The Winter Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

wished Henry looked a bit more able to look after himself, and her. She noticed that he was using his left arm and hand as much as possible, as if he had been wounded in his right arm. He was right-handed; he wore his knife on his left hip and the scabbard for the sword hung on the left side of the saddle. Yesterday he had used his right arm more. He had certainly used it to hold her when he had first put her on Solomon.
    S lowly she looked around the room, trying to work out which of their fellow travellers looked most suspicious.
    “Stop that.” Henry was quiet, but firm. “You look worried and that will attract their attention.”
    In response she fixed her eyes on him.
    “If outlaws and vagabonds were that easy to spot no one would be robbed on the king’s highways ,” he said.
    “I am only a servant,” she said. “Servants are allowed to be afraid.”
    She thought he was trying not to grin, but he said, “No servant of mine would be afraid.”
    She laughed at that and he frowned while she controlled herself. When she had calmed down she said , “You look like a peasant on a stolen horse. Everyone in this room has probably already picked us out as the easiest target for thieves and murderers, but the one least likely to yield any reward.”
    “I do not look like a peasant.”
    “You don’t talk like a peasant , but you look like one.”
    “How many peasants are there in the convent?”
    Eleanor opened her mouth, only to shut it again.
    “You have no idea what a peasant looks like. I am a soldier and I look like a soldier.”
    “Then let us hope that the thieves and vagabonds do not make the same mistake that I did.”
    Eleanor returned her attention to her food, angry at Henry for not telling her more. It was a peace offering when she said, “Tell me what to do if we’re attacked.” It was an unpleasant thought, but she had heard many tales in the convent of travellers robbed and even murdered on the roads.
    Henry looked slightly surprised, then recovered himself. “Keep holding onto me. Solomon will do a better job of getting us out of trouble than I will.”
    Eleanor tried to hide her disappointment. He had been joking when he had said his servant would not be afraid. She had expected Henry to explain that he was an experienced soldier and that she had nothing to fear, but he was relying on a horse. She was in even more trouble than she thought.
     
    The ostler was very short-tempered when they went to fetch Solomon. A bruise darkened the left side of his face and Eleanor was surprised that a man who worked with horses had allowed himself to be kicked by one. He was lucky to be alive. She wondered if he could have received the bruise in another way, but the skin was broken in a way that suggested that he had, indeed, been kicked by a horse.
    “You couldn’t keep away from my horse, could you?” asked Henry with a grin as he led the way into the stable with the saddle.
    “Did he hurt you very much?” asked Eleanor, concerned that the ostler might have a serious injury.
    The ostler growled and made a gesture that Eleanor guessed was meant to be offensive. Henry changed direction and approached the man, who moved quickly away to another part of the stable. Solomon neighed as he heard Eleanor’s voice and it was her turn to grin. She started talking to him as she approached and then began to prepare him for the day. Henry put the saddle on him, then she led him out to the courtyard. Solomon followed her happily and she held his head while Henry mounted. He pulled her up behind him and she had to bite her lip to stop from crying out at the pain. She was shaking as she put her arms around Henry.
    “It hurts, doesn’t it?”
    She nodded, confident that he would feel the movement against his back.
    “I have nothing that will help, but there might be a physician in the next town.”
    “Some balm would help.”
    “Very well. Hold on tight. We have to go fast, so it will hurt even more.”
    “I