The Mermaid's Knight Read Online Free PDF

wasn’t such a bad man after all, just a hard one.
    “Don’t thank me, wench,” he growled. “I’ve still half a mind to hand you over to my men and see if twenty of them plowing you won’t cause you to open your mouth.” Her smile turned into a scowl and she stomped her foot down on his leather-clad one. He chuckled and tucked the cloak about her body, winding the cloak tightly around her so that she could scarce move her arms. “Bundled well, now?”
    She nodded uneasily.
    Two seconds later, he hoisted her off the ground and tossed her over his shoulder. The air slammed out of her midsection when it impacted with his shoulder, and she nearly gagged at the sensation. Then the earth began to weave and rock as he strode across the sandy beach, her body wrapped up like some sort of overlarge burrito over his shoulder.
    His large hand rested on her rump, and she could feel the warmth even through the blanket. “I suppose that I shall have to figure out what to do with you, my lovely little spy, if you insist on escaping and running through my camp naked. Your presence is disturbing my men.” Leah remained silent – what could she say to that? It wasn’t as if she enjoyed being naked around all these men.
    “Not to worry,” the baron was speaking again, even as he strode into the middle of camp.
    “The defenses of the castle have fallen and we shall be sleeping in real quarters tonight. Which means that the donjon is free, as well.”
    She shivered at that. Was he going to lock her up? She wiggled on his shoulder, trying to express her displeasure at that thought.
    In response, she got a slap on her behind. An outraged squeal escaped her. He laughed at her outrage and left his hand on her backside, a feeling that Leah found distinctly unnerving.
    The walk down the rocky shore and back up the cliffs to camp seemed endless. Just when her senses were nearly rocked to sleep, the world flipped on her again and she was dumped unceremoniously on her feet. Leah struggled to keep the cloak around her body and shot an angry look at her captor.
    He laughed at the expression on her face. “Perhaps next time you’ll hone those fine escape skills, eh my little spy?”
    Leah lifted her chin and gave him her haughtiest look.
    The baron’s fingers grabbed one edge of her mantle warningly. “Stay close. I don’t want to have to hunt you down again.”
    She tried to snatch the cloak back from him, but he held the corner just out of her reach, and it was causing the rest of her covering to become dangerously loose. Worried, she slid closer to him and huddled near his arm, using him to shield her against the bitter wind. To her surprise, he put a warm arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. It seemed like a possessive move, but he was warm and a good shield against prying eyes, so she let him.
    “Royce,” called one of the men, and to her surprise, the baron answered. So she knew his name now, she mused. It suited him somehow.
    “What is it, Guy?” He turned to the tall, lanky man heading straight for the two of them.
    “You wanted a quick reconnoiter of the castle itself, my lord.” The man spared her a quick, scathing glance that told Leah she hadn’t made any friends while she was sleeping. “The peasants are just about rounded up and the fires put out. How is your spy?”
    “Determined to share my bed tonight if she doesn’t open her pretty mouth, it’d seem.” Royce grinned at Guy and laughed when Leah’s bare foot stomped down on his own. “She’s a spitfire, if not overly intelligent.”
    How dare he? She tried to jerk the cloak from him again. Like hell she was going to share his bed. She’d sleep in the dungeon first. She shrugged off his heavy arm and turned away, letting him know with her stiff posture that she was not happy.
    Royce ignored her feeble protests and looped his arm over her shoulders again, continuing to discuss the castle fortifications with Guy and what would need to be replaced.