Lord Of Danger by Stuart, Anne (android based ebook reader .TXT) 📕

His eyes were narrow, amused, and the long red streaks on the side of his face showed where her nails had traveled. “I like a lass with spirit,” he said. “But you do that again and I’ll kill you before I fuck you.”

He was fumbling with his breeches when she screamed, as loud as she could, scrambling across the floor through the thick rushes. He leapt for her, but she was too fast for him, and she was almost to the door when it opened.

Sir Thomas du Rhaymer stood there, calm, strong, a faint trickle of blood at his mouth.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Richard screamed. “Get out, damn you!”

Thomas didn’t even blink. “You bade me watch over Lady Claire and make certain no man molested her. I’m doing your bidding.”

“I’m the one who gave the orders, damn it. Get out of here.”

Thomas didn’t move. Claire cowered against the stone wall of the solar, terrified that he might leave her. “I can’t do that, my liege. I gave my oath before God and I am bound to keep it.”

“Stupid bastard,” Richard fumed. “Guard!”

“Your man and I already discussed the situation,” Thomas said, touching his faintly bloody mouth. “He was moved to agree with me.”

“Agree with you about what, you impudent bastard?”

“That your gentle sister be brought to Brother Jerome to make her confession.”

Claire opened her mouth to protest, then shut it again, wisely, at a quiet signal from Thomas.

Richard took the opening he was given. “And well she should,” he said, straightening his clothes and wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “She has been unseemly. And you have not watched her closely enough, Sir Thomas. This was in the nature of a test, to see how well-guarded she was. A test you have failed miserably.”

“Aye, my lord,” he said, lowering his head dutifully. “I will endeavor to improve.”

“I’ll be finding someone else to watch over the girl. Someone I can trust. In the meantime, keep a close watch on her and don’t let anyone talk to her. You understand? Or I’ll have your heart on a stake.”

“Aye, my lord,” he murmured again, making no protest.

“Take her away, damn it,” Richard mumbled, heaving his bulk onto the bed. “And have someone bring me some wine. I find I’m in sore need of it. Unless you killed the guard, you bloodthirsty bastard?”

“Only… disarranged him a bit, my lord.” He held out his arm for Claire, and for a moment she just stared at him, unwilling to trust even him for a moment.

The alternative was far worse. Her brother was watching her out of brooding eyes, and she could still taste the foulness of his mouth on hers.

But she had been well-taught, by Alys and the holy sisters. For all Richard’s excuses, she knew she was the daughter of a lord, and she stiffened her back and accepted Thomas’s proffered arm.

“God give you peace, brother,” she murmured politely as she started out the door.

And in her heart she cursed him to hell and back again.

Chapter Twelve

She clutched Thomas’s arm so tightly he felt pain as he led her from the room. He could have tensed his muscles, but he didn’t, letting her hurt him, letting her fingernails dig deeply into his flesh.

They stepped past the unconscious guard, but Claire didn’t even glance down at his body. If she had, she probably wouldn’t have seen him. She had the blind look in her eyes that Thomas had seen before, on women who’d seen more than they could bear, on soldiers who had done more than they could bear. Her rich blue dress was torn, and he could see the marks of rough handling on her pale skin. Though Lord Richard looked far worse, with those red streaks down the side of his face. How was he going to explain that to his lady-wife upon her return to the Keep? Lady Hedwiga was one of the few people able to make demands on Lord Richard, and he usually complied. What would be his excuse?

Claire’s face was absolutely expressionless, eerily calm.

Her mouth was swollen, her hair disordered, but as far as he could tell he’d gotten there in time.

He wondered what his liege lord would do when he realized that Thomas had stopped him in his unholy pursuit. He’d only gotten Lady Claire away from him by sheer luck, and it would take all his ingenuity to keep her safe.

He wouldn’t be able to do it alone. Brother Jerome could be counted on to prick Lord Richard’s conscience and keep him from such an atrocity. And the most unlikely allies of all, Simon of Navarre and his mute servant, had given him warning in time. As far as he knew, Lord Simon had never done a thing that didn’t benefit himself.

Certainly Lady Claire’s older sister would be distraught. But Grendel had no need to impress his future wife. And he risked endangering his relationship with his lord if Thomas had told Richard who sent him.

Simon of Navarre was not a man to be trusted. But he was a man whose aid could be used.

The woman beside him stumbled as they started down the winding stone steps of the east tower, and he caught her other arm, peering at her in the dimly lit confines of the stairway. She was still calm, and when he released her she stood steadily enough, looking at him out of her clear green eyes.

“Could you leave me for a moment, Sir Thomas?” she requested in a calm, polite voice that for some reason caught at his heart.

“It’s not safe…”

“My brother won’t come after us. He’ll have to think of another excuse before he tries it again. I’m perfectly safe. Just walk ahead a bit and I’ll catch up with you in a moment.”

He stared at her, torn. She seemed so reasonable, and in soldierly confusion he tried to imagine some intimate female thing she had to take care of that would