Read Online Sapphire - Book 2 by Elizabeth Rose - Free Book Online Page B

to my son,” shouted out
Lady Katherine, holding her goblet high. “Who will join me in
celebrating the return of my missing son?”
    “Mother, please,” grumbled Roe. “I was not
missing.”
    “Aye,” said his uncle, standing and raising
his goblet. “To Lord Roe Sexton, may he someday be as happy as the
baron and his wife, Lady Sapphire.”
    Shouts and cheers were heard and the minstrels
up in the gallery started playing music. Ethereal notes from the
rote, five stringed harp, floated down into the great hall joined
in by the sound of a frestelle, a flute that resembled a panpipe.
Rhythm was kept by a minstrel tapping lightly on the naker, double
drum, and the tinkling of clochetes or small bells rounded out the
delightful tune.
    “I wouldn’t wish that on you,” Sapphire
whispered to Roe, raising the goblet and pretending to drink to his
toast as well.
    After the dessert that included spiced pears
cooked in wine, and blackberry pie that Roe had said was his
favorite and eaten most of it himself, the servants cleared away
the trenchers, collecting them to be given to the beggars outside
the castle gates, or to the hounds. The trestle tables were taken
apart, with half a dozen men working to move the heavy boards from
the trestles that held them in place. And once the area was
cleared, the room was now ready for entertainment.
    “Let us all dance,” said Lady Katherine,
rising from the table and heading down the dais. She stopped just
behind Roe’s padded chair – a chair that designated him as lord of
the castle. “I would expect you’d be dancing with Lady Sapphire
since her husband is away on business,” she told her
son.
    “Mother, I am not sure that is a good idea,”
protested Roe.
    “I don’t need to dance,” said Sapphire,
smiling slightly and looking out to the floor at the happy lords
and ladies who found pleasure in their spouse’s presence. She was
saddened, as she had always loved to dance. She’d even taught the
steps to her sisters while growing up, and forced her father to
dance with each of them in turn after the meals at Blackpool
Castle. She would never dance again, she realized. Because she
would refuse to dance with the baron, and she knew no man would
have the courage to stand in his place.
    “You do need to dance,” said Roe, standing and
pulling out her chair. “And you will dance with me, my lady, as
I’ll not let you sit there so sullenly without participating in the
merriment.”
    She planned on protesting, but he didn’t seem
to want to take no for an answer. Besides, she secretly wanted to
dance with him, and now that her husband was gone, ’twas a perfect
opportunity.
    He helped her from her chair, and held out his
arm. She placed her hand atop it gently, being guided from the dais
to the main floor. The music started up a lively tune, and he bowed
to her gallantly. She, in return, curtsied. Then he took her arm
and they moved forward, and he spun her around and turned her in a
full circle.
    “You look beautiful tonight, Lady
Sapphire.”
    Her gaze met his and she drank in the beauty
of his freshly shaven face. She wanted nothing more than to run her
hands over it, but she knew she wasn’t allowed to touch
him.
    “Thank you,” she said with a slight nod, then
turned to dance with her corner who happened to be Roe’s
uncle.
    “You seem to like dancing with Roe,” he said.
“I don’t think your husband would take kindly to your unruly
behavior.”
    “I assure you, my lord, my interest is in the
dance only.”
    She turned back to Roe and he reached out and
touched her at her waist lightly as he guided her across the floor.
He was so handsome and she felt the attraction between them as her
stomach flipped inside at the mere thought of being in his embrace
once again.
    “Where will you be sleeping tonight, my lady?”
he asked softly.
    “Anywhere but with the baron,” she whispered
back, and turned once more to greet her corner. Unfortunately, this
time