The Earl's Entanglement (Border Series Book 5)(79)

“You are a wonder,” she told her, and Edith knew it. She strutted around the chamber, turned down the coverlet on her bed, and with a final wink, moved to the door. Before she could leave, a knock at the door startled them both. Edith opened the door, revealing Faye in the doorway, and Emma’s heart started racing for a different reason. What was she doing here?

“Good evening, my lady.” If Faye noticed the altered state of the chamber, she didn’t comment. Instead, she handed Edith a box. “My lady wishes for Lady Emma to open it at once,” she said, already backing away. “A gift for her future husband. And she bids you both a good evening.”

And just as quickly as she had come, Faye was gone.

Edith brought the box to her, and they both stared at it for a spell. Painted white with a decoration of small blue flowers, the box, no larger than her hand, was nearly too lovely to open.

“’Tis beautiful,” Edith said, handing it to her.

Hesitating for just a moment, Emma finally opened the lid.

“What is it?” Edith asked.

She knew this ring.

Though simple and unadorned, other than a fine gold line that wound its way around the ring, its quality was obvious. She lifted it from its velvet bed to look inside. Sure enough, its inscription was still there.

“Look,” she said to Edith.

As the maid peered inside, Emma read the script aloud for her.

“Amor vincit omnia,” she said. Then, realizing Edith would not know the Latin, she translated, “Love conquers all.”

“But whose ring is it?” she asked.

Emma placed it back inside its box. “’Twas Richard Caiser’s ring.”

The girl’s eyes widened, with good reason.

Sara’s father, the powerful earl she’d heard so much about but never met, was still revered by all at Kenshire. The day Sara had shown her this ring, she’d talked fondly about the father she’d lost just before meeting Geoffrey.

“What does it mean?”

Emma gripped the box so tightly her fingers ached. “Everything,” she said.

With that, she set the box down on the table, and hugged Edith with all her might. After wishing her a good evening and thanking her for all that she’d done, she saw her out.

The door closed and Emma whispered aloud, “It means she knows. She knows . . . and approves.”

The ring would welcome Garrick into their family just as surely as Emma was about to welcome him into her bedchamber and her life. And if the soft rapping on the door was any indication, she would be doing so now.





31





Garrick blinked when she opened the door. Could this woman truly be his?

A long, black braid fell over the front of her shoulder in stark contrast to the chemise beneath it. She blinked back, and not for the first time that night, Garrick reminded himself that Emma was a virgin still. His fierce need for her would need to be curbed.

“Good evening, my lady.”

She stood to one side, allowing him entry. “Lord Clave.”

Enveloped in the dark chamber, Garrick moved toward the soft glow of the fire in the corner of the room. Nay, not completely dark. Candle after candle spread soft light onto the bed and a table on the opposite corner of the hearth. He could sense Emma behind him.

Turning, he watched as she moved closer. Willing himself not to grab her, tear off the only barrier between them, and make love to her immediately, Garrick reached for the pewter tankard on the table instead. “Wine?”

She nodded, and he filled two goblets, handing her one. They drank in silence, the liquid running down his throat, sweet and smooth.

“Are you nervous?”

“Perhaps a bit,” she said, taking a small sip.

“You should not be,” he said. “You’ll find only pleasure in this bedchamber tonight, Emma.”

When she licked a drop of wine from her lip, Garrick looked away.

“Do you remember the first meal we shared at The Wild Boar?” he asked. The urge to reach for her, to touch her, was so strong Garrick’s knuckles ached with it.

“Of course. ’Twas when I told you Edith could not continue—”

“And you accused me of having poor eyesight.”

“Hmm. I remember.”

“I had not kept my purpose for traveling to Scotland a secret intentionally.” He glanced at her. “Until that night.”

A loud crack, a log being broken in half, demanded their attention. Watching it fall, Garrick continued, “I nearly told you the truth then, but something stopped me.”

“Something?”

“I wanted to be alone with you. Kissing you was the first thing I thought about when I learned Edith would not be continuing with us. Holding you in my arms and giving in to the temptation that had plagued me since the moment we met. And, God forgive me, I remained silent.”

“When did you know you loved me?”

He drank deeply, wanting to give her an honest answer. A romantic part of him wished to tell her it was the first night they met in the stables, but that was not true. He’d wanted her, lusted for her, since that night. But he hadn’t yet known he was capable of love. “The day of the attack.”

She peeked over the rim of the jeweled goblet, and Garrick finished his wine.