Timeless Desire by Cready Gwyn

Author:Cready, Gwyn [Cready, Gwyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Timeless Desire
ISBN: 9781938231278
Publisher: BookMasters
Published: 2012-07-17T22:00:00+00:00

NINETEEN

“I TOLD YOU,” PANNA SAID, TIRED OF ANSWERING. “THERE WAS NO concrete plan, just Adderly’s suggestion that the army do something the queen wouldn’t approve of to provoke the Scots—and the whole notion was instantly rejected by your father.”

Bridgewater finished buttoning her into the new gown and growled.

They’d been over this half a dozen times. She was glad darkness had fallen. The look that had come over Bridgewater’s face as she’d approached the copse in Adderly’s shirt would be burned into her mind forever. After she’d explained what had happened and why she’d had to do what she’d done, Bridgewater’s demeanor changed from shock to a cool, businesslike formality. He’d handed her his coat stiffly and begun asking questions as if he were cross-examining an uncooperative witness at a bankruptcy hearing.

Even Clare had been embarrassed for her. After the second time Bridgewater had gone through his litany of questions, Clare asked if his own time might not be better spent scavenging new clothes for Panna, and Bridgewater had released him.

In less than an hour, Clare had reappeared, toting not only a clean shift but a gown of crisp rose linen printed with tiny flowers.

And Clare’s powers of conjuring were not limited to clothes. He had also found a wedge of cheese, several slices of roast beef, and a small jug of ale.

So while Panna tried to work her way into the slightly small gown behind her old friend the copper beech, the men ate, though when she emerged, she could see that Bridgewater had taken scarcely more than a few bites.

“We’ll need another horse,” Clare said, “though I suppose she can ride with one of us.”

Panna was surprised he didn’t have an extra horse in his back pocket.

“No, we won’t. She can have mine.” Bridgewater flung the rind of his cheese into the woods. “I have an appointment, and I’ll walk. It’s in Drumburgh,” he added by way of explanation when Clare cocked his head slightly.

Whatever Bridgewater’s appointment in Drumburgh meant, it lit up a lightbulb for Clare. The question evaporated from his face and he busied himself with the cork on the jug.

“Return her to MacIver Castle,” Bridgewater added.

“Return her”? What am I, an overdue library book?

“And tell Reeves to put her someplace where she won’t be disturbed . . . the chapel.”

Though he had his back to her, she knew the pause had been for her benefit. Bridgewater had refused to meet her eyes since she’d appeared in Adderly’s shirt. She wondered if they would part, never to see each other again, with him offering nothing more than an anger-laden grunt. She was deeply disappointed on failing to learn more from the officers—and on realizing that Bridgewater was not going to be sweeping her into his arms and carrying her off to the nearest inn—and she just wished he would do something to show he had the slightest bit of affection for her.

She puffed out her chest against the tightness of the bodice, wondering if she could pop a button into his forehead.

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