Read Online To Tempt a Knight by Gerri Russell - Free Book Online Page A

service of the Lord.”
    “I see.” She hesitated, still a bit disconcerted by the rapid change in his mood. “If I offended you a moment ago, I am sorry.”
    “I need out of this bed,” he said changing the subject. Slowly, he sat up. Siobhan moved to assist him, but he waved her away. He reached for his quilted aketon, then pulled his hand back at the sight of his own blood.
    “Might I help?” Siobhan asked.
    “The robe,” he said, a bit breathless, pointing to the brown homespun monk’s cassock hanging from a hook on the wall. Attempting to sit so soon was taking its toll.
    Siobhan brought the robe to him.
    With a grunt, he settled the fabric over his head andblocked his broad, well-muscled chest from her sight. “Where is the scroll?” he asked with a frown.
    “Safely hidden. I assumed that in the monastery it would be less of a risk to leave it unguarded.”
    His eyes hardened. “Assume no such thing.” His voice grew tight. “Trust no one with that scroll. No one.”
    Siobhan took two steps back, toward the door. Her breath caught as his features chilled. He was tired, she reminded herself. Wounded. If he sounded a bit harsh, it was to be expected.
    Yet now that he was tended to, she wanted to check on the scroll. She had hidden it well, hadn’t she? She twisted for the door and raced down the hall, startling Brother Patrick, who sat outside the doorway. She entered the tiny chamber she’d been taken to previously and dived for the bed. Only when her hands grasped the leather casing did she release her pent-up breath.
    She sank onto the heather ticking. A shudder went through her. She’d always known the scroll was important. Why hadn’t she pushed her father for answers long ago about what it revealed?
    She shook her head, clearing away her regrets. Such emotions served no purpose. She didn’t have her father to help her understand. But she had the scroll.
    And William. The thought brought a flutter to her chest. She frowned and gripped the casing all the harder. This was not the time to worry about such strange reactions. Siobhan straightened. She would have to focus more diligently.
    She had done harder things in her life than resist the temptation of Sir William Keith. She pursed her lips. Hadn’t she? How many years had she lived in absolute isolation with her father? That had been far more difficult than resisting the temptation of a chaste knight.With a sigh of frustration, she forced her attention back to the scroll. The man was a monk, for Heaven’s sake.
    William left his sickroom and gingerly made his way to the chapel. A need to pray that he had not felt in a long while grew inside, fueling his unsteady steps. He pushed open the heavy wood door and entered the sanctuary. Empty. He was grateful to have the sacred place to himself.
    He bent clumsily to his knee, crossed himself, then stood and proceeded to the altar, where he knelt once more. He drew a deep breath, letting the silence of the chamber sink into him. He willed the peace he usually felt in this room to sink inside him. It did not.
    Perhaps nothing could help him. Or perhaps the new feelings he’d had since meeting Siobhan were tearing him away from the path he had once followed.
    William closed his eyes and bowed his head, again willing that peace to find him as it had four years ago, when he’d taken his vows. At the time he knew he was making the right choice—to dedicate himself to the Templars, to God.
    Upon his return from Teba, filled with pain, sorrow, remorse, he’d come back to the chapel desperate for understanding. He’d been spared in that horrible battle. To this day he wondered why. Why had God protected him when he’d allowed so many others to die? His life was no more important than those of the others. Probably less.
    He had no blood relatives, at least no one who cared whether he lived or died. He had only his Templar brothers. All the others had mothers, fathers, siblings who’d mourned their loss