The Bride Bed (Avon Romantic Treasure)

386 Pages·2002·0.8 MB·English

by  Linda Needham

Contents
Chapter 1
“By the rood, Lady Talia, that bloody Lord
Rufus be… 1
Chapter 2
“Isaid put me down!” Mustering her courage
and the… 15
Chapter 3
Marry her? 25
Chapter 4
Deceptive woman. Her every word, every
breath as distracting as… 47
Chapter 5
“Nearly?” He caught her before she could
slip past him…. 69
Chapter 6
“What do you think His Lordship means, my
lady? Havin’… 87
Chapter 7
Alex had rarely seen such a breathtaking
Contradiction of expressions… 101
Chapter 8
That was a very heroic thing you did, my lord. 125
Chapter 9
“Keep your eye on the quintain, Hark-ness.”
Alex cringed as… 141
Chapter 10
“The last cart’s coming this way, my lady,”
Leod whispered,… 157
Chapter 11
“The very best of husbands?” 179
Chapter 12
“The king is coming here to Carrisford, my
lord? When?... 193
Chapter 13
The amazing woman could have been a general
leading the… 209
Chapter 14
“Is he still alive, Alex? Your father?” 225
Chapter 15
“How thick is the base of this tower wall,
Jasper?” 243
Chapter 16
“This a lime kiln, madam?” Alex stalked
imperiously around the… 257
Chapter 17
“Alex, old man, you’re looking in high spirits!”
Stephen shouted… 277
Chapter 18
Alex knew bloody well that if he moved
at all,… 295
Chapter 19
“You were right, Alex,” Stephen said,
frowning down at the… 309
Chapter 20
“Oh, my dear love,” Alex said, feeling
greedy and unworthy… 339
Chapter 21
“Amighty fine day for a wedding, my lord.” 357
About the Author
Other Books by Linda Needham
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher

Chapter 1
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Carrisford Castle
Devonshire, 1145
“B
y the rood, Lady Talia, that bloody Lord
Rufus be the meanest, ugliest bugger
there ever was!”
Mustn’t forget cruel, malicious, and stone-stupid,
Talia thought, but didn’t dare say to Leod, else
the dear old warrior and his compatriots might
take the matter of Lord Rufus into their own
hands.
“Mean and ugly or no,” Talia whispered, swal-
lowing the cold panic that had settled against her
heart, “in just a few minutes Lord Rufus will be
my husband.”
Husband. Dear Lord, the word tasted bitter.
1
2 LINDA NEEDHAM
“Hell’s hoary hound, girl, y’can’t marry that
pig-snouted bastard!”
“It’s not a matter of choice, Quigley,” Talia said,
a darkly distant thunder shifting her off-balance
as she stepped into the firelit shadows of her cas-
tle courtyard. “I’m Rufus’s ward.”
And this time there would be no escaping the
inevitable.
No escaping the horrid ogre waiting for her to
join him on the chapel steps.
To marry him.
This time there’d be no army to come crashing
through the castle gates, like the last time.
No act of God, like the time before, no broken
siege.
No royal warrant in trade for her wardship, like
the first.
No escape at all from this marriage to Rufus.
“When you reach the chapel steps, my lady,
stand clear of the blighter, and I’ll put an arrow
through ’is empty black heart.”
“You’ll do nothing of the sort, Jasper.” That’s
just what she needed; Rufus’s men tearing her fa-
ther’s old archers to pieces. She took hold of the
man’s bony arm. “You’ll each behave yourselves
tonight, else you’ll have worse than Rufus to an-
swer to.”
Talia heard the three men grumbling as they
all set off again toward the chapel. She suffered
another soul-hollowing chill as the sky rumbled