The Velvet Promise Read Online Free PDF Page B

brother's ear as Raine's heavy body lay on top of him. "You're crushing me. Get off!"
    Raine was too used to Gavin to take offense. He stood up slowly, his muscles aching from the work of the last few days. "That's the thanks I get for saving your life! Why the hell did you stay up there so long? Another few seconds, and you would have been roasted."
    Gavin stood up quickly, his soot-blackened face turned toward the building he had just left. The fire was contained inside the stone walls now and would not be leaping to the next building. When he was satisfied that the buildings were safe, he turned to his brother. "How could I have let the building burn?" he asked as he flexed his shoulder. It was scraped and bleeding where Raine had skidded him across the gravel and debris. "If the fire had not been stopped, I might not have had a town left."
    Raine's eyes blazed. "I would rather have lost a hundred buildings than you."
    Gavin grinned. His even white teeth shone against the blackness of his dirty face. "Thank you," he said quietly. "But I think I'd rather lose a little flesh than another building." He turned away and went to direct the men in the dousing of the structure that was next to the one he had hacked to pieces.
    Raine shrugged and walked away. Gavin had been master of the Montgomery estate since he was sixteen years old, and he took his responsibility very seriously. What was his was his, and he would fight to the death to keep it. Yet the lowest serf, the worst thief, if they were residents of the Montgomery holdings, would get the fairest treatment from Gavin.
    Late at night, Gavin returned to the manor house. He went to the winter parlor, a room off the great hall that served as a family dining room. The floors were covered with thick carpets from Antioch. The room was a recent addition and was paneled with the new linenfold paneling, the walnut carved to look like the draping of fabric. One end of the room was dominated by an enormous fireplace. The stone mantel above was sculpted with the Montgomery leopards.
    Raine was already there, clean and dressed in black wool, an enormous silver tray in front of him heaped high with roast pork, chunks of warm bread, dried apples and peaches. He fully planned to eat every pound of the food. He grunted and pointed toward a large wooden tub filled with steaming hot water set before a roaring fire.
    Gavin's fatigue was catching up with him. He slipped off his braies—a tight garment of hose and underpants—and his boots, then slipped into the water. It stung his recently blistered and cut body. A young servant girl appeared out of the shadows and began to wash Gavin's back.
    "Where is Miles?" Raine said between mouthfuls.
    "I sent him to Revedoune's. He reminded me that the engagement was to take place today. He went as my proxy." Gavin leaned forward, letting the girl wash him. He did not look at his brother.
    Raine nearly choked on a piece of pork. "You what!"
    Gavin looked up in surprise. "I said I sent Miles as my proxy for the engagement to the Revedoune heiress."
    "Good God, haven't you any sense at all? You can't send someone else as if you were purchasing a prize mare. She's a woman!"
    Gavin stared at his brother. The firelight showed the deep hollow in Gavin's cheek as his jaw muscles began to flex. "I am well aware that she is a woman. If she weren't, I wouldn't be forced to marry her."
    "Forced!" Raine leaned back against the chair, incredulous. It was true that while Gavin's three younger brothers were traveling freely about the country, visiting castles and manors in France and even the Holy Land, Gavin had been chained to a ledger. He was twenty-seven and in eleven years, except for the recent uprising in Scotland, he had hardly left his own home. Gavin did not know that his brothers often made allowances for what they considered his ignorance of women other than the daughters of the lower classes.
    "Gavin," Raine began patiently, "Judith Revedoune is a