Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine (reading an ebook TXT) 📕

her eyes. For a moment she stood still, feeling the tide of longing rising in her as she clung to him, overwhelmed with happiness suddenly, her doubts dissolving as she raised her mouth to his for a long passionate kiss, her hands automatically reaching for the buttons of his shirt, slipping inside to caress his chest.

With a smile she drew back a little and looked up at him at last.

Then she froze. The face of the man who stood staring down at her did not belong to Nick. Her stomach turned over in icy shock as recognition hit her and she remembered the blue eyes, the arrogant brow, the imperious touch, and her own body's helpless response as this man had drawn her, long ago, against his hard body.

"No!" Jo's eyes were dilated with fear as she pulled away from him. "Oh, no! No! Please God, no!"

She tore herself out of his arms and began to run up the lane away from him.

"Jo!" Nick called angrily. "Come back here! What's the matter?"

But she took no notice. After hurling herself at the gate, she scrambled over it, staring up the steep grass slope in front of her. Far above their heads she could hear the lonely scream of a circling buzzard.

Nick vaulted over behind her. "Jo, wait!"

But she had begun to run, shaking her hair out of her eyes, her heart thumping in her chest as she forced herself as fast as she could up the steep ridged grass with its scattering of sheep droppings.

Nick stood for a moment watching her. His good humor vanished, he made himself take a deep breath, trying to steady the sudden wave of anger that had gripped him. In front of him Jo had stopped again. She turned, gasping for breath, staring down at him from the slope, and he could see the fear in her eyes.

Behind her the mist was drifting down across the mountain. A patch of sunlight dimmed and disappeared. It was becoming oppressively hot again. There was no breath of wind.

Slowly he began to follow her upward.

Jo reached the earthworks first and stood panting, staring around her at the piles of fallen abandoned stones and the ditch and ramparts of the Celtic fortress, high on its hill amid the encircling mountains. The mist was growing thicker. Blind with panic, she whirled as a quiet rumble of thunder echoed round the Wye Valley in the distance.

Nick had stopped several feet from her, breathing heavily from the climb. He was watching her with a strange half smile.

"Don't run- anymore, Jo, " he said quietly. "There's no point. "

She could feel the blood pounding in her temples as she took a few staggering steps backward, her hands held out in front of her.

Nick... help... me...

She wanted to call out to him. To Nick. Not the other man, to Nick. But the words would not come, trapped ringing in her head by the mist and the silence and by Nick's strange implacable smile as he began to follow her again.

Turning, she started to run once more, stumbling down the steep bank of a ditch. Around her the hills closed in; the mist lapped against the grass and once more there was a rumble of thunder in the east.

Dear God, she had been here before. This place she recognized; it came into her story and was indelibly etched upon her memory.

It must not happen here. Not in front of Nick—not now, not bring her helplessly to her knees alone here, with a man who hated her—

"Jo! Stop, for God's sake—" His voice was irritated now. "Jo—Jo, come back... " It was echoing slightly in the eerie silence of the hills. "Jo... "

Chapter 26

A visitor was announced as Matilda stood running her eyes down a list of accounts. She was alarmed and astonished to see the king's brother, whom she thought to be at Gloucester with William. John was bare-headed, his color heightened from the gallop through the chilly morning.

"How is the gracious Lady Matilda this fine day?" the prince inquired with a mocking bow.

"I am honored that you should come to Hay, Your Highness. I am well. " Her voice was guarded and her hands, clasped before her, were unconsciously plaiting her girdle. She saw his eyes running down the line of her body, ever insolent, the pupils hooded by lazy eyelids.

"Good. I've come, my lady, from Hereford. No doubt you are aware that my brother, the king, commanded me to demand homage from the princes in Wales. " He stopped. "But of course, your daughter is married to one of them, is she not?" He smiled coolly. "Have you news of her, perhaps?"

Matilda paled and looked away. Since her worst nightmares had been realized and Gruffyd had joined his father in revolt against King Richard, there had been no news of Tilda.

"Nothing, Your Highness, " she replied firmly.

John frowned, as if suddenly aware of her distress. "She is safe, I am sure, Lady Matilda, " he said more gently. "I shall, if you wish, send messengers to inquire. " He smiled amiably as she turned to face him, her eyes alive with hope. "But for now, my lady, I had in mind to visit one of the castles in your husband's holding, Dinas, somewhere to the west in the Black Mountains. " John took a cup of wine handed to him by a servant and drank it in a gulp. "I hear too that it has a magic spring, blessed with powers of healing. "

Matilda thought rapidly. "The building there is finished, I believe. I haven't been there yet, my lord, and I have heard the spring has certain wonderful properties. Surely you do not need such magic, Your Highness?" She couldn't resist the last question, but immediately regretted it, as his good humor vanished and his face became surly.

"I am interested in such places. " He was silent for a moment, the empty goblet dangling from his fingers, his eyes