A Knight to Remember Read Online Free PDF Page A

but her skin remained whole and without dagger wounds. Pushing a stool over to the table, she stepped up and rummaged around on the top shelf close to the thatch. From behind the other vessels, she brought out a small corked glass bottle and allowed herself a grin. From the bottles on the table, she plucked three, then in a cup she mixed their contents to her satisfaction.
    “He’s washed an’ in that pitiful excuse fer a gown.”
    Wharton might have been more surly, but Edlyn didn’t know how that could be possible.
    “Good.” Cup in hand, she climbed over the woodpile to Hugh’s side. “Mayhap, Wharton, you should bring in more wood. A large pile would help disguise Sir Hugh.”
    “’Tis Lord Hugh now,” Wharton said proudly.
    With only the faintest hint of sarcasm in her tone, she said, “Of course. I should have realized a warrior as great as Hugh de Florisoun would have won a title by now.”
    “He’s th’ earl o’—”
    “That’s enough.” Hugh still maintained enough authority to silence his servant in mid-sentence. “Bring the wood.”
    “What if someone sees me?” Wharton asked.
    “Tell them you’re a mendicant at the abbey. ’Tis impossible to recall all who come and go here.” Edlyn knelt beside the fallen hero. “And leave the door openso I can see what damage you did when you moved your master.”
    “I had t’ hide him!” Wharton opened the door.
    Edlyn wasn’t in the mood to be fair, but Hugh reassured him.
    “Did well, too.” Hugh’s voice sounded fainter now. He waited until Wharton’s footsteps faded, then said, “Hauling wood hurts his dignity as my man.”
    “His dignity could use some adjustment.” Now that Edlyn could see the gown, she admitted Wharton might have a reason for being disgruntled about it. The sleeves hung only to Hugh’s elbows and the hem struck him at the knee. Edlyn would have to lift the hem to examine the wound, and she should have just done it when Hugh lay naked. It would have been less intimate than this undressing. But she hadn’t thought of that then; she had only wanted to get him covered.
    “Don’t be alarmed. I’m going to look.” She kept her voice steady and soothing.
    “Don’t you be alarmed,” Hugh answered.
    But when Edlyn jerked her gaze to his face, his eyes were closed.
    He had handsome features: strong and full of masculine beauty that had always made women pant after him like bitches in heat.
    She snorted. She’d already had that disease, and like someone who had suffered from smallpox and lived to tell about it, she couldn’t get it again—and she was only stalling. She had to check that bandage.
    Lifting the gown, she focused on that one thing. Hugh’s move onto the pallet had loosened the linen strips, and she adjusted them to fit tightly once more. She lowered the gown and allowed herself a small smirk of self-congratulations. That hadn’t bothered her a bit. Her hands were hardly shaking.
    She lifted his head and placed it on her bent knees. “Drink.”
    He drank, but a bit of the precious liquid oozed out of the corner of his mouth and he choked a bit as he swallowed.
    She would have to hold him higher next time.
    Taking the rags, she started folding them. He watched her steadily as she worked, and when he spoke, she flinched at his curiosity.
    “Edlyn, why are you living in a nunnery?”
    “Maybe I’ve taken vows.” She kept her gaze on her hands as she folded.
    He laughed softly, then closed his eyes as a spasm of pain struck. “I don’t think so.”
    Offended, she said, “What? You don’t think I’m virtuous enough?”
    “I think those two vipers”—he gasped for air—“who visited made your status clear.”
    “I don’t think you ought to talk anymore.”
    His fingers tangled in the skirt of her cotte. “Then tell me.”
    He was starting to drift but fighting against it, and she subdued her instinctive rebuff. She did, after all, hold the power in this situation. “Lady Blanche and Adda