My Lady's Guardian Read Online Free PDF Page A

have a new captain of the guard. The last choked on a fishbone."
    Gareth raised an eyebrow.
    "Unpleasant, but not murder. The second in command took over but he's barely out of boyhood. Though he's doing his best, he has a lot to learn."
    "Then I shall suggest to Margery that he learn it under you."
    "What?" Desmond almost spilled his tankard. "Me, a common soldier? I thought she didn't want help."
    "Her safety is more important than her wishes. I will convince her to accept my help. But do not mention this tonight."
    Desmond's gaze focused on something behind Gareth. He abruptly stood up, knocking back his bench.
    Gareth glanced over his shoulder and saw Margery almost directly behind him. He, too, stood, struck again by her beauty.
    "Why, Sir Gareth," Margery said, "you have not introduced me to your friend. If I hadn't known you so long, I would think he is your brother. Your hair is almost the same color."
    Though she was smiling, Gareth could see the skeptical curiosity she tried to keep hidden. "Mistress Margery, allow me to introduce Sir Wallace Desmond. He traveled with me from France."
    "Desmond," she repeated. "I think I have heard mention of you."
    Gareth tensed. He had known this was coming.
    But Desmond only smiled as Margery sat down beside him. "I met your brother, Lord Bolton, last year. I knew his wife from her childhood."
    "Did you know they just had their first baby? 'Tis a girl, Elizabeth."
    "Then they are doing well?"
    "Better than could ever have been imagined."
    There was a softness to Margery's smile, or maybe it was wistfulness. Did she long to be married? Surely she had enough suitors to choose from, since he'd heard of four already.
    Gareth made no secret of the fact that he was studying her. More and more she glanced at him with uneasiness, and soon she excused herself to join her ladies.
    Desmond sighed and rubbed a hand across his face. "Well, you're just full of subtlety."
    "She is lying to me. I'll use any means I deem necessary to find out what's wrong here."
    "Even if she doesn't need your help?"
    "She needs my help," he said gruffly, wishing it weren't true. Being with her dredged up all the old bitterness toward her family he'd long since put behind him, and there was no place in his life for useless emodon. He had enough trouble just trying to survive. "Come show me these pitiful defenses."
    From the window in her bedchamber, Margery watched the setting sun reflect from Gareth's bright hair. She saw the looks her people gave him, wariness from the men, curiosity from the women. She could not blame them for their interest. Gareth
    would stand out even at court, where his stunning handsomeness would more than make up for his plain garments. He drew people's gazes, and it annoyed her that she, too, was affected.
    He and his friend Sir Wallace were pacing through the inner ward, pointing toward the battlements or the barracks. Their faces were serious as they spoke. Surely they couldn't just be discussing the design of Hawksbury Castle.
    No, they were discussing her.
    It made her uneasy and anxious at the same time. How did Gareth know she was in danger? He'd been in London talking to people about her—what had he heard?
    She had to know exactly why he thought she needed help. If she had to tell him part of the truth, so be it.
    As Margery walked down the torchlit corridor from her bedchamber, she thought she heard a noise. Looking over her shoulder, she saw no one, yet she picked up her pace. At a corner tower, she began to descend the circular staircase. Immediately above her, booted feet made the same descent, almost matching each of her footsteps.
    "Who's there?" Margeiy called, looking upward.
    The sounds echoed away to stillness.
    "Please identify yourself!" she said sternly.
    Boots appeared on the stairs just above her head, then a face peered down at her from the gloom.
    "Mistress Margery, I did not mean to frighten you."
    She recognized Sir Roger, one of her two suitors. She told