The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest Read Online Free PDF Page B

it seemed Jorgen would not tell what had happened, Mathis said, “We were both learning to read and write at the Thornbeck School for Boys, but with very different . . . childhood upbringings.”
    Jorgen shot Mathis a warning look, which made Mathis shake his head. “But Jorgen has done well for himself, much better than . . .”
    Odette held her breath, waiting to see what Mathis would say. Finally, he ended the sentence with, “the old gamekeeper who raised him.”
    So the old gamekeeper raised him but was not his father? Jorgen’s look turned even more hostile, and Mathis added, “And now here we are, dancing in the town square with beautiful maidens on this Midsummer night.”
    “Were you good students?” Odette asked.
    Mathis turned his head to one side. “I was a good student.”
    Jorgen snorted.
    Mathis laughed. “Very well. I was not a good student, nor was I well behaved. I wanted to be running in the sunshine and playing games. Jorgen was a much more attentive student than I.”
    Anna, who had been standing nearby listening, spoke up. “I was not a good student, either, though my mother forced me to attend the girls’ school. Odette is quite a scholar, however.” She nodded proudly at Odette. “She has a tutor, a monk who comes two days every week to teach her to read and write in Latin and French.”
    They all turned their attention to Odette. She shrugged. “My uncle humors me, even though he doesn’t understand why I love to study. I enjoy learning languages and . . . other things.” She decided not to reveal why she had not attended the town school for girls with Anna—or that Brother Philip was teaching her theology. He would only teach her theology if she vowed not to reveal it.
    “Shall we dance some more?” Peter, who stood beside his wife, urged them all back toward the dancing and music. He could not know how frightened Odette was of the man she had felt such an attraction to only minutes before, frightened of what he could and would do to her if he discovered she was poaching the margrave’s deer. Just thinking of him delivering her up to be thrown into the margrave’s dungeon made her skin prickle.
    She and Jorgen danced the next song together, and the next and the next. Perhaps she should have excused herself and danced with someone else, but Mathis did not return. The longer she danced with Jorgen, the more she was able to enjoy it and forget that he was the forester.
    In fact, they danced until the Minnesingers began to play closerto the bonfire, now lit and starting to roar at the other end. They agreed they did not wish to join the drunken merrymaking around the fire. Jorgen kept hold of her hand a bit longer than was necessary. His touch made her heart flutter.
    She caught her breath. How could she be foolish about this man she had just met? Had she forgotten what he could do to her? She must be a lack wit.
    Uncle Rutger came toward them. “What a merry party you four make, dancing and laughing. Jorgen, you must come to our home for Odette’s birthday feast in two nights. You will be most welcome. Peter and Anna will be there as well.”
    Oh, dear heavenly saints. Uncle Rutger must not know Jorgen was the forester.
    Jorgen consented to come, and after the details were conveyed of the time and location of their house, Jorgen turned to Odette. “Until then.”
    Would he kiss her hand? But he only smiled, bowed, and walked away.
    As Peter and Uncle Rutger escorted Anna and Odette home, Odette couldn’t help but wonder what the reaction of Peter, Anna, and the handsome young forester would be if they ever discovered that she was poaching the margrave’s deer and giving the meat to the poor. The fact that Jorgen’s adoptive father, the old gamekeeper, was shot and killed by a poacher a few years ago would make Jorgen hate her.
    Her heart constricted painfully in her chest. There was only one thing to do: never get caught.

4

    J ORGEN WALKED CAREFULLY through the thick