The Lady and the Knight (Highland Brides) Read Online Free PDF Page B

startling Boden from his thoughts. "Keep him quiet," he warned. He had seen only one brigand, but he had no reason to think others weren't close by. His motto was— keep your head down and don't court trouble. Twas a coward's motto, he knew, but so far as he could tell it was the only thing that had kept his neck between his head and his shoulders this long.
    "Shhh, wee babe," crooned the woman, gently jostling the child in his strange sling. Her fair head was sprinkled with twigs and leaves and bent over the infant.
    Whoever this woman was, she had endured a great deal in the past few days, enough to be willing to challenge an armed knight with nothing more than a small dirk and a tigress's maternal instincts. "Hush now, my love."
    But the squalling didn't cease and grated on Boden's well-honed sense of survival. "What seems to be amiss?" he asked gruffly.
    "He is hungry."
    Boden found no words as the thought of what that meant came home to him. He wasn't the kind of man who was comfortable amidst women or the babes they nursed. But he knew enough to realize an infant this young was sustained by mother's milk alone. The idea of cradling this woman between his thighs while she bared her breasts sent all his blood pumping from his heart to more intimate regions. Regions best left forgotten until this woman was deposited somewhere safe. And yet, he could hardly allow the babe to go on squalling.
    He forced himself not to squirm in the saddle. "Then feed him."
    "I canna."
    So whoever she was, she was still modest enough to be embarrassed by such circumstances.
    The babe yelled louder. Looking over Bernadette's shoulder, Boden could see a small fist waving wildly in time with the screams.
    "Tis not the place for feminine sensibilities," he said. "Such ungodly racket will draw every blackguard from here to the ends of Christendom. Feed the child."
    "I canna," she repeated, then straightened even more, but the movement pushed her off balance.
    She gasped as she slipped, babe and all, toward the ground.
    Dropping the reins, Boden grabbed her by the arm and dragged her back up. Pain ripped through his battered body.
    "Sit up proper!" he growled, and reaching about her, grabbed one thigh to pull it over the saddle's pommel. She straightened with her backside dead center against his hardening member. The pain in his arm was immediately forgotten as he ground his teeth and grappled to retain his senses.
    For a moment she had grasped his sleeve and turned toward him in alarm. Her cheeks were flushed a wild-cherry red. Her eyes were wide and lovely, stirring sharp, defensive feelings Boden would have sworn were long dead. Her bottom, however, pressed firm and round against his nether parts, evoked feelings that had nothing whatsoever to do with defenses and everything to do with the kind of raging desires that could get a careless man killed.
    The noise from the babe had not abated a whit.
    "Feed him," he repeated, his tone somewhat hoarse.
    "I told ye, I canna." Her voice was no more than a softly burred whisper, making him lean closer to hear.
    He scowled down at her. "I think it would be kinder to consider the babe's needs than your own misplaced discomfort. I swear I won't look."
    The silence lay heavy around them, but for the muffled clop of Mettle's iron-shod hooves.
    "I do not have milk." She said the words in a rush without turning toward him.
    He scowled. "So twas more refined to pay another than to see to the task yourself?" he asked.
    Silence again, then, "I had no milk to give him."
    He scowled at the back of her head, thinking. "So this Shona that stole your mount, she fed the babe in your stead?"
    "She did not steal Reul," Sara corrected, peeved against her better judgment. "She was Scots and thus loyal to her death. She but went for help. And aye, she was wee John's nursemaid." She lifted the child, sling and all, to her shoulder, patting him gently. The squawks turned to whimpers.
    Boden grimaced as he turned his attention