The Rose Red Bride JK2 Read Online Free

household! “I am well enough.” She shrugged, knowing they would not look away until she granted a reason for her mood. “I simply miss Madeline.”
    The sisters sighed as one and stared down at their trenchers. Even Isabella ceased to eat for a moment.
    “Perhaps you have need of a tale,” Alexander said with such heartiness that Vivienne was immediately suspicious. Their eldest brother, now Laird of Kinfairlie, had played so many pranks upon his sisters over the years that any gesture of goodwill from him prompted wariness.
    “He will tell you of the sad fate of a maiden who refused to wed at her brother’s dictate,” Elizabeth said darkly.
    “At least Malcolm and Ross are not here to aid him whatever jest Alexander might plan,” Isabella said. The maid that the girls shared clucked her tongue, as Isabella had spoken around a mouthful of fish.
    “Ross will be home from Inverfyre at Christmas,” Alexander said heartily. “Doubtless he will bring greetings from our uncle’s abode.
    “Malcolm is too studious to venture the short distance from Ravensmuir, even to visit us,” Elizabeth complained.
    “Uncle Tynan is a demanding tutor,” Alexander said quietly. “You may be certain that Malcolm is too exhausted each night to think of much beyond better pleasing his lord on the morrow.”
    Vivienne stole a glance at Alexander, for he seldom spoke of his experience in earning his spurs beneath Tynan’s hand. He snared her gaze and granted her such a winning smile that she blinked. “What do you desire of me, that you would so court my favor?” she asked abruptly.
    Alexander laughed. “I desire only to see you smile again, Vivienne. I am not the only one who has noted your sadness in recent weeks.”
    “Doubtless though you are the only one who thinks a babe in Vivienne’s belly and a ring upon her finger would see the matter resolved,” Isabella said. The younger sisters rolled their eyes at this notion, their response only making Vivienne feel more alone.
    “He will tell a tale of a maiden made joyous by the arrival of her first child,” Elizabeth suggested and the sisters giggled at the absurdity of that.
    Vivienne did not laugh. She was, after all, the only one who thought Alexander’s scheme had some merit.
    “You know how much I love a tale,” she said to Alexander, sensing that perhaps their motives were as one. “Though I cannot imagine that you know one I do not.”
    “Ah, but I do, and it is a tale about Kinfairlie itself.”
    “What is this? And you never told it afore?” Vivienne cried in mock outrage.
    Alexander laughed anew. “I but heard it this week, in the village, and have awaited the right moment to share it.” He cleared his throat and pushed away his trencher.
    He was a finely wrought man, this brother of theirs, and already Vivienne saw the effect of his recent responsibility upon his manner. Alexander thought now before he spoke, and he spoke with new care, considering his words before he cast them among the company. He treated the servants fairly, and his authority was respected. His courts were reputed to be among the most just in the area, his reputation already rivaling that of their father. He stood taller and was more of a man than he had been merely a year past when their parents had died.
    Her younger sisters, however, were less enamored of the change in him. Once Alexander had been the favored playmate of all, and Vivienne knew that her youngest sister Elizabeth, in particular, resented Alexander’s new role, no less his demands that they all comport themselves with decorum. It was a remarkable change in the one who had been least concerned with proper behavior of all eight siblings.
    But Vivienne knew that it had been no small challenge Alexander had faced since the sudden demise of their parents, and she felt a sudden fierce pride in her brother’s achievement. She did not doubt that there was much he had resolved or shouldered without ever sharing the fullness