Beloved Abductor Read Online Free PDF

from the fire. When he held a rush light to its smouldering embers, the light caught and flared, lighting the room even more. The smell of rancid mutton fat came faintly to her as he set the light on the table.
    ‘Sit down, Mistress Meriet.’ His eyes gleamed in the flickering light, which darkened the hollows beneath his cheekbones.
    ‘I do not wish to sit down,’ she said in a trembling voice.
    He moved towards her, and hurriedly Felicia sank on to a stool. He brought his own seat close to hers, and their knees touched. She was conscious of his eyes upon her mouth and lowered her gaze.
    ‘Look at me,’ he ordered, putting a hand to her chin. She tried to pull away, but his fingers were insistent. He scrutinised her face and then touched her cheek gently; he was infinitely more tender than she would have thought possible. Even so, she winced. ‘Who did this to you? Was it those men?’
    Felicia shook her head, surprised at the hint of anger in his voice. His fingers ranged the full extent of the blow her cousin had dealt her, then the tip of one finger ran gently over her swollen lips. Her mouth quivered slightly. She found that sensitive touch, even though it hurt, evocative.
    ‘Who, then?’ He released her chin and went over to the door, picking up the saddlebag he had dropped when entering.
    ‘My cousin Philip,’ she replied unsteadily.
    He frowned down at her and pushed back his coif, revealing his untidy mass of tawny hair. He seemed less forbidding thus. Again he seated himself close to her, in his hand a small jar. ‘Why do you suffer him to treat you so?’ he grunted, taking off its top.
    ‘I had little choice,’ she replied tersely. ‘Just as I had little choice when you abducted me after drugging the wine.’ She toyed with her fingers, looking down at them.
    ‘That was different.’
    Before Felicia could resist, he took her chin and raised her head, so that she had to look up into his eyes. She found the experience unnerving.
    ‘How is it different?’ she asked in a stiff voice.
    He began to smooth salve on her cheek. ‘I did not hurt you. All I did was to ...’ Before Felicia could draw back, he brushed her swollen lips gently with his own.
    She stiffened instantly. The gentleness of the caress filled her with confusion and uncertainty. Without realising she had done so, she had begun to relax, but now she was on her guard again.
    ‘Your intentions were not to stop at a kiss!’
    ‘You were not averse to my kisses. Or so it seemed to me.’ His mouth twisted sardonically. Slowly he trailed salve across her lips, watching the flush that rose to her cheeks. ‘Does your cousin stop at kisses?’ he murmured, straightening up.
    Felicia gave an angry gasp. ‘I suffered your embraces, thinking it the only way to lull you off your guard! And it worked!’
    ‘So it did.’ He touched the sore spot on his head. ‘But it would not have, if your cousin’s men had not hit me so hard a few days ago.’
    ‘Then the saints were on my side.’ She raised her chin. ‘I am not to blame for what my cousin did to you, or to your mother, although I am sorry for what happened.’
    ‘Sorry?’ Edmund was suddenly angry. ‘Who are you, Mistress Meriet, to think that the saints are on your side? A whore and a murderess, that is what they say about you in your cousin’s household!’
    ‘It is not true!’ Felicia sprang to her feet and glared at him, angry tears filled her eyes. ‘It—is—not—true!’
    ‘Isn’t it?’ He rose to his feet slowly. There was a long silence.
    ‘What are you going to do with me?’ she asked brusquely, lacing her fingers.
    ‘At this moment I do not wish to do anything with you.’ He turned and rammed the jar back into his saddlebag. ‘At this moment I am hungry and wish to eat. Are you not hungry?’
    Felicia did not answer, surprised by his words. She watched him lift the blackened cooking-pot over the fire. Her nerves were taut, and she wondered how long he was