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

veins for this man—this barbarian who’d murdered her husband.
    “Teasing witch!” Tedric growled, and held his head before grabbing her wrist when she would have fled. His clasp felt like iron. “I’d throttle you if I were another sort of man.”
    She didn’t tell him that he appeared almost laughable with the soup dribbling down his face. But Amberlie was far from laughing as the import of what she’d done sunk in. He could very well make her suffer now, suffer at the hands which only moments ago had promised great pleasure. But he wouldn’t use her as his leman, and she wouldn’t allow herself to give in to her baser instincts with a man who had killed her beloved Henri.
    “I —hate—you to touch me! I hate you!” she shrieked, and attempted to pull away, but he wouldn’t release her. Instead he came up close to her, so close she felt the thunderous beat of his heart. His eyes were now a deep furious shade of blue, so blue they shone almost black in the torchlight.
    “‘Tis obvious, my lady, that you’re either over-starved for affection or used to giving away your favors. I’ve yet to discover which, but I do tell you that you’re more trouble than I’ve bargained for.”
    “Free me then, you barbarous knave!”
    A cruel smile twisted Tedric’s lips. “I do not remember hearing such a plea from your wanton lips seconds ago.”
    Amberlie’s flush reached her hairline for she couldn’t dispute him. She’d acted like a promiscuous washwoman, and glanced away from him in shame.
    “I’ll take great delight in turning you over to your kinsman on the morrow.”
    The import of his words caused her head to snap back to his face. Her eyes widened, and her dark brows shot upwards. “Guy has agreed to release your sister?”
    “Aye,” he replied with such coldness that Amberlie wondered if this was the same man who’d kissed her so passionately.
    Hope rose within her. Tomorrow she’d be home again, away from this horrible cave and these swinish Saxons —one in particular, whom she’d be pleased never to see again, “I am to be set free tomorrow,” she said, but it sounded more like a question than a statement.
    “Guy de Bayonne has agreed to my terms and promises no reprisals.”
    That didn’t sound like Guy, Amberlie thought, but she didn’t contradict Tedric. All she dwelled upon was going home. Even life with Guy and Julianne was preferable to being held prisoner. When Tedric dropped her arm and said nothing else, Amberlie made a move to leave. His voice stopped her. “My lady, you’ve made a mess and will clean it up—beginning with me.”
     

Chapter 7
     

     
      “What do you mean?” Amberlie clutched the material of her gown in her perspiring hands, definitely not caring for Tedric’s commanding tone.
    “You’ve spilled broth upon my chamber floor,” he told her with a curt nod at the earthen floor.
    “You’re living in a cave,” she reminded him.
    “Aye, but this is my home until fate deems otherwise, lady. My tunic is soiled and broth covers my face. Come here.”
    Amberlie hesitated; her heart beat hard against her rib cage. She didn’t trust Tedric not to touch her again, but worse, she didn’t trust herself to stop him if he did. She shouldn’t have hit him with the bowl, and now she would pay for her impetuous action by being forced to touch him again. Damn the man! “I’m not a serf,” she countered haughtily.
    “Nay, you’re my prisoner until I release you,” he reminded her. But she wondered if there was a hint of a threat that if she didn’t do as he wished, he wouldn’t release her. He found a coarsely woven rag and threw it at her. Catching it, she glared at him when he imperiously muttered. “Clean me, my lady.”
    “You’re an ill-bred lout,” she mumbled under her breath, not failing to see his jeering smirk as she mustered her courage and attended him. With shaking hands, she wiped the broth from his face, careful not to make direct