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was ruled by a man who was a churl and a fool. There was no one else, he reminded himself, repeating the litany that Ian had taught him. Many times that litany had saved him from irremediable words and acts. Now it permitted him to turn his mind to a different puzzle. After contemplating the dates dizzily for a few minutes, he unwisely shook his head, winced, and lifted a hand to his temple. |
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"Father, I make it four daysJoanna rode here from Roselynde in four days. Am I so drunk I cannot count, or is that true?" |
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"I did not speak to her," Salisbury replied, starting to frown himself, "but that does seem too short a time unless there was some reason for great haste and even then how could a woman endure such fatigue?" |
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Geoffrey paid no attention to that last question, which was rhetorical anyway. He had grown very fond of his stepmother over the past few years, and he did not make disparaging comparisons between her and Lady Alinor. Nonetheless, it never occurred to Geoffrey that women in general were frail. With Lady Alinor as the principal example in his life, he assumed that women who could not do anything a man couldsave bear arms and set seed into a woman's bellywere either stupid or willfully weak. Now that he was sobering, he realized that Joanna must have moved without baggage, as Alinor often did. His concern was not for his betrothed's physical well-being but for the necessity that had driven her. |
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"I will not return to camp tonight," Geoffrey said. "Can I bed down with you, father?" |
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"You are very welcome, my son, but why?" Salisbury asked, grinning. |
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"I want to talk to Joanna" |
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"Talk?" Salisbury teased more openly. |
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Geoffrey did not even seem aware of the obvious implication. "If she has some reason for flying at such speed from Roselynde, I want to hear it in privateand I do not wish to raise talk by dragging her off tonight." |
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Salisbury was silent. Geoffrey's businesslike tone was |
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