Read Online Knight's Caress by Lynette Vinet - Free Book Online Page A

of Norman vipers.”
    “To my knowledge, my lady, no one has harmed your daughter,” Amberlie said more harshly than she’d intended. These Saxons must believe she and her people were some sort of demons straight from hell, without thought for other people. Yet, if she’d lived through what Mabel and the others had apparently lived through, then she’d probably feel much the same.
    Mabel’s mouth trembled and tears filled her eyes, turning them from a wintry blue to the color of a clear lake. “I’m sorry, but ‘tis hard for me. Edytha is my only daughter and … different.”
    Amberlie patted her hand. “Your daughter will be safely with you soon. I know my family will return her unharmed.”
    “‘Tis hard for you too,” Mabel observed, as if seeing Amberlie for a human being with feelings and emotions. “You’re a gentlewoman, unused to such a rough existence, as was I until a year ago. Sleeping in caves and moving to Weymouth’s cellar when we must flee is no life for a sick woman. I want only for this to end so I may go home—I want to go to Woodrose Keep—but ‘tis gone from me. ‘Tis gone and won’t be reclaimed, but my son doesn’t admit this to himself.” Mabel smiled sadly and lay upon her pallet. “I shall sleep now. In my dreams, I am home with my husband and children beside me, and I am happy once more.”
    The poor lady. Despite Amberlie’s predicament, brought about by this woman’s renegade son, Amberlie felt deeply sorry for her.
    Amberlie left her and walked through the damp labyrinth of corridors, but realized she was headed away from the cave’s opening. Then she noticed a torch flickering to her left. Deciding this was the direction she’d taken earlier, she headed toward the light, and entering a deeply shadowed rock-hewn room, she bumped into Tedric. He appeared just as surprised to see her as she was to see him. But he recovered more quickly than she. “Do you search for me, my lady?” he asked in a voice that sounded husky and melodious at the same time. He spoke so close to her ear that she felt his breath upon her cheek.
    “I … am lost,” she answered in a breathy voice, alarmed to realize that she was in Tedric’s chamber and very much alone. In her hand she carried the soup bowl, but all she noticed was how warm she felt in his presence. In the semi-darkness, she caught his musty male scent, and something inside her responded to this maleness and the intimacy of the situation.
    “I am lost too, my lady, lost beyond all reason,” he whispered, and his words slid warmly over her like black velvet. She felt his arms go around her waist, pulling her against him, which she didn’t protest because suddenly she’d ceased thinking clearly. It seemed the most natural thing in the world to lift her face and encounter Tedric’s lips as he claimed hers in a kiss which was sweet and demanding, so passionate that her body willingly melted into his.
    Molten heat crawled through her blood, flaring hot and bright like torches in a dark night. His mouth tasted like freshly drunk wine, his tongue sliding sensuously to mate with hers. Tedric’s hands came to rest upon her bottom at first, massaging her buttocks until he pulled her up against his rock-hard arousal. Amberlie groaned, her body instinctively pushing into his as she responded to a primitive need. It had been so long since a man touched her and kissed her like this—so long since she’d felt any physical desire—that she moaned like a hungry beggar who’d been served a supper. She would have given into her debauched longings, would have followed Tedric to the furs, if not for the sound of a laughing child from somewhere nearby. The sound instantly broke her trance.
    “Non!” she violently exclaimed, and lifted the soup bowl to hit the side of Tedric’s face. The broth spilled over his cheek, neck, tunic, and her hand. She didn’t stop to think about her action; all she wished was to stop the passion in her