My Valiant Knight Read Online Free PDF Page B

next to Ronald and Ugly.
     
     
    “An odd young woman,” murmured Michael Surtane as he sidled closer to his cousin Gabel after Ainslee left.
    “Odd?” Gabel asked, ignoring his cousin’s intent stare.
    “She acts like no lady I have ever met before.”
    “I was not in Scotland long before I learned one cannot judge the women here as one does the ladies in France or England.”
    “I was thinking of the Scottish lasses I have met when I spoke. She is not like them either.”
    Gabel laughed softly. “I concede, cousin. Aye, m’lady MacNairn is not like any other lady you or I know. Methinks she has had an unusual raising.”
    “True. One must not forget who her father is.”
    “Nay, there is a harsh truth and a wise warning.” He frowned at Ainslee, her slim form nearly hidden by the shadows at the back of the cave, and inwardly sighed, a little astonished at the sudden confusion of emotion he was afflicted with. “ ’Tis strange, but I do not sense any of Duggan MacNairn’s taint within her. ’Tis as if the man has had little or nothing to do with her.”
    Michael nodded, glancing briefly at Ainslee before returning to his close study of his cousin. “I noticed that you had a sharp interest in her.”
    “She is intriguing. The girl has skills more suited to a man, and I believe there is a keen wit behind those fine blue eyes.”
    “And under that heavy, glorious hair you are so bewitched by.”
    “Ah, I begin to see what may concern you, cousin. Do not fear. I am not so bewitched that I forget who and what she is—a MacNairn and a prisoner for ransom.” Gabel smiled with a mixture of amusement and curiosity when his cousin frowned. “You look as if you have suffered some disappointment.”
    “Nay.” Michael grimaced and ran his fingers through his dark hair, then laughed softly. “You have ever been the one with the coolest blood, and we owe our lives to it. ’Tis but, well, just once I should like to see you beguiled by a lovely face, and Mistress MacNairn has the fairest face I have seen in many a year.”
    “That she has. Howbeit, I learned at a young age that ’tis dangerous to allow a fair face to beguile me. Such foolishness nearly cost me my life once, and it did end the life of my good friend. If I had not been so blinded by Lady Eleanor’s fair face, I would have seen the treachery she worked:”
    “Gabel, that was nearly ten years ago. You were but a boy, untried and easily led,” Michael complained as he poked a stick into the waning fire.
    “And I learned my lesson well. As you said—you owe your lives to it.”
    “Well, aye, but ’twould make the rest of us feel better if you stumbled in your perfection a time or two.”
    Gabel laughed and clapped his cousin on the back before moving to seek his own bed. “I have never been perfect, Michael. You know that as well as any can. I have simply taken to heart a lesson painfully learned—cool blood and following one’s head, not one’s heart or passions, is the best way to stay alive. Wake me if the storm wanes, or if I am needed to stand a watch.”
    “Do you think there may be some trouble?”
    “In this weather? Nay. Howbeit, keep a watch, for one must always be wary in this land.”
    As Gabel settled himself on his meager bed of blanket and rock near the right side of the cave, he fought the urge to look over at Ainslee, and failed miserably. Even as he shifted his weary body until her slight form was in view, he cursed himself as a weak fool. He had indulged in a false boast when he had not argued Michael’s opinion that he was ever cold-blooded and clearheaded, but he did not wish to expose what lay beneath his armor and somber facade. If his own men knew of the turmoil within him, of the constant battle he fought to make calm thought overwhelm discordant emotion, they would undoubtedly question his ability to command.
    From the moment he had set eyes on Ainslee MacNairn, he knew he faced one of his toughest battles with