Mystique Read Online Free PDF Page B

to be my lot in life. I have grown accustomed to it.”
    “True enough. Nothing seems to come easy, does it? You’d think the Saints would take pity on us once in a while.”
    “I will do whatever I must to hold on to Scarcliffe, Dunstan.”
    “I do not doubt that. All I ask, my lord, is that you usesome caution in your dealings with Lady Alice. Something tells me that even the stoutest of knights could easily come to a bad end around her.”
    Hugh nodded to indicate that he had taken heed of the warning but he silently consigned it to the nether regions. This morning he would strike his bargain with the mysterious and unpredictable Lady Alice. He fully intended that the lady, for all her clever ways and proud airs, would discover that she had gotten more than she had expected.
    Last night, sensing that he might be up against a more wily adversary than he had first anticipated, Hugh had announced to the crowded hall that he did not do business in public. He had told Alice that he would discuss the bargain alone with her today.
    In truth he had postponed the negotiations because he had wanted time to contemplate this new knot in what had become an exceedingly tangled skein.
    Hugh reflected that he had received several dire warnings during the course of this venture. But no one had warned him about Alice.
    The first clue to her nature had come early in the evening when her uncle had heaved a long-suffering sigh at the mention of her name. The lady, it seemed, was a great trial to Ralf.
    Based on what little he had learned, Hugh had expected to find himself dealing with a bitter, petulant spinster possessed of a tongue that could flay a man alive. The only part of the description that proved to be accurate was the bit about her tongue. It was clear that Alice did not hesitate to speak her mind.
    Her bold speech aside, the woman who had confronted him in the hall last night had been quite different from the one Ralf had described.
    Alice was not bitter, Hugh realized at once. She was determined. He recognized the difference immediately. She was not petulant, she was strong-minded and no doubt a good deal more intelligent than those around her. A difficult woman, mayhap, but definitely an interesting one.
    From Ralf’s description of his niece, Hugh had expected to find himself confronting a towering creature constructed along the same lines as his war-horse.
    He had been in for a surprise.
    Lady Alice was very slender and elegantly graceful. There was naught about her to remind him of his war-horse. Her long green gown had skimmed the curves of her supple body, hinting at breasts the size of ripe peaches, a tiny waist, and lushly rounded hips.
    Dunstan was correct on one count, Hugh acknowledged. There was certainly sufficient fire in Alice to burn any man and it started with her hair. The flame-colored tresses had been bound in a sparkling gold net that had gleamed in the glow of the hearth.
    Her face was fine-boned with a firm nose, a forceful little jaw, and an expressive mouth. Her eyes were huge. They tilted slightly upward at the corners. Delicate red brows arched provocatively above them. Pride and spirit were evident in the set of her shoulders and the angle of her chin. She was a woman who drew a man’s gaze not because she was beautiful, although she was far from plain, but because she compelled attention.
    Alice was not a woman to be ignored.
    If she was embittered at finding herself unwed at the age of three and twenty as Ralf had indicated, Hugh saw no evidence of it. Indeed, he had a strong suspicion that she enjoyed not having to answer to a husband, a fact that might pose a small problem for him. But Hugh considered himself adept at solving problems.
    “Lady Alice wishes to bargain with you,” Dunstan said. “What do you think she seeks in exchange for helping you find the green stone?”
    “Mayhap some books,” Hugh said absently. “According to her uncle, she is very fond of them.”
    Dunstan grunted.