A Knight's Temptation Read Online Free PDF

him.
    She’d only met Veronique twice, both times at Pryerston Keep. Veronique seemed very much aware of her voluptuous body and its effect upon men. She hadn’t hesitated to bend over to display her breasts almost bursting out of her bodice, or walk with an inviting sway, or bestow her crimson-painted smile upon every male around, even with a bawling child in her arms.
    This man obviously was familiar with Veronique’s charms, a fact that irritated Leona in a most peculiar manner.
    “Veronique may have sent you, though,” he said, “to do her bidding—”
    “What is your name?” Leona cut in, more sharply than she intended.
    In a voice akin to stone grating against steel, he said, “I am Aldwin Treynarde, loyal servant of Geoffrey de Lanceau, lord of Branton Keep and all of Moydenshire.”
    His last words became a muzzy blur. Aldwin .
    Her gut instincts were right.
    To be facing him again . . . Her throat tightened on a painful swallow.
    “I have given you the courtesy of my name.” His mouth eased into a thin smile. “I ask again. Who are you?”
    A woman who wishes she’d never met you, for she loathes your very name .
    When she didn’t immediately answer, but let the silence drag, Aldwin’s stare sharpened with determination. Twig also glanced at her, his gaze mirroring the knowledge of what had happened in her childhood, when he’d helped her father carry her out of the river.
    “If you are the Aldwin of the chanson ,” Twig said, a clear attempt to divert Aldwin’s attention, “you are very skilled with a crossbow.”
    “True.” Aldwin’s stare didn’t shift from Leona.
    “Thus, you should be well able to defend yourself, if you are under threat. Which you are not.”
    “If I am to believe what you say.”
    Leona tried to restrain a shudder. He was trying to manipulate the situation to his control.
    In that instant, she knew she couldn’t simply hand over the pendant, take the reward, and send him on his way with a pleasant “good day.”
    He wouldn’t let her go that easily.
    Chilling panic flooded through her. She should have drawn the dagger from her boot, after all.
    You always warned me, Mother, that my headstrong nature would get me into monumental trouble .
    Trying to quell her rising worry, she nodded to Twig. “This man is not interested in what we have to offer.” She glanced back at Aldwin. “Good day to you.” With a wave of her hand, she ordered Sir Reginald to escort Aldwin away. To remove the menace on the threshold who unnerved her in more ways than she dared acknowledge.
    Before she could put more distance between them, she caught the creak of leather. A male scent, tinged with a trace of mint, wafted to her.
    Aldwin had stepped inside.
    “You will not shut me out.” A mocking lilt softened his voice. “Not when I do not even know your name. And when I have not yet taken what I desire.”
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    As Aldwin’s gaze adjusted to the shadows in the back room, he clenched his jaw. This woman before him—a throaty-voiced temptress who taunted him with retreat before their negotiations had even begun—wouldn’t be rid of him that quickly. Not when he’d traveled with little sleep to find this tavern.
    Not when he’d given his solemn vow to de Lanceau to get the pendant and bring it safely to Branton Keep.
    Stepping closer brought the wench a little better into view, but not much. The room was poorly lit, no doubt to hide her features.
    Still, despite her broad, drooping hood, he’d glimpsed the lower third of her face when she’d turned and gestured to her men: a firm jaw; a generous mouth; and a gently curved chin. How irritating that his curious mind scrambled to fill in the rest of her features, completing her image with sultry, long-lashed eyes, a delicate nose, and fine cheekbones. Idiotic, how much he wanted to see what she really looked like.
    He would.
    Soon.
    If she’d meant to remain anonymous, well, she’d challenged the wrong man. By