Here Be Dragons - 1 by Sharon Penman (best inspirational books txt) 📕

Rhvs Adam would have run him through ... or tried to. You can alavs tell if a man be handy with weapons, and Rhys had that look about him So when he started toward me, I scrambled off the oxwain, fled--- t^,^f;Dri ,-hat ne might follow me in. He did not, !- ^:j4^Z^^^^S^^*"^him',he weaver's. I was terrified that he mig tely/ he didLt e w- still there when ,*****/^feel his eyes on me all the butne..!.:.,. HP inst looked at me. i LUU ar,vrme in all

nica»--talking with a stranger, iu im,.Rhvs Adam would have run him through ... or tried to. You can cuwavstell ^ a man ke handy with weapons, and Rhys had that look about him So when he started toward me, I scrambled off the oxwain, fled into the weaver's. I was terrified that he might follow me in. He did not, but he was still there when Adam and Icame out. Fortunately, he did not say anything; he just looked at me. I could feel his eyes on me all the while Adam was joking with Will, was never so aware of anyone in all my life as I suddenly was of Rhys.""Yes," Joanna said softly. "I do know the feeling. When did you see him next?""Adam had to return the following day, and I coaxed him into letting me go with him. I did not truly expect Rhys to be there again, but he wasalmost as if he was waiting for me. Much later I learned he was; Will had told him Adam would be coming back that afternoon. What followed was the most unnerving, exciting hour of my life. I knew what a dangerous game we were playing, for at any moment Adam might take notice. But I could not help myself. I sat there on the cart, and each time our eyes met, it became harder and harder to look away. And then Adam's business was done, we were on our way home, and I knewI'd never see him again. I did not even know his name, had never exchanged a single word with him, but I cried half the night. Does that sound foolish to you?"Joanna shook her head."I thought of him every waking moment in the days that followed.What I did not know was that he was keeping a close watch all the while°n Middleton, waiting for the chance to find me alone. He later con-essed he'd even thought of riding up to the manor house, asking my fa*her for me. Thank Jesus he did not, for there'd have been a killing for certes.'I gave him his opportunity at week's end. It was a Saturday, just at^usk, as hot as Hades, and I decided that, whilst the light held, I'd walk0 the spring, wash my hair. I brought my towel, hairbrush, and a sliver° soap, sat down in the grass to unbraid my hair. I never heard a sound, °* even a twig snap, not until he was behind me, put his hand over my°uth. I've ever been an utter coward, Joanna; I made it very easy for mi*. fainted dead away!im *

224"When I came to, I was all trussed up in a blanket, being held before him on his saddle." Catherine's smile faded; she said quietly, "j was terrified, and with reason. It is common enough to abduct an heiress, to force her into an unwanted marriage. What woman does not know that?"Joanna nodded. "Even so great a lady as my grandmother, Queen Eleanor, was held to be fair game. Two such attempts were made upon her after she divorced the French King.""But you see, Joanna, I was no heiress. I was a bailiff's daughter, had nothing to offer a man except my body. And yet, if he had rape in mind, why did he not just take me there by the spring? The more I tried to make sense of it, the more fearful I became. I must have made some sound, whimpered or sobbed, for he realized I'd recovered my senses, at once sought to comfort me.He knew my name, called me Catrin, swore he'd not hurt me, that I had no cause for fear. That might have helped some, had it not been for 'Catrin.' For as soon as I knew he was Welsh, I was even more terrified; all knew the Welsh were half-wild, capable of any madness."It was full dark by then. Not that I could see a blessed thing; I could barely breathe, wrapped in that blanket like a cocoon. I've no idea how long we rode; after a time we stopped and he lifted me from the saddle. Know you what a hafod is? It is a summer hut, used by the Welsh herdsmen when they move their flocks to higher ground for pasturing. It was to a hafod that he took me, empty now since it was September, a most convenient place for a ... a tryst. It was too dark inside to see much; I just lay there shivering on the blanket. He'd already laid in firewood, and it took but a moment to get a fire going. He lit a candle from the flames, carried it back to me, and for the first time, I saw his face.""You had not known it was Rhys?" Joanna interrupted, startled, and Catherine shook her head."No, not till he lit the candle; how could I? He sat beside me on the blanketsyou'll find no proper bed in a hafodand touched my hair, very gently.Then he began to talk. He told me he'd known from that first moment in BlancMinster that I was his and only his, but I must not fear, for he did not mean to dishonor me, would have me for his wife, had taken me by force only because he'd known no other way."Catherine's voice had softened. Her eyes were no longer acknowledging Joanna, were gazing into a private vista of her own. Joanna suddenly had the fanciful thought