The Bride Gift Read Online Free Page A

their direction. “This is not to be borne.”
    “Hush, Colin.” Helena pinched his arm. “It has all happened so suddenly. I need to think and then I will come up with a solution.”
    Colin turned to her, bitterness and betrayal etched onto his beautiful face. “See where your thinking has led us thus far!”
    His words stung. Helena drew in a sharp breath. “This is not my doing. You were the one who kept wanting to wait,” she retorted. “You said there was time. I urged you, and—”
    “Do not be a nag, Nell,” Colin snapped. “I detest it when you nag.”
    “I would not have to nag if you had just wed me sooner.”
    Colin turned his head, his jaw set and stubborn. He was no longer listening. They’d had this argument too many times and it was all rather pointless now. Guy of Helston considered himself her husband.
    “What am I to do?” Colin demanded after a tense silence. “This news has overset everything.”
    He was behaving like an ass, but he’d had a terrible shock.  As have I. “We will—”
    “I warned Roger what would come of his habit of constantly challenging the king.” Colin gestured wildly. “Now, see, I am the one who will pay the price for his stubbornness.”
    Had Colin completely lost his wits? Not one word for her or her predicament. Not one word of their uncle, who was this very moment fleeing for his life. Although the blood tie to Roger was distant for Colin, the man had raised him, called him nephew, and seen to him when his parents could not. It must amount to some small token of affection.
    “You are not the one married to a complete stranger,” she pointed out tartly. “You have not just become the chattel to some great, warmongering ox of a man.”
    “You are a woman.” Colin threw her a wrathful look. “It is your place to marry whom you are told.”
    “How can you say that to me?” She scarcely credited her ears.
    “My lady?”
    Helena started violently. For a big man, Sir Guy was as stealthy as a cat. Her cheeks heated as she turned to him.
    His face was a mask, revealing nothing.
    “Sir Guy,” Helena’s voice rose shrilly. Cursing herself, she cleared her throat and tried again. “This is my cousin, Colin.”
    They couldn’t have been more different; her cousin with his fair, lithe beauty, and this dark, rough warrior.
    “So, you are the one they call the ‘Scourge of Fenwick?’”
    Did the stupid man want to get his head cleaved from his shoulders? “Faringdon.” Helena nudged Colin’s ankle beneath the table.
    “Eh?”
    “‘The Scourge of Faringdon.’” Sir Guy’s voice was chilling in its lack of expression.
    “And what will they call you now?” Colin drawled venomously. “The Lecher of Lystanwold?”
    Helena stopped breathing. Within her chest, her heart seized. Colin was actually trying to draw the man’s anger.
    Sir Guy watched Colin with the keen interest of a predator sizing up its prey. “It would depend if they wanted to live.”
    Colin opened his mouth to speak again. Helena stamped on his foot and clambered to her feet. “Did you require aught, Sir Guy?”
    “A party approaches. Ready yourself.” He turned on his heel and strode from the hall.
    No explanation, no further information, just a barked command. And even more humiliating was the way her feet were already carrying her in the right direction to do his bidding.
    Briefly she paused and addressed her cousin. “Do not be a fool, Colin. Roger was tolerant of your sharp tongue and your ways. Do not presume Sir Guy will do the same.”
    Colin looked so young and defeated, sitting alone at the table, her heart softened. “All is not lost.” She gentled her tone.
    Colin didn’t acknowledge her. He remained at the table lost in his private misery. It seemed he couldn’t even bear to look at her.
    Helena feared for him. Colin was unpredictable at times, not used to having his will thwarted. She couldn’t imagine he would challenge Sir Guy. Nobody challenged the