A Knight Of Her Dreams (Knights of Passion) Read Online Free Page A

his head. “Your father cares nothing for you, Rowena. You were merely a counter to him, to be used to increase his own wealth. You are mine, to do with as I wish. Until now you have been good and compliant, but now . . . I think I will enjoy you better this way, the wayward wife, the woman who must be taught her lessons.”
    The cruelty in his eyes was inhuman, and Rowena tried not to shudder as he went to the wall and examined the torture implements hanging there in a neat row. Hugo was stoking the fire below the brazier, and she watched wide eyed as Bigod chose something that looked horribly like a branding iron for an animal.
    “This is my mark,” he said with satisfaction , showing her the ornate B at the end. “So you will not forget who you belong to again, wife.”
    The anticipation was almost worse than the pain. Almost. Watching Hugo heating the implement, smelling the metal as it began to glow red, and then watching her husband approaching with it. And then the searing agony as he pressed it to her thigh, before she fainted.
     
    Rowena tried to open her eyes. She felt sick and dizzy, and the throbbing pain in her leg came in waves. They had left her alone again, but she knew they would be back, and when she heard the dungeon door opening, she almost screamed. But she told herself she must be brave, that if she refused to let him see her fear then Bigod would be denied that thing he longed for the most; his pleasure in breaking her spirit as well as her body.
    Casting around desperately for some distraction, she thought of Roget. She pictured his face, his smile, the tenderness in his dark eyes. The next moment, when a gentle hand cupped her face, brushing her hair from her eyes, she thought she must be imagining it. Slowly, unwilling to relinquish her dream, she opened her eyes.
    Rowena gazed up in wonder.
    “ Roget?” she croaked, her throat dry and painful. “I dreamed of you. Are you still a dream?”
    “No, my love. I am not a dream.”
    He was unshackling her and lifting her in his arms, careful of her injury, and a moment later she was being carried from the dungeon.
    Nell tut-tutted over her, washing her and dressing her burn, tucking her into her bed. It was Nell who told her that Roget had come with a troop of men, and they had overrun the castle and taken Hugo prisoner. Bigod had refused to give in, and had died upon Roget’s sword.
    Rowena was glad. Her husband would no longer hurt her, or anyone else. She was free of him.
    “But what will happen to Roget?” she asked. “He will be punished for this. Bigod was a powerful man.”
    Nell’s dark eyes sparkled, the bruises on her face already fading. “I have spoken with some of the soldiers, lady, and they tell me that Roget is a powerful man too. It was King Stephen who sent him to discover if the rumours about your husband’s cruelty were true.”
    Rowena pondered on this, but it was another few days before Roget spoke to her himself. She was in her solar, seated in her carved wooden chair, her bandaged leg resting upon a stool, while Nell chattered to her. As soon as the maid saw him she scuttled away, with a brief grin for the two of them.
    “Is it true?” Rowena demanded.
    Roget came and knelt by her side, reaching for her hands. “My lady, I was sent to watch your husband by the king. There were rumours. A man like Bigod can make many enemies. He claimed to be Stephen’s vassal, but the king did not want such a man doing such evil work and at the same time claiming his blessing.
    “I came to see what Bigod was up to, and then I saw you. I could not leave you to his mercies. I stayed to watch over you.”
    Rowena reached to stroke his cheek, and when he bent his head to kiss her lips, clung to him to make it last.
    “I was too late, though,” he said sadly. “I did not reach you in time.”
    “You saved my life, Roget.”
    “But he hurt you first.”
    Rowena sighed. “I will heal. Nell tells me that soon there will be little