Music for My Soul Read Online Free PDF

lies.
    Uneasily, the woman gave her a cautious pat.
    Madeleine did her best to look distraught. “My father refused to give me in marriage to one of the men outside,” she told the wife. “He is desperate to marry a fortune, having gambled his own away. He is mean and cruel, and he has taken me from my home.”
    Madeleine glanced over her shoulder and turned back to the woman. “The dark-haired one is a devil! He wouldn’t take no for an answer and stole me from my very bed. We ride to London as soon as his horse has been shod. Will you help me? I beg you.”
    The woman studied Madeleine carefully. Her eyes lit up as Madeleine slid the coins from her pocket and offered them to her.
    “Help me hide, and these are yours. After they leave, I can find my way to my brother. He lives just inside the southern gates of London. He will protect me.”
    Madeleine’s lips trembled, and, surprised, she realized she actually felt the desperation she tried to portray.
    After a while, the older woman finally spoke. “I will help you,” she agreed, taking both coins. They spoke briefly and, together, hatched a quick plan.
    Opening the door, Madeleine saw the blacksmith hard at work, Ebony’s hoof in his hand as he attached the repaired shoe. Garrett and Ashby appeared deep in conversation, both men facing the smith, watching him. Madeleine nodded, and the smith’s wife approached her rescuers, two cups in her hand.
    “Welcome, my fine gentlemen! Welcome! I have brought you some refreshment. You are parched, I am sure, from a long ride. Come, have a bit of ale.” She circled around them so that both men turned away from the smith to face her.
    “Many thanks,” Garrett said.
    “We are most obliged,” Ashby told her.
    As they held the cups up and tilted the cool contents to their dry mouths, Madeleine sneaked quietly from the doorway and went to the back of the shed. As promised, she found the loose board. She lifted it and slipped through the tight space, hearing the woman’s noisy conversation in the distance.
    Mother of God . She is loud enough to awaken the king in London. Gratefully, though, Madeleine found herself at the far end of the shed, where the hay was plentiful. She remained low to the ground, covering herself with the dry stalks till she was hidden from view.
    Garrett could feel the slight tinge of a headache. On the woman prattled. “’Tis a great day when two such fine lords visit our humble establishment. Many ride on to London, but my husband does a better job than any smith around. May I get such important gentlemen some bread? More ale, perhaps?”
    Garrett replied, “Bread and more ale would be nice. And I know our traveling companion would like some, too.”
    The woman stared blankly at him. “Milord?” she asked, her brown face wrinkled in puzzlement.
    “The lady with us,” Garrett insisted. “She went to ask if you would provide us a small meal.”
    “I spoke to no one.”
    Garrett instantly knew that the unknown woman had fled their company. He might never discover her identity. Despite her lies, something about her spoke to him. Touched him. He needed to find her now. Learn her name. Learn why she pretended to be his wife.
    He broke out into a full run toward the cottage then slowed to an awkward trot as his sore body protested the sudden movement. He rounded the back of the cottage, searching in both directions.
    She wasn’t there.
    Quickly, he raced back to the front, slamming straight into Ashby as he came around the corner.
    “What’s the matter, Garrett? Lose something? Or someone?”
    Garrett brushed him aside and burst into the thatched bungalow. He growled low in his throat, storming about the tiny space, lifting a stool and tossing it aside, pushing the straw mattress around with his foot, then picking up a dish and catching himself before he sent it slamming to the ground.
    Ashby entered and watched his antics.
    Garrett shook his head. “Not a trace of her, Ash. She’s