With Her Kiss (Swords of Passion) Read Online Free PDF Page A

who rode in double file towards the abbess’s main door.
    Geoff fixed the scratchy Benedictine robe at his neck, then eyed Reginald who looked as uncomfortable as Geoff felt. “Natural of them to blame the nuns. No godly woman starves another. Let’s see. I’d count twenty of them. They are in such poor health, we will have no fight.”
    “We hope no more patrol those cellars.” Reginald slid his gaze to the far corner of the cloisters where a small door led down to a lower level. “The carter in Bristol told me more than forty nuns fled when Prince Llewellyn came to call four years ago to claim the land for the Welsh.”
    Geoff shivered in his sopping wet clothes. What must conditions be in that dark and morbid cellar? “Did they not return?”
    “No, my lord. Off they went, he said, some to marry and forsake their vows.”
    “So easily they renounce their calling?” Domine James exclaimed, his face drawn with sadness.
    “The church starved them and taxed them,” Reginald said so quickly that he looked sheepish when James shot him a reproving glance.
    Geoff shook his head in misery. “Then John came along and did the same. No life to be a woman.”
    Reginald frowned at his master, giving no remark, for Geoffrey and he had oft exchanged comments about the abuse of women by church, state and men.
    Geoff scanned the buildings. “I see no guards here. Go in. Find the abbess. Tell her we are the King’s priests come to rest for the night.” Geoff checked James’ expression. “No objection to the lie, I hope.”
    “I serve God, Geoffrey. If what you say is true and we find a woman starving here, then the man who put her there deserves no loyalty or honour.”
    Reginald spurred his horse forward. A tall lean man who resembled a raven, Geoff’s steward was a man of humour and cunning. Reg had been but a boy of ten when Geoff had taken him from John’s household as his page. In the ensuing twelve years, the lad had learnt how to parlay with rogues and nobles alike. Geoff had only to wait for Reg to work his clever tongue.
    Within the hour, the man rode back, his thin face grim.
    “What say you?” Geoffrey prodded him.
    With a nod of sad apology to Domine James, he said, “Harpies, all.”
    The news burned Geoff’s stomach like bile. “And?”
    “The abbess invites you in but demurs to say she cannot keep us longer than a night.”
    “Because?” Geoffrey asked his man, his eyes on two fat nuns who scurried down the pebbled lane to meet him.
    “They have not means. Little food. No money.”
    “I’d say they have more sustenance than they let on. Lies avail them little.” He smiled down at the two women like a man with all the authority of his sovereign. “I bid you good evening. I am Dom Gregory and this is my brother in Christ, Domine James—God’s prelates to the King’s courtiers and to that noble man himself. We travel on business and seek lodgings with you for the night.”
    The older woman, head high, cast speculative eyes upon him.
    “I am most sorry, dear sirs,” said the older and fatter of the two. “I am abbess here. Your man has told me of your needs, but I have no pallet to give you. We are so poor. If you but travel one more mile to—”
    “We cannot, good lady. I am most weary, soaked through from the rains, and need the rest now. A few of our brethren are very ill.”
    “But Dom Gregory, if you but ask at the monastery, they will host pilgrims of your import. And men.” She pulled her cloak tighter at the neck, a protective measure from men’s prying eyes. “Whereas we are only women who—”
    He could have laughed at her fear that his men might desire the nuns for a bit of pleasure. “I assure you my retinue are too tired to think of anything more than rest. If you can put us near a good fire, we have our cloaks to comfort us on your dry stone floors. But I can share our flagons of red wine and if you share your bread and oats, I have coin to offer in gratitude.”
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