Catriona's Secret by Madeline Martin

Author:Madeline Martin [Martin, Madeline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Madeline Martin

17

Geordie’s breath rasped through his teeth as he swiftly made his way toward one of the tower rooms. He’d paid handsomely for the privilege of a few hours, and even more so for the discretion.

His eyes were gritty from lack of sleep after having spent the night speaking with his mother. The conversation had broken down the wall of emotions he’d spent sixteen years erecting. She had told him everything, from how she had protested how Lord Strafford had given him away to Lord Werrick in goodwill. How Strafford had known of his intent to lie from the start and that Geordie would pay the price.

Strafford had waited until she was asleep and stole away with Geordie. By the time she had woken, Geordie was already in the hands of Werrick. She had begged her husband to keep his word to Werrick, but Strafford had merely locked her in her room and left her to mourn the son her husband had left for dead.

Her other son had died five years later, and she declared her womb to be too sorrow-laden to take seed again. When Lord and Lady Strafford heard of Sir Geordie, they originally thought nothing of it. Until they learned he’d come from the wild north, and realized his description sounded like the very son they had lost.

The baron had been too much of a coward to come himself, and so he’d sent his wife to see if Sir Geordie was indeed their long-lost son, the one presumed dead. Lady Strafford had cried then, grateful to have found him after a lifetime of mourning.

Tears had stung Geordie’s own eyes, but he had held in the emotion, though it all lashed at him: the hurt, the hatred, the desperation for love and acceptance and the barely controlled rage.

Lord Strafford wanted Geordie to return to Easton Castle in Strafford to take his place among the family. Not as a knight, but as heir to a baron, as was his right by birth.

Such knowledge had overwhelmed him. It sliced open his chest and drew everything held tightly inside outward, bared and vulnerable. He had left the woman who had been his mother as she sobbed her apology and let the door close behind him.

He had needed solace. He had needed air to fill the burning void in his chest. He needed Cat.

This was different from the times he’d been at battle, or at camp afterward, when thoughts of her had been enough to allay his terrible memories of war. She was too close now to merely summon her image in his mind. He needed her.

Was she waiting for him upstairs? He had paid his servant well to approach Freya, whom he knew to be discreet. Was it enough? Had Cat come?

He took the stairs two at a time and pushed through the door. Silence met him. Stark and ugly.

She had not come.

He couldn’t blame her. When last they spoke, he had looked down upon her for the choices she had made with scorn and judgment.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.