Claire Delacroix Read Online Free PDF Page B

stand to win.
    And that alone.
    “Then, Chevalier, you should have no difficulties with a minor condition, made purely for the sake of my son.”
    The knight sobered immediately. “Which is?”
    “That our match be one made in name alone,” Gabrielle stipulated, suddenly having an idea of how to remove the apparent whimsy of her request. “I would not have my son’s suzerainty over Perricault meet with challenge one day by a younger sibling.”
    The knight’s lips set and Gabrielle enjoyed the possibility that he was displeased that she would not welcome him to her bed. “It would be a marriage most unnatural,” he commented, and Gabrielle’s ire rose.
    Trust a man to think no further than his own pleasure!
    It was better, Gabrielle told herself savagely, that matters were clear between them from the outset. This was a match she would enter with eyes wide open to the truth. It was better that she understood him to be no different from any of the others.
    “I will care nothing for your indiscretions,” she declared, hearing an unexpected bite in her tone. “My sole desire is to have my son returned to my side and his estate regained. Should you keep that estate in good trust for him, I shall be well pleased by our match, be it natural or no.”
    The knight surveyed her silently for a long moment, and Gabrielle realized that she would have to grow accustomed to such calm consideration if she were to live with the man.
    Then he stuck out his right hand to her. “We have an agreement, my lady.”
    She stared at his hand, uncertain how to proceed. Certainly, no man had ever cemented an agreement with her in such a way, or even with another woman, in her experience. Did he treat her as a partner in this task?
    Or did he mock her?
    But nothing could be discerned in his stony expression. And he stood, waiting for her to respond.
    Reluctantly, for she was uncertain of his intent, Gabrielle slid her hand into his.
    The knight’s fingers closed securely over her own, with no jest or mockery reflected in his eyes. Gabrielle’s hand was lost within the breadth of his warm palm and her traitorous heart skipped a beat beneath his steady perusal.
    “Rest assured that I have no more interest in emotional entanglements than you,” he confided, the deep rumble of his voice launching a tingle over Gabrielle’s flesh.
    Oh, she had been alone overlong, that much was certain.
    “Know also, my lady, that I understand the problems garnered by a man populating an estate with his bastards. I never have and never will stoop to such behavior myself.”
    Gabrielle stared up at him, secretly amazed by this concession. Truly he would deny his own pleasure, to ensure the suzerainty of a child who was not his own? Had she heard aright?
    But the knight’s eyes were filled with a certainty that could not be denied. Gabrielle’s mind worked furiously, but she could find no reasonable explanation beyond the highly unlikely one he had given her.
    What manner of man was this knight?
    Gabrielle realized belatedly that he still held her hand captive and she forced a laugh. “You shake my hand as though we were knights of equal.”
    A half smile crept over his lips as slowly as the dawn, and Gabrielle’s heart skipped a beat at the sight. “You make anargument, my lady, as compellingly as any man I have met.” He gave her fingers a minute squeeze. “This gesture seems only fitting, given the circumstance.”
    Gabrielle, not often at a loss for words, did not know what to say to that. She was not usually treated to the full impact of a man’s charm, much less a man as handsome as Yves de Sant-Roux.
    She hastily extricated her hand, resisting the impulse to wipe off the seductive warmth of his touch. “The knight who has been longest with my household has accompanied me here,” she said in her most purposeful tone. “I suppose you should meet with him.”
    “Certainly.” Those blond brows pulled together thoughtfully. “And I must