The Earl's Entanglement (Border Series Book 5)(76)

“Then why did you tell Garrick—”

“I said I couldn’t approve the match yet. I wanted to speak to you first. And,” her cheeky brother finished, “I thought he should know about Graeme.”

“You just wanted to see his reaction,” Sara accused.

“Perhaps.” He shrugged unapologetically. “This is my baby sister’s happiness at stake. I wanted to be sure he truly loves her.”

She couldn’t believe it. Geoffrey had stopped the messenger.

“I have to go!” she shouted, feeling so light she could float up to the ceiling.

She threw her arms around Geoffrey and squeezed, and then did the same to Sara. Perhaps a hug would help soften his mood. Then she ran as fast as her legs would carry her, down the stairs and through the hall. Garrick was just being handed his cloak when she called out to him.

“Stop! Garrick, wait.”

The hall was beginning to fill with servants preparing for the evening meal. Almost all of them turned to look at her, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

“Garrick.” She stopped directly in front of him. “We need to talk.”

He took the cloak and turned from her. “I don’t believe—”

“I am not getting married,” she blurted.

He froze.

“Please, just please stay. Listen to me.”

He didn’t look at her, but he didn’t leave either. It was something.

“I didn’t think—”

He spun around then, and the warrior, not the man, stared back at her. “Nay, you did not think.”

She’d planned to tell him that Geoffrey, and Sara, had stopped the messenger from reaching Graeme. To ask if he truly was here to ask for her hand in marriage. To find out what had happened at Clave.

But his words—actually, his tone—stilled her stubborn tongue. Though she wanted all to be well, too much had happened in the last two days for that to happen so easily. They would need to talk, really talk, and that could not be done in the crowded hall. But she wasn’t letting him leave without explaining.

Apparently Sara agreed with her, for her sister-in-law had followed her into the great hall. “We would very much like you to stay for the evening meal,” Sara said. “And perhaps for the night, as you’d planned?”

They had obviously spoken before she arrived in the solar, and now Emma wondered exactly what had been said. She looked at him hopefully. Would he accept?

“I’d never refuse such an offer from the Countess of Kenshire,” he said. Spoken so formally, without a hint of wanting to stay for her. Only for Sara.

At least he was staying.

“Faye, will you have the earl shown to a private chamber to prepare for the meal?” Sara said.

The maid appeared from nowhere, as she so often did, and curtsied. Without another glance, Garrick walked away.

“He’s here to marry you, Emma.”

That much she understood. “Then perhaps he could stop glaring at me as if I was one of the unmarked men who attacked him.” And then she remembered what Sara had done. “You both really stopped the messenger?”

Sara grabbed her hand, and they walked back toward the stairs.

“I did,” she said. “Just in case. But had no idea your brother had already done so.”

“Garrick is furious, and I don’t blame him. I don’t even understand myself what I possibly could have been thinking.”

“I don’t believe you were thinking at all.” It wasn’t an insult, but a pure fact. Emma’s heart had felt as if it had been torn from her chest. Nay, she’d not been thinking. Only feeling. And she never wanted to experience such heartbreak again.

“What did he say? Tell me everything.”

“He only arrived a few moments before you did. He asked to speak with Geoffrey and me privately, and I must say, I was quite surprised to see him after everything you’d told me.”

“And?”

“And he said he was no longer promised to the Earl of Magnus’s daughter, and he’d be honored to have you as a bride. After the shock wore off, Geoffrey began to explain that Graeme de Sowlis had offered for you, and before I could stop him, he added that you’d accepted the suit. And then you found us.”

Emma stopped, remembering the horse. “He brought a gift for me.”

They’d reached the stairs, but rather than climb them, the two women remained at the bottom, their heads tipped together as if they shared an important secret.

“He did?”

Emma pictured the horse’s perfect white coat and sighed. “The most beautiful pure Spanish you’ve ever seen.”

“A wedding gift?”

That and so much more. “I suppose,” she said, not wanting to explain just now. “But I wonder what the earl said to Magnus? Is his army marching on Clave now?”

“I don’t believe Garrick would be here preparing for dinner if that were so.” Sara pulled on her hand, and Emma followed her sister-in-law up the stairs.

“I need to tell him about the messenger.”

“Aye,” Sara answered. “You do.”

“I should go to him now—”

“Nay. It won’t do well for you to be alone with him.”

“Uh, no. Of course not.”