|
|
|
|
|
|
Lady Alinor bit her lip and stared upward at her daughter, who was standing before her. Any mother would have been proud of such a daughter. Lady Joanna, at fifteen, was exceptionally beautiful; her flaming hair was, of course, braided and hidden quite properly under a wimple, but its color could be assumed from the fine, bright red brows that arched over her large gray eyes and from the dark red lashes which were thick and long. Alinor was distracted momentarily from her main purpose by thinking how fortunate Joanna was. Usually red-haired people had pale, scanty eyelashes, which made their eyes seem inflamed rather than lending beauty to them. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The rest of the face was perfectly in harmony, oval, with a fine nose and a pretty mouth, a short, well-shaped upper lip and a full sensuous lower. In more than her beauty, Joanna was an ideal daughter. She was intelligent and capable, well-able to operate Roselynde keep, control the servants and men-at-arms, do the accounts, even sit and give justice when necessary. To top all those virtues, she was good humored, gentle, and biddable. Indeed, any mother would have been proud of such a daughterany mother except Lady Alinor, who was tempestuous, passionate, and authoritarian. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Joanna," Alinor said, trying earnestly to keep her voice gentle, "I ask again who you wish to marry. There are men and men and men. Between the times you have been at court, the times you have traveled with us, and the times there have been visitors to this keep, you have met nearly all of those suitable to your rank and dowry. Do you mean to say there is not one among them all that you like?" |
|
|
|
|
|