The Truest Heart by Samantha James

Author:Samantha James [James, Samantha]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Historical, General
ISBN: 9780380805884
Google: QPUyExaFofYC
Amazon: 038080588X
Publisher: Avon
Published: 2005-10-24T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Gillian spent the remainder of the afternoon in her chamber, alternately stewing, then chafing over his high-handedness. He was quite an accomplished liar, this new husband of hers, and if she didn’t have to face him until the other side of forever, it was too soon!

She was lying on the bed, trying to sort through the tumult of the day, to bring some order to all that had transpired when a knock sounded on the door. Gillian sighed. She very nearly called that she didn’t wish to be disturbed, but then the door opened slightly.

“My lady?”

It was Lynette. The girl stepped inside. “My lord bid me to come and ask you to join the celebration in the hall.”

A frown drew Gillian’s brows together. She very nearly queried the girl as to why there was a celebration going on. Then she remembered … this was their lord’s wedding day … her wedding day.

And Gareth was her husband. Her husband.

Lynette had crossed the floor to close the shutters. It was later than Gillian realized. The steel-colored sky had turned almost black. Snowflakes had begun to float toward the earth.

Refusal leaped to her lips. But she wouldn’t put it beyond him to come and fetch her. Besides, it wasn’t right to shift such a burden to Lynette. Gillian was not afraid of him, and she would not cower and hide as if she were!

“Would you like me to comb your hair before you go down, my lady?”

Gillian hesitated, then gave a nod. She sat quietly upon a bench beneath the window, with Lynette behind her. No doubt Lynette expected a brilliantly radiant bride, but there was no joy in her heart this day, no wild elation. How could there be?

Lynette set aside the comb, separating Gillian’s hair with her fingers deftly. “Your hair is lovely, my lady,” she said wistfully. “So dark and shining.”

There was a painful catch in Gillian’s breast. Her mind sped straight to Celeste. What was it Gareth had said? As if you could forget, scoffed a needling little voice inside.

So beautiful, he had praised. Soft and golden and warm. The color of bright summer sunshine.

Celeste. Gareth’s wife. But no, she —Gillian—was now his wife.

It seemed so impossible. When she woke this morning, she’d never thought the day would end with Gareth as her husband. And the little boy, Robbie. Gareth’s son. Ah, but it was so difficult to comprehend … he was now her son, too!

To become wife and mother, and all at once …

Something inside her cried out. Perhaps it was selfish. Perhaps it was wrong. Aye, he was a beautiful little boy, but… it wasn’t supposed to be like this, she thought wrenchingly. It wasn’t the way she had dreamed it would be. She’d hoped for joy and love and laughter on the day she became a bride, but there had been none of that.

Quietly she posed the question to Lynette. “Does Robbie resemble his mother?”

Lynette’s nimble fingers stopped their movement. Gillian glanced over her shoulder, not surprised to find the girl’s expression a trifle uncertain.

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