A Captive Heart Read Online Free PDF Page A

when he smelt the sweet scent of lavender, and roses coming from it. Martha wouldn’t notice it missing for a while, she hoped. She wished that she could bring him back to the castle to sleep safe and sound in a bed where he could recover more fully. But that was impossible. If found he would be put with the other prisoners, brought to trial and executed.
    She did not want to leave him there on his own now that she had found him. But today he was the enemy and must be treated as this. She knew that he would have been forced to be unforgiving too, if she had been discovered by the Roundheads spying for the Royalists and their King. They were at war and as far as she knew they would never be otherwise.
    But she wanted to know so much more about Adam. What did he feel about her? She didn’t know what made her behave so foolishly, filling her with such indecision. They had been children together before. He was so much older than her of course and had teased her mercilessly. Oh how he’d enjoyed that. For the first time in her life these thoughts made her wish that she was wearing a silk gown, instead of the stout fustian jacket and breeches, to please his eyes and paint a different picture of her for him.
    She’s studying me now closely. Oh yes I think she does remember me well. So will she give me away? And when? She really has no other choice if she chooses to be wise instead of foolish. These thoughts ran willy-nilly through Adam’s throbbing head as he eyed her closely while she placed a cool hand on his forehead. He could hardly blame her. This lovely young girl who so trustingly believed that the use of boys’ clothing as a disguise would protect her from all harm seemed so naively innocent, despite the tangle of glorious copper hair which could denote a similarly fiery temper. He must make no mistake that she had a will of her own too. And courage. She had shown it to him already.
    He also knew that she was prepared if necessary to give him up. Because she must. In her eyes he was the enemy, one of those Roundheads who had vanquished the Royalists, and held their King prisoner.
    She was vastly attractive to any full blooded man’s gaze and to his eyes especially appealing at the moment. He found he could not get her out of his thoughts, or out of his mind. He knew full well that she represented all the good and beautiful things in his life he could still remember, and might have had if the country hadn’t become entangled in this war.
    He knew that he must fight hard against his feelings. It was wartime and for the moment he represented the enemy to Tamsin, and there was no room in his life for anything else but the work he had still to do. But he also knew that from now on she was going to mean so much more to him than anyone else had ever done before...
    She was risking so much for him already and until he recovered his fate remained in her hands entirely. He laughed softly, for the first time in his life he had listened to his heart rather than his head, which had ruled all his dealings of late.
    ‘I would not think any less of you if you tell your father about me. As you must certainly do soon,’ he said quietly to Tamsin, his eyes on Reuben, who stood by the pool of water wiping his face and hands on a rough linen towel now. ‘Or your young most resourceful friend there. He is obviously sorely troubled by my presence here and what you are doing for me. And I cannot entirely blame him. No one else would have behaved so kindly and generous towards me given the same circumstance. I owe you both so much...’ And dear heart, I have fallen deeply irrevocably in love with you he added to himself silently and smiled as she studied his face anxiously attempting to read his thoughts. He sighed. ‘I can only thank you for coming to my rescue therefore I will leave you to make up your mind what to do about me. I am in your hands entirely… and Reuben’s.’
    ‘Reuben will not say anything, Adam. Unless I tell him