Velvet Bond Read Online Free Page A

remembered how he had tried to convince Louisa to marry him so that her stepbrother would no longer hold sway over her. But she had refused, saying Raynor had a right to some happiness of his own. Just taking Willow in and claiming her as his own had been more than Louisa had the right to ask. Raynor’s voice was barely audible as he finished. “She died before I was able to convince her otherwise, shortly after the child was born.”
     
    Stephen laid a hand on his arm. “I am sorry, my friend. This trouble with Harrington must make it very difficult for you.”
     
    Bronic spoke up, his Nordic features hard, his blue eyes narrowed. “The man is crazed. Would that this were his throat.” He clasped his large warrior’s hands together tightly.
     
    Raynor sent him a warning look. He did not wish anyone to suspect there was more to the story than they told. If they displayed the depth of their hatred too openly, any reasoning person would begin to wonder at its cause.
     
    And no one must ever find out the reason for Raynor’s fear for Willow. Not even Bronic understood the true circumstances of Willow’s parentage. His vehemence stemmed from loyalty to Raynor.
     
    All Raynor said was “Harrington must follow his own course, as I must mine. Mayhap the king’s decision today will set him on a more constructive path. Now he must realize that he cannot take Willow from me.”
     
    “You are a good and true father, to take the child though she be a bastard,” Stephen told him. “Harrington has indeed tried to besmirch you there, as well. He lays it about that you are the one who would have the little girl for her inheritance.”
     
    Raynor stiffened. It was true that once he had been a poor man. His father had mismanaged and overspent in an effort to give his greedy mother all she wanted. After Raynor inherited the lands and title, she had tried to control and manipulate him in the same manner. But even at fourteen he had been too strong-willed for her to control him. No woman would destroy him as Mary Warwicke had his father.
     
    The years since his father’s death had seen him turn the properties around, and while he was not the wealthiest of the king’s barons, neither was he the poorest. He knew that since Harrington had spread the lie, many would continue to believe he had taken on the responsibility of raising Willow because of her lands. But he didn’t really care, not if it kept them from looking further.
     
    Besides, Raynor controlled her lands only as her guardian and overseer. He took no payment of any kind for looking after her interests. Everything would go to her in the event of her marriage or her twenty-first birthday.
     
    Stephen interrupted Raynor’s thoughts with a clap on his back. “Enough of this, my friend. All has gone well for you today. Now you can be about some more pleasant sport. I have not seen you in years, and would hear what you have been about.”
     
    Bronic nodded, looking about the crowded antechamber with ill-concealed discomfort. “But we should find some more comfortable spot for the discussion to take place.”
     
    Raynor eyed his friend in agreement. He had no love of the court and its crowds. In fact, he would not be comfortable until they were well on their way back to Warwicke on the day after tomorrow. “I stand with Bronic. We are sharing a room with several other knights, but me-thinks they would not mind us bringing you along, Stephen. I'm sorry we cannot offer you better hospitality, but Windsor is full to overflowing, even with all the new building the king has had done in the past years.”
     
    Stephen laughed. “Do not apologize. I know the circumstances well. That is part of why I have a house in the village.”
     
    They started from the chamber with Raynor in the lead.
     
    Raynor stopped as a woman moved between him and the entrance. He paused, his head tilted to one side as he looked at her. She was quite beautiful, with her creamy skin, high