Read Online The Warrior's Wife by Denise Domning - Free Book Online Page A

color suited Kate marvelously well. His wife-to-be didn’t need jewels and silks; she was beautiful in her own right.
    Across the field Kate threw back her head and laughed as she danced. Rafe drew breath in admiration, his lungs filling with the spicy scents of fresh ale, crushed grass and summer air. By God, but she was more beautiful and more alive than any woman he’d ever seen.
    The strangest flicker of warmth woke in his heart. His wife. The words resonated in him and that warmth grew. Soon Kate would belong only to him, his to cherish and protect.
    Aye, but he’d only have her if he didn’t let his desire to have her make him foolhardy. Or his brother’s. He shifted on the blanket to look at the Godsol family patriarch.
    “Folk listen, Will. Have a care with your tongue. As for our prey”--Rafe paused, giving his sometimes thick brother time to realize he spoke of Kate--“I say near enough, but hardly within reach.”
    Creases formed on Will’s broad face. He blinked as he decoded Rafe’s meaning, then his expression darkened. “What do you mean, not within reach, when our prey is but across the glade? What sort of excuse is this? Perhaps you’ve discovered you haven’t the backbone for the task I set you. Here we are, outside Haydon’s walls with horses at hand. Snatch her, man. I’ll stop the others from following.”
    “You’re out of your mind, Will,” Rafe replied, impervious to so ridiculous a goad. “You and three of Long Chilting’s soldiers are useless against so many.”
    The jerk of his chin indicated the folk teeming in this wee valley, their numbers easily in the hundreds. It wasn’t just the invited wedding guests who hunted this morn, but every man or woman from any guest’s household wealthy enough to keep a hawk. That included a good number of the bishop’s clerics and Dickon’s prior. Rafe sent a longing glance at his brother’s bird, tethered to its roost. The training and maintenance of such an animal was a luxury he couldn’t afford. Yet. His gaze returned to Kate.
    “Nay,” he told his brother as he watched his future wife dance, “when I take my prey there won’t be a full army following on my heels, eager to retrieve her.”
    “Perhaps this moment isn’t the right one,” the eldest Godsol grumbled in agreement, frustration burning in his dark eyes. “But you must vow to me that you won’t fail. A year’s already passed since our sire’s death, and Bagot still hasn’t paid for what he did. The sooner you and what you want are safe behind Long Chilting’s walls, the easier our father’s soul will rest.”
    “On my honor you’ll have your vengeance, just as I’ll have her. But take heed, I’ll not go to Long Chilting with her. Our home’s exactly where they’ll look once they learn it’s me who did the deed.” He needed someplace less obvious. Although Rafe hoped it wouldn’t come to it, it was possible he might need a little time to convince Kate that marriage to him was in her best interest.
    “Just where do you intend to go, then?” Will demanded, his voice dropping into a harsh whisper.
    For all his desire to make Kate his Rafe hadn’t actually yet formed a plan. Now, as he considered his brother’s question, the answer came to him. He grinned and leaned close enough to Will so there was no chance anyone, not even Will’s hawk, could overhear.
    “Where better to take her than to Glevering? After all, the property is by rights ours, having belonged to our ancestors before her family stole it from us.”
    Wicked pleasure filled Will’s slow smile. “Aye, that’s precisely where you must go.” He sent a searing glance at his foe on the opposite side of the glade. “By God, I’d spend every coin I own if it would buy me a chance to see Bagot’s face when he learns that we once more have in our possession what his blood stole from us. That, and something else he cherishes.”
    In the next instant Will’s satisfaction died back into