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Page 37
alone would not be so easy. She would be very busy, especially if guests were to be invited. Besides, once he showed his face in Roselynde keep, Ian would probably have much to tell him and would expect to be accompanied by him if he rode out.

A week after Joanna had been informed that she was to marry Geoffrey, she came down the steps from the women's quarters wrapped in a cloak. She moved furtively, not because there was any reason to conceal what she was doing but because she was ashamed of herself. It had seemed to Joanna when she left her mother's bedchamber with Brian that day that nothing important had happened. After all, she had known Geoffrey almost all her life. He had often spent long periods at Roselynde. So he would return and they would share a bed instead of parting at night. The physical side of marriage was neither shocking nor frightening to Joanna.
Still, as the days passed, she had grown increasingly restless and uneasy. She took herself to task irritably, assuring herself that betrothal would make no difference in her life. She would not even leave Roselynde at firstat least, she would leave it only in the way she always had, to go on progress to the other estates that were her mother's. Even when Ian and her mother returned from Ireland and perhaps she would go to live most of the time on Geoffrey's lands, the change would hardly be noticeable. It was common for Joanna to remain for months in other keeps. She was fond of Roselynde, of course. It was hers! But marriage would not change that either. She would always spend part of her time on her mother's lands so that the people would be familiar with her. And in time she would return to her own.
Reason, however, had little effect on her emotions, Joanna found. She could not concentrate on her usual pursuits or common conversation. She had an irresistible urge to be alone, and to think the matter through. Only thinking did not seem to clarify anything. Often, Joanna found, she had sought quiet to think but thought of nothing. She simply

 
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