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“For God’s sake, woman! Beltar is one of the most powerful men in England. He can mount a thousand men, should he desire to. Do you wish me to fight a war to keep one small woman from taking the vows as his wife?”

Caryn took a steadying breath. Put that way, Ral was right. He could hardly endanger his people, mayhap get many of them killed.

“Is there naught that we can do? She is such a lovely girl.” But even as she said the words, a thought began to form in her head.

“Nay. I must give her over to Beltar. Let us hope I can convince him I had naught to do with her abduction.”

Caryn turned away, the idea growing, taking solid shape in her mind. “As you wish, my lord.” She started for the door, but Ral stepped in front of her.

“You give in too readily, my love.” He eyed her with shrewd assessment. “What goes on in that wily mind of yours?”

“Very little, unfortunately, my lord.”

“Good. In the meantime, just to be safe, the girl will be locked in a room in the keep. I would be certain she is here when her bridegroom arrives on the morrow.”

Caryn said nothing more. What she meant to see done had nothing to do with Ambra’s running away. She smiled to herself as she walked out the door.

***

“I would speak with you, Richard.” Caryn stuck her head through the door to the room in which he worked. Instead of finding him bent over his desk, as she had expected, he paced back and forth, much as Ral had done upstairs.

“Of course, my lady.” He approached her with a brooding expression, searching her face for a sign that her husband’s decision might have changed. “They have taken her to a chamber upstairs. Lord Ral sent men-at-arms to be certain she did not run away.”

“I know.”

“She weeps, my lady. I have rarely seen her aught but smiling. I find it disturbs me greatly.”

Caryn brightened. “Then you must feel something for her. Is that not so?”

“Of course, I do.” He glanced away. “We are friends of a sort.”

“That is all you feel, Richard? Friendship?”

He looked decidedly uncomfortable. “I desire her, if that is what you mean. ’Tis only natural. Ambra is a very beautiful woman.”

“I am glad you noticed.”

He sighed. “What does it matter? Lord Ral would see her wed to Beltar.”

“Aye, that is true. ’Tis also true that Ambra could not wed him, if she were already wed to you.”

“What!”

“Surely it has occurred to you. You said that you desired her.”

Richard rested an unsteady hand on his desk. “Aye, it has occurred to me. It has also occurred to me how foolish such a notion would be.”

“Why? As you have said, Ambra is a lovely young woman. She would make any man a fine wife.”

“Any man but me,” he grumbled.

“I do not understand.”

“Can you not see? Never were two people less suited. I would choose a quiet, submissive woman for my wife. Someone who would not gainsay me at every turn. Ambra is hardly submissive.”

“No, she is not submissive. She is vibrant and spirited and full of life. The kind of woman who could walk beside you, instead of trailing along in your wake. Surely you would be bored in a fortnight with the kind of woman you describe.”

“’Tis not a matter of boredom,” Richard said. “’Tis only a matter of behaving as a woman should.”

“I have rarely behaved as you believe a woman should,” Caryn reminded him, suddenly wondering if that might be the kind of wife Ral had also wanted.

Richard eyed her strangely. “I suppose that is true. I did not mean it exactly as it sounded.”

For a moment, Caryn said nothing. Then she sighed. “I am sorry, Richard. I should not have come. ’Twas wrong of me to ask of you something you do not wish to do. ’Twas only that I thought mayhap… that I hoped…” She moved away from him and started toward the door.

“Wait.”

Caryn turned to face him, saw the uncertainty etched on his handsome face.

“Mayhap there is something to what you say.” He straightened, looking far too serious for a matter which should have brought him joy. “Mayhap in time she would adjust. Besides ’tis my Christian duty to save her from a man like Beltar.”

Christian duty, Caryn thought with a secret smile. ’Twould hardly be duty Richard thought of when he bore the lovely Ambra to his bed. “Mayhap you will learn to adjust a little, too.”

He frowned at the notion, but said nothing to dispute it. “You have spoken of this to Ambra? You are certain that she will accept me?”

“I am afraid that discussion must needs be left to you.”

A scoffing sound escaped him. “There is a good chance she will refuse me. And there is the matter of the priest. The banns have not been posted. Mayhap he will refuse to perform the marriage.”

“Father Burton is treated well here, far better than in other places he might go. He will do whatever it takes to maintain Lord Ral’s good will.”

“And Lord Ral? ”

“Aye, my wayward little wife, what of Lord Ral?”

Caryn tensed at the sound of her husband’s deep voice coming from the open doorway.

“I-I… I am glad you are here, husband.” One black brow arched up. “You see, ’tis Richard’s fondest wish to marry Lady Ambra. I have told him you will help see it done.”

“Since when did you begin speaking for me?”

Caryn nervously moistened her lips. “I had hoped that you would be pleased, that you would be happy to see Richard wed. Will you help them?”

He surprised her by the faintest of smiles. “’Tis why I have come. I wished to discover if Richard’s intentions were those of an honorable sort.”

“Truly, my lord?”

“Aye.” He turned to his steward, his tunic swirling with the movement. “What say you, Richard? Is the lady to your liking?”

Richard looked even more uneasy. Then he squared his shoulders. “Aye, my lord.”

Ral surveyed him a long moment more, turned and said something to a man who stood behind him. The man nodded briefly and hurried away.

“I have ordered her brought here. We will see what the lady has to say.”

***

Ambra stood in front of Richard’s wide desk. “I think you have all gone completely insane!”

Richard’s hand shot out and caught her arm. He gave it a firm squeeze of warning. “You forget yourself, lady. These people are your friends. They wish only to see you safe.”

“I am sorry, Lord Ral. I did not mean to offend you. ’Tis only that…”

“That what?” Ral pressed. “That you would rather marry Beltar? If that is the case, ’twill go far easier on the lot of us.”

“I wish to marry no man! I wish to be left on my own as I was before.”

Caryn approached where Ambra stood trembling, a film of tears glistening in her pretty green eyes. “I thought you cared for Richard,” she said. “There was warmth in your gaze whenever you looked at him.”

Ambra stiffened. “That was before I knew the way he felt. Now that I do, I would rather marry Beltar.”

Richard moved closer, his face drawn in tight lines of tension. “You are the one who has gone insane. Did you not tell me the man is an abuser of women? Can you not imagine what he would do to the woman who has caused him to look such a fool?”

Her bottom lip quivered. “I will not marry a man who does not want me.”

Richard swore softly. “What makes you think I do not want you? Even now it is all I can do to keep my hands off you.” As if to prove it, he gripped her shoulders. “Were you my wife, I would carry you into my chamber and make love to you for hours on end.”

“Richard!”

A blush stole over his skin, from his neck to the sandy brown hair above his forehead. “I am sorry. ’Tis only that you make me so angry. For a moment I forgot where we were.”

Ral chuckled softly. “Mayhap ’tis good that you did. What say you now, Lady Ambra? ’Tis obvious my seneschal would be more than pleased to wed you.”

He doesn’t love me, Ambra thought, but I love him. And I desire him just as he desires me. For the present, it would have to do. She looked Richard straight in the eye.

“I am not what you want; I probably never will be. Can you accept me as I am?”

He surveyed her feminine curves, evident even in the loose-fitting rose linen tunic she now wore. “Aye, that I can.”

“Then I will marry you.”

Ral smiled. “So be it. I will speak to Father Burton. Make yourselves ready. The sooner the deed is done, the safer your lady will be.”

He did not mention the rage they were bound to encounter when Beltar discovered he had been duped. Still, once the girl was wed, he did not think Beltar would raise his might against them.

At least he prayed the man would not. Already Braxston Keep had more problems than he could handle.

The priest awaited them in front of the small alcove that served as the chapel. The last yellow rays of the late afternoon sun brightened the stained glass windows, reflecting the story of Christ’s early life, the pictures an uplifting message.

Ambra read them with cool resignation. If only her spirits could be so uplifted. Instead when she glanced at the man who would be her husband, lines of worry marred his forehead. His features had drawn into a taut, unreadable expression.

It took every ounce of her courage to repeat the vows, and only Beltar’s menacing arrival commanded her to do so.

In minutes the wedding was ended, a blur of images that Ambra would scarcely remember come dawn.

A special meal was prepared, and toasts rang out through the hall, knights and servants alike giving the newly wedded couple their blessings.

On a different occasion, Ambra might have enjoyed herself. Instead, each time her glance strayed to her husband, she saw his brooding expression and her heart constricted inside her chest.

“The hour grows late,” Richard finally said, maintaining his careful control. “Lord Ral has seen a chamber prepared for us upstairs.”

Ambra wet her suddenly dry lips. “Aye, as you say, the hour grows late.” The knowledge of Beltar’s arrival had kept the celebration subdued and spared them the ritual bedding. Yet by the time they left the hall, her nerves were strung taut as the strings of a lute.