The Velvet Promise Read Online Free PDF Page A

pulled her hand away. "Did you see her?"
    "Not… closely—"
    "Closely? Did you see her or not?" Alice demanded, looking straight into his eyes.
    "Yes, I saw her," he answered firmly. "But she is heavily guarded." He wanted to please this blonde beauty, so he knew he must conceal the truth.
    He had seen Judith Revedoune, but only from a distance, as she was riding away from the manor with her women. He wasn't even sure which bundled figure was the heiress.
    "Why is she kept guarded? Is her mind not sound that she cannot be trusted to be free?"
    Suddenly he was afraid of this woman who questioned him so sharply.

    There was power in those cold blue eyes. "There are rumors, of course. She is seen by no one except her women and her mother. She has lived her life among them, and always she has prepared for the church."
    "The church?" Alice began to feel some of the tension leave her. It was common knowledge that whenever a deformed or retarded daughter was born, if the family were rich enough, the creature would be pensioned and given to the nuns to care for. "Then you think she could have a weak mind or be malformed in some way?"
    "Why else, my lady, would she be kept hidden all her life? Robert Revedoune is a hard man. His wife limps from a time when he threw her down the stairs. He wouldn't want the world to see that he has a monster for a daughter."
    "But you aren't sure this is the reason she is hidden?"
    He smiled, feeling safer. "What other reason could there be? If she were sane and whole, wouldn't he bring her out for the world to see? Wouldn't he have offered her in marriage before his sons' deaths forced him to do so? What man would allow his only daughter to enter the church? Only when a man has many daughters does he allow that."
    Alice was staring quietly ahead into the night. Her silence made the man grow bolder. He leaned closer to her, put his hand over hers and whispered into her ear. "You have no reason to fear, my lady. There will be no beautiful bride to turn the Lord Gavin's head from you."
    Only Alice's sharply drawn breath gave any indication she had heard.
    Did even the most common of men know about her and Gavin? With the skill of a great actress, she turned and smiled at the man. "You have done well and you shall be… suitably rewarded." She left no doubt as to the meaning of her words.
    He bent and kissed her neck.
    Alice moved away, hiding her revulsion. "No, not tonight," she whispered intimately. "Tomorrow. Arrangements must be made so we can spend more time together." She ran her hand under the loose tabard, along his upper thigh, and smiled seductively when his breath caught. "I must go," she said with seeming reluctance.
    There was no hint of a smile on her face when her back was to him. She had one more stop to make before she returned to bed. The stableboy would be glad to help her. She would not allow any man to speak freely of Gavin and her… and this one would pay for his words.

    "Good morning, Father," Alice said cheerfully as she bent to brush her lips against the cheek of the gnarled and filthy old man. They were on the second floor of the tower, a floor left open as one enormous room. This was the great hall: a room used for eating, sleeping for the castle retainers, and all the daily activities.
    She looked into her father's empty cup. "Here, you!" she said sharply to a passing servant. "Bring my father more ale."
    Nicolas Valence took his daughter's hand in both of his and looked up at her in gratitude. "You are the only one who cares, my lovely Alice. All the others—your mother and sisters—try to keep me from my drink. But you understand how it comforts me."
    She pulled away from him, hiding her feelings at his touch. "But of course, dear Father. That is because I alone love you." She smiled sweetly at him.
    After all these years Nicolas still marveled that he and his ugly little wife could have created such a lovely girl. Alice's pale beauty was a sharp contrast to his own