Connie Mason Read Online Free PDF

himself, and he prayed Drake would never learn of them.
    Raven had just left the kitchen when she saw the Black Knight talking to Waldo. He had removed his helm and had his back to her. She craned her neck to get a better look, but all she could see of him was thick black hair shorn to shoulder length, the favored fashion. More than a little curious about the mysterious Black Knight, she maneuvered around the wine cart to get a peek at his face.
    A gasp was torn from her throat and she felt as if her lungs were on fire. She had seen that face a hundred, nay, a thousand times in her dreams. And each time his silver eyes spewed hatred at her.
    Drake.
    She could not begin to count the times she had wished for him to appear so she could explain to him that it had been Daria herself who had made sure her father knew about the elopement so he could stop it. Raven had learned that Daria had told her maid, fully aware that the girl would run straight to Lord Nyle with the tale.
    Now he was here. Yet he was not the Drake she remembered from her youth. He was the Black Knight, the man renowned for his courage and strength, for his prowess with women, for his ruthless skill in combat.
    The man who hated her.
    She knew the moment Drake saw her, for he stiffened. Their gazes locked, held. The dancing silver eyes she remembered were now as cold and hard as the flagstones upon which she stood. She wanted to look away but couldn’t. He held her suspended with the potent force of his enmity.
    “Drake.” Her voice trembled. “Are you truly the Black Knight?”
    “Is that so difficult to believe?” Drake asked harshly.
    “Aye . . . nay . . . I do not know. You have changed.”
    His mirthless laughter sent chills racing down her spine. “Aye, I am no longer the idealistic young dreamer you once knew. I have seen war and carnage, my lady, and that changes a man.”
    His steely gaze slid away to rest on Waldo, then returned to Raven with insulting intensity.
    “I understand congratulations are in order. I am surprised you and Waldo were allowed to marry. Incest is a serious offense.”
    “I have waited years for a dispensation from the pope,” Waldo interjected. “ ’Tis long past time to claim my bride.”
    Drake stared at Raven as if he had never seen her before. And in truth he had not, not this Raven. The Raven he remembered had been half woman, half child, with long, gangly arms and legs and freckles on her nose.
    The woman standing before him had a flawless complexion, creamy white with a touch of sun upon her cheeks. She wore a pale linen undertunic with tight long sleeves beneath an emerald green satin tunic trimmed in gold. A silk veil held in place by a gold circlet failed to confine her glorious chestnut hair. Her eyes, fringed by thick, dark lashes, wereas green as her tunic and tilted up at the outer corners. Her lips were rosy, and the bottom lip was slightly fuller than the upper lip, giving her a sultry look that hinted of passion. Drake wondered if that passion had lain dormant for Waldo to claim.
    “Are you here to compete in the games?” Raven asked Drake when the silence became unbearable.
    “Aye. “ ’Tis what I do for a living. After the war I was in sore need of sufficient coin to restore Windhurst, and the best way to obtain it was to compete in tournaments.”
    “The Black Knight’s praises are sung far and wide,” Raven said in a hushed voice. “You have become a legend, Drake.”
    Drake couldn’t bring himself to smile at the woman who had betrayed him years ago. He might have forgiven her had Daria not died under mysterious circumstances. Daria was but a dim memory now, but Drake had never forgotten who had ultimately caused her death. Had not Raven alerted her father, he and Daria would have gotten safely away that night, and Waldo would never have gotten his hands on his fragile love.
    “Legend or not, we will see who triumphs at the games,” Waldo declared. He looked pointedly at Raven. “I