Velvet Bond Read Online Free PDF

like, I will go through your chests and throw everything about as it was before.”
     
    He chuckled wryly. “Nay, help me no more. I knew where things were then. You could not put them back where they belong, did you try.”
     
    She rose and poured him a cup of wine, then held it forth as a peace offering.
     
    Stephen took the cup.
     
    It was a long moment before Elizabeth got around to the next order of business. But get around to it she did. “Did you enjoy your evening?”
     
    He grinned. “Aye, that I did.”
     
    “And Lord Warwicke? He enjoyed the evening, as well?”
     
    Stephen frowned. “I suppose. We caught up on many years. I had not seen him since we were both boys of fourteen.”
     
    Ah, she thought. That might explain why Stephen had failed to mention the other man. “And has he changed a great deal from when you were younger? You recognized him readily enough, after so long a time. And he you.”
     
    “You are right. I did recognize him, but as I think on it, it is not really so very surprising. Even though he is a man now, rather than a boy, his eyes are the same. One doesn’t forget those walnut-brown eyes so easily, they are most uncommon. And we were rather close as fosterlings. Both of us trained with the earl of Norwich, and shared a room for the year Raynor was there. He left upon his father’s death, when he was but fourteen.”
     
    “He has been a baron since the age of fourteen. 'Tis a great responsibility,” she remarked thoughtfully.
     
    Stephen cast her an assessing glance before he went on. “What you say is true. But what have you, Beth? What concern is it of yours?”
     
    She looked toward the fire, hardly feeling its heat on her already flaming cheeks. “I am but curious because you never mentioned him before now. Please go on. Tell me all you know of him.”
     
    Stephen’s expression told her that he was not wholly content with her answer, but he did continue. “He spoke little of his family. I do believe that he loved his father, but I felt there was some bad blood between them. Of his mother I know nothing. He seemed reluctant to mention her at all. I do know that she died some few years after Raynor inherited.”
     
    'Tis most odd, Elizabeth thought as he took a sip of his wine. With a pang, she recalled the deaths of her own parents by plague. She and her brothers often spoke of them, even now. They had been a close-knit family. It had been hard to lose them both so quickly, but she felt her father would not have been happy without his beloved wife.
     
    Perhaps Lord Warwicke was one who did not wish to share his personal life with others. That he was something of a mystery simply made him all the more interesting to Elizabeth. He only needed the right person to confide in. Not that Elizabeth would allow herself to think that she could be that someone. She refused to go that far in her imaginings.
     
    “What is he like now?” she queried softly. “Is he noble and kind and true?”
     
    Stephen watched her intently. “We spoke of general matters, Beth. Many years have passed since we knew each other well but if he is anything like he was as a boy, Raynor is a decent sort. Neither saint nor devil, just a man. He was more open as a boy, but then, life has a way of changing people, does it not?” Stephen stopped, obviously tired of pretending he didn’t see her too-avid interest. “Have you taken a fancy to Raynor?” He laughed. “That’s a tangle, when you could have half the men in England, did you but want them. You don’t even know the man, in fact barely spoke to him.”
     
    “I...” She scowled, her delicate brows meeting over her slender nose. Then she shrugged, deciding to just come out with the truth. There was no sense in prevaricating with Stephen, he knew her too well. “He is quite fascinating, don’t you think?”
     
    “Well, I couldn’t really comment from a woman’s point of view, but I'll be content that you might think so. But