Immortal Warrior Read Online Free PDF

willingly. You will gain even more land.”
    “I have land enough for now.”
    “And you have it with or without me, so what difference if I g—” She stopped herself too late.
    He jumped on her error. “So you were planning to run. Where?”
    “Nowhere.”
    Glowering, he started toward her. “Do not lie to me, woman. Where were you going?”
    Alaida tugged at the yards of wool. “I will not . . .”
    The sentence went unfinished as he reached for her and she jerked away. Her skirts pulled her off balance, and he caught her as she started to fall, one arm around her waist, and pulled her hard against his chest.
    She froze, and a long moment of silence stretched, in which she could see the anger in him fading, only to be replaced by something far more dangerous. She wanted to look away, but she found herself trapped by the dark blue flint of his eyes, by the tangy smell of sweat and steel, and most of all, by the warmth of his body, even through all the layers of cloth and mail between them. Or was it her own heat? She was suddenly unsure.
    “You are caught,” he said softly.
    He threaded his other arm behind her and lowered his head. He was going to kiss her, she thought, and her breath hung in her throat on a soft ah .
    But no, he kept going, leaning past her shoulder as he reached behind her. There was a groan of metal, and she was free—but not from Ivo. He kept his hold as he straightened.
    “The lid had closed on your gown,” he explained.
    “M—” She had to swallow to find her voice. “My thanks, my lord.”
    “I ask again, where were you going?”
    “Nowh—” His arm tightened slightly, just enough to warn her she would not win this battle. “To a convent.”
    “I can think of few women less suited to life as a nun.”
    “You know nothing of me and what I am suited to.” She tried to push free, but she might as well have been shoving against a wall. “You know nothing of me at all. Release me.”
    “You are going nowhere, Alaida. Resign yourself to that fact.” He adjusted his hold slightly, but kept her caught there, so she was forced to look up at his stern face, just inches away. “And as for what I know . . . I already know you have a tongue that can be sharper than a carter’s whip. I know you have a spirit that would fester in a nunnery. And I know that, even though you would deny it, you wonder why I didn’t kiss you a moment ago and what it would have been like if I had.”
    “Bah. You are as full of yourself as Sir Neville.”
    “Is that his name? Did he kiss you?”
    She shuddered, just thinking of it. “No.”
    “Good,” said Ivo. And then he did, briefly, but enough to send sparks flying through her blood. She tried to keep from showing its effect, but she could tell by his smile that he knew he’d proved his point.
    “No convent,” he said.
    She didn’t answer, and his smile faded.
    “By all that . . .” His jaw clamped as he visibly worked to tamp his temper down. When he spoke, his voice was clipped with the effort. “I would be within my rights to make you wife within the hour, and you sorely tempt me to do so.” He ran a callused thumb across the apple of her cheek as though smudging away some mark. “But I vowed before I arrived that I would give you a day to reconcile yourself to this marriage. Do not make me regret the courtesy. I do not wish to spend the next fortnight tearing down an abbey stone by stone.”
    “You would not dare.”
    “I would, and not for the first time,” he said darkly, and Alaida knew in her heart he told the truth. He said again, “No convent. Swear it.”
    What kind of man was he, to attack an abbey? The answer was too clear: William’s man. William, who ravaged entire shires simply to prove his power. What would this de Vassy do to prove his? What if he took his wrath out on the village? Suddenly frightened, she gave in—but still she hedged.
    “No convent.” There were places other than convents for a woman to find refuge. There must be.
    “Good,” he said, and satisfied, settled her