The High Sheriff of Huntingdon Read Online Free PDF Page B

trust him at all. He reminded her of one of her father’s stewards, a man who had been found guilty of cri m es too numerous to mention, both financial and so cial, a man whose hideous death she didn’t care to remember.
    Carefully, gently, she detached her hand. “I appreciate your offer,” she murmured, slipping in the door a s H elva’s snores continued to fill the landing.
    “I won’t let him hurt you,” Gilles swore. “I’ll help you escape before I would let that happe n.”
    She should have jumped at the hint of an offer. If Alistair hadn’t kissed her with that odd blend of anger and desperation, she might have.
    But he had kissed her. And for the time being, she was in no rush to leave.
    “Good night,” she murmured, closing the door behind her.
    And from beyond the heavy wood she heard his voice, shy and earnest and ju s t faintly breathless. “Good night, dear lady.” Just before he turned the heavy lock.
     
    Alistair Darcourt was getting very d ru n k indeed. He’d dismissed the t w o women, though he had l i t t l e doubt he could summon t h e m back if he were to change his mind.
    He wasn’t about to. He had other things to d e a l with, th i n g s a great d e a l more troubling th a n climbing between the le g s of a pair of overly willing wenches.
    White and black they shall combine . The words rang in his head, and he stared at his r e fl e c t i on in the polished silver goblet with moody rage. There w a s n ’ t a soul much blacker than his was, from his midnight b l a c k hair to the black velvet clothes he favored, a l l the way down to his undeniably black heart.
    And there wasn’t much w h i te r than a flaxen-haired, white-robed nun w h o was st i l l as pu r e and virginal as the day she came into the world. White and black they shall combine. He didn’t w a nt to combine with her. If he had any sense at all he’d send her back to the convent, as she’d begged him to.
    It wasn’t as if he had need of a woman. There were dozens around eager to do his bidding if he so much as nodded in their direction. And there would be no ne e d to give back Dunstan Woods. They were h i s now, a n d if it hadn’t b e e n for his cursed mother he never would have bothered with this farce of a marriage, but simply taken the Woods from Gaveland in the first place.
    But his mother was firm in her demands, a n d he w a s to ge t the woods by peaceful m e a n s , with no bloodshed. He was used to the shedding of blood, to taking what he w a nt e d . It was a v i o l e n t time, and the only way to rise in the world wa s to play t h e game. He’d risen rapidly in King John’s employ through his cunning and daring, through his ability to make himself invaluable to his lord and liege. He’d been suitably rewarded. Huntingdon w a s one of the richest fiefdoms in all of E n g l a n d , and he was the sheriff, serving under K i n g John’s absent rule, and the profits and p o w e r that came to him were enormous.
    Not that he was a man condemned to use brute f o rc e to achieve his ends. He w as equally adept at threats a n d manipulation. There had never been a t im e when he hadn’t gotten what he wanted, settled a score, waged a battle, and won. He was all-powerful, and he intended to stay that way.
    But that flaxen-haired wife of his was a definite danger. He wasn’t sure what had made him kiss her. Maybe the thought that she dared stand there, still in her nun’s clothes with the ring of Christ on her finger, not his . She looked at him out of those cool, defiant blue eyes, and he wanted nothing more than to take her. To show her that when he cared to exert his power, s h e ’ d have no chance against him at all.
    But Lord, she was innocent! She’d never felt a man’s tongue in her mouth, she hadn’t even realized the almost painful arousal she’d burned into his body, something more overwhelming than he’d felt in months. Perhaps years. Her struggles hadn’t daunted him; her