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  Chapter Fifteen

  “The moon will be full this eve,” Garrick told Aisley while they strolled through the courtyard.

  “Aye, I imagine it will,” she said, enjoying the peace they had found over the past sennight. “I would like to walk with you in the gardens at night while the moon is full.”

  “I’d enjoy the same, but I cannot until we are wed.”

  Sensing trouble, Aisley looked at Garrick. “What is amiss, milord?”

  “Nothing which should alarm you,” he said. “I’ll not be able to stay with you this eve or any night when the moon is full unless you are my wife.”

  Aisley frowned. “We’ve managed to curb our temptations to some extent thus far. Why would tonight be any different?” They hadn’t taken their pleasure beyond touches and caresses, yet she melted each and every time he touched her.

  “Do you recall the night we met?” Garrick asked. He stopped and took hold of her hands, bringing her about to face him.

  “Of course I remember the night we met. It changed my life. Because of you I gained a daughter.”

  “Do you remember the reason I would not bring you to the manor house?”

  With his provocation, Aisley thought back to that night, feeling her face grow warm when the memory came. “You said I was able to have a child that night. Oh no, not again,” she whispered.

  “Aye, again,” he said. “The moonlight and your fertility would tempt me beyond what I can control and we shouldn’t risk a babe until we are wed according to English law.”

  “I don’t understand.” The very notion of tempting him beyond his control made her feel more feminine, beautiful. “Are you saying that we’d mate if we were to share the same bed tonight? Mayhap you’ve the right of it to sleep elsewhere, but I believe I could resist you another night.”

  “Nay, little one, I would do everything in my power to persuade you into becoming my lover in every way. Touches and tastes would not be enough. I don’t want to hurt you. Until the moon wanes, Sir Knight will come to you. He will guard you, even from me.”

  Aisley stared, completely at a loss for words. Garrick smiled, his mouth beckoning attention, his confession making her heart pound inside her chest. He was trying to be a gentleman and she didn’t know if she wanted him to sleep elsewhere. She might have kissed him if Lady Hunter and Sir Lucien weren’t following at a respectful distance.

  “I’d rather have you, but I have missed Sir Knight,” she said when she found her voice.

  “It pleases me to know you accept the leopard. He’s very much a part of me.”

  Uncertain what Garrick meant, Aisley grasped his hand and knotted her fingers with his. She loved holding his hand. He was so big, strong and protective that when he tightened his hand, she felt safe, feminine and pretty.

  “I accept him because I accept you, Garrick Forrester.” In the back of her mind, she wondered if the villagers were still questioning whether the Earl of Danford was friend or foe.

  She’d not visited the village since she’d come to live in the manor house, but she thought it possible that Garrick had won their favor. They must have learned about his heroic deeds in Fernley.

  Feeling bold, Aisley lifted her hand and caressed his cheek. He’d shaven earlier that morn. His skin was smooth. His regal countenance became more apparent without beard growth.

  Garrick caught her hand and held it against his face. “Dare not tempt me now, Aisley,” he warned. “Trust me when I ask you to be the stronger of the two of us until the full moon wanes.”

  “Another of your mysteries, I suppose.”

  “Aye,” he admitted.

  Frowning, she withdrew her hand when she realized he was right. They shouldn’t continue to spend time alone at night and she still did not know much about the man she was to marry. “Mayhap it is best we remain apart until you can trust me with the truth of your Abcynian ancestry. I sense that it has something to do with your ability to speak with Sir Knight and your need to drink sustenance. I want to prove to you that I’m not afraid anymore, that I can be a good wife to you.”

  “You will be a fine wife, Aisley. What you learn about me must be held in confidence.” Though he sounded patient, she jumped when she heard Sir Knight’s sawing roar. Dare she admit to seeing Garrick’s throat vibrate? Had he made that sound? “By now you should realize that the leopard can speak with you just as I can.”

  Aisley buried a violent tremor. She would listen. She would not show fear or worry. Garrick was confessing something and she needed to hear it. She needed to understand him. “I wondered about that a time or two. I’m really hearing him right now, not you?”

  Garrick nodded, holding her gaze. “Haven’t you figured out why?”

  Angelica rushed toward them before she could respond. “Aly!” A moment later, a chubby arm encircled Aisley’s knees.

  “What are you about, Lady Angelica?” Aisley teased, kneeling to the girl’s level. “Where is your nurse?”

  “She’s near,” Garrick assured. From where she knelt, Aisley looked up at him and caught him searching the area. “Judith comes now.”

  Right then, Judith rushed around a row of hedges and stopped abruptly when she spotted them. “Forgive me, milord, milady, Angelica is quicker than I realized,” she begged, regaining her stride.

  Angelica pulled on Aisley’s skirt, demanding attention. She kept one hand tucked behind her back. “Mine!” she declared.

  “What have you there?” Aisley inquired, trying not to worry.

  Angelica had developed a habit of taking whatever caught her eye. Sometimes it was food, which she ate so quickly it was a wonder if she’d tasted it at all, but more often than not it was things that were shiny such as silver or coins. She and Garrick thought that Sedgewick Haywood had taught her to steal when she wanted something and correcting the behavior was proving difficult.

  “She spotted my bracelet. When I showed it to her, she grabbed it and fled,” Judith explained. She had reached them by then, her manner calm as she looked down at Angelica.

  Aisley thought Judith was quite pretty and would do well with a suitable husband and a family of her own. She’d spied Sir Brandon Mathews staring at Angelica’s nurse a time or two and wondered if he would ever approach her.

  “Angelica, you know you mustn’t take what doesn’t belong to you,” Garrick said with the authority of a father. “Return the bracelet to your nurse.”

  “Mine.” Angelica pouted, her angelic face difficult to oppose.

  “Your father is right,” Aisley insisted, standing tall beside him.

  “Mine.”

  Garrick held out his hand. “Angelica, give me the bracelet.”

  Sullenly, Angelica relinquished her find to Garrick.

  “Very good, sweetheart, I know you like jewelry, but you cannot keep what doesn’t belong to you,” Aisley praised.

  “Bloody hell, take it away,” Garrick muttered beneath his breath, his palm flat, his face averted from the simple band of gold lying across it.

  “What did you say?” Aisley asked.

  “You heard me, woman!” Garrick’s deep voice sawed in her head, sounding much like Sir Knight’s roar. “Remove it from my sight!”

  “Why?” Aisley wanted an answer. Garrick was scaring Angelica and herself because of a bracelet.

  “I cannot bear to touch it,” he said, seeming to mean it.

  Aisley plucked the bracelet from his palm and offered it to Judith. Garrick finally looked at them.

  “Nay, remove it from the manor, bury it, anything, it cannot remain in this holding,” he commanded.

  “Pray forgive me if my jewelry offends you, milord,” Judith begged. Taking the simple gold bracelet, she hid it away and Garrick straightened. “I’ll not wear it again, but it was a gift from my late husband. Please do not ask me to be rid of it.”

  Garrick listened, Aisley knew, for he turned his head slightly and squeezed his hand. Surely he wouldn’t deny Judith’s wish to keep a treasure give
n to her by her husband.

  “Remove it,” Garrick insisted. “Should I learn that the bracelet remains in the manor, I’ll seek another nurse for Angelica.”

  “Gaick, Gaick, mine,” Angelica wailed, launching herself at Judith.

  “Garrick, might you be acting in haste?” Aisley asked.

  “Gold, of any sort, does not belong in Danford,” he stated. “I’ll not have my decisions questioned. See to the bracelet.”

  “As you wish, milord,” Aisley declared. It was the first time in their acquaintance where she spied the tyrant within Lord Danford. She didn’t understand why he would act this way but she would have to do her best to honor his request. Mayhap when they were alone she could persuade him to permit Judith to keep her bracelet.

  “What is amiss here?” Sir Lucien demanded as he and Lady Hunter approached.

  “A gold bracelet,” Aisley said.

  The mighty giant and his wife stepped back as if the jewelry was poisoned. That Garrick and his Abcynian kind held a strange affliction to gold was apparent, but she failed to comprehend the near panic that ensued on such a big man’s face.

  “I am sorry to cause such trouble,” Judith said. Aisley looked at the nurse, finding her thin lips trembling with both fright and contrition. “I’ll see the bracelet is taken care of.”

  “Good.” Garrick nodded, turned on his heel and strode away. His footsteps were silent and fast upon the ground.

  Catarina and Sir Lucien charged after him.

  Judith clutched her bracelet to her chest. “Whatever have I done?”

  “You mustn’t worry,” Aisley consoled. “Allow me to speak to Lord Danford in private. Mayhap he will permit you to keep the bracelet in your room. Until then, be certain it stays hidden.”

  “Aye, milady, I shall,” Judith promised. “Pray do not press him. I’d not want the Earl angry with you.”

  “I can handle him.” Concerned for Angelica, she reached down and brushed the girl’s hair with her fingers. “Lady Angelica, surely you’ll remember to leave your nurse’s things alone in the future?”

  Prettily, Angelica smiled and grasped Judith’s hand. “Mine.”

  “Aye, she’s your nurse,” Aisley agreed.

  “I’ve only just realized there is nothing made of gold in the manor house. The Earl wears only silver or bronze adornments on occasion,” Judith said. “I’d always thought nobles relished fine jewels and riches.”

  “Some do, I suppose,” Aisley replied. “It is apparent that the Earl has an aversion to gold. It’s a wonder his wives did not object to the lack of jewelry and adornments.”

  “His wives? Milady, you must be mistaken.”

  “Nay, he has been married twice. Sadly, both of his wives died,” Aisley explained. “Forgive me, Judith, I shouldn’t speak so about the dead. Lady Edith and Lady Cambria must have been far more refined than I. They wouldn’t have made such an error.”

  Judith stood, taking Angelica’s hand in hers. “The ladies you mentioned were the wives of the second and third Earls of Danford.”

  “How would you know such a thing?”

  “My grandmother was lady-in-waiting to Lady Elizabeth Chambers, who was Lady Edith’s mother. Lady Edith was ten and five when she was betrothed to Garrard Forrester, the third Earl of Danford. They wed when she’d turned ten and seven. I know little else other than after delivering her first and only son, Garrick Edward Forrester, she lived out her remaining twenty and five years in seclusion, rarely consenting to see her son even though he’d begun to fight in the wars against France.”

  “How could that be?” Aisley questioned, her anger turning to worry.

  “I know not, milady. Are you angry with me?”

  “I am not. I must have misunderstood. Pray, do not discuss this with anyone else.”

  “I shall hold my tongue,” Judith promised, turning to leave with Angelica at her side.

  Angry, Aisley stomped in the same direction Garrick had gone.

  After failing to find Garrick, Aisley gave up until she spotted Sir Brandon, Sir Lucien and Lady Hunter emerging from a trail leading into the forest. Grasping the fabric of her houppelande, she hurried toward them.

  “Where might I find Lord Danford?” she addressed them, her eyes on Sir Lucien.

  “He’s gone hawking,” Lucien said.

  “Yet another lie,” Aisley accused. “It doesn’t surprise me any more.”

  “Mind your place,” Lady Hunter warned.

  “My apologies, milord, milady, I am upset with Lord Danford for keeping secrets about his past. I know not what to think or believe anymore.”

  “He keeps things from you for good reason. It is important for you to remain patient,” Lucien commented. “Only when he’s ready will you know all you need to know about him.”

  “Is it because I’m an Englishwoman that he waits?”

  “Aye,” Lucien replied.

  “I see. Sir Brandon, have you Abcynian blood?”

  “I do not. I am one of Lord Danford’s retainers and his Guard, just as your father was.” For the first time, Aisley recognized the emphasis Sir Brandon placed on the word guard. “I’ve known him for many years. He trusts that I will defend him.”

  Aisley granted Brandon his due. “It is right for him to trust you. I am expected to marry Garrick, yet I am kept at a distance. That doesn’t seem fair.”

  “You’re worrying yourself needlessly,” Lady Hunter consoled.

  “Well, as my witnesses, I tell you now, I will not marry Garrick unless he reveals everything about himself and the Abcynians when I see him again,” Aisley declared. “I’m tired of being distrusted.”

  Aisley, you do not mean that! Garrick roared within her mind, his fury evident.

  So you are near. I’d been told you’d gone hawking, she threw back. I meant it, Garrick. Reveal yourself and confess your lies or your brothers will wait a very long time to witness our vows when they arrive within the sennight.

  Another ear-piercing roar sawed through her temples, this time echoing through the forest. The trees shook with the force.

  “God have mercy!” she screamed. Sickened by the sudden pain that ripped mercilessly through her body, she doubled over at the waist. “Agh—”she whimpered.

  “Lucien, help her!” Lady Hunter shouted.

  “Leave me be!” Crying, Aisley hugged herself, fearing for Garrick. What she was feeling, he was living. “What’s happening to him?”

  “It’s the change,” Lucien said. “She can feel it.”

  Aisley tried to speak, but the words hardened in her throat, making it difficult to swallow or breathe. Within her temples, Sir Knight roared, the sawing more ferocious than anything she’d heard before.

  “He’s fighting with the leopard,” she said aloud.

  Lucien’s arms enclosed about her waist, lifting her and bringing her about. “Hush, child, it is not what you think,” he schooled with a patience that belied his size. “The first few times an Abcynian’s mate feels the change, it is more difficult for them than the one changing. Garrick will be all right, easy now.” He tried holding her still, but as strong as Lucien was, he wasn’t Garrick. His arms were too hard, his muscles unyielding, his size too overwhelming.

  “I’m not a child.” As she spoke, the pain eased, but her muscles still ached and her bones trembled as if they’d splintered and become whole again.

  “You are to me,” Lucien told her once she’d pulled away. “On Garrick’s behalf, allow me to say that his hesitation in sharing his secrets stem from his wish to protect you from what you’d just felt.”

  Aisley’s temper returned, tempting her to pound her fists into Lucien Hunter’s gigantic chest. Rather than voice her concerns aloud, she turned her thoughts to Garrick. Garrick, hear me. Come and explain your lies if you dare. I want to know the truth about you.

  A branch broke near the trail and Garrick marched toward them. “What lies?” he demanded.

  Aisley couldn’t move. Garrick was unc
lothed to his waist and the tattered remains of what looked like a gypon were clenched in his big fist. His feet were bare. His long hair was matted from sweat, leaves and dirt. Even his face was streaked with mud.

  “What happened to you?” Breaking away from Lucien, Aisley made for Garrick and searched him for injuries. “There aren’t any cuts, scrapes or marks on you, but you look as though you’ve been fighting.”

  Garrick steadied her hands when they reached his ribs. With his green eyes trained on Lucien, he said, “She must know, now. I was wrong to wait this long.”

  “I hope it’s the truth this time,” Aisley whispered so only he would hear her.

  “What do you speak of?” he challenged.

  “Shall we talk of this alone, milord? We wouldn’t want to argue in front of witnesses,” she said, remembering that he didn’t like when she spoke against him in public.

  “You may speak freely,” Garrick insisted. Confidently, as though he was not covered in dirt and leaves, he stared down at her, one dark brow raised in question. “First I shall have your apology for doubting me.”

  “Why am I the one to apologize when it is you who refuses to tell me anything unless I provoke you? Failing to warn me about your affliction to gold, for frightening Angelica into thinking that you will send her nurse away because she wears a bracelet given to her by her late husband and for claiming marriage to a woman who was actually your mother is a little mad, don’t you think?” It was at the conclusion of her tirade that she realized Garrick had freed her hands.

  She was counting his offenses as if scolding a child. He didn’t look sorry or rebuked. He looked angry. Regardless of her concerns, he remained arrogant.

  “What did you just say about my mother?” he demanded.

  Aisley looked about. Lucien, Catarina and Sir Brandon stared back at her, mouths agape.

  “Admit it, Garrick,” she said quietly. “Lady Edith was not your second wife. She was your mother. What madness has befallen you for claiming to have had two wives? Did you take pride in hurting me with such tales?”