"The Beauty Bride "
From Warner Books
January 2005
ISBN: 0-446-61441-6
©2004 by Claire Delacroix Inc.
"I will not be foiled!" he roared and thudded his fist upon the table between them.
Madeline clucked her tongue, chiding him for his show of temper. "And I will not be wed," she said, her soft tone belying the determination in her gaze. "Not so readily as that. At any rate, you have not the coin in the treasury to offer a dowry, so there is no need to discuss the matter before the tithes are collected in the autumn."
Alexander spun to look out the window, hoping to hide his expression from his confident sister. There might have been a steel band drawn tight around his chest, for he knew a detail that Madeline did not. The tithes would be low this year, so the castellan had confided in him. There had been torrential rains this spring and what seed had not been washed away had rotted in the ground. He marvelled that he had never thought of such matters until this past year and marvelled again at how much he had yet to learn.
How had Papa managed all these concerns? How had he laughed and been so merry with such a weight upon his shoulders? Alexander felt nearly crushed beneath this unfamiliar burden of responsibility.
His gaze trailed over the sea that lapped beneath Kinfairlie's towers and he mourned the loss of their parents anew. He knew that his siblings defied him as a way of defying the cruel truth of their parents' sudden death, but he also knew that he could not feed all those currently resident in this keep in the winter to come. The castellan had told him so, and in no uncertain terms.
His sisters had to be wed, and at least the two eldest had to be wed this summer. They were all of an age to be married, ranging as they did from twenty-three summers to twelve, but Madeline was the sole obstacle to his scheme.
He pivoted to regard her, noting the concern that she quickly hid. She must guess what it cost him to so change his own nature, to abandon his recklessness in favor of responsibility; she must know that he assumed this task for the sake of all of them.
Yet still she defied him.
"You could at least feign compliance," he suggested, anger thrumming beneath his words. "You could try to make my task lighter, Madeline, instead of encouraging our sisters to defy me."
She leaned closer. "You could at least ask," she retorted, the sapphire flash of her eyes showing that this would be no easy victory. "In truth, Alexander, you are so demanding these days that a saint would defy you, and do so simply for the pleasure of thwarting your schemes. You have become a different man since you were made laird, and one who is difficult to like."
"I am making choices for the best of all of us," he insisted, "and you only vex me."
Madeline smiled with cursed confidence. "You are not vexed. You are irked, perhaps."
"Annoyed," contributed another feminine voice. Vivienne tipped her head around the corner, revealing that she had been listening to the entire exchange. Vivienne's hair was of a russet hue and her eyes were a dark green. Otherwise, she shared Madeline's virtues and not a few of her faults, including the fact that she also must be wed before the harvest.
Alexander ground his teeth at the slender prospect of succeeding twice in this challenge.
Three shorter women peeked around the edge of the portal, their eyes bright with curiosity. Annelise was sixteen with auburn tresses and eyes as blue as cornflowers; Isabella was fourteen with eyes of vivid green, orange-red hair and freckles across her nose; Elizabeth was ebony-haired like himself and Madeline, her eyes an uncanny green. The sight of all those uncovered tresses - the mark of unmarried maidens - made Alexander's innards clench.
They were no longer merely his sisters, his comrades, or even the victims of his jests - they and their futures were his responsibility.
"But you are certainly not vexed, Alexander," Vivienne continued with a smile.
Madeline nodded agreement. "When Alexander is vexed in truth, he shouts. So know this, Annelise, Isabella and Elizabeth, you have not truly angered Alexander until he roars fit to lift the roof." The five women giggled and that was enough.
"I am indeed vexed!" Alexander bellowed. The sole result of his outburst was that the three younger women nodded.
"Now he is vexed," said Annelise.
"You can tell by the way he shouts," Elizabeth agreed.
"Indeed," said Madeline, that teasing smile curving her lips again. "But still he is a man of honor, upon that we can all rely." She rose and gave a simmering Alexander a peck of a kiss upon each of his cheeks.
She smiled at him with a surety that made him longed to throttle her, for she was right.
"Still he will not raise a hand against a woman." Madeline patted his shoulder, as if he were no more threatening than a kitten. "I shall wed when I so choose, Alexander, and not one day before. Fear not - all will be resolved well enough in the end."
With that, Madeline left the chamber, easily gathering their sisters about her. They chattered of kirtles and chemises and new shoes. Elizabeth demanded a story, and as Vivienne complied, their voices faded to naught.
Alexander sat down heavily and put his head in his hands. What was he going to do?