Once a Knight Read Online Free Page A

him.”
    That wisp of insolence made David want to slap her,but the lady answered calmly enough. “The king favors him. That should be enough for the likes of you.”
    Sybil opened her mouth to refute that statement, but she saw something in the lady’s face which stopped her. Instead she touched her forehead to the floor. When she came up, dirt blotted her skin. “Aye, m’lady. As ye say, m’lady. It’s just hard fer a poor widow t’ see bread snatched from her child’s mouth by a worthless ol’ mercenary wit’ a taste fer ale.”
    Coldly, the lady answered. “I have gold with which to pay.”
    Both the alewife and the mercenary stared.
    â€œGold.” She jingled the purse at her side. “I’ll pay his bill.” She looked him in the eye. “I’ll pay your fee.”
    The promise of gold spoke to David as nothing else could. It spoke to the alewife, too, it seemed, for she rose and scurried off toward the pot which bubbled at the fire in the middle of the room. “If we don’t conclude our business soon,” David warned, “she’ll offer a bowl of her pottage, and a gruesome feast that is.” He looked again at the lady, noting how the determined set of her chin ruined the almost perfect oval of her face. She was not the delicate flower she had at first appeared, and it occurred to him to question why she sought him alone, without the help of her spouse or family. Because it was his nature to be suspicious, he wondered if she wished to use him in a clan dispute. “What is it you want?” he demanded bluntly.
    â€œProtection.”
    â€œFor what? Your lands? Your castle?”
    â€œMyself.”
    Furious that the gold so quickly slipped away, he said, “I’ll not intercede between you and your husband.”
    â€œI did not ask you to.”
    â€œFrom whom else would a woman like you need asylum? Your mate will protect you from all the rest.”
    She folded her hands together at her waist. “I am a widow.”
    His gaze skimmed her again, and abruptly he understood what she wanted him to know. “A rich widow.”
    â€œPrecisely.”
    â€œA new-made widow?”
    â€œAre you interested in the job?”
    Her very answer rebuked his curiosity, but he didn’t care. “Have you got an inopportune suitor?” he guessed.
    She just stared, eyes gray as flint.
    So she wouldn’t tell him what he wanted to know. Fine. He’d find out what he wanted soon enough. No woman ever kept a secret, and this one, for all her poise, was very much a woman. He rubbed the stubble on his cheek, and dirt from the floor flaked off into his palm. Carelessly he wiped his hand on his hose. “I am a legend, and legends come dear.”
    â€œI’ll take nothing less,” she answered.
    He named the exorbitant sum of three pounds of English money.
    She nodded.
    â€œEvery month,” he added hastily.
    â€œThat is fair.”
    Again he examined her. He hadn’t previously thought her a fool, but he should have known. All women were fools—but so were men who imagined they could collect such wages on the strength of a vanished reputation.
    â€œOne month in advance.”
    Opening her purse, she counted out the gold and held it before his eyes. “Is this sufficient guarantee of my good intentions?”
    But if she didn’t know, why should he tell her? She dressed well, she treated him as if he were a worm, she had guards who eyed her protectively…aye, she was wealthy, so what was the harm in shearing just a little of that fleece which cushioned her?
    Cautiously, he wrapped his fingers around the money, trapping it and her hand. He felt the delicate flesh and the chill of the gold. He thought how easily he could break her and how much he needed that money.
    Snatching his hand away, he polished the sensations from his palm as if that would polish away any deception.