Promise of the Rose Read Online Free PDF Page A

him.
    “Yae deceived me!” she cried. “Yae made me believe yae’d let me gae after I tended tae yer wound!”
    “You believed what you chose to believe.” His patience was at an end. “Enough. I demand answers and I demand them now. Who are you and who sent you?”
    She shook her head, tears coming to her eyes, tears that could not, he told himself, affect him. He knew from many years of experience that, with very few exceptions, women were not to be trusted. This one was not one of those exceptions; indeed, she should be mistrusted more than most. She was young but no innocent and no child. Undoubtedly her fear and tears were theatrics.
    “I am nae spy.”
    Another thought had occurred to him. “Or did Malcolm Canmore send you?”
    She started. “Nae! He dinna! I dinna even know him! I am nae spy, I swear tae yae!”
    She was lying. He was certain of it. Just as he was certain now that Malcolm Canmore was behind this treachery. Newfound anger made him doubly grim. “I warn you, demoiselle, I have the means of forcing information from you, and once provoked, I am merciless.”
    “Please! I can explain tae yae. ’tis not what yae think!”
    “Then I suggest you do so now.”
    “I—I am a bastard. Me father is Sinclair o’ Dounreay Castle, me mother a dairymaid,” she blurted, fast.
    He did not raise a brow. Such a claim was only possible if she thought to dupe him, given her absurdly ill-fitting disguise. And it was possible that she was actually some laird’s by-blow. Yet he was certain that she was lying, and she would only be lying if she were a spy. “Eager now to volunteer information, demoiselle? Where is Dounreay?”
    “As far north as ye can gae.” She worried her hands in her lap, not meeting his eyes.
    It was an excellent lie. He would not be able to confirm her parentage in a timely manner, although confirm it, he would. He almost felt a grudging respect for her; she was no fool. And to come to him on such an errand took a great deal of courage. “As far north as you can go,” he repeated. “As far north as the Orkney Islands?”
    She smiled in relief. “Almost.”
    He sat very still, regarding her. It was the first time that she had smiled since he had laid his eyes upon her, and if he had thought her beautiful before, she was gloriousnow. The interrogation had distracted him from his carnal inclinations, but now his blood roiled and his shaft reared rock-hard against his short shift again. Grimly he probed on. “I see. And what brings you so far south to Carlisle?”
    She was flushing crimson, tearing her gaze from his loins. He could almost see her mind working. It was clear to him that she thought frantically for a plausible answer, which puzzled him. If she were as clever as he was becoming convinced that she was, she should have memorized her story far in advance of their meeting. Nor did he understand her blushes.
    “I am from Liddel. My mother was from Liddel.”
    Stephen leaned back against his saddle, clapping his hands twice. “A memorable performance, demoiselle.”
    “Yae dinna believe me?!”
    “I do not believe a single word you have said.”
    She froze, her eyes huge and riveted to his.
    “You have ten seconds, demoiselle, to tell me all of the truth. If you fail to do so, you shall suffer the consequences as forewarned.”
    She gasped, pulling away from him. He knew her intentions the moment that she did. She lurched to her feet, intent on escape. Although there was nowhere for her to run to but into the arms of his men, Stephen responded as any red-blooded male would. Despite the pain that shot through him, he staggered to his feet, too. He caught her at once. She screamed.
    Without another thought, Stephen turned her in his arms and gripped the back of her head and covered her mouth with his.
    He had touched her intimately, but he had not really kissed her. Not in the manner he had wished to, from the moment he first gazed upon her extraordinary face. His kiss was