned away, dragging her hand across her father’s Cherrywood table.
“I do not want you here,” she said after a long moment. It sounded to Jordan like a plea.
“Why?” Jordan demanded softly.
Analiese looked at her. Really looked at her. Jordan could feel the heat in her gaze, but it was cooling. Suddenly, as if a curtain lifted, all became clear.
“Because ye were the only woman here until I came,” she answered her own question. “Ye had yer father, yer brother and the knights all to yerself and I expect they treated ye like a queen. And then I came and ye were threatened by me. Isna that right?”
“Well, why shouldn’t I be?” Analiese exploded. “Look at you; I have never seen a woman as beautiful as you. The knights and my father’ they all fawn over you as if you were the Virgin Mary. They have all but forgotten about me.”
Jordan knew the statement was from the heart. She felt a twinge of pity for the plain, selfish girl.
“Analiese, I dinna come here to take yer menfolk away from ye,” she told her gently. “I came here because I was given no choice. I have no interest in replacing ye and I doubt that I could anyhow. Do not let yer jealousy cloud yer judgment, lass. I truly want to be yer friend if ye’ll let me.”
Analiese looked stumped by the kind, open response. She had become so used to blatantly hating Jordan that she had never given friendship any thought. She looked as if she wanted to respond in sorts but her great pride blocked the way. As Analiese fidgeted,
Jordan had an idea.
“Would ye like to wear this dress?” she asked eagerly. “Ye said the men were staring at it and I am sure it would fit ye. We’ll change right here.”
Analiese blinked, glancing down at her plain blue surcoat loaded down with tons of jewelry. “I do not know…,” she said doubtfully.
Jordan moved swiftly towards her, not giving her any time to think negatively. “Come, now, turn around and let me unfasten it.” She spun Analiese around and went to work on the stays. “Ye look to be about my size. Mayhap we can swap dresses all of the time. I brought quite a few with me from Scotland.”
Analiese, being bull-dogged into trading dresses, was nothing like the belligerent girl of a few minutes ago. She held her hair to the side uncertainly while Jordan deftly unfastened her.
“Doesn’t your cousin wear your dresses?” she asked faintly.
“The little wench brought none of her own,” Jordan said disapprovingly, keeping the conversation light and busy. Hopefully, she would confuse Analiese so much that the girl would forget her hatred. “She is so short she has ruined the hemline of every dress she has worn. Yer seamstress, Joana, promised to make her some of her own, thank God.”
Analiese’s dress slipped off. Jordan moved in front of her. “Here, now unfasten me.”
*
William entered the grand hall, dressed in his finest ceremonial armor and eagerly searched the room for Jordan. It did not take him long to figure out she was not in the room, so he skirted the edge of the hall until he came across Jemma sitting at one of the outer tables.
“Where’s Jordan?” he asked.
Jemma looked up at him. “Oh, hello, English,” she said mischievously.
His eyes snapped to her, darkening. She had called him by Jordan’s nickname and by the look in her eyes he could see she knew everything. He repressed the urged to curse loudly, wondering what in the hell Jordan had been thinking when she told her cousin of their relationship. But Jemma would not receive any satisfaction knowing that she had upset him.
“That is Captain to you, or Sir William,” he said lowly. “Answer me. Where is Lady Jordan?”
Jemma had had too much wine, he discovered. She waved a limp hand at him. “Oh, dunna get yer chausses in a bunch,” she said. “I willna call ye that anymore. Jordan left with that skinny wench Analiese a few minutes ago.”
William stiffened. “Which way did they go?”
Jemma pointed a door. “That way. Kieran went after them.”
William tried not to run, but as soon as he hit the archway he was pounding down the corridor. Rounding a corner, he almost plowed straight into Kieran.
“Dammit, man, where…?” he exploded.
Kieran shut him up. “Shhh,” he winced, glancing toward the door he stood in front of. It was cracked, ever so slightly. “Take a look for yourself. You are not going to believe it.”
William took a cleansing breath and peered through the crack. What he saw confused him greatly. Jordan, nude from the waist up, and Analiese in her shift, were focusing intently on some piece of jewelry in Jordan’s hands. They were talking so low that he could not hear what was being said. He turned to Kieran.
“What in the bloody hell is going on?” he demanded in a whisper.
Kieran chuckled in amazement. “It started out as a shouting match in the grand hall. Then the two retired in here privately and, after a brief conversation, Jordan began undressing them both. It seems Analiese has been wildly jealous of Jordan since she arrived and Jordan is trying to make amends by loaning Analiese her new surcoat.”
William reflected Kieran’s amazement before peeking back into the room. Analiese was now placing the necklace on Jordan, a gaudy piece of work with a huge stone that snuggled nicely in between Jordan’s bare breasts. He found himself mesmerized by the creamy globes, remembering how sweet they were to his tongue and seized with the urge to bed her that instant.
As good as she looked to him, it occurred to him that Kieran had seen her half-naked as well.
“How long have you been spying on them?” he asked.
“Until you walked up,” Kieran replied, unaware of William’s possessive tone.
William looked at him, his eyes narrowing. “Then you saw everything?”
“Aye, my lord, for you said that those two were never….” He suddenly caught on and was seized with the fear that eyes were about to be gouged out. His eyes widened and he stepped away, but he was grinning. “I saw nothing, my lord, absolutely nothing.”
William put his hands on his hips. “Aye, you did, but from this moment on you will wipe all memory of it from your mind. Is that understood?”
“Aye, my lord,” Kieran nodded, trying to straighten his grin.
William felt like grinning, too, but he bit his lip instead. “Besides, you have got your own to look at,” he hissed at him.
Kieran’s grin broke into a large smile and he laughed softly. “I would like to think so,” he said. “And mine are larger.”
William’s eyebrows lifted in feigned outrage at the insult but he was quickly reduced to a broad grin. “Are you saying that Lady Jordan’s are inadequate? Meager?”
“On the contrary, sire, they are perf….” Kieran caught himself. “I would not know, for I saw nothing.”
William cocked a black brow and nodded faintly before turning back around and resuming his watchful stance.
Jordan and Analiese exited the room twenty minutes later, Jordan still trussing up the back of the surcoat so that it would fit Analiese’s small chest. Analiese stroked and straightened the material.
“Does it look all right?” she asked Jordan.
> Jordan gave her a warm smile. “Aye, it makes ye look like a princess.”
Analiese looked at Jordan as if the woman’s kindness had just suddenly dawned on her. She actually returned the smile, albeit a small one.
“Thank you, Jordan,” she almost choked on the words, but it became easier as she went. “You did not have to do this.”
“Aye, I know it, but I wanted to,” Jordan replied. “Besides, gold looks better on ye than it does on me. I look much better in yer blue.”
Analiese looked at her plain blue surcoat on Jordan, the woman’s breasts straining against the material and the clunky jewelry about her waist and neck. Jordan wore it as if it were the most beautiful dress in the world.
“I shall return it to you on the morrow, after my ladies have cleaned it,” Analiese said, turning away from Jordan and heading back to the party.
“Nay, Analiese, do not,” Jordan said after her. When Analiese turned around, Jordan smiled. “Consider it a gift. From one friend to another.
Analiese looked hesitant for a moment, then her shoulders slumped and she nodded unsteadily. With a look Jordan read to be one between guilt and thanks, Analiese turned and walked from her sight.
Jordan let out a long breath and followed, trying to adjust the ill-fitting surcoat as she went. From the shadows, a huge hand reached out to grab her and she squealed in surprise.
“William,” she gasped, hand at her throat. “Ye scared the wits from me. What are ye doing lurking in corners?”
“Watching for you,” he told her with a grin. Then he looked her up and down. “I was told you were wearing an obscenely low-cut surcoat. I will slit the throat of the liar who told me such.”
She shook her head, “Nay, dunna, for it was true. I had Analiese’s seamstress make me a dress of the latest London fashion, but I gave the dress to Analiese.”
“Why?” he didn’t look particularly surprised. Jordan shrugged and took his arm, walking slowly for the hall.
“Because she needed it,” she said simply.
“Analiese does not need any more surcoats,” William said flatly.
The Original de Wolfe Pack Complete Set: Including Sons of de Wolfe Page 75
