Read The Beauty Bride (The Jewels of Kinfairlie) for Free Online

fair as to be unnatural. He fairly leered at her, the
rogue, and she averted her gaze. Roger Douglas, on the other side of the hall,
as swarthy as his cousin was fair, found this amusing and granted her a courtly
bow.
    Madeline
glanced away from both of them. Her heart leapt when she found the steady gaze
of a man in the corner fixed upon her. He was tall and tanned, quiet of manner
and heavily armed. His hair was dark, as were his eyes. He stood so motionless
that her eye could have easily danced past him.
    But
now that she had looked, Madeline could not readily tear her gaze away. He was
the stranger from the bailey, she was certain of it.
    And
he was watching her. Madeline’s mouth went dry.
    His
hair looked damp, for it curled against his brow, as if he had ridden hard to
arrive here. He leaned against the wall, his garb so dark that she could not
tell where his cloak ended and the shadows began. His gaze darted over the
company at intervals, missing no detail and returning always to her. He stood
and watched the proceedings, his stillness making Madeline think of a predator
at hunt. The sole bright spot upon his garb was the red dragon rampant
emblazoned across the chest of his tabard.
    She
felt his gaze upon her as surely as a touch and she knew her color rose.
    “Look!”
Elizabeth said, suddenly between Madeline and Vivienne. “There is a little
person!”
    “The
chamber is full of persons of all size,” Madeline said, glad of some diversion
to make her look away from the dark stranger.
    “No,
a very small person.” Elizabeth dropped her voice. “Like a fairy, almost.”
    Vivienne
shook her head. “Elizabeth, you are too fanciful. There are fairies only in old
tales.”
    “There
is one in this chamber,” Elizabeth insisted with rare vigor. “It is sitting on
Madeline’s shoulder.”
    Madeline
glanced from one shoulder to the other, both of which were devoid of fairies,
then smiled at her youngest sister. “Are you not becoming too old to believe in
such tales?” she asked.
    “It
is there,” Elizabeth said hotly. “It is there, and it is giggling, though not
in a very nice way.”
    The
elder sisters exchanged a glance. “What else is it doing?” Vivienne asked,
evidently intent upon humoring Elizabeth.
    “It
is tying a ribbon.” Elizabeth glanced across the chamber, as if she truly did
see something that the others did not. “There is a golden ribbon, Madeline, one
all unfurled around you, though I do not remember that we put it upon your
kirtle.”
    “We
did not,” Vivienne whispered, dropping her voice as their Uncle Tynan raised
his hand for silence. “Madeline does not like gold ribbons on her kirtle.”
    Elizabeth
frowned. “It is twining the golden ribbon with a silver one,” she said, her
manner dreamy. “Spinning the two ribbons together so that they make a spiral, a
spiral that is gold on one side and silver on the other.”
    “Ladies
and gentlemen, knights and dukes, duchesses and maidens,” Tynan began.
    “A
silver ribbon?” Madeline asked softly.
    Elizabeth
nodded and pointed across the chamber. “It comes from him.”
    Madeline
followed her sister’s gesture and found her gaze locking with that of the man
in shadows again. Her heart thumped in a most uncommon fashion, though she knew
nothing of him.
    “You
should not speak nonsense, Elizabeth,” she counseled quietly, then turned her
attention to her uncle. Elizabeth made a sound of disgust and Madeline’s heart
pounded with the conviction that the stranger watched her even as she turned
away.
    “As
all of you are aware, the majority of the treasures will be auctioned on the
morrow,” Tynan said after he had extended greetings and introduced the family.
Rosamunde stood at his side, radiant in her rich garb. “You will have the
opportunity in the morning to examine such items as are of interest to you,
before the bidding begins at noon. Of course, there will be many more arrivals
in the morning.” The company stirred