Read Online Infamous by Virginia Henley - Free Book Online

attracts you?”
    â€œI refuse to lie to you. Of course it is the power of Warwick that attracts me. It is also the innate French charm and dark virility of Guy de Beauchamp. You make my blood sing!”
    He slid his fingers into the décolletage of her riding dress and in doing so brushed against her naked flesh just above her heart. When the brooch was pinned securely, their eyes met and Jory quivered at his intimate touch.
    â€œIs this your mount?” Warwick took the reins of the small roan from the groom. “A dainty white palfrey would suit you better.”
    â€œInfinitely better, but Princess Joanna rides a white horse and prefers that her ladies own less showy animals.”
    â€œShe may have her mother’s dark coloring, but ’tis rumored her temperament is pure Plantagenet.”
    Jory laughed. “The rumors are not wrong.”
    â€œRumors seldom are. Come, let me get you a hawk.” He looked over the small female birds suited to a lady’s hand. “Would you like a merlin?”
    â€œNot really…I prefer a kestrel.”
    He gave her a quizzical glance. “Why would you choose a kestrel over a merlin?”
    She lowered her voice. “A merlin preys on song-birds and innocent sparrows that take flight in fear. A kestrel dives to the ground and hunts vermin. I can reward my bird and let her eat what she has killed without pricking my conscience.”
    â€œAnother secret revealed. You will have a hell of a time surviving in this cruel world with such a soft heart, my beauty.”
    â€œI’ve discovered a hidden vulnerability of yours, too.” Her fingers touched the rose he had given her. “Beneath your dark, dominant, and dangerous facade, you are a romantic at heart.” She smiled into his eyes. “Your secret is safe with me.”
    â€œWhat heart?” he mocked.
    When his hands captured her waist, lifted her high, and set her in her saddle, his brute strength dizzied her senses.
    Warwick selected a female kestrel and removed it from its perch. He handed her the creance so she could draw the bird back to her gloved fist. “Here is your fierce predator.”
    Jory glanced at him playfully. “What makes you think I can handle more than one fierce predator at a time?”
    â€œI’d be willing to wager you are woman enough for anything.”
    â€œWarwick!” the king bellowed. “Join us.”
    â€œEdward hunts with a goshawk,” he told Jory as they approached the king and his party. “I’ll take a falcon; they are superior in every way. A peregrine never misses and it kills swiftly.”
    Princess Joanna gave her friend a sly sideways glance, then rolled her eyes. Jory masked her amusement and threaded the jesses through her gloved fingers.
    Joanna introduced her to Gilbert de Clare. “I believe my lord fears falconry is becoming a frivolous and effeminate sport now that ladies are becoming proficient.”
    Jory smiled at Gilbert. “I doubt the Earl of Gloucester fears anything. We are adept at handling the hawks, my lord, because we have smaller hands that can easily manage to unfasten the jesses and tyrrits from the birds’ legs.”
    Gloucester looked ruefully at his large hand and returned her smile. “I believe you are right, Lady Marjory.”
    Jory saw Warwick signal the groom, who held his black stallion. She caught her breath and her eyes went wide with admiration as she watched him mount. He balanced the falcon on his gloved fist and swung his leg effortlessly across his horse’s rump without ruffling his bird’s feathers. He moved with a lithe, sensual grace that aroused her. His eyes, black as his hair, were as piercing as the fierce eyes of the falcon. She decided that Guy de Beauchamp put all other men in the shade, including the king.
    Edward Plantagenet held his goshawk high and spurred his enormous horse to plunge forward. He always rode and hunted at