Guarded Heart Read Online Free PDF

intricacies of the art, while no doubt fascinating to its devotees such as yourself, are of little use to me. All I require is the ability to face a man with sword in hand.”
    â€œAlso to live to tell about it later, or so I assume. Or do you intend merely to sell your soul at a dear price?”
    â€œWhatever my purpose may be, lectures on the manners and graces of the dueling field seem unlikely to advance it.”
    â€œThe way a man dies, or lives as the case may be, is surely as important as the fact of it.”
    She frowned at him even as the quiet intensity of his voice played havoc with her nerves, making her feel a little breathless while tightening the tips of her breasts. She had not expected such an idealistic attitude from him. “No doubt that’s so,” she said in tart rebuttal, “or it should be, in a bout between equals over a point of honor. The meeting I envision is quite otherwise.”
    â€œA mere chastisement—swift, vicious and, if need be, underhanded.”
    â€œI didn’t say that.”
    â€œAs with a downdraft of carrion crows falling on dead meat, some things naturally follow.”
    â€œMonsieur!” She could hardly believe that he had just compared her to a vulture. He had, hadn’t he?
    He went on without pause or change of expression. “But don’t think I delay for the sake of your sweet smiles. These preliminaries, tedious as they may be, are quite normal. It was only after a long month of such dull lessons and other exercises that I was first allowed to take sword in hand.”
    He had received no smiles from her, sweet or not, which meant he was baiting her. That he dared did nothing to soothe her irritation. “What you may have suffered is of no concern to me since I have only one meeting for which to prepare instead of a lifetime of such things,” she said as she whipped the air before him with a singing hiss of her blade. “Could we please get to the true use of these foils?”
    He moved so swiftly it was a mere blur in the candlelight. One moment he stood at ease three paces away, the next she was lodged against his hard length, pressed to him from breast to knees with her wrist in his grasp and her foil held well away from their bodies. The breath left her lungs for a stunned instant. Then she inhaled sharply, jerking against his hold.
    â€œNever take a swipe at a man with sword in hand unless you mean it,” he said with biting precision as he glared down at her. “A swordsman’s instinct is for instant, unthinking defense. His very life depends on it. If he holds a sword of his own, the attacker could be spitted before he sees whether it’s friend or foe, man or woman. He might, no doubt would, cry out to heaven at the pity of piercing so soft a breast as yours, but you would be no less dead.”
    She could feel the thud of his heart, the hard muscles of his arm as they pressed into her through the stays at the back of her bodice, the firm columns of his legs where he had waded into her skirts. His body heat seemed to seep into her pores, routing a chill she had not known she felt. A shiver caught her unaware, and she struggled briefly against his hold. It was stronger than any she had ever known, far more inescapable than any her husband had ever employed. It seemed to sap her will, so it was all she could do to remain stiff and unyielding in his grasp instead of leaning into its steel-like support.
    â€œRelease me,” she said between her teeth.
    â€œOn the instant, if you will tell me you take my meaning.”
    â€œI may have been careless, but I’m not stupid. I understand perfectly.”
    A short, silent laugh shook him; she felt it. “Valiant and vinegary. It must suffice. Because it does, I will speed the lessons to reach a match with foils as soon as possible. First, however, there are a few more details you should know.”
    As abruptly as he had caught her to him,