The Virgin's Pursuit Read Online Free PDF Page A

did not succeed.” She rubbed her arms with her hands, as if a chill had settled over her. “Perhaps it is no surprise since I have never—.”
    She waved away whatever she’d been about to say and turned toward the hearth fire, allowing the blaze to warm her instead of his hands. Curse his promise not to touch her unless she wished it. All he needed was a few moments with his hands upon her. His mouth upon her. Then again, had his mouth been ruled out?
    He made a note of that weapon in his store before he returned to an earlier tactic he suspected had yielded at least some awareness on her part.
    â€œDo not think I’ve forgotten my question.” He reached to lightly brush a hand against her skirts. Not enough to touch her leg beneath, but enough to set the worn fabric swaying against her. “Where would we be right now if I had allowed your touch to ensnare me for this child you seek? Did you fashion some kind of hut for yourself, or did you find an abandoned shelter for refuge these past moons?”
    He was genuinely interested. Not having been raised to take care of herself, Isolda showed admirable resolve to survive on her own these months. He could not guess what dangers she must have faced in the wild.
    â€œI found a ramshackle hut and assembled some fallen logs and sticks to fashion a new roof. It is not a fortress, but the spot is well concealed in the landscape so that you must really search to find it.” She had turned to face him as she spoke, her fair features animated as she revealed this small secret. “I transplanted thorny hedges to completely surround it this spring, so it is even more difficult to discover now.”
    â€œA keep is only as strong as its walls.” He enjoyed this vision of her toiling in the soft spring earth, coaxing life from the most dangerous plants to protect herself. “And what of me? When did you first see me venture near your holding?”
    She gave him a wry smile at his use of the term for the home she’d made. It marked the first hint of softening he’d seen in her since he’d revealed the truth of his position.
    â€œI first saw you the week of Twelfth Night.” She paced before the hearth a bit, and he sensed she was trying to warm herself still. “That might have been the only time I saw you leave the forest empty-handed. There was a bitter chill.”
    â€œI searched for you even then.” He remembered those early forays into the woods. “I had not claimed Iness yet, but even then I was touched by the tale of a nobleman’s maiden daughter who ventured out into the forest rather than let a Norman claim her.”
    â€œAll that time you sought me?” She quit her pacing, surprise arching the brows above sky-blue eyes.
    â€œI will not lie—the birds and beasts were plentiful. But I hunted for you as well.” He gestured toward the pallet again, moving farther from the spot himself so that she would not feel threatened. “Sit. You will never warm yourself while you wear wet boots, and I have no other seat to offer in our ransacked keep.”
    She bit her lip a moment, but practicality won out over modesty. Settling herself on the thick fur, she lifted her hem a fraction to expose her bootlaces and went to work unfastening them while he tried not to watch her like a hawk.
    â€œI cannot afford to catch a chill if I wish to escape.” Perhaps she intended the statement as a reminder that he had not won their battle yet, but her defiant warning only made him smile. “Last winter, I feared sickness more than any other predator since I had no one to care for me.”
    His smile vanished. The thought of her helpless and alone was a cold fist in his gut, steeling his resolve to not let her out of his sight in the future. He did not know when she had become so important to him, but he recognized that she had. Perhaps he’d fallen for her long ago, compelled by the whispered