The Shattered Rose Read Online Free PDF Page B

you."
    "I did nothing!"
    "You dedicate your life to spoiling mine!"
    "I, my Lord Galeran, have better things to do with my life than plan misfortunes for you."
    "Then apply yourself to them as a proper maiden should."
    But even as they squabbled, their eyes tangled in a new kind of awareness.
    "Did he really whip you?" Galeran asked.
    Her lids hid her eyes. "He had me whipped."
    "Ah, is that the secret of it?"
    Her lids rose, revealing fire. "Whip me or have me whipped, Galeran, and you'll rue it."
    As he retreated to the relative safety of swords and horses and grappling irons, Galeran knew it was true. He could enforce his will, yes. He was a man with strength, power,
    and the weight of the law on his side. But if he ever pushed matters that far, Jehanne would die before submitting.
    On the other hand, she was still a thorn in his flesh and had to be handled somehow. The way he'd most like to handle her was not yet blessed, and so he did his best to avoid her for the remaining week.
    It wasn't easy when he was heated by the mere sight of her, and maddened by the brush of her arm against his at dinner, or the trace of her subtle perfume in the air.
    Perhaps she had no idea of the effect she was having, or the power of lust in a young, healthy male. If she had, surely she wouldn't keep teasing him.
    He tried to stay out of her way, but she became diabolically good at turning up wherever he was. He grew clever at evading her touch, but she seemed to be always trying to touch him. Then she found ways to dress and move that made him not want to evade her at all.
    But by prayer and will he held out.
    Until he awoke one morning two days before the wedding to find her sitting cross-legged on his bed.
    "Hell's flames, Jehanne. What are you doing here?"
    "You've been avoiding me, Galeran." Her hair hung loose, and she wore only a light kirtle in a bewitching shade of pink.
    Galeran fought the need to drag her beneath the sheets. "That means I don't want to see you. Go away."
    "No."
    "Then I'll leave."
    As he pushed back the covers, she said, "I've thrown all your clothes out the window."
    "What? " He saw his chest standing open and empty, and laughed at her. "Do you think I'm shy, you silly girl?" He leaped out of bed and faced her naked.
    Then froze.
    What in the name of the Savior did he think he was doing? Now she'd shriek and they'd have the whole castle down on them.
    He should have known better. She showed no alarm, but looked him over, eyes a little wide, cheeks as pink as her kirtle, but otherwise composed. "Not bad. You're growing."
    And he was stuck there, exposed to her scrutiny. He couldn't lose face by dashing back beneath the covers, but he had no clothes to put on. So he did the only thing he could and looked her over in turn. "I suppose you're growing too, but it's hard to tell when you're covered."
    Her eyes widened a little more, then she began to pull up her skirt.
    He lunged forward and grabbed her hand. "No!"
    "No? You dared me."
    "I did not."
    "It sounded like a dare to me. I won't refuse a dare."
    "Then, by the Cross, I dare you to jump out of the window after my clothes!"
    She met his eyes. "Only if you do too. Hand in hand into eternity, Galeran . . ."
    And he'd known, terrifyingly, that she would do it.
    He was still gripping her, and she turned his hand in hers, shifting it so he brushed her breast, her small, high breast, with the nipple clearly felt through the fine cloth. "You see. I am growing." Then she looked down and smiled. "And so are you."
    He knew he was. For the first time, lust was hitting him hard and with immediate purpose. He'd lusted before, but never with a woman—a special woman—so close, so available, so hot beneath his hand.
    He began to tremble. "We can't. . ."
    "Of course we can't. But we can kiss. You owe me a kiss."
    "Jehanne, no. I can't. . ." He couldn't find the words to explain the danger, the danger that he would lose control of this ravening beast.
    But perhaps she