Vow of Seduction Read Online Free PDF Page A

Rand. Nor do I blame you. But if you need my forgiveness, you have it.”
    “But I was—”
    “Nay, Rand. My stay in prison is in the past, where it belongs. I managed to escape and now all I long for is to begin my life anew as a free man.” And see that the traitor responsible for my captivity pays with his life, Alex thought, jaw clenched tight.
    Rand nodded, his shoulders shuddering. Then his gaze cleared, and leaning forward, Rand rested his forearms on his thighs, probing, “How did you manage to finally escape?”
    Alex waved away his question and reached for the pair of hose on top of a pile of clothing next to Rand. Rand had pilfered the garments from his own wardrobe for Alex to wear until he could make other arrangements. Alex had rushed from Briand Castle to Westminster the moment he learned of Kat’s marriage and therefore had naught but the clothes on his back. Rags, really.
    His hose tied, Alex pulled on a linen sherte and an unadorned calf-length blue tunic over that. “There will be plenty of time for me to answer all your questions later, Rand. Right now, I have more important matters on my mind, and I don’t want to keep my wife waiting any longer.”
    Rand’s eyes widened, incredulous. “Your wife? Now you claim Kat your wife?” He shook his blond head pityingly. “You may bet Kat shall disagree with your claim. Indeed, you are going to have an uphill battle trying to convince her of that. After I returned from Crusade, she did not speak to me for a whole year because I kept my silence about your intentions.”
    He did not delude himself into thinking it would be easy. Indeed, frustration gnawed at him. Alex rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the painful knot at the base of his neck. With his abandonment, he had destroyed all trust between him and Kat. If he was to succeed in his endeavor, he had to prove to Kat that he could be trusted. And he could. Alex would rather tear out his own heart than hurt her again.
    But he had no idea how to begin without losing all pride in the process. He did not think she would be satisfied until he crawled to her on his hands and knees and begged her forgiveness. And even then she would just laugh in his face.
    Rand stood up and paced away, shoving his hand through his shoulder-length hair. “As you may imagine, it was quite a shock when you barged into the chapel. ’Tis still hard to grasp you were never dead, but held in a Saracen prison all this time.”
    Alex gritted his teeth, seething with jealousy. “Not nearly as shocking as returning home to learn I was considered dead and my wife about to become a bigamist, not to mention an adulteress.”
    Rand dropped his gaze, cleared his throat and looked everywhere but at him. When his eyes alighted on a stool, he reached for it and plunked it down before him. “Sit. I shall remove that foul-looking beard so you do not frighten the ladies.” Then he retrieved a small leather case on a table by the bathing room door.
    Alex was not fooled. Rand was hiding something. “Very well.” Alex sat and Rand draped a towel over his shoulders. “But afterward, I want to know what I said to make you as skittish as a virgin bride.”
    Rand’s eyes widened, then dropped once again to the task at hand, neither confirming nor denying his accusation. At the first scrape of the razor on his neck, Alex flinched and the blade nicked his skin. A bead of blood rolled down his neck.
    “Be still. Do you want me to slit your throat?” Though Rand’s voice was stern, his eyes were sympathetic.
    Alex relaxed and looked away, hating that he had revealed so much. Any sign of weakness and his enemy would gain the upper hand. For now the man responsible for his imprisonment was unaware Alex had evidence his attack was no random act. And he intended to keep it that way. He needed to keep a cool head and remember he was no longer at the mercy of his cutthroat captors. His slavery was a thing of the past, not his future.
    When he