Read Online Once Upon a Romance 03 - With True Love's Kiss by Jessica Woodard - Free Book Online Page A

through it all she’d never really known him.
He was always calm, always polite, and invariably cold to her. He’d been one of
the few people in the castle she could have sworn held no love for her. Indeed,
most of the time it seemed as though he actively disliked her.
    And now, to
find out that he had been there all along to protect her, was shocking. To be
hiding in a cave in a desperate attempt to escape capture, even more so. But
most shocking of all was to find that he was not the cold, callous person she
thought. He’d left the cave—left the safety of their hideout—to go gather the things
that Isabelle needed.
    The pot of
roots was just beginning to form bubbles, so Bianca poured in some fresh, cold
water and the heat subsided. With the mash safe for the moment her eyes drifted
over to linger on Robin. She wondered where he was from. Given that he was
taking them to Albion, it seemed possible that he hailed from that kingdom, but
Isabelle spoke of his people being different, as though they lived somewhere
far away, in a land separated by both distance and custom.
    He certainly
looked no different from the people of the nearby kingdoms. He could have
passed for a member of any of the Toldan noble families. His hair was black,
like her own, and framed a face that held a dangerous kind of beauty. His
features were keen; the sharp jaw, the fine nose, the hard-edged line of his
cheeks, and his eyes… They were blue, but where hers were a deep midnight,
his were the shade of blue found at the heart of a flame. Bright, and vivid,
and—
    And wide
open.
    They stared
at each other, through the rising steam. He seemed wholly unconcerned at having
woken to find her staring at him, and, despite being caught, Bianca felt no
chagrin. He was a mystery, and she could no more help being fascinated by him
than she could help her concern for Isabelle. So she focused on him, and delved
in those glowing depths for answers to questions she didn’t even understand. As
their eyes stayed locked together the silence grew, filled with a crackling
energy that ran along Bianca’s skin like the precursor to a lightning storm.
Robin lay quiet and completely still, yet the intensity in his fiery blue eyes
bore into her, quickening her heart and catching her breath. She felt trapped,
and only now did she realize that even as she searched for answers in him, he
searched for them in her.
    She tried to
think of something to say, some words that would break this tension between
them, but her mind was blank, enveloped by walls of intense, brilliant blue. It
was Robin who broke the spell.
    “You have
put my gatherings to good use.”
    Her eyes
flew to the pot, and she gasped. Grabbing one of the linen bandages she dragged
the mash away from the fire, saving it from boiling by only a few seconds. Then
she snatched her hand away from the scalding pot, before the heat could sear
her even through the linen. She heard Robin give a startled cry, and the next
moment he was at her side, cradling her hand in both his own, examining it
closely.
    “It’s fine.”
She tried to reclaim her hand, but he stubbornly held it.
    “It is
reddening. You could have burned yourself badly.” As he spoke he took the linen
bandage and dipped it in her pot of cold water, then laid it gently against the
skin on her palm. “That was a foolish thing to do.”
    “I’m fine.”
She tugged again, but still couldn’t extricate her hand. “I couldn’t let the
mash burn. Isabelle needs it.”
    “And do you
not need two functioning hands?” He sounded irritated. “For that matter, does
not Isabelle need both your hands? You are the only one here with the skill to
care for her.”
    “My hand is
fine,” she said sullenly, as Robin lifted the cold, wet linen free and bent to
examine the skin. “It isn’t as though I—”
    She broke
off with a gasp. Robin was gliding his fingers gently across her hand, testing
for tenderness, or pain. Truly, there was none—she hadn’t