Read Online Heather Graham by Bride of the Wind - Free Book Online

physical appearance might have drawn the admiration that seemed to fall his way.
    “No, he does not look like an ogre, but if he were to open his mouth and speak, you would know instantly that he was one!” she told Mary Kate.
    “Well, I shall keep my eyes open.”
    Rose glanced at the lovely French clock that sat on the dressing table in her room. “I had best get to dinner. The king will be down soon, and the entire company must sit when he does.”
    “I shall accompany you down to the hall, and I shall be with the servants, supping, very near, should you need me,” Mary Kate said.
    They left Rose’s room behind and started down one of the long corridors. Rose had stepped on ahead, deep in her thoughts, when she heard a little cry of pain. She swirled around quickly to see that Mary Kate had tripped over a break in the stone flooring.
    She started back, but saw that a tall man in a very fashionable long coat and frilled shirt had stopped beside Mary Kate, bending low to touch her hand and speak softly with her. “Are you hurt there, good woman? Is your ankle well enough for you to stand?”
    Mary Kate was fluttering, staring up at the man’s face. “I’m—I’m not hurt. M’lord. I can stand.”
    The man helped her to her feet. Mary Kate continued to stare at him with awe.
    And Rose gritted her teeth, seeing that their kindly benefactor was none other than the loathsome man who had been so rude to her earlier. He had yet to see her.
    “You’re quite all right?” he said to Mary Kate.
    Mary Kate nodded dumbly. He started on his way down the hall once again, and so saw Rose. His brow rose curiously, and his lip curled into a singularly mocking smile. “Why, Mistress Woodbine!” He swept her a low, courtly bow. “What a pleasure.”
    “Oh, I’m sure,” she murmured sweetly.
    It was anything but—she was very well aware of his true feelings. Yet they were at court, where good manners had to be maintained.
    “If you are going to the dining hall, I shall be honored to escort you,” he told her.
    Rose felt her spine stiffening. She couldn’t seem to find words to speak.
    Mary Kate found them for her. “Oh, she is, she is!” Mary Kate called out happily. “Please, do escort her!”
    Rose cast Mary Kate a stern frown, but Mary Kate seemed to be entirely too enrapt with the man to notice. Impatiently Rose inhaled deeply, staring at Lord DeForte. He didn’t wait for her reply, apparently impatient himself now that he had been waylaid by her once again. He took her arm and started down the corridor quickly.
    To her surprise and irritation, she found herself growing breathless. “M’lord DeForte!” she murmured. “I can understand our hurry, but we’ve not all got legs like a horse!”
    He slowed his gait. “Ah, but remember! You ride better, Mistress Woodbine. I do apologize. I was certain in my heart that you must race with greater speed on foot as well. Yet how kind! You compare me to a horse! I was so afraid that you might have another animal in mind. “
    “In truth, I was thinking of some relative of the horse, and that relative the jackass,” she said sweetly. “But my father did teach me to be kind.”
    “Didn’t your father ever teach you to mind your manners?” he inquired deeply, his dark head bent, his whisper falling very close to her ear, and bringing with it a startling heat. She discovered that her heart was pounding fiercely and fast, and to her great annoyance, she was shivering inwardly. Her temper seemed to burn whenever he came near her. When he spoke. When he touched her.
    But that strange shivering began, too.
    “My father would not expect much from me, m’lord, in the matter of extending courtesy to you, if he were only more familiar with your manners.”
    “Oh, but your father is familiar with me.”
    Despite herself, she felt a furious flush rising to her cheeks. “I am afraid, Lord DeForte, that due to the king’s continued kindness to you, you are a well-known