Time to Love Again Read Online Free PDF Page B

where she was – and when .
    “If you want to relieve yourself,” said
Theuderic, kneeling beside her to scoop up a handful of the cold
water, “as you must, after so long a ride, go behind those bushes.
You will have privacy there. I’ll see to it.”
    “Thank you.” It was a need that she suddenly
realized was imperative. She rose and started toward the bushes he
had indicated. Halfway across the clearing she understood what his
offer must mean. He knew ! Theuderic was fully aware that
she was no boy . She could think of no other explanation for
what he had said. She spun around, wanting to catch his eye when he
did not expect it, but he was not looking at her. He was helping
Marcion to stack branches and twigs into a mound for their
campfire, while Hugo used flint and a few dry leaves to start a
flame.
    The spot behind the bushes was damp, with a
moldy smell from last autumn’s rotted leaves. It was cold, it was
uncomfortable, and it was decidedly unsanitary, but she had no
choice. When she had finished, she went to the stream to wash her
hands.
    “A very particular boy,” said Theuderic
behind her.
    “What do you want of me?” She spoke sharply,
hoping to elicit from him some admission of his knowledge about
her, but his expression revealed nothing.
    “The truth would be helpful,” he said.
    “I have told you no lies.”
    “If not, then you have surely left out a
goodly portion of your story. I suspect that what you have not said
is more important than what you have admitted.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “I have met a Byzantine Greek or two, and
none of them spoke our tongue with your accent. In fact, the Greeks
I have known have considered themselves so superior to Franks that
they disliked having to learn our language.”
    “Then you may assume that I am not a
Byzantine Greek.”
    “I have already done so,” he told her. “The
question remains – who and what are you? I will know the answers, boy . It would be better for you if you tell me now.”
    “Are you threatening one who wears the royal
medallion?” She was surprised at her own nerve, but the man
terrified her. The feeling had nothing to do with fear of physical
violence from him, for she did not believe he would harm her – at
least not until he had the answers he wanted. It was rather the
sheer physicality of his hard body and the straightforward,
practical thinking he had shown in the way he led his men that awed
her. Having spent most of her life among scholars, she did not know
how to deal with this kind of man, or how to stop her unwanted
response to everything he did or said. At least she would not be in
the same close proximity to him during the night as she had been
forced to endure all day.
    Unfortunately for her self-possession, she
was soon disabused of this belief. The evening meal of dried meat
and somewhat stale bread was scarcely washed down with bad ale
before the men began to roll themselves into their cloaks for the
night. Hugo added more logs to the fire, then went to stand guard
with Marcion. It was then that Theuderic approached India with a
length of hide rope in one hand.
    “You will stay beside me tonight,” he said,
catching her right hand. “This will make certain you follow my
orders.”
    “What are you doing?” she cried, trying to
pull her hand out of his grasp. He was too strong for her to offer
more than a puny resistance. Her wrist was ensnared by the rope and
securely tied in a way that left two long ends of rope dangling.
These Theuderic wrapped around his waist, pulling his armor and his
shirt up high to fasten the knot next to his skin on his right
side.
    “Now,” he said, “you cannot free yourself
without waking me. Stop struggling unless you want the others to
laugh at you and make unseemly remarks about your hairless cheeks.
There are one or two in this band who would not hesitate to make
nasty sport of a pretty boy. I doubt if you would welcome their
embraces or the uses they would