< previous page page_314 next page >

Page 314
thought, and then wondered with a slight tightening of the breast whether Joanna might know more than Ian. Lady Alinor was certainly not above such a ploy. It was true that Lady Alinor would never hurt her daughter deliberately, but that only increased the possibility of Joanna's knowing better than anyone else why betrothal rather than marriage had been settled upon. Had Joanna been trying to warn him that her mother had secret plans when she insisted she could not consummate their relationship before they were actually married? Certainly Lady Alinor would lay no plans that could affect Joanna's happiness without consulting her. If the betrothal was a ploy, Geoffrey realized, they were both in it together, mother and daughter. There was no sense in trying to convince himself that Joanna obeyed her mother out of fear. He might have deluded himself in that way in the past, but no longer. He knew Joanna a lot better now. There were many facets of her character that he had not understood when they were playmates together, and Joanna's relationship with Alinor was one.
Geoffrey was fond of Lady Alinor. She had always been kind, even loving, to him, but there was no avoiding the fact that the word "honor" did not exist in her vocabulary and "right" when Lady Alinor said it meant what was of benefit to her and hers. Even Ian did not trust her in political matters. But would Lady Alinor, who had always been so good to him, use him in this heartless way? Not if she knew it was heartlessbut how could she know it? He had not been in love with Joanna when the marriage was proposed to him. He would never have dared look at his lord's daughtereven if she was only a stepdaughterwith such an idea. Lady Alinor had every reason to believe he regarded Joanna as a sister. Perhaps she even believed he did not particularly desire the marriage. It seemed to him in retrospect that he had not acted very enthusiastic or even paid much attention to Joanna while Lady Alinor and Ian were still in England.
Would Joanna lend herself to such a deception? She had far more sense of "right" and "wrong" than her mother. Nonetheless, she was a woman, and women's concepts of

 
< previous page page_314 next page >